Wunggurr- Aboriginal Australian GodDeity
Also known as: Wungurr and Galaru
Domains
Description
Hidden in the deep waterholes of the Kimberley, Wunggurr is the serpentine life force that stirs beneath the surface while the Wanjina govern the sky above. Spirit children dwell in these sacred pools, and from their depths new lives enter the Ngarinyin world.
Mythology & Lore
The Serpent in the Depths
Wunggurr inhabits the deep, permanent waterholes of the Kimberley, sacred places where the creative power of the Dreamtime remains concentrated. The Wanjina govern the sky: clouds, rain, storms, their painted faces staring from the rock shelter walls. Wunggurr governs what lies below. The two work together. Rain falls from the Wanjina. Water pools over Wunggurr. Life follows.
Spirit children dwell in Wunggurr's waterholes, waiting to enter the world. A father dreams of receiving a spirit child from a particular Wunggurr site, and this dream establishes the child's connection to that place for life. New lives come from the depths.
Mowaljarlai's Teaching
David Mowaljarlai, the senior Ngarinyin elder who spent decades articulating his people's knowledge, described Wunggurr as something beyond a single serpent in a waterhole. In his account, recorded in Yorro Yorro, Wunggurr is present in the waterholes and in the rock art, in the kinship between all living things. The serpent in the depths is one form of it. The energy itself runs beneath everything.
The Wunggurr sites remain sacred places in Ngarinyin country, maintained by custodians who treat their power as living and present.
Relationships
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