Rainbow Serpent (Wagyl / Wagylu)

In Dreaming narratives the Rainbow Serpent is an ancestral creator-being that emerged from beneath the ground and, by moving through the land, formed major physical features such as ridges, mountains and gorges. It is one of the great spirits or totems active during creation (The Dreaming/Tjukurrpa/Jukurrpa), and many local groups possess their own named ancestral serpents whose actions found and encoded aspects of country. The English phrase "Rainbow Serpent" is an anthropological umbrella term, coined in modern scholarship, that groups a variety of distinct local beings and stories rather than a single unified origin tale.

Generally serpentiform and of immense proportions—large enough that its emergence and movement are said to have formed large-scale landforms. It commonly inhabits deep permanent waterholes. Regional variants show variation: some accounts describe a single-headed serpent, Arnhem Land Yurlunggur may possess a divided or double body; some traditions give it a crest, mane, or beard; others liken it to giant carpet snakes or link it to other animals in particular stories. Gendered depictions vary across groups (male, female, bigender, hermaphroditic, or unspecified), and some feminine forms are portrayed with breasts.

Creators of landscape: credited with moulding barren earth into ridges, gorges and mountains by emerging and pushing through the ground. Control over water and weather: associated with permanent waterholes, springs and rain; rainbows are frequently read as the Serpent moving between water sites. Fertility and life-giving functions: viewed as a giver of life through its association with water and sometimes connected to fecundity symbolism. Regulator and enforcer: when disturbed or offended it can bring great chaos and destructive consequences. Regional variation means not all local ancestral beings in this family are explicitly described as snakes or as literally the visible rainbow.