Observations placeholder
A P Elkin - Aboriginal men of high degree - Jajauring initiation
Identifier
003871
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
This describes an initiation process
A description of the experience
From Aboriginal Men of High degree - A P Elkin
Jajauring medicine men were made in the world of spirits, which the individual visited for two or three days while in a trance. Those of the Wurunjeri tribe received their magical powers from the sky-being Bunjil, to whom they were carried by ghosts through a hole in the sky. Their powers included the extraction of "fat," the use of many magical substances, especially quartz, and the power of going invisibly through space up to the sky and beyond it to Tharangalkbek, the "gum tree" country. In order to counteract a certain type of contagious magic, the medicine man had to secure the spear-thrower that had been used in that process and take it to this land beyond the sky, where it was put in water. The ascent was made by a cord through a hole in the vault. This sky-country is also the home of the dead and is the place to which Bunjil ascended with all his people, after having taught the Kulin the arts of life. He instituted the dual organisation at the request of two medicine men. The Wurunjeri medicine men are therefore associated with the spirits of the dead, the sky-world, and Bunjil, the tribal All-Father.
The source of the experience
Australian aboriginalConcepts, symbols and science items
Science Items
Activities and commonsteps
Activities
Overloads
DehydrationNutritional deprivation
Overwhelming fear and terror