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Robert L. Gardner, Robert L. Garnder “The Rainbow Serpent: Bridge to Consciousness"

Review

Indigenous peoples make jokes about the European invaders - they always carry "too much baggage". When that

baggage is mental instead of physical, the jokes become sad irony. This book took the writer to Australia's Outback to study Aborigine myths. From the results he published, it would appear Gardener took in more than he brought out. Although articulated well and graced by some intriguing graphics, this book is a wealth of outmoded and/or wrong-headed ideas. It's debatable whether Aborigines reading this book would be doubled over in hilarity or twisted with rage. On one thing they would all agree - the book misses the meaning of their mythology. The reason for the mistake is Gardner's insistence on plugging European-based philosophy into the Aborigine milieu.

Gardner relates the myth of Wawilak Women, twins whose activities led to today's world by casting away an earlier earthly paradise. Although this particular origins myth is restricted to a small corner of Australia's Arnhem Land, Gardner would have us accept it as a universal. Even extending far beyond Australia. In the story, the twins "polluted" a sacred spring inhabited by Yurrlungur, the "Big Father". Yes, the relationship with the Judeo-Christian deity is explicit. Christian allusions fill the remainder of the book as Gardener tries to relate Aborigines' mythology to modern ones through supporting the idea of extended consciousness across all humanity. He argues that early Aborigine society was female-dominated until divine wrath elevated male domains and overcame the matriarchal hegemony. This concept follows the neo-pagan and "wiccan" movements active today. Regrettably, like the wiccans, Gardner is better at imaginative interpreting than he is at simply observing evidence.

Gardner's "excess baggage" is Carl Jung. Jung's heavy-handed analyses of dreams is applied by Gardner as a tool to dissect an Aborigine myth. Where better to use Jung than in exploring the continent of the Dream-Time? The Aborigines are bodily encapsulated in Jung's "universal consciousness" scheme where all minds are subtly and inextricably linked. That Jung had little knowledge of evolution and certainly formulated his ideas long before the current wave of consciousness studies is not to fault his own efforts. That Gardner should attempt to resurrect this notion in these times is little short of embarrassing for the reader. Gardner's struggle to keep the notions of Jung in view is a valiant one, but credibility undercuts his efforts. If anything, this book can best be considered only an historical curiosity.

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Rating:
2.5 out of 5 by Book123