emeralds of esoteric secrets in the wizard of oz

Long-term listeners of this podcast know that I've spent the last five years talking about the dark. Now I've built a flashlight, and it's called Moots. It's an instrument for serious private inner work designed to dismantle your excuses and never inflate your ego or assume the role of a sick-afantic companion. And the wait list is finally live. Access is granted in the exact order you sign up. Lock in your spot now at Moots.World. Welcome to the new era of inner work. Welcome. It's time to rest your weary mind, unwind, escape the matrix, and explore the arcane. We live in a culture that is rapidly losing its grasp on myth and meaning. Exploration of philosophy, depth psychology, esotericism, the occult, myth and mysticism have been proven to inspire awe. Such experiences of daily awe have been shown to be psychologically beneficial and aid in the potential expansion of consciousness. Each time we're here together, I'll select a reading, article or sample audio that could increase your opportunity for such experiences. While you listen, you might fall asleep. You might wake up. You might do both. Maybe finding the perfect balance between awake and dreaming is exactly what you always needed. Night night bitch. This is the exercise for your own development process designed by you. You should be hearing my voice in your right ear. Remember the purpose, your purpose for this exercise. And begin your pre-preparation process now. The affirmation beginning I am more than my physical body. Welcome my fellow seeker. Before we get into today's reading, I invite you to get into a comfortable position. The easiest way to get into the meditative state is to begin by listening. If you simply close your eyes and allow yourself to hear all the sounds that are going on around you, and listen to the general hum and buzz of the world. Because if you are listening to music, don't try to identify the sounds you are hearing. Don't put names on them. Simply allow them to play with your ear drums and let them go. Let your ears hear whatever they want to hear. Don't judge the sounds. There are no good sounds or bad sounds. It's all just sound. And if I am talking to you right now and you are doing this, I want you to listen to the sound of my voice as if it were noise. Don't try to make any sense out of what I am saying. Because your brain will take care of that automatically. You don't have to try to understand anything. Just listen to the sound. Today we will be reading a piece by Stephen G. Herbert called the metaphysical Wizard of Oz. In all the world's literature, the most successful and enduring stories tend to be those which express archetypal truths. One of the most prominent of these is The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a uniquely American myth. The original book by L. Frank Baum first appeared in 1900 and was further popularized by the 1939 MGM movie starring Judy Garland. Its author was a Theosophist which is certainly reflected in the profound esotericism underlying this classic tale. But Baum himself insisted that the story was purely inspirational, coming out of the blue, from the great author himself. The story begins in Kansas on a dry, flat, and featureless prairie. A riddety and formlessness of the landscape is further augmented by a lack of color. There's no distinction even of black and white, only a uniform gray. The bomb has written a thoroughly occidental fairy tale. There's much the parallels oriental symbolism here and throughout. The homogeneity of the environment suggests oneness as does the one room farmhouse in which Dorothy lived. It's the realm beyond all polarities and differentiations. It is the void or what the Buddhists refer to as Nirvana, beyond all concept and form. By contrast, the land of Oz is the colorful and magical world of Maya and Delusion. It's the realm of Cingaric experience. In Tibetan, the word for Maya literally means "magical show". Kansas is an uncivilized land, as the good witch of the North admits in the beginning of the story, being cut off from the rest of the world. Only uncivilized countries still have witches and wizards. Kansas has neither and is therefore civilized. Or in Nirvana, there is no distinction between the mundane and the magical. Uncle Henry and Aunt M represent the archetypal masculine and feminine aspects of the Androgenous Spirit. The name Dorothy is the feminine variant of Teodorah, meaning "gift of God" and symbolizes the soul about to enter into its last incarnation. Collectively, they exemplify the multiplicity of aspects inherent in being. On the prairie, the winds rise from the North and the South. The directions associated with the good witches of Oz and where they meet becomes the center of the cyclone directly over the house. Cyclone derives from a Greek word, meaning "circle" or "coil" of a serpent. The serpent, or Kundalini, represents the descent of the Spirit as well as the ascent and the round of birth and death. As the wind's rise, Uncle Henry and on M take cover in the cyclone cellar just as the spirit or knower witness but does not actually incarnate with the soul. Toto was the only thing in Kansas which was not gray, indicating that he is of the Sangaric realm. The karma, the soul carries back with it and which necessitates rebirth. But Bome's story is more than a simple, theological allegory and has multi-level symbolism. Even though Toto is not a fundamental aspect of the Nirvana, neither is he a fundamental aspect of Asangara for the people of Oz had never seen a dog before. The name Toto suggests Toto. And as such, the little dog represents the totality of the archetypes of the collective unconscious. Toto symbolizes for us the guide that leads us to wholeness at the same time that he