Received: December 1, 2011 Accepted: December 15, 2011
Abstract
In this study four Australian Aboriginal stories (Dreamtime stories) were selected for
phenomenological description and empirical interpretation based on analytical psychology. The
phenomenological contents were classified in accordance with the four categories suggested by
Van Manen (1990/1994), namely empirical space (spatiality), empirical body (physicality),
empirical time (temporality) and empirical human relations (relationality). The Aboriginal stories
deal with the vitality and divinity of the earth in terms of spatiality; the extraordinariness of
human beings in terms of physicality; Kairos time, which exists significantly in terms of time;
and human primal desires and social taboos in terms of relationality. Furthermore, unlike stories
from Western cultures, referred to as fairytales, myths, legends and sagas, the Aboriginal stories tend to encompass all four categories in one story.
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