Esther Pockrandt – Australia
… Reflections on Australian Indigenous Spirituality
Australian Indigenous Spirituality, Aboriginal depiction of Madonna and Child
This article was inspired by the moving Welcome of theosophists to the traditional lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations, the wisdom holders of the Indigenous Nations of the Vancouver area, during the recent 150th International Congress in Canada, and their subsequent inclusion in the programme. I live on the lands of the Kabi-Kabi and Jinibara people of the Sunshine Coast in South East Queensland, Australia, and I was deeply touched by this honouring of the earth and all the gifts she shares with us freely, and still, even when we forget to look after her. We, as humanity and the earth with all her beings are one family, something which indigenous cultures still honour. The Welcome to Country as it is known here, is almost identical, the same call for respect, a ‘re-memoring’ that we are one family, yet, but visitors passing through.
Sadly, despite token protocol directed attempts at inclusion in many sectors, the unique and deep spirituality of the Knowledge Keepers of the Indigenous Nations of the country I live on also, goes largely unrecognised and ignored still internationally, as well as in our theosophy midst. I’m hoping my few paragraphs, inadequate as they will be, to do any justice to such an ancient living culture, estimated to be over 60,000 years old, might nevertheless stir more international, and, in particular, theosophy interest, and before international mining activities in this resource rich island continent, destroy the last vestiges of the petroglyphs and caves that stand testimony still to its uniqueness.
Although I speak with great compassion for the indigenous people of Australia, I am also very conscious of speaking about a culture I am not initiated into. Consequently, I am paraphrasing what I have heard and experienced, but, in the main, letting others speak: Elders, academics, those non-indigenous who have a living experience and who have an equal passion as I have, not as fly-by tourists, but who dare a deeper immersion to learn how ‘other’ cultures ‘do’ life. I certainly have learnt that there are many ways to peel the ‘proverbial’ potato, living and working in cultures very different to my own. I am also referencing Madame Blavatsky in the Collected Writings in an attempt, speculative as it may be, and perhaps far-fetched to some, to build that link between the Spirituality and Wisdom of the Elders of this Southern land with theosophy, or at least to plant seeds of interest in exploring an Ur-ancestry in a subsequent immersion. For this, I have given some links and names and search words to follow up on at the end, in addition to the references in the text.
Journey into Dreamtime
Aunty Munya Andrews, leading Indigenous Australian thinker, author and barrister; Co-Director, Evolve Communities, recounts in a talk ‘Journey into Dreamtime’, that, when people ask her what is Dreamtime, she makes the analogy to someone asking to explain what Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Jainism, etc are … it is impossible in a few words, indeed impossible, unless one immerses oneself and that may take a life time. In the words of one other Aboriginal Elder, “Dreaming is a very BIG thing”. Aunty Munya Andrews continues, saying, that to her Dreamtime is like entering a magical world, that aligns with most world religions, that God is unknowable, indescribable, beyond words, vast beyond comprehension and she gives the example of one Elder saying, that not all that is unknowable is for our understanding. That is why the Wandjina, spirit beings, are painted with no mouths, she adds. It’s about the journey not the destination. We just have to trust and go with the flow. We don’t always have to know where we are going. (I encourage you, the readers, to explore further, following the link below and others that follow in this text.)
https://youtu.be/n5XUxyNGLTg?si=vm4F1ldrCWbk0tZo
Two distinct world Views
The eye of the Universe
To start with, according to my understanding, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures do not ‘worship’ idols nor an external God, but have a holistic reverence view of the world they inhabit, for the interconnectedness of all, the sky, the cosmos and the sea with all their creatures, part of that hugely significant and intricate web of life of many parts, all and each one, an integral part of a living spirit. Dr Rose Elu from Sabai Island in the Torres Strait, Queensland Senior of the year, 2021, recounts, that long before the arrival of the Gospel, “We already knew there was a Creator God”, often saying, “God was on both sides of the beach”, meaning, on land and in the ocean, of which they are custodians. (Stephen Doherty (ed) God’s Own Country, The Anglican Board of Mission, Australia, 2024). Identification with a totem, like a shark, for example, is an individual’s reminder of the personal custodianship of that species, in order to maintain natural balance and harmony between humans and nature. Consequently, to nurture balance, Aboriginal tribes moved around in their specific area of country to allow the land to regenerate, managing those areas they occupied carefully for that purpose, rotating land occupancy according to their own and nature’s needs. This lays rest to the misconception still that Aboriginal people were nomadic. They travelled across the entire continent, yes, like we do from one country to another, but lived in one area. Aboriginal spirituality, being embodied and orally transmitted, therefore, flows and moves, like nature does, never static, with the retelling and re-enactment of the stories. unlike paper, or, man-made monument-linked spirituality. In their expression, the stories grow and change as do our times, yet retaining the base elements of the interconnectedness of all.