functions as the trickster. When Dorothy tries to follow her uncle and aunt into the cyclone cellar, Toto hides under the bed and tricks Dorothy into being caught up in the fierce wind of karma, which is necessary for her to achieve wholeness. But despite the magical and wonderful nature of the land of Oz, Dorothy still yearns to return home to the monotonous Kansas from the moment she arrives. The map of Oz, however, reveals that it is rectangle-shaped exactly like the state of Kansas. Their corresponding shapes hint that the two realms, Nirvana and Sangara are actually one in the same. It's for Dorothy to discover that she's already home if she would just but realize it. The land of Oz itself is divided into four countries, each associated with a different direction and color, and either a good witch or a bad witch surrounding a central city. The obvious mandala composition also presents a striking resemblance to the symbolism contained in the Tibetan Book of the Dead or Bardot Thodal. In his psychological commentary contained in the Evans-Wence edition, Carl Jung describes how the gods and goddesses encountered in the Bardot state between death and rebirth are arranged according to the four directions and are distinguished by typical mystic colors. It gradually becomes clearer that all these deities are organized into mandalas or circles containing a cross of the four colors. The colors are coordinated with the four aspects of wisdom. There are five colors associated with the land of Oz and all are rainbow colors. The order in which Dorothy encounters them is important too. She meets first the good witch of the north, ruler of the purple, Gilligan country, wearing white, showing that all colors of the rainbow are integrated within her in a state of spiritual purity or clarity, with a magical kiss of protection upon the forehead, or on her third eye, or sixth chakra. Dorothy begins her journey within the blue munchkin country, traveling towards the green city of emeralds. From the wizard's palace, she proceeds through the yellow winky country and eventually ends in the red quadling country. These colors are associated with the seventh spiritual, fifth, throat, fourth, heart, third, solar plexus, and first basal or root chakras, respectively in descending order. Emerald City representing the central heart chakra lies in the heart of Oz, just as Kansas is America's heart land. The correspondence between Aunt M and the Emerald City has a further significance. Spirit communicates its wisdom to soul by the central psychic organ of the heart through the feminine function of intuition. Baum's story is also replete with alchemical symbolism as Dorothy travels down the road of gold, wearing her silver shoes in search of the emerald city, which could also be seen as the philosopher's stone or the grail. On the way, Dorothy is joined one by one by the three companions, who exemplify the elements. First, she finds scarecrow up in the air on a pole. The tin woodman was found rusted by water during a rainstorm and finally the cowardly lion bounds out of the forest with a roar and lands upon the earth in front of them. Each of the elemental companions also have a one-to-one correspondence with CG Jung's four functions of consciousness. Scarecrow, who is looking for a brain, represents thinking, ten woodman, who is looking for a heart, implies feeling. Cowardly lion, who is looking for courage, denotes sensation, or the will to act. Dorothy herself signifies intuition, which corresponds to the alchemical fire. Carl Jung represents the four functions of consciousness as placed at the four directional points of the compass with a transcendent function at the center. The four functions always take the same positions on a circle with respect to each other, and so is the order in which Dorothy meets each of her associates is also significant. The foursome symbolize in progression the transformation of spirit into matter. Ethheric, gaseous, liquid and solid. This fourfold symmetry superimposed upon the circle is the classic form of the mandala, which itself is a symbol of wholeness. The word mandala in Sanskrit means circle and center, with the center implying a passageway between dimensions. Among the travelers, Toto represents that center, the transcendent function, or the oft-included fifth element, which is also called ether. The cyclical and directional nature of the functions is again affirmed when the four companions, one by one, enter the throne room of the wizard of Oz. Dorothy, intuition, sees the wizard of Oz as a giant head or intellect. Scarecrow, who represents intellect, perceives the wizard of Oz as a lovely and sweet voice lady with green hair and wings, dressed in green gauze, feeling. The tin woodman, who represents the feeling function, views the wizard of Oz as a terrible beast. Finally, the cowardly lion, who represents sensation, action and will, sees the wizard of Oz as a large and hot ball of fire. The latter illustrates that in the end matter returns to spirit, completing the cycle, as when our service is offered back to spirit as a gift. The same seclicity of the elements in the reverse order is found in the Bardot Thodol's reference to the three chief symptoms of death. Evans' Wences footnote describes them as "A bodily sensation of pressure, earth sinking into water, a bodily sensation of clammy coldness, as though the body were immersed in water, which gradually merges into that of a feverish heat, water sinking into fire, a feeling as though the body were being blown to atoms, fire sinking into the air. Elsewhere the Bardot Thodol alludes to the sounds of the elements heard at death. Again, Evans' Wences footnotes an explanation. In the six doctrines, a treatise on the practical application of various yogas. If one findeth