The Occult Symbolism of The Wizard of Oz
“Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
And the dreams that you dream of once in a lullaby, oh
Somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly
And the dreams that you dream of
Dreams really do come true, ooh”
The Emerald City of Self Actualization
Introduction
(Chaz Anon) In the 1980’s, Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz seemed to rerun on CBS every few months of the year. It was one of my favorite films as a child, and even today I experience nostalgia every time it happens to pop up on my TV screen. It’s a wonderful story about a girl’s journey from a boring colorless farm life to an exciting colorful adventure ‘over the rainbow’ on a “Golden Path” (or yellow brick road) of spiritual enlightenment.
Some believe the story is Baum’s attempt to discredit traditional Christian ideals and promote a new age esoteric philosophy, while other think it is an allegory about monetary policy.
The less metaphysical interpretation suggested that the novel was about the demonetization of silver in 1873, whereby “the cyclone that carried Dorothy to the Land of Oz represents the economic and political upheaval, while the yellow brick road stands for the gold standard, and the silver shoes Dorothy inherits from the Wicked Witch of the East represents the pro-silver movement (change to ruby slippers for the film).
Either way, Frank Baum’s connection to the occult, and more specifically the Theosophical Society certainly influenced how he pieced together the many concepts in this creative tale of a girl on a journey.
Baum’s Theosophy
At the core of Theosophical teachings is the belief of the presence of a “divine spark” within every person which can lead to spiritual illumination.
“There is a strong tendency in modern novelists towards introducing some vein of mysticism or occultism into their writings. Books of this character are eagerly bought and read by the people, both in Europe and America. It shows the innate longing in our natures to unravel the mysterious: to seek some explanation, however fictitious, of the unexplainable in nature and in our daily existence. For, as we advance in education, our desire for knowledge increases, and we are less satisfied to remain in ignorance of that mysterious fountain-head from which emanates all that is sublime and grand and incomprehensible in nature.”
-L. Frank Baum, Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer, February 22nd 1890
The Wizard of Oz was published in 1890 and L. Frank Baum and his wife Maud Gage joined the Theosophical Society in Chicago on September 4th, 1892. “Although readers have not looked at his fairy tales for their Theosophical content, it is significant that Baum became a famous writer of children’s books after he came into contact with Theosophy. Theosophical ideas permeate his work and provided inspiration for it. Indeed, The Wizard can be regarded as Theosophical allegory, pervaded by Theosophical ideas from beginning to end. The story came to Baum as an inspiration, and he accepted it with a certain awe as a gift from outside, or perhaps from deep within, himself.”
-American Theosophist no 74, 1986
Over The Rainbow
The story begins in Kansas, where we are introduced to young Dorothy Gale, who lives on a farm with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, which is representational of the earthly physical plane where all unenlightened humans begin their spiritual journey. Very early on in the film she sings about going “over the rainbow”, which represents leaving the earthly realm for an ethereal reality.
Dorothy is brought to Oz by a giant cyclone spiraling upward, after being struck unconscious during a tornado by a window which came loose from its frame. In occult symbolism, this spiral represents the evolving self, the soul ascending from matter into the spirit world.
She awakens in the magical Land of Oz. The Good Witch of the North, Glinda appears in an ever growing bubble and quickly advises Dorothy to follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard of Oz, which is the only way to return to her home in Kansas. The Wicked Witch of the West manifests in a green cloud, attempting to take her sister’s ruby slippers from Dorothy, but Glinda uses her magic and puts them on Dorothy.
Follow The Yellow Brick Road
Dorothy’s adventure starts at the beginning of an ever expanding spiral on the Yellow Brick Road to Oz. In occult symbolism, this spiral represents the cyclical nature of the universe, which in human nature is the evolving self, for which the soul ascends from matter into the spirit world.
In the novel, Dorothy is given the “silver shoes”, which represent the “silver cord” a mythical link inspired by a passage in the Bible that speaks of a return from a spiritual quest. ‘Or ever the silver cord be loosed, says the book of Ecclesiastes, ‘then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it’. (Dorothy was wearing ruby slippers in the movie due to a last minute change by the director, who thought that the color ruby looked better against the Yellow Brick Road). The silver cord is considered to be the link between our material and spiritual selves.
