The foetus takes on an initial spiritual identity which links them to an ancestral being. This spiritual knowledge strengthens as they pass through stages of initiation and participate in more ceremonies. A person s ancestry, birth or conception will determine ownership of a specific spiritual design or image. It will determine their right to reproduce totemic images. Artists are re-activators, recreating stories of the Dreaming through songs, dances, and paintings relevant to their own spiritual background.
Mortuary ceremonies ensure the safe return of a person s soul to the ancestral world.
Once it rejoins the spiritual realm it may return as a new conception spirit. And so the spiritual cycle continues. A New Synthesis . Cambridge University Press.