not the path during the second Bardot, then four sounds called awe-inspiring sounds are heard. From the vital force of the earth element, a sound like the crumbling down of a mountain. From the vital force of the water element, a sound like the breaking of storm-tossed ocean waves. From the vital force of the fire element, a sound as of a jungle ablaze. From the vital force of the air element, a sound like a thousand thunders reverberating simultaneously. Herein are described the psychic resultants of the disintegrating process called death, as affecting the four grosser elements composing the human body aggregate. The ether element is not named because in that element alone, the ethereal or Bardot body, the consciousness principle continues to exist. Since Dorothy and her companions represent the reincarnation of the soul, their order of appearance is reversed. Through the story, it's quite obvious that each already contains within him or herself the quality which he or she seeks. Dorothy killed the wicked witch of the east by virtue of her own power and greatness. Scarecrow seems to have all the ideas. The Tin Man is so sentimental that he fears stepping even on the tiniest bug and is constantly in danger of resting himself with his own tears. The cowardly lion scares away the other beasts with his roar and is quite capable of brave action. The process of the journey itself helps the entire party to discover those qualities within themselves and develop them. That development illustrates the alchemical transmutation of base substances into noble ones. Just as the alchemists' real goal was the transmutation of the elements within himself into their nobler forms, so do each of the travelers unconsciously attempt to ennobal the quality which he represents. Dorothy will transmute mere biological and cultural instinct into the highest intuition. Scarecrow will transmute intelligence of the brain into wisdom. The Tin Man will transmute mere sentimentality into compassion and the cowardly lion will transmute manipulating the reactions of others into his own will to act. Each of Dorothy's comrades debates about which quality, brains, heart or courage is most or least desirable. They don't yet realize that any one quality alone has both virtues and liabilities. Everyone is born at a different point on the medicine wheel, but for all the goal is the same. The maritory-ness of each quality can only be fully manifest when in healthy balance with the others, and this is the second unconscious objective of the journey. Integration. The transmutative and integrative process begins when Dorothy is dropped by the cyclone near the white mountains. White again is the color of spiritual purity, clarity and unity. The color of the integration of all the rainbow colors and begins her journey towards the central emerald city. In landing, the house kills the wicked witch of the east. Similarly, the soul and its last incarnation finally crushes the desire for rebirth. Just as for Dorothy, it was an unconscious act, so it is for the soul. For at this point, it's already been earned by previous karma. The means of return to spirit is also a gift, and as with the power of the silver shoes, it only remains to be remembered by the bearer. One other task must be accomplished first, however, as Dorothy must kill the wicked witch of the west, so must the soul consciously defeat the fear of death and ego dissolution. The yellow brick road represents the spiritual, yet perilous path. "You must walk," says the good witch of the north. "It is a long journey through a country that is sometimes pleasant and sometimes dark and terrible." One story that has been joined by her companions, they proceed towards the center and integration, but they must face and overcome many obstacles along the way. Though the land seems quite friendly in the beginning, the farther they went, the more dismal and lo and some the country became. The scarecrow, although he claims to be unable to think, makes a profound observation at this point. He reflects that if everyone had heads stuffed with straw, they would all live in awe. The sangara quarreled, and no one like Dorothy who had brains would want to live in Kansas or Nirvana. Here again, there is much symbolism that parallels that of the Tibetan book of the dead, in the Siddhpah or Third Bardo, which immediately precedes rebirth. One is world-alonged by the fierce wind of karma. The newly deceased may obtain liberation in the First Bardo, if one recognizes the primary clear light, which is the first to appear. In the first days of the Second Bardo, the peaceful deities appear, with associations of color, interaction and element, shining amidst a halo of rainbow light. If one is not afraid, and recognizes these lights as emanating from one's self, then one may merge with that light. Like Uncle Henry and Aunt M, these deities always appear in the male and female pairs. According to the Tantric School, every deity, even the supreme has its Shakti. Though ultimately, monism is recognized to be the reality and the dualism to be merely apparent. All pairs of opposites are viewed as originating in a single source, in the voidness of the Dharma kaya. The Bardo state, as a whole, is a process, initiatory in nature, where the visions become more and more terrifying as time goes on. Here one is incarnate in the thought body of propensities, facing the illusory thought forms which are born of mental content. The word Bardo literally means between bar, two states, dough, referring to either states of being or states of consciousness. It is the Buddhist philosophy in fact that birth and death occur not just once in a life. time but continuously. Therefore, there are Bardo states on both sides of death and on either side. Their purpose is to restore