In Frank Baum’s own writing, the silver cord of Astral travel would inspire the silver shoes that bestow special powers upon the one who wears them”
-Evan I. Schwartz, Finding OZ: How L.Frank Baum Discovered the Great American Story
During her journey, she meets and is joined by three friends including the Scarecrow, Tin Man and a Cowardly Lion, each lacking the three components to an actualized individual (a brain, a heart and courage), or illumination.
From the socio-economic perspective, the Scarecrow represents the farmers, The Tin Man represents industry (namely steel workers), and the Lion represents William Jennings Bryant, a populist American politician.
During the period the novel was written, farmers were called deluded simpletons without any brains, but proved to have common sense and resilience, like the Scarecrow.
The Tin Man represents factory workers who experienced high unemployment during the depression of the 1890s. But he is ready to work, as Dorothy demonstrates by giving him just a few drops of oil.
Like the Cowardly Lion, Populist hero William Jennings Bryan was known for his "roaring." He was even portrayed as a lion by the press.
Surrounded by artifices and special effects, the Wizard comes across as cruel, rude and unwise. The Wizard is, in fact, a stand-in for the personal God of the Christians and the Jews, the oppressive figure used by conventional religions to keep the masses in spiritual darkness: Jehova or Yahwe. It is later discovered that the Wizard is a humbug, a charlatan, who scares people into worshipping his Wizard. He surely could not help the characters complete their quest. If you read the literature of Mystery schools, this point of view towards Christianity is constantly expressed.
Although the Wizard claims to be great and powerful, he's actually a charlatan. As Littlefield explains, the Wizard is "a little bumbling old man, hiding behind a facade of papier mache and noise," making him "any President from Grant to McKinley." Rather than playing a specific person, the Wizard is symbolic of the presidency itself – and just like a politician, the Wizard says, "I never grant favors without some return."
In the book, the Wizard asks Dorothy to kill the Wicked Witch of the West. The request shows the Wizard's lack of power – if he was truly so great, would he need a little girl to carry out his orders? Like American presidents, the Wizard's power was an illusion – and in many ways, he was less powerful than the two wicked witches.
After all, is said and done, the brains, the heart and the courage needed to complete Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tinman and Lion’s quests were found within each one of them. Mystery Schools have always taught their students that one must rely on oneself to obtain salvation. Throughout the story Dorothy’s dog Toto represents her “inner voice”; her intuition. Here’s a description of Toto taken from the Theosophical Society’s website:
“Toto represents the inner, intuitive, instinctual, most animal-like part of us. Throughout the movie, Dorothy has conversations with Toto, or her inner intuitive self. The lesson here is to listen to the Toto within. In this movie, Toto was never wrong. When he barks at the scarecrow, Dorothy tries to ignore him: “Don’t be silly, Toto. Scarecrows don’t talk.” But scarecrows do talk in Oz. Toto also barks at the little man behind the curtain. It is he who realizes the Wizard is a fraud. At the Gale Farm and again at the castle, the Witch tries to put Toto into a basket. What is shadow will try to block or contain the intuitive. In both cases, Toto jumps out of the basket and escapes. Our intuitive voice can be ignored, but not contained.
In the last scene, Toto chases after a cat, causing Dorothy to chase after him and hence miss her balloon ride. This is what leads to Dorothy’s ultimate transformation, to the discovery of her inner powers. The balloon ride is representative of traditional religion, with a skinny-legged wizard promising a trip to the Divine. Toto was right to force Dorothy out of the balloon, otherwise she might never have found her magic. This is a call for us to listen to our intuition, our gut feelings, those momentary bits of imagination that appear seemingly out of nowhere.”
As stated above, the fake Wizard invites Dorothy into his balloon to go back to Kansas, her final destination. She, however, follows Toto (her intuition) and gets out of the balloon, which represents the empty promises of organized religions. This leads to her ultimate revelation and, with the help of the Good Witch of the North (her divine guide), she finally understands: everything she ever wanted could be found “in her own backyard”.
In order to obtain illumination, Dorothy had to vanquish the wicked witches of the East and the West – who were forming an evil horizontal axis: the material world. She was wise in listening to the advice of the good witches of the North and South – the vertical axis: the spiritual dimension.
At the end of the story, Dorothy wakes up in Kansas: she has successfully combined her physical and spiritual life. She is now comfortable being herself again and, despite her family not really believing the details of her quest (the ignorant profane), she can finally say “There is no place like home”.
