Tradition / Region: Aboriginal Mythology, Australian Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Mermaid, Shapeshifter
The Myth
In sacred waterholes across the land dwell spirits known as yok-yok, beings of the deep water who belong to the old time of creation.
They are most often seen as young women with fish tails and long green hair that drifts like seaweed across the surface. When people see strands of weed floating on still water, they say it is the hair of a yok-yok rising from below.
These spirits are tied to the life of the land. Where they dwell, water is strong and fertile. If a woman passes near a waterhole where a yok-yok lives, she may conceive a child, for the spirit’s power brings life into the world. They are also bringers of rain, and when they are pleased, the clouds gather and the land is nourished.
But they are not always gentle. If angered or disrespected, yok-yok can stir the waters and call down storms that flood the land and destroy what grows there.
They are shapeshifters and do not always appear as mermaids. At times they take the form of crocodiles, snakes, or great fish. Some stories say they may grow legs and walk the earth at night, or take wings and pass through the sky like dragonflies.
Now and then a yok-yok falls in love with a human man and lives with him for a time. Yet such unions never last. In the end she returns to the water, drawn back to the place where she belongs.
Some say the yok-yok are daughters of Ngaliod, the great creator linked to the Rainbow Serpent. Others say they are not merely his children but another form of the same ancient power—spirits of the living water that has always flowed through the world.
Gallery
Sources
Bestiary.us contributors. (n.d.). Iok-Jok. In Bestiary.us, from https://www.bestiary.us/iok-jok/
Interpretive Lenses
Religious Readings
- Christian Ascetic Deep Dive
Philosophical Readings
- Nietzschean Deep Dive
Psychological Readings
- Jungian Deep Dive
Esoteric Deep Dive
- Hermetic Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
- Marxist Deep Dive
Other
- How to Invite The Yok-yok