In My Dreams

I visited Madam Mysterio the other day.

I'd had a strange dream after reading about a sixteenth century Aboriginal prophet named Nostradidi who lived by the Nepean River at Emu Plains.

Had he been born in Paris he would have attracted many disciples but at that time in Australia his visions were so strange that his fellows couldn't begin to envisage what he described, so he was ostracised.

He fled with a few disciples to a new home on the mountains at a place he named Warrimoo.

Warrimoo, in his particular dialect, means bicycle and, although Nostradidi had never heard of a bicycle he used the word to describe what had been incomprehensible in his dreams. Literally translated it means, "white man goes walkabout sitting down".

In my own dream, which Madam Mysterio explained was a genuine psychic experience, I saw his disciples painting the walls of Red Hands Cave at Glenbrook but was left wondering what it all meant.

Madam Mysterio said it was obvious that Nostradidi's band were unable to draw a bicycle from his description—it would have been too far outside their experience.

So they drew traffic hand signals.

I wonder if he ever predicted speed cameras...

FOOTNOTE:   Red Hands Cave is located in the Blue Mountains National Park. The walls have been painted with red ochre and carry the hand marks of an earlier Aboriginal culture.

I'm not sure what they mean but it's a pretty fair guess they didn't have anything to do with bicycles.

Oh yeah, and Warrimoo really translates as "eagle".

The paintings at Red Hands Cave.