the soul to divinity. As each elemental companion tells the story of his life prior to joining the party, it reveals something about the nature of the respective unintegrated aspect. Scar Crohe confesses that his problems are partly due to his lack of experience, having only been made day before yesterday. Compared to the eternal spirit, the ego or intellect is very young indeed, being born a new with each incarnation. He also admits that he thought himself quite important, scaring Crohe's away, until even the Crohe's were able to see through him. Thereafter, he was simply ignored. Such is the intellect's exaggerated sense of self-importance, always a very insecure foundation. The Tin Man story began as a man of flesh in love with a beautiful munchkin made in, but a spell cast by the wicked witch of the east caused his axe to chop off one part of his body after another. Gradually, each portion was replaced with a tin version until he was completely tin and thus without a heart. Fell out of love with the munchkin girl, and in the same way, the self-destructive compulsive spells we are sometimes programmed with lead us into one painful experience after another, with each successive hurt. Another piece of our heart becomes hardened until it's completely walled in and loses the capacity to love all together. The cowardly lion had been able to scare the other beasts all these years with his roar. No one ever suspected his inner cowardice until a little girl slapped him on the nose. Thus, like the scarecrow, his quality was mainly a front, staged by the ego, and to make it genuine, each needed to make the heart connection. As they approached nearer to the heart center or the emerald city, the country again became more and more beautiful, but this didn't mean the dangers were over. This lovely sunny country was filled with fields of poppies with a deadly aroma which could cause one to slip into eternal sleep. Truly, as one first becomes attuned to the heart, one can become transfixed by its beauty and be tempted to rest there without following through to service. Thus, all further spiritual progress is halted. The scarecrow and the tinman who were not affected, carry out Dorothy and Toto, but the cowardly lion is too big to move. In the same way, intellect and feeling may save the aspects as a whole by carrying intuition and the transcendent function to safety, then clawing upon our sense of compassion for our fellow men to save the active function. The cowardly lion's demise and deliverance has another moral, the things are not always as they seem. This is a recurrent theme throughout, emphasizing that auses indeed the world of illusion. The huge lion succumbed to beautiful flowers and was rescued by field mice. Furthermore, his plight exemplifies the lesson and humility that is required of all of us before entering the realm of the heart. At the gate to the city, the partners were fitted with green glasses which were securely locked on. The people of Oz were perfectly capable of seeing the green of emeralds for themselves, but were made to believe they needed to be protected from the brightness and glory of the emerald city. Thus, authority and especially religious authority sets itself up as the mediator between its constituency and the truth and encourages a state of dependency rather than liberation. Furthermore, the glasses represent dogma or ideology and a lack of faith on the part of authority in the ability of truth to present itself, but that it will do and directly present itself if one only knocks at the door. Once they finally gain audience with the multi-formal wizard, they're told that they must first kill the wicked witch of the west before they may be granted their quests. On leaving the city, Dorothy finds the color of her dress and totals ribbon turned from green to white. Once making the heart connection, she, as intuition, has become officially a white sorceress and totale has turned from trickster to guide. The party set off with no idea how they will accomplish their task, but they do now have the faith gained from the heart. Unlike their travels through Munchkinland, there is no defined path in the winky country, and again the country becomes inhospitable. The wicked witch spots them immediately with her one eye that could see everywhere. In other words, the third eye of psychic sense. The wicked witch sense several adversaries against the party. Each of these attacks is thwarted until finally the witch calls upon her last resort. Similarly, when the ego is threatened with disillusion, it will defend itself with every resource at hand, and it's no different with the wicked witch of the west. Using the final order of the golden cap, she orders the winged monkeys to destroy the intruders. The scarecrow is torn apart, and the tin man is dropped from a hide onto sharp rocks. Closely paralleling the dismemberment and torture by demons so common in shamanic initiatory experience. Finally, the cowardly lion, action, is bound up and carried to the castle to be enslaved. But Dorothy could not be harmed due to the witch of the north's protective kiss upon her forehead. For even the winged monkeys recognized that the power of good is always greater than the power of evil. Therefore, she and Toto were delivered unhurt to the wicked witch to be imprisoned in her castle. The witch was unable to harm her either, but thought she couldn't slave her since Dorothy was ignorant of the power of her silver shoes. Finally, one day, the wicked witch tricked Dorothy and managed to steal one of her shoes. This so enraged Dorothy that she picked up a bucket of water and doused the witch, which caused her to melt away. Dorothy's silver shoes represent the way home, and indirectly immortality. Thus, the struggle of the witch to get the shoes