Sacred sites are out in the open
Where in the Western mind sacred sites are temples, churches and shrines, to Aboriginal people, sacred sites are the features of the landscape and sky. The Songlines along which the nations travelled the whole island continent from the deserts to the ocean, those walking these routes literally singing the features and the age-old stories as they walked, each landmark a memory aid, served to guide the traveller for safe passage, indicating food and water sources, and places to avoid. This knowledge was passed on from generation to generation. In this way, that which was essential for living on this dry vast continent was preserved, as were the moral and esoteric teachings and ancient creation stories, still passed on, verified by groups of Elders, the knowledge keepers, from generation to generation, through the thousands of years of guardianship of this living culture and onward: past, present and emerging.
Aboriginal Art is not what you think
Sacred symbols drawn in the sand
Aboriginal Art is but a Western concept, where initially the ochres applied to bodies and ceremonial objects were of spiritual significance. They were not meant to become static objects displayed on walls, in this non-materialistic culture, just like the stories were not meant to be static on a page either. Stories were told, danced and drawn in symbols in the sand and then wiped out. Just as body paintings wear off after ceremonies, just like the waves and the wind wipe out traces of footsteps, leaving new patterns behind, or leaving a clean ‘canvas’ to be repainted or drawn upon, so was the ‘art’. In a nature connected spirituality the lesson of cause and effect, change and cycles cannot be missed. It still is a sharing culture, where hording by one individual of a surplus of anything is a foreign, even an immoral act. The proceeds the artist gets from the sale of their work, for example, is still shared in remote communities.
Even though sacred symbols and stories were not meant to be for public view, the decision of a meeting of Elders of Warlpiri country, in 1986, changed that to preserve the cultural stories for the ever more urbanising young. Art on canvas or board is now permitted under strict guidelines however. That which is of occult knowledge is guarded or disguised. Paintings, now adapted to a Western palette of colours, are abstract, meditative in their production, retaining the symbols and patterns of stories of old. The meditative paintings on the Stanzas of Dzyan of Hilma af Klint and Australian theosophist, Rona Scott come to mind! Internationally, less so in Australia, Aboriginal Art has become a lucrative commodity since the 1980s, involving international Art dealers. Sadly, some community artists complain, that Art dealers are trying to influence the artists’ work to change colours and designs to cater to the current tastes and commercial ‘market’ demands, even themselves stepping in and altering paintings.
One of the most highly cultured peoples of the world: Venerable Dr. Nandisvara Nayake Thero
Although, to the Western mindset, this distinctly non-materialistic culture may appear primitive, animistic and certainly was viewed as such by the colonial powers, this mindset of ‘otherness’ persists to this day. Unfortunately, the stereotype persists in the mainstream, that the only authentic Aboriginal is the darker skinned person, living in remote areas, in a state of Wilderness, or that of the images of the drunk, unkept Aborigine sleeping rough in parks in urban camp settings. It is a picture of extremes painted in the media, but there is a middle ground, yet such labelling also indicates the lack of understanding by many of the Australian (and world) population of the repercussions that modernity (and dispossession) has caused to the preservation of this distinct culture.
And Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people certainly don’t see themselves like that, many having successfully adapted to urban lifestyles, academia, roles of leadership in Western ‘law’. Moreover, they have been able to integrate both cultures, to adopt Christianity, yet retaining their own spirituality within that. While Aboriginal people have informed their culture, in order to associate with the modern world, the European in contrast still defines himself by ‘rejecting’ tradition and rejecting all that is different, as being inferior. (Ayatalla Lewih, A Study of Indigenous Australians within the Rubrics of Modernity and Tradition, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, 2011)
If one is to judge the survival of a people by their ability to adapt, Aboriginal people who have integrated two very different cultures in such a short time, under extreme circumstances, and, without abandoning their own, are by all standards, a very sophisticated culture, who may well far surpass and even outlive us in intelligence, skills and morals.
