Wandjinas: thomasrymour

thomasrymour

Wandjinas

Jul 05, 2018 17:32

Wandjini or Wandjina

For the People of the Land Down Under in Kimberley, the Wandjina are their representation of the “Supreme Creator”. They are the symbol to use for “fertility” and “rain”. Images of the Wandjina are painted in rock art throughout Western Kimberley and are not found anywhere else in Australia. The Wandjina’s area is about 200,000 square kilometers of lands, water, sea, and islands in the Kimberley region of north-western Australia, dating back at least 60,000 years B.P. or older. The three Wandjina tribal groups are the Worora, Ngarinyin, and Wunumbul people. They are also called “Gwion Gwion” or “Gyorn Gyorn”. They are amongst the most sacred of figures and extremely spiritual images to the Mowanjum peoples who comprise up the three language groups - the Worrorra, Ngarinyin, and Wunumbal. They are sometimes depicted in threes. The Wandjinias have large eyes on a face with no mouth. Legend states they have no mouths because that would make them too powerful. They sometimes are depicted with elaborate headdresses and each of these can symbolize a different kind of storm. Their eyes also represent weather storms. Their elegant elongated bodies featured in the Gyorn Gyorn images represent their long-ago ancestors before the Wandjinas who brought the laws of the land and can date upwards of 20,000 years B.C.E. These images can be found with Wandjinas over-painted on them with other imagery. When this occurs, they are someties called “Bradshaws”.

According to Aboriginal law, only Aboriginal people who went through the law are allowed to use Wandjinas and their representation. Only after years of initiation, ceremonies, and tribal council can an Aboriginal artist win the right to depict Wandjinas in their art. Throughout Australia, modern art depicting the Wandjina can be found that is considered inappropriate art work. It is especially inappropriate for a non-Indigenous person to depict Wandjinas without permission. Doing so is seen as mockery and denigration of the spiritual beliefs of the Worrorra people. Another inappropriate depiction of Wandjina was done in Perth around 2007 varying from stencil-work to spray painting of Wandjina driving a pink car. There were even flickr blogs of people engaged in “Wandjina watching” documenting such graffiti found. The Wandering Wandjina really angered traditional indigenous people and a film called “Who Paintin’ Dis Wandjina” covers the Aboriginal reaction.

They are often seen as cloud and rain spirits as well. They were known to have created the landscape and its inhabitants of the Dreamtime, continually influencing both. When the spirits found the place for their death bed, they painted their images on cave walls and entered a nearby waterhole. These paintings were then to be refreshed by Aborigines as a method to regenerate one’s life force. Those who break the law of the land, could see punishment from the Wandjina in the forms of floods, lightning, and cyclones.

The artistic style of Wandjina rock art appears from 3800-4000 B.C.E. It is said to have occured after a millennium long drought that gave way to a much damper and wet climate demonstrating more frequent monsoons. The depictions are often in black, red, or yellow and usually almost always on a white background. The Wandjina spirits are often depicted either alone or in a group, commonly of three, vertically or horizontally depending on the dimension of the rock being painted on, and sometimes found with figures or objects like yams or Rainbow Serpents. Most of the time it shows large upper bodies and heads showing eyes and noses, without mouths. This is explained that they are so powerful they do not require speech and it they had mouths, the rains would never cease. The heads are often made of lines or blocks of colors with lighting depicted as coming out of transparent helmets. Each year, the paintings are repainted in December or January to insure arrival monsoon rains and some paintings at various sites can be seen as being over 40 layers deep. Newer images appear more stockier and some even are painted with eyelashes.

Some modern theories and mythology claim that the Wandjina were ancient austronauts or aliens from outer space. They believe that extraterrestrial beings visited the Earth tens of thousands of years ago, had contact with the peoples living then, and some even believe they had a direct role in the creation of humans and the Earth. Some of these theories place the Wandjina’s roles in the Dreamtime stories as proof. The artistic depictions of aliens today and the Wandjina certainly have great similarities. The questions of why the Wandjinas were depicted with white skin instead of the Aboriginal black skin, why the eyes were dis-apportioned to the rest of the face with no mouth, and them being “sky beings” was another confusion that led to alien theories. The “sky beings” or “spirits from the clouds” who came down from the Milky Way during Dreamtime and created the Earth and all of its inhabitants is certainly suspicious. The Wandjinas supposedly looked upon the inhabitants of Earth and realized the enormity of the task at hand so had to return home to bring more Wandjinas, with the aid of the Dreamtime snake, they descended and spent their Dreamtime creating, teaching, and being Gods to the Aboriginals whom they created. They then disappeared, descended into the Earth, and have lived at the bottom of the water source associated with each of the paintings producing new “child-seeds” which are regarded as the source of all human life. Some returned to the skies and can be seen at night as lights moving high above the earth.

As a side note/observation, I once had a vision during a ritual of a group of white robed white beings who only had eyes and noses (no mouths) (but they were normal human eyes and noses) who came and spoke to me about things … i could hear them like as if talking face-to-face to another human, but I heard them in my mind as they had no mouths. Curious if this could have been the wandjina?

Ancient Origins n.d. “Mysterious Aboriginal Rock Art Wandjinas - Extraterrestrial or not?” Web site referenced 7/5/18 at https://www.ancient-origins.net/human-origins-folklore/mysterious-aboriginal-rock-art-wandjinas-extraterrestrial-or-not-00701
Creative Spirits n.d. “What Are Wandjinas”. Web site referenced 7/5/18 at http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/arts/what-are-wandjinas
Poleshift n.d. “Wandjina Rock Art in Kimberley Australia”. Web site referenced 7/5/18 at http://poleshift.ning.com/profiles/blogs/wandjina-rock-art-kimberley-au
Wikipedia n.d. “Wandjina”. Web site referenced 7/5/18 at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wandjina
Youtube n.d. “Wandjinas”. Web site referenced 7/5/18 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBUd_WIjN9g

Wandjinas (http://www.technogypsie.com/faerie/?p=2809); International UFO Museum: http://www.technogypsie.com/reviews/?p=4985. Roswell, New Mexico: (http://www.technogypsie.com/reviews/?p=4997). Walking down memory lane - roadtrip in Eastern New Mexico. Rebirth of the Bard/Ovate: Chronicle 27 - Chronicles of Sir Thomas Leaf and Prince Cian. Adventures in Colorado. Photos taken June 27, 2018. To read the adventures, visit http://www.technogypsie.com/chronicles/?p=39039. To read reviews, visit: www.technogypsie.com/reviews. All photos and articles (c) 2018. Technogypsie.com - by Leaf McGowan and Thomas Baurley. All rights reserved. www.technogypsie.com/photography. More info about Colorado Springs: http://www.technogypsie.com/reviews/?p=31051

International UFO Museum: http://www.technogypsie.com/reviews/?p=4985. Roswell, New Mexico: (http://www.technogypsie.com/reviews/?p=4997). Walking down memory lane - roadtrip in Eastern New Mexico. Rebirth of the Bard/Ovate: Chronicle 27 - Chronicles of Sir Thomas Leaf and Prince Cian. Adventures in Colorado. Photos taken June 27, 2018. To read the adventures, visit http://www.technogypsie.com/chronicles/?p=39039. To read reviews, visit: www.technogypsie.com/reviews. All photos and articles (c) 2018. Technogypsie.com - by Leaf McGowan and Thomas Baurley. All rights reserved. www.technogypsie.com/photography. More info about Colorado Springs: http://www.technogypsie.com/reviews/?p=31051

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