Have you ever been making your way through the bush and suddenly had the sense that you are being watched? There is something out there… something unknown… the break of a twig underfoot… someone else’s foot? Yet there is no one there. Do all your instincts scream that you are not alone? Well in Aus’ you usually aren’t.
No… it’s not always the drop-bears, nor the other forest animals. What it is likely to be watching you as you walk through the bush is the little forest spirits known as the Jongorrie. Well known by the tribal people who lived in our bush and forests for tens of thousands of years, the Jongorrie is a rapacious little bugger of indiscriminate appetites. Known to steal food most commonly, he is also not above a few other less desirable habits.
I have had the opportunity and privilege of treading the stone pavements of Ancient Pompeii, I have sat on the walls of the stone domes of the monks on the sharp hillsides of Ireland. In Wales I stepped along paths through the marshlands where the Druids once lived and in London I wondered over the Roman ruins unearthed beneath the city. I have trodden many places, amongst Viking ruins in Sweden and along ancient paths down through Europe but it was only this week that I felt the life that can be found in still even more ancient places.
The Featherfoot, or Kadaitcha Man of Australian Aboriginal Lore used many tools and weapons in the practice of their Lore. These men and women were named the Featherfoot by anthropologists because of the use of their specialized shoes. These shoes were intricately and ritually made primarily of feathers and it is said that these shoes allowed the Kadaitcha Man to move across the ground without leaving a trail. These Men of high degree and specialized knowledge were highly regarded and respected throughout tribal Australia. However the sectorial religions feared their influence during the colonization of Australia in the colonial century and denigrated their place in society in an effort to minimize their power and control over the people of the tribes across Aus.
Peeling back the tenets of an ancient lore, whose remnant still largely remain hidden behind a veil of secrecy and respect, is not the easiest thing on the earth to do. I have had an interest in the area of Aboriginal Lore since I was a child who stumbled across an ancient carving in a rock-face, which inspired the fertile field of the imagination.
The legend of the Djaranin, or the Dark Dogs of Death within Aboriginal Lore is a legend not well known. It is however perhaps one of the scariest legends or stories told to children and adults sitting around a campfire at night. It is right up there with the hell fire of the religious purgatory and was no doubt used tin the same way as hell-fire preachers used a simialar tale to subjugate their rowdy congregations in order to extract a larger legacy, thus avoiding the hell-fire.
Wolgaru, master of the Djaranin is a Serpent, one of the Lore givers of Aboriginal Lore. He is however the judge and jury in bringing into balance the good and evil in man.
In my study of the Oruncha Spirit Men I have come to appreciate that they are a powerful force to be reckoned with. There are two concepts of who or what the Oruncha Men were (or are). They are a tribal men, who lived apart from their tribe at times and practice their lore, not unlike the 
I chose this heading pic because it has to be said that if you stand too close to the serpent, you are bound to get burnt. So what has the serpent have to do with Religion, or even Lore?
Jan Hawkins Author 