Post by Mysti on Aug 11, 2007 12:26:56 GMT -5
Note 1: It is important to remember that there were very many different, and isolated, tribes in Australia in the long ago past; therefore there are many gods/goddesses with the same function but different names, and stories, according to each tribe/clan.
Note 2: "Dreamtime" refers to a mythological past for the aborigine peoples of Australia, although today, some peoples still refer & enter the "dreamtime". <o:p></o:p>
Alinga
Sun goddess. <o:p></o:p>
Anjea
Goddess who forms infants from mud and places them into the mother's uterus. <o:p></o:p>
Apunga
Goddess of small plants. <o:p></o:p>
Biame
The "Great One," or creator. <o:p></o:p>
Bila
The cannibal sun goddess. She provided light for the world by cooking her victims over a giant flame. Lizard Man was appalled by these acts and tried to kill her. She turned herself into a ball of fire and fled, leaving the world in darkness. He threw his boomerang at her, catching her and making her move in a slow arc across the sky. This brought light back to the world. <o:p></o:p>
Boaliri
The younger of the two sister goddesses that created life. The other was Waimariwi. <o:p></o:p>
Bunbulama
Goddess of the rain. <o:p></o:p>
Cunnembeille
Wife of Biame. She lives in the heavens with him and his other wife, Birrahgnooloo. <o:p></o:p>
Dilga
Goddess of justice. Dilga became very angry when two of her children were killed by the "cat man" and his relatives. Milk flowed from her breasts so copiously it formed a stream that reached to where the murderers lived and drowned them. It also resuscitated her children and brought them back to life. <o:p></o:p>
Djanggawul Sisters
Daughters of the sun, these Australian goddesses unceasingly brought forth living creatures from their endlessly pregnant bodies. Their long vulvas broke off piece by piece with these births, producing the world's first sacred artifacts. <o:p></o:p>
Eingana
The Australian natives call her, Mother Eingana, the world-creator, the birth mother, maker of all water, land, animals, and kangaroos. This huge snake goddess still lives, they say, in the Dreamtime, rising up occasionally to create yet more life. This primordial snake had no vagina; as her offspring grew inside her, the goddess swelled up. Eventually, tortured with the pregnancy, Eingana began to roll around and around. The god Barraiya saw her agony and speared her near the anus so that birth could take place as all creatures now give birth. She is also the death mother. They say Eingana holds a sinew of life attached to each of her creatures; when she lets it go, that life stops. If she herself should die, they say everything would cease to exist. <o:p></o:p>
Erathipa
A huge boulder in the shape of a pregnant woman bears this name. It is said that the souls of dead children reside within it, and that if a woman of child-bearing age walks by a soul slips from the boulder and into her womb to be reborn. <o:p></o:p>
Gidja
God of the moon. <o:p></o:p>
Gnowee
The sun goddess of an aboriginal people of southeast Australia. The legend goes that Gnowee once lived on the earth at a time when the sky was always dark and people walked around carrying torches in order to see. One day while Gnowee was out gathering yams, her baby son wandered off. She set out to search for him, carrying a huge torch, but never found him. To this day she still climbs the sky daily, carrying her torch, trying to find her son. <o:p></o:p>
Ingridi
A "dreamtime" goddess. <o:p></o:p>
Julana
Chief god of the Jumu tribe. <o:p></o:p>
Julunggul
Goddess of initiations. <o:p></o:p>
Junkgowa
An ancestor goddess who lived during the "dreamtime". She was a multiple goddess (the Junkgowa Sisters) who created the ocean, and all the fish therein. <o:p></o:p>
Karora
The creator, according to the Bandicoot clan of the Arandan aborigines of Australia. <o:p></o:p>
Lia
A water goddess. <o:p></o:p>
Madalait
A creator goddess. <o:p></o:p>
Makara, The
Seven sisters who became the constellation Pleiades. <o:p></o:p>
Nabudi, The
Goddesses of illness. <o:p></o:p>
Note 2: "Dreamtime" refers to a mythological past for the aborigine peoples of Australia, although today, some peoples still refer & enter the "dreamtime". <o:p></o:p>
Alinga
Sun goddess. <o:p></o:p>
Anjea
Goddess who forms infants from mud and places them into the mother's uterus. <o:p></o:p>
Apunga
Goddess of small plants. <o:p></o:p>
Biame
The "Great One," or creator. <o:p></o:p>
Bila
The cannibal sun goddess. She provided light for the world by cooking her victims over a giant flame. Lizard Man was appalled by these acts and tried to kill her. She turned herself into a ball of fire and fled, leaving the world in darkness. He threw his boomerang at her, catching her and making her move in a slow arc across the sky. This brought light back to the world. <o:p></o:p>
Boaliri
The younger of the two sister goddesses that created life. The other was Waimariwi. <o:p></o:p>
Bunbulama
Goddess of the rain. <o:p></o:p>
Cunnembeille
Wife of Biame. She lives in the heavens with him and his other wife, Birrahgnooloo. <o:p></o:p>
Dilga
Goddess of justice. Dilga became very angry when two of her children were killed by the "cat man" and his relatives. Milk flowed from her breasts so copiously it formed a stream that reached to where the murderers lived and drowned them. It also resuscitated her children and brought them back to life. <o:p></o:p>
Djanggawul Sisters
Daughters of the sun, these Australian goddesses unceasingly brought forth living creatures from their endlessly pregnant bodies. Their long vulvas broke off piece by piece with these births, producing the world's first sacred artifacts. <o:p></o:p>
Eingana
The Australian natives call her, Mother Eingana, the world-creator, the birth mother, maker of all water, land, animals, and kangaroos. This huge snake goddess still lives, they say, in the Dreamtime, rising up occasionally to create yet more life. This primordial snake had no vagina; as her offspring grew inside her, the goddess swelled up. Eventually, tortured with the pregnancy, Eingana began to roll around and around. The god Barraiya saw her agony and speared her near the anus so that birth could take place as all creatures now give birth. She is also the death mother. They say Eingana holds a sinew of life attached to each of her creatures; when she lets it go, that life stops. If she herself should die, they say everything would cease to exist. <o:p></o:p>
Erathipa
A huge boulder in the shape of a pregnant woman bears this name. It is said that the souls of dead children reside within it, and that if a woman of child-bearing age walks by a soul slips from the boulder and into her womb to be reborn. <o:p></o:p>
Gidja
God of the moon. <o:p></o:p>
Gnowee
The sun goddess of an aboriginal people of southeast Australia. The legend goes that Gnowee once lived on the earth at a time when the sky was always dark and people walked around carrying torches in order to see. One day while Gnowee was out gathering yams, her baby son wandered off. She set out to search for him, carrying a huge torch, but never found him. To this day she still climbs the sky daily, carrying her torch, trying to find her son. <o:p></o:p>
Ingridi
A "dreamtime" goddess. <o:p></o:p>
Julana
Chief god of the Jumu tribe. <o:p></o:p>
Julunggul
Goddess of initiations. <o:p></o:p>
Junkgowa
An ancestor goddess who lived during the "dreamtime". She was a multiple goddess (the Junkgowa Sisters) who created the ocean, and all the fish therein. <o:p></o:p>
Karora
The creator, according to the Bandicoot clan of the Arandan aborigines of Australia. <o:p></o:p>
Lia
A water goddess. <o:p></o:p>
Madalait
A creator goddess. <o:p></o:p>
Makara, The
Seven sisters who became the constellation Pleiades. <o:p></o:p>
Nabudi, The
Goddesses of illness. <o:p></o:p>