Aboriginal Gods
It is important to remember that there were very many different, and isolated tribes in Australia in the long ago past; therefore there are many gods/goddesses with the same function but different names and stories according to each tribe.
The Dreamtime is that part of Aboriginal culture which
explains the origins and culture of the land and its people. Aborigines have the
longest continuous cultural history of any group of people on Earth dating back
65,000 years. Dreamtime is Aboriginal Religion and Culture. The Dreamtime contains many parts: it is the story of things that have happened,
how the universe came to be, how human beings were created and how the Creator
intended for humans to function within the cosmos. As with all other cultures it
speaks of Earth's Creation by Gods and Goddesses some of whom were kind hearted
while others were cruel.
The Australian Aborigines speak of jiva or guruwari, a seed power
deposited in the earth. In the Aboriginal world view every meaningful activity,
event, or life process that occurs at a particular place leaves behind a
vibrational residue in the earth, as plants leave an image of themselves as
seeds. The shape of the land, its mountains, rocks, riverbeds, and waterholes
and its unseen vibrations echo the events that brought that place into creation.
Everything in the natural world is a symbolic footprint of the metaphysical
beings whose actions created our world. As with a seed, the potency of an
earthly location is wedded to the memory of its origin. The Aborigines called
this potency the Dreaming of a place, and this Dreaming constitutes the
sacredness of the earth. Only in extraordinary states of consciousness can one
be aware of or attuned to the inner dreaming of the Earth.
The expression Dreamtime is most often used to refer to the time before time, or the time of the creation of all things, while Dreaming is often used to refer to an individual's or group's set of beliefs or spirituality. For instance, an Indigenous Australian might say that they have Kangaroo Dreaming, or Shark Dreaming, or Honey Ant Dreaming, or any combination of Dreamings pertinent to their country. However many Indigenous Australians also refer to the creation time as The Dreaming. Ancestor Spirits came to Earth in human and other forms and the land, the plants and animals were given their form as we know them today. These Spirits also established relationships between groups and individuals (whether people or animals) and where they travelled across the land, or came to a halt they created rivers, hills, etc. and there are often stories attached to these places. Once their work was done, the Ancestor Spirits changed again; into animals or stars or hills or other objects. For Indigenous Australians, the past is still alive and vital today and will remain so into the future. The Ancestor Spirits and their powers have not gone, they are present in the forms into which they changed at the end of the Dreamtime or Dreaming as the stories tell. Each tribe has its individual dreamtime although some of the legends overlap. Most Dreamtime originates with the Giant Dog or the Giant Snake and each is unique and colourful in its explanation.
Legends of the Dreamtime are handed down by word of mouth and by totem from generation to generation. Aboriginal oral traditions which describe the origin of Australia from ancient times are frequently dramatic, involving great beings and amazing events, however they do contain the essence of the truth. The legends when distilled create a story of the origins of man in Australia and of the Australian landscape as it is today of which much can be substantiated by scientific investigation. The ancient racial memory of a people whose traditions and culture remained largely unaltered for thousands of years can recount great geological changes--the rising of the seas, the change from lush vegetation to desert, and the eruption of volcanoes as well as the very first arrival of man on this continent.
The Australian aboriginal shamans - clever men or men of high degree described celestial ascents to meet with the sky gods such as Baiame, Biral, Goin and Bundjil. The chosen one (either voluntarily or spontaneously) is set upon by spirits, ritualistically killed, and then experiences a wondrous journey (generally an aerial ascent to a strange realm) to met the sky god. He is restored to life as the tribal shaman.