Venerable Dr. Nandisvara Nayake Thero, former professor of comparative religions at Madras (Chennai) University and Director of The Maha Bodhi Society of Sri Lanka and editor of the Society’s Journal, wrote in Dreamtime, Mysticism and Liberation: Shamanism in Australia, writes:
To those who judge the degree of culture by the degree of technological sophistication, the fact that the Australian natives live in the same fashion as they did thousands of years ago may imply that they are uncivilised or uncultured. However, I would like to present a few facts that suggest that if civilisation was defined by the degree of polishing of an individual’s mind and the building of his or her character, and if culture is the measure of self-discipline as well as the level of consciousness, then the Australian Aborigines are actually one of the most civilised and highly cultured peoples in the world today.
Nicholson, Shirley J (Compiler), Shamanism : An Expanded View Of Reality, 1987, Third Pub 1990, Quest Theosophical Pub. House, Wheaton, Ill., U.S.A p 223-224
Dr. Nandisvara concluded from his conversations with Aboriginal shamans and spiritual elders:
...that their spiritual tradition is highly advanced and that their religious beliefs held together with Sky and Earth Philosophies are parallel with those found in the various branches of the Perennial Philosophy. Moreover, the states of consciousness known to them from their shamanistic and mystical practices are in no way inferior to those described by Patanjali, the Buddha, St. John of the Cross, and other great mystics.
Ibid, p 225 (I recommend a reading of the whole Chapter in the book!)
The parallel perhaps with the motive of the founders of our Theosophical Society when they moved to India, cannot be missed, nor Annie Besant’s fight for acknowledgment of an abuse of power by the Indian upper classes. Annie Besant too fought against social issues, including caste prejudice and child marriage and to end the injustice for a people dispossessed of their own culture by a colonial power. Annie Besant worked for the promotion of a national awakening. Her work was published in 1902, in which she said, “India is not controlled for the benefit of the people, but rather for the profit of her conquerors”. How many parallels are there with the story of the Australian Aboriginal people, except that there is not as yet a similar engagement of the Theosophical Society to champion their causes.
Theosophy and the Old Ones, Ur-Ancestors
Theosophy advocates for the idea, that all religions and wisdom traditions shared a common spiritual essence. As theosophists we know that Madame Blavatsky showed a deep interest in indigenous cultures across the planet in her extensive travels, not least of which, in the Indigenous peoples of Australia, the Tasmanians and South Sea Islanders. She fought for recognition of the deep spirituality of those oppressed by decades of colonial rule especially in India, but was not unaware of the same happening in other Nations in the world, that had been colonised. She was horrified to read the accounts of travellers to the Colonies in Australia, at first she being in total disbelief, at the unimaginable cruelty with which the ‘black man’ was being treated, even ‘worse than dogs’ by the supposed ‘civilised’ British. Scathing accounts flooded in: of their ‘superiority’ complex over those races which they called inferior, like the ‘savage-like’ islanders and the Tasmanians, they had come to ‘enlighten’. In one of these accounts, one traveller described the British colonists as of “the most disgusting caricatures of Christianity… [where] no words can express the horror and the indignity of their own acts towards the natives of Australia.” (The Mote and the Beam, Lucifer, Vol VI, No. 36, August 1890 pp 470-478 and cited in CW Vol XIV, pp 288-290)
How important a lesson it is to us still now, to come to explore a new culture with a pure heart, an eager intellect, an unveiled spiritual perception, a brotherliness for all, ready to receive advice and instruction, maintaining that steadfast willingness to put old paradigm’s, our own biases aside, those veils through which we so unconsciously judge all and anything that is different. We do really need to cultivate a ‘beginner’s mind’, those open eyes and minds of a child, the heart over the eye-candy view of the world. Fly-in, fly-out tourism has not helped. We theosophists could make a difference.
