Musical exploration was surely a feature of other even more ancient civilisations on the earth yet it is the didgeridoo that reaches back when music, ritual, magic and spirit journeying were woven together into a holistic way of life.

The Aboriginal culture is known to have gone back at least 100,000 years earthtime on this continent. For how long has the didgeridoo been played, and how and why?
It is only as we open up beyond our normal third-dimensional reality to the more subtle worlds  that we may clearly interact and direct the sound and the subtle yet strong vibrations that the didgeridoo emanates.
On one level it is frustrating to realise that perhaps much more under-standing and use of this instrument was intact only 100-200 years ago, yet luckily, not all of the knowledge and traditional use was decimated through colonisation. On the other hand, on some level, there is obviously a perfectly unfolding reason for it all, sometimes difficult to see, yet I am assured that the knowledge is returning, and this land and particularly the didgeridoo are part of raising the earth and each of us into higher dimensions of existence.
To paint a picture of how the didgeridoo was used, and to open up to its grander role and the bigger picture, it is helpful to relate to the myths and meanings of the Rainbow Serpent. It is a big part of the Aboriginal story or symbolisation of creation, the dreaming; and it is helpful to understand how it ties in with magnetic energies on and in the planet.

The rainbow is a symbol that makes visible the hidden energies that stir earth and animals to fertility, and the body of this nourishing spirit they see as a serpent energy that connects the earth with the celestial realms, and is thus responsible for the increase and flourishing of wild animals and plants, and the health of the earth itself.

It is understood today that the North Pole receives energy that then is internalised within the magnetism of the earth's core before being released from the South Pole and distributed along geo-magnetic lines (ley lines, earth meridian lines). The energy activates the life potential stored in the earth's body at each individual place and along each individual line. This movement is clearly represented in the Rainbow Serpent myth, where it flows from south to north along the lines referred to as Songlines.

The whole Aboriginal culture and their surroundings formed a living organism, and each tribe formed a grounding point for the energies of that area. The songlines formed the circulatory system that connected the tribal regions. Through recent channelled material about whales, it is being suggested that the whales' songs hold a grander role, of actually singing into existence or maintaining the biosphere of the planet. The dolphins also holding an important role in helping humans and animals on the planet, as we move through tribulation and beyond to once again take up our role as guardians of mother earth, alongside the whales, dolphins and indigenous peoples. Like the whales and dolphins, the Aboriginal people act consciously as guardians, and sing into existence the energies latent in the earth, and along their lines, and they do this through a complex series of rituals and ceremonies that are linked and known through their inter-relationship with the cycles of the earth's seasons and celestial bodies. Through the use of combinations of didgeridoo, clapping sticks, singing and dancing, they empowered the songlines, and also travelled as their spirit body along the songlines, interacting with other tribes and places, and so sharing songs, dances, and mythical visions of the ever unfolding Dreamtime reality.

This is not just something of the past. In the north of Australia there are tribes that still understand much, and perhaps all is contained awaiting the right time for opening. There is a degree of secrecy around many rituals and ceremonies and there is certainly much that will be shared more clearly in time.

© 1997 Tynon Bradford-Alaom

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