Esoteric Meaning Behind The Wizard Of Oz
~Author of the childhood classic, L. Frank Baum, was a noted member of the Theosophical society. The story follows Dorothy, a normal farm-girl from Kansas, who gets swept away by a tornado and brought to the mythical/mysterious land of Oz. She travels the Yellow Brick Road with her dog/spirit familiar Toto (an apparent nod to The Fool card of the Major Arcana), to find her way to the wonderful wizard of Oz, who is somewhere over the rainbow in the Emerald City, all of which can be viewed as an allegorical representation of the soul’s path to illumination.
The Yellow Brick Road, on the other hand, can be viewed as the concept of “The Golden Path” as discussed in Buddhist teaching (a key component in Theosophy), but it is also interesting to note that the color yellow is representative of the solar plexus, the emotional center where the heart and head meet (ego). The path of the Yellow Brick Road is shaped as an outwardly expanding spiral, and it is believed that the spiral represents the evolving self, where the soul ascends from matter into the spirit world. As Dorothy makes her way down the road she wears a pair of ruby slippers, which is an interesting color choice given that red is also representative of the chakra color which corresponds to the energy of our connection with the Earth, carrying the promise of survival. The companions she meets along the way – The Scarecrow, The Cowardly Lion, and the Tin Man – all appear to be fragmented aspects of her psyche. The Scarecrow believes he is without a brain, the Tin Man believes he is without a heart, and the Cowardly Lion believes he is without courage. The three components these friends seem to lack are three of the qualities an initiate to the great mysteries must possess in order ascend to the next level of understanding. The companions believe that if they brave the path together, the Wizard they are destined to meet will give them what they are searching for.
Amidst twists and turns, good witches and bad witches, munchkins and flying monkeys galore, they reach their destination, the Emerald City. Green here is an intentional color choice, as the Emerald City is representative of the heart chakra, which carries the power of love and the transformation of ego. As Dorothy followed her ego (the Yellow Brick Road), was guided by the desires of her base chakra (the ruby slippers), she reached her heart (The Emerald City) to find that the power of transformation was within her (and her friends) all along. The wizard was no wizard at all, beyond the smoke and mirrors – he was no different than they, and the great illumination came from the knowledge of the power of the true self and the heart, gnosis.