Indeed, when we listen and observe with such a mindset, how equal in depth and complexity these Dreaming stories are to those of ancient Greece, India and Egypt. I always wonder too, if we listened deeply, to the stories of the Elders, engaging our intuitive faculties, to see beyond the words, the exoteric, the exotic, the strange, could we perhaps hear the Stanzas of Dzyan being retold? When we read Helena Blavatsky’s accounts of the Golden Age, Satya Yuga and the decent into Kali Yuga, the Tower of Babel legend, we cannot but help wonder and make a link to the stories of some of the Elders, who believe that there existed Ur-ancestors who had a common language of symbols and spiritual knowledge. (cf, The Origin of the Mysteries in Collected Writings, Vol XIV, pp 246-259)
Seven Sisters Dreaming
It is extraordinary how despite the fervent colonial attempts to annihilate the whole indigenous population, and the knowledge keepers with it, that profound understanding of the interconnectedness of all, “we, and everything, all brothers and sisters”, has survived. Equally so is that ongoing willingness of the First Nations people to still want to dialogue, to come to mutual understanding, even when confronted with aggression, and when mounting legal challenge after Legal Challenge with multi-national mining companies, those disheartening David and Goliath battles, to protect their now already compromised pristine springs, their ever-diminishing sacred sites and lands. As of the last census in 2021, only 3.8% of the total Australian population identifies as Aboriginal. This is sad and makes the plea for support even more urgent. Despite this the call out by the Custodians continues to be for peace:
… Lighting fires. Holding ceremony. Teaching youth that our greatest power isn’t in fighting – it’s in refusing to leave. They want to rip this land open – and erase the people who belong to it.
Because when sacred water is destroyed, it’s not just our loss—it’s humanity’s.
Water is life. Stand with us.
Adrian Burragubba, 2025, Doongmabulla Springs, https://bbc.com/news/articles/ckglj211x9yo
Gandhi’s Satyagraha ethic of those non-violent, resist and persist actions comes to mind, that major tool Gandhi introduced during the early 20th century in the Indian struggle to free the people from the oppression of British rule! Indeed, one wonders who is the more civilised!
Final Words: We are in this together
Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann
As theosophists, hearing and being moved by the plea of our different colour skinned brothers and sisters, the Elders, the Knowledge Holders, of this land and those around the globe, past, present and emerging, are we perhaps called and moved to do things differently? Are we encouraged to make more effort to truly engage and ‘be’ and ‘walk’ with? In this brief and inadequate introduction to do this deeply spiritual and ancient culture justice, barely scratching the surface, in closing, I will let Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann have the final word. Do we hear the universal plea articulated by Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Bauman?
We have listened to what [the white man] had to say. This learning and listening should go both ways. We would like people in Australia [‘and in the world’ - the contributor’s addition] to take time to listen to us. We are hoping people will come closer. We keep on longing for the things that we have always hoped for - respect and understanding.
Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Bauman is an Aboriginal Activist, Educator and Artist, Australian Senior 2021, (born 1950), an esteemed Aboriginal elder from the Nauiyu community, the Daley River in the Northern Territory, a member of the Federal Government’s National Indigenous Council, and was awarded the Order of Australia for her outstanding achievements and service to Aboriginal people.
Miriam is pictured above with Amma who was on an Australian tour in 2017 and for who she was entrusted to give the official Welcome to Country in Brisbane, Queensland, below:
There is a struggle for all of us, but we, unlike many Westerners, have not lost our spirit of dadirri. I believe that the spirit of dadirri that we have to offer to the world will help you Westerners to blossom and grow, not just within yourselves, but within your nation as well. There are deep springs within each of us and within them, there is a sound—the sound of the deep calling to the deep. The time for rebirth is now. If our culture and your culture are alive and well, as well as strong and respected, they will grow. In such a case, our culture will not die, nor will yours, and our spirits will not be lost. We will continue, together, as this was always meant to be.
For inspiration to this article, I express my gratitude to
- Blavatsky, Helena P. and Boris de Zirkoff (Compiler), Collected Writings; Vol XIV \
- Blavatsky, Helena P., The Stanzas of Dzyan
- Shirley J Nicholson, (Compiler), Shamanism : An Expanded View Of Reality especially, Chapter 15 Dreamtime, Mysticism and Liberation: Shamanism in Australia
- Daughtry, Stephen (Ed), God’s Own Country: First Nations Voices Speak, abmission.org
- The Elders of this Southern Land, past present and emerging in particular Aunty Munya Andrews, Aunty Miriam Rose, Dr. Lila Watson, and Aunty Dinnawhan and Aunty Bev of my area.
- Sony van Gelder for her thought-provoking blog
Furthermore, I encourage all whose interest has been ignited to check out some more sources and YouTube videos for further immersions. Here are Search title suggestions: Songlines, Dreaming, Aboriginal Art, Aboriginal Spirituality and Cosmology, Petroglyphs, Juukan Gorge and all subsequent links.
Enjoy the journey!