Next Generation
It takes only three generations to forget traditional knowledge if it is not passed down by the leading tribespeople or clans who hold knowledge of specific locations and heritage sites, such as ceremonial grounds and their cultural importance, and who maintain records of them.
Art, stories, songs, and dancing were spontaneous, impromptu celebrations of a place and its creatures that came into being when the clanspeople visited a sacred tree or site. With cupped hands and soft singing, they pay reverence to the location where their ancestors created new life.
The activities of tribal life are centred on the remembrance of its origins. The exploits of the great creatives are embedded in the topography of Earth as an enduring Lore that dictates care for all living things on the lands and in the waters, a mighty intellectual achievement.
I was fortunate to come from a family background and was born when the culture was mostly intact. My maternal grandfather, a Thungutti man, completed the four stages of initiation. He was among the last group of men to be “put through the rules” in the final ceremony near Bellbrook Aboriginal village in 1932, New South Wales. He was a fully initiated man.
The Keepara Men’s Initiation knowledge was passed down to my brother by our grandfather. His father, my great-grandfather, was the lineage that held the men’s Lore for generations.
The knowledge was recorded in detail by an anthropologist in the early 1970s for the National Parks and Wildlife. Most of the participants at the final ceremony who became informants were still alive. My grandfather is a provider of tribal knowledge.
Woman Lore
My paternal lineage is a strong keeper of the traditional Lore of the great ancestors, primarily the women’s water Lore of the Rainbow Serpent, which is still kept today. The Githabul Ngarakbul are the first keepers of the Lore on the Australian continent.
The Seven Sisters Pliades, or the “Wiangaree” in Githabul Ngarakbul dialect, are intrinsic to sacred women’s water Lore. The ‘Wiangaree brought fresh spring water to a barren landscape using their magic digging stick, “ganay” way back in the beginning, the Cretaceous period.
The Sisters meet up with their grandmother, Warrazum, the ancient Rainbow Serpent, who gifts them the Lore. The Rainbow Serpent is a fertility goddess, primarily associated with abundance and creation.
The traditions of Matristic cultures and society held reverence for both the Sacred Feminine and Masculine, with unique qualities to procreate. Thus is the sacred significance of the phallus and the womb. The Matristic order beautifully accentuates the sacredness that all life springs from the Feminine and of women’s welfare and safety.
While concerned for the rights and well-being of women, what needs to arise broadly associated with energy in all its manifestations. It is a restoration of the balance to unchecked, stagnant patriarchal ideals.
Renewal and Rebirth are soon on the horizon—new life for all living things.
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