the wonderful wizard of oz

this post would be too long if i provided a summary of the story, so ill just get on with the symbolisms and start talking about:

initiation
the cyclone which uproots dorothy and her house into the fantastical land of oz. its easily noted that this is essentially a dreamlike world which defies almost all the rules that applied to the real world of kansas, but therefore also gives the actress seemingly impossible potential. what is real? that which we are familiar with? i quickly draw the connection between the cyclone and morpheus' red pill, albeit that morpheus and his outstretched hands implied the possibility of choice, the cyclone is otherwise environmental and thus oftentimes unavoidable. it picks us up and throws us down into realms of unfamiliarity, leaving us lost to find our way back; for this philosophical interpretation of Oz, this unfamiliar place is our psyche...and the story, our struggle with self-discovery.

encountering the shadows
deep inside our personal world lie the shadows of our conscious selves, and as jung would note, the shadows adopt mirror opposite traits of the qualities we are comfortable associating our outside selves with. dorothy encounteres three archetypes of her shadow: the tin woodman, the cowardly lion and the scarecrow. they embody, respectively, her lack of knowledge, courage and heart. these three characters, of their own accord, wish to become complete; this would represent the force of the repressed unconscious. i could even surmise that the collective will of these three was the reason for the spontaneous creation of the cyclone in the first place. if jung were alive he would warn you never to underestimate the power of the unconscious, especially your own.

trials and tribulations
dorothy and her shadows met numerous obstacles along her metaphorical path to individuation--the yellow brick road. the wicked witch sends wolves, crows, bees to slow dorothy down and possibly encourage retreat. a religious view would portray satan and his demons as the witch and her chicaneries. in a secular image however, these hurdles would similarly be personal battles with the social systems of the world encompassing morality and ethical values.

i note that dorothy manages to overcome these predicaments with the help of her shadows, even though they are incomplete. this strengthens my suspicion that completion of the psyche is after all and end goal; these small hurdles thrown at us in the beginning are only the minor quests that we struggle to overcome and become reminded that we are not invulnerable and are always in need of assistance. the witch's plans are foiled, but she still manages to capture dorothy and her entourage with the use of more powerful proverbial snares: in this case, the winged monkeys.

power of the persona
dorothy witnesses the true usefulness of each shadow's qualities, as the tin woodman is revered as king among the winkies, the cowardly lion, ruler of the forest, etc...in life we cannot deny the fact that in different situations we become different people, or as jung would use the term, persona, latin for 'mask'. while this might seem to be specious misrepresentation, i see the discovery of one's strengths as paramount to the discovery of one's weaknesses. after all, it is not confidence and wit which befall us--it is overconfidence in our ability; not knowing one's limits. to be safe, dorothy must be able to wield her shadows to her advantage without becoming lost behind them--in essence, the shadows must be servile to their master dorothy who casts them and in no hurry shall one shadow need be more powerful than the rest.

intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
when the three shadows are finally provided by the wizard of oz with what they wanted the most, they are all contented to receive what only you the wise reader would note to be placebos: bran and needles for brains, sawdust for a heart, and a suspicious potion for courage. i note that dorothy's 'wizard' was after all, just an encourager in spirit; that though his help could not be weighed in reality, they had positive effects for dorothy and her party. some of us create our own wizards to support us, and though they might just be figments of our imaginations, they work for us, and as jung would say "what is real? anything that works, is real."

for the rest of us, we might respond better to extrinsic motivation, much akin to jung's philemon, his spirit guide which appeared to him though was not created by his unconscious. dorothy's guru was glinda, the good witch of the south who also repeatedly provided dorothy's party with assistance...

revelation
and the climactic truth that the tin woodman had all along been the most tender and loving, that the cowardly lion had all along been the bravest, that the scarecrow had all along been the wisest, and most shockingly that dorothy had all along possessed the power of the silver slippers to go anywhere she wanted, unimpeded. on first thought i was unimpressed that this implied the notion that the journey of oz was after all this, a moot struggle. then i realised that though the truth is that all of us contain the potential to succeed immeasurably, it is only the those of us to whom this truth is revealed that allow us to tap this potential.

it is not enough to know that you have the ability to succeed. you must believe it so. but believing is infinitely more difficult an act than saying the words "i believe." it must be proven to you before you can unleash it, as we are all skeptics by nature. and i bet glinda would agree when i say that the power lies about your own two feet. the person whose duty it is to prove to you your complete ability, is yourself.