Who would've thought that The Wizard of Oz contained hidden meanings?

I've always thought The Wizard of Oz (1938 film) to be a classic example of The Hero's Journey, but I later learned that it's much much more than that. The Wizard of Oz movie didn't become an annual television event until the 1950s and 1960s, the book that was to become the movie was written in the year 1900. So this movie took a long time to gain steam. The universal quality of the story and the warmth of the film made it appealing to people of all ages, but who would've thought that The Wizard of Oz contained hidden meanings?

If this movie taught me anything (upon face value, watching it again after all of these years) is that the next time I go looking for my heart's desire, I won't look any further than my own backyard; if it's not there, then I never really lost it to begin with. Those who delve deep into the vices known to man; alcohol, drugs, sex are all people who fit the archetypal figure known as Dorothy.

Dorothy who descends into a magical trance whereby she is lifted from Kansas and transported to the land of Oz goes through a whole heap of trouble before she realizes that the wizard she was seeking was a fraud in the end; and he ends up telling her that she had what she was looking for all along. The central figure Dorothy is a lost soul, looking for hope, from an external source; when all along the kingdom of heaven was WITHIN her.



Dorothy seen above holding her dog 'Toto' which in latin means "the entirety" and the total, or the whole of something which she held for dear life all throughout the movie. The word 'Toto' in latin was often used in reference to land/estates, herein the dog named Toto may in fact symbolize the deed to the land in Kansas which she is hopelessly trying to get back to.

The story starts with Dorothy Gale living in Kansas, which symbolizes the material world, the physical plane where each one of us starts our spiritual journey. Dorothy feels an urge to “go over the rainbow”, to reach the ethereal realm and follow the path to illumination. She has basically passed the first degree by demonstrating the urge to seek a higher truth.



Dorothy is then brought to Oz by a giant cyclone spiraling upward, representing the cycles of karma, the cycle of errors and lessons learned. It also represents the theosophical belief in reincarnation, the round of physical births and deaths of a soul until it is fit to become divine. It is also interesting to note that the Yellow Brick Road of Oz begins as an outwardly expanding spiral. In occult symbolism, this spiral represents the evolving self, the soul ascending from matter into the spirit world.

During her journey along the Yellow Brick road, Dorothy encounters the Scarecrow, the Tin-man and the cowardly Lion who are respectively searching for a brain, a heart and courage. Those odd characters embody the qualities needed by any initiate in order to complete the quest for illumination/enlightenment. After surmounting many obstacles, the party finally reaches Emerald city in order to meet The Wizard.



It is later discovered that the Wizard is a fake charlatan, who scares people into worshipping his authority. 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”.



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