Since time immemorial, the Way to the Tjukurritja (Dreamtime) has been maintained and honoured through various rites-of-passage, and an ensuing disciplined life that revolved around necessary sacred ritual. Instructions from the “agents” (Ancestral Beings) of the Kurrunpa (the life force in all), were entrusted to the initiated; the enlightened, and the custodial. Often, these “messianic-like” people, living within the context of their societies and respective territories, were referred to as “people of High Esteem” … the medicine wo/men and Law men of their respective communities.

With the advent and embracing of the Agricultural; Industrial; Scientific and Techno-logical Ages respectively, coupled with the spread of the resultant “Lost Tribes” and colonisation, the demise of knowledge-enabled aboriginal peoples of this world is now upon us.

Some of the essential elements of Tjukurritja Tjukurrpa (Dreamtime Story) have survived in the newer societies, though much is lost through the tyranny of distance, erosion, eradication, exploitation, and the evolvement and enforcement of earth-bound time.

Even though there have been many attempts to encapsulate and explain the Tjukurritja’s vitalness in definitive terms, the Dreamtime has evaded contemporary analysis and continues to elude the intelligentsia and the selfish “seekers” of the civilised world.

~ Excerpted from my short essay Before Its Gone