In the Arunta tribe there is a firm belief in the existence of spirit individuals, between whom and the individual members of the tribe there exists a very definite relationship.

As we have already seen when dealing with the Churinga, every individual is supposed to be the reincarnation of an Alcheringa being. Now these Alcheringa beings are very closely indeed associated with the animals or plants whose name they bear; indeed, some of them are regarded as having remained in the form of animals, such, for example, as the celebrated kangaroo called Ultainta. We can distinguish three forms of Alcheringa individuals, (1) those who were the direct transformations of animals or plants into human beings; (2) those who were at first Inapertwa, and who were transformed into men and women by the Ungambikula; and (3) those who, like the kangaroo mentioned, were never actually transformed into human beings, but were endowed with powers not possessed by the ordinary animal, and were practically animal-men. In all cases the Alcheringa individuals were possessed of powers far greater than those exercised by living men; they could travel on, or above, or beneath the ground; by opening a vein in the arm each of them could flood whole tracts of country or cause level plains to arise; in rocky ranges they could make pools of water spring into existence or could make deep gorges and gaps through which to traverse the ranges, and, where they planted their sacred poles, there rocks or trees arose to mark the spot.