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The Dreaming is inextricably linked to the land because the land contains the Dreaming and is the medium through which the Dreaming is lived and communicated. That is, the land is where the Dreaming and its stories take place, and subsequently forms the resting place for their ancestral spirit beings. These sites are regarded as being of sacred significance and carry with them ritual responsibilities for the Aboriginal community. Thus, the identity of an Aboriginal person can be said to be inextricably linked with the land. Hence, a critical part of learning about the Dreaming includes knowing the features of the land, which they regard as a mother, in intricate detail.

Whilst traditionally, all Aborigines regard all land as important, particular sites hold a particular significance for some groups of Aboriginal people. These sites are known as sacred sites, and contain certain aspects of the Dreaming, which are believed to have taken place there. Subsequently, ceremonial responsibilities such as balance rites are attached to these sacred sites because Aboriginal people see themselves as related to and a part of this natural world. Balance rites are special ceremonies to increase the reproduction of a particular animal, which is the representation of an ancestral spirit being from the Dreaming. This belief that an animal or a feature of the natural world is an embodiment of the individual in his or her primordial state, is known as totemism. Subsequently, the loss of land, which results in the inability to fulfil ritual responsibilities, is an insurmountable obstacle to effectively live the Dreaming.