Some Aboriginal Gods;
New South Wales
Birrahgnooloo, Kamilaroi - goddess of fertility who would send floods if properly asked
Dirawong, Bundjalung - creator being
Wurrunna -, culture hero
Northern Territory
Adnoartina - the lizard guard of Uluru
Altjira - Arrernte sky god who created the earth
Ankotarinja - first man of Arrernte mythology
Bahloo - Karraur lunar deity
Bamapana - Murngin trickster spirit who creates discord
Banaitja - creator deity
Barnumbirr - Yolgnu creator spirit
Barraiya - creator of the first vagina
Eingana - creator goddess
Bobbi-Bobbi - benevolent Binbinga snake deity
Djanggawul - three creator-siblings of northeast Arnhem Land mythology
Galeru - rainbow snake in Arnhem Land mythology who swallowed the Djanggawul
Djunkgao - group of sisters associated with floods and ocean currents
Jar'Edo Wens - Arrernte god of earthly knowledge and physical might, created by Altjira to ensure that people did not get too arrogant or self-conceited
Julunggul - Yolgnu rainbow snake goddess associated with initiation, fertility, rebirth and water
Karora - creator god
Kunapipi - mother goddess and the patron deity of many heroes
Malingee - malignant nocturnal spirit
Mamaragan - lightning deity
Mangar-kunjer-kunja - Arrernte lizard deity who created humans
Mimi - fairy-like beings of Arnhem Land
Minawara and Multultu - legendary ancestors of the Nambutji
Mokoi - evil Murgnin spirit who kidnapped and ate children
Ngintaka - Pitjantjatjara creator being
Nogomain - god who gives spirit children to mortal parents
Numakulla - two sky gods who created all life on earth
Papinijuwari - a type of one-eyed giant which feeds on the bodies of the dead and the blood of the sick
Ulanji - snake-ancestor of the Binbinga
Wala - solar goddess
Wawalag - Murgnin sisters who were swallowed by Yurlungur, only to be regurgitated
Wollunqua - snake-deity associated with rain and fertility
Wuluwaid - rain god of Arnhem Land
Wuriupranili - solar goddess whose torch is the sun
Wurugag and Waramurungundi - first man and woman of Gunwinggu legend
Yhi - Karraur solar goddess associated with light and creation
Yurlungur - Murgnin snake deity who swallowed and regurgitated the Wawalag sisters; associated with initiation and rebirth
Queensland
Anjea - fertility goddess or spirit, in whom people's souls reside between their incarnations
Dhakhan - ancestral god of the Kabi
I'wai - culture hero of the Kuuku-Ya'u
Yalungur - great bird deity
South Australia
Akurra - great snake deity of the Adnyamathanha people
Bunyip - mythical creature said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes
Mar'rallang - mythical twin sisters
Muldjewangk - water spirit or spirits inhabiting the Murray River
Ngintaka - Pitjantjatjara creator being
Tjilbruke - Kaurna creation ancestor
Victoria
Crow (Waa) - Kulin trickster, culture hero and ancestral being
Baiame - southeast Australian creational ancestral hero
Balayang - bat deity and brother of Bunjil
Binbeal - Kulin rainbow deity and son of Bunjil
Bunjil - Kulin creator deity and ancestral being, represented as an eagle
Bunyip - mythical creature said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes
Daramulum - southeast Australian deity and son of Baiame
Gnowee - solar goddess who searches daily for her lost son; her torch is the sun
Karatgurk - seven sisters who represent the Pleiades star cluster
Kondole - man who became the first whale
Nargun - fierce half-human, half-stone female creature of Gunai legend
Pundjel - creator deity involved in the initiation of boys
Thinan-malkia - evil spirit who captures victims with nets that entangle their feet
Tiddalik - frog of southeast Australian legend who drank all the water in the land, and had to be made to laugh to regurgitate it
Wambeen- evil lightning-hurling figure who targets travellers
Western Australia
Bagadjimbiri - a pair of Karadjeri creator-spirits
Dilga - Karadjeri goddess of fertility and growth, and mother of the Bagadjimbiri
Julana - lecherous Jumu spirit who surprises women by burrowing beneath the sand, leaping out, and raping them
Kidili - Mandjindja moon deity who was castrated for attempting to rape the first women, who in turn became the Pleiades
Ngariman - Karadjeri cat-man who killed the Bagadjimbiri and was drowned in revenge
Njirana - Jumu deity and father of Julana
Ungud - snake deity associated with rainbows and the fertility and erections of the tribe's shamans
Wagyl - Noongar snakelike creator being
Wati-kutjara - a pair of western Australian lizard-men
Wondjina - Mowanjum cloud or rain spirits
Pan-continental
Rainbow Serpent - a common feature of the art and mythology of Aboriginal Australian cultures
Kinie Ger - evil half-man, half-cat beast
Thardid Jimbo - cannibalistic giant
Yara-ma-yha-who - monstrous bloodsucking creature