The natural world is the maternal source of our being...
[It] is the larger sacred community to
which we belong. To be alienated from this community
is to become destitute in all that makes us human.
Thomas Berry
Returning to the mainland after visiting the killing fields of Tasmania (Madonna, July/August) we are going to move to a place in the Indian Ocean along the north-west coast of Western Australia, to tiny Depuch Island, only five kilometres long and six kilometres off the coast about 200 km south-west of Port Hedland.
There are some places in the world that are well known for their sense of mystery and spirituality. In Llasa in Tibet, prayer wheels revolve constantly, as people seek insights from the Buddha. The monks at Mount Athos in Greece meditate using the Jesus prayer. The Sufis of Arabia go to Mecca to practise Dhikr (recollection) to discipline the mind. Christians go to the Holy Land to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Uluru in Australia is fast becoming a place of pilgrimage for many people seeking a retreat for reconciliation.
However there are some places that are almost unknown, but by their very isolation from the world invoke a sense of mystery and the spiritual. Such a place is Depuch Island. This island was once an important pilgrimage place for the Ngaluma people, but since European arrival it is now only a harbouring place for sea birds and foxes.
In spite of no longer being a living sanctuary for the people, it still has much to offer. Mountainous piles of red dolorite make the island an ideal sanctuary for recording the history and spiritual antiquity of the generations who once visited here for spiritual ceremonies.
The rocks on the headlands of Anchor and Wreck Point contain images and designs that have been carved into them, making these places an artist’s paradise, and expressing humanity’s ancient interest in the world around them. The recurrent forms depict cultural artifacts, spears, boomerangs, hunting scenes, as well as images of the natural world of flora and fauna.
Other
engravings do more than record the pleasure these early artists experienced
in representing the visible world around them. These exceptional engravings
embody what transcends the immediately visible spirit figures, tribal
ritual, and sacred sex rituals, and often set a particular rock formation
apart.
Ritual coition was very much part of the religious practice. Conception was considered a metaphysical act rather than merely a physical one. Most Aboriginal people believed the earth abounded with spirit children who lived in specific places, such as water holes and other special areas, waiting to enter a woman to begin their life as human beings. Whatever the reasons, the idea of sacred sex becomes a symbol of the human desire to achieve unity with the Supreme Being and reflects the joy of physical union with the limitless joy of the Creator in creation.
As
the Ngaluma people visited this island for sacred ceremonies, a sense
of continuity would have been the hallmark of their encounters as each
generation created their own spirit motifs, adding to the island’s
canon. Here can be seen a petroglyphic realm perfectly depicted by countless
generations of Aborigines. Sadly, such a unique heritage is little valued
by the majority of contemporary Australians.
Depuch Island is an anachronism in today’s world. It takes us back to the time when stillness impinged upon people’s thoughts far more than it does now, in marked contrast to the crowded noisy, raucous, bustling world we live in today. It has been said that all that flowered in such an environment was meditation born of stillness and isolation.
Seeing
things as they are presents their own limitations, but Aboriginal people
know how to transcend these limitations, by thinking in a more theocentric
way. For the Aborigine, all phenomena are of the mysterious and can only
be understood as symbolic rather than merely rational.
Aboriginal people allow their thinking to wander freely over the mysteries of creation in the same way that they move over the land. Freedom of spirit is as important as the freedom to walk their country in search of the material necessities of food and water.
Being in solitude
changes a way of life,
being still togethe
rintensifies the stillness
and creates a community of presence.
Then comes a time like no other
when like-minded men and women
create for all othersthe gift of a profound stillness.
Noel Davis
The rock art depicts images from everyday life such as these creatures