symbolizes the ego's futile struggle to ensure its own immortality. For even the wicked witch with all her magic could not cross the impenetrable barrier of the desert surrounding Oz. But the illusion of death and consequently the fear of death comes from identification with one's temporal, transitory form as a fundamental an autonomous identity. And these are fears best dispelled by the feminine qualities of intuition and feeling. It will be remembered that the body of the wicked witch of the east dried up in the sun or the fire element, while the wicked witch of the west was melted by water, both are feminine aspects. The wicked witch of the west may also represent our own dark side as projection and the water as the unconscious. When one confronts the dark side, it can be robbed of its threatening nature and dissolved back into the unconscious and healthy integration. The rescue and repair of the scarecrow and tin man typifies the renewal and rebirth that follows the initiatory death of the old self. In the reuniting of the party is signified an integration of another kind. Body represented by the cowardly lion, soul represented by the tin man, mind, the scarecrow, and spirit, Dorothy. After the celebration, the companions are flown back to the emerald city by the winged monkeys. Since Dorothy is the inheritor of the golden cap, she now has command of these previously evil creatures. As esoteric traditions everywhere stress, demons torment us until all of the egos, attachments and compulsions have been conquered. Then and only then, the demons become our strengths and valuable resources that are at our command. Back in the emerald city, the wizard keeps them waiting for days until the scarecrow threatens to call the winged monkeys if he doesn't keep his promise. Finally, they enter the throne room, this time, altogether, and integrated. So the task still remains to unseat the ego from its false rule over the heart center. Balance has been accomplished, but transcendence has yet to be. In the throne room, the wizard pretends to be invisible and everywhere, as God truly is. Desperately, he tries to conceal all of his humbuggery, but it's soon uncovered. Once exposed, the wizard freely admits that he is a humbug. Likewise, we must all eventually wean ourselves from our dependence on the ego, as well as all teachers, guides and gurus that are outside of ourselves. The wizard was originally a ventriloquist, turned circus balloonist from Omaha, Nebraska. He was still a young man when one day he was carried to Oz in his runaway balloon. After landing, he was driven out of the yellow country by the winged monkeys, commanded by the wicked witch of the west, attesting to the inability of the ego alone to deal with the demonic forces of the psyche. Nonetheless, the people of the central green country accepted him as ruler and built the city and palace for him. But in spite of all his folly, it should be remembered that the wizard did originate from the same land as Dorothy. As the wizard himself said, "I'm really a very good man, just a very bad wizard." Yet even after admitting himself as a humbug and assuring them that each already have what they seek, the four travelers still insist that the wizard grant their requests. So he does what he can. First, he fills the scarecrow's head with pins to make him sharp. In the Ten Woodman's chest, he put an unbreakable silk heart stuffed with sawdust. To the cowardly lion he gave a drink of courage out of a square green bottle. Reflecting later, the wizard says to himself, "How when all these people make me do things everybody knows can't be done." This scenario, however, does illustrate an important psychosocial principle in that humans hunger for rituals. Dorothy's escorts needed a ritual to believe they really had what they always had. So perhaps there's some real magic in what the ego does after all in using symbols to catalyze the true powers within. As for Dorothy, the wizard decides to take her back to Kansas himself, leaving the scarecrow to rule in his stead, and that the emerald city is left ruled by a stuffed man is another spoof on authority. When the balloon has been constructed and readyed for flight, Toto once again runs and hides, and Dorothy misses her chance to accompany the wizard as he rises into the air wildly out of control. Intellect is capable of producing a tremendous amount of hot air, but alone by itself. It's incapable of directing the return home. This requires a surrender to spirit and a trust in its guidance. Here, Toto does Dorothy a favor as guide in preventing her from following the misguided leadership of the ego at this very critical point. Now she must seek out Glinda, the good witch of the south, as her last hope to return home. Dorothy's three companions now in possession of the qualities they sought, accompany her as she travels to the south. Again, the party and counter and overcome many obstacles until they finally arrive at the castle of Glinda. Here, the good witch of the south symbolizes the highest level of intuition or true guidance. Glinda has red hair, like the color of the country she rules, and blue eyes symbolizing the integration of lower and upper chakras. She wears the white dress of spiritual purity. From Glinda, Dorothy is assured that she has had the power to return over the desert within her all the time in the form of the silver shoes. But of course, we know that Dorothy's forgetfulness was necessary. For otherwise, the three companions would not have made their gains and acquired their kingdoms to rule. Similarly, the Bardotodal teaches us that the soul's liberation is already accomplished and has only to be realized. Until then, one makes himself a prisoner of samsara or the phenomenal universe, which includes the heavens and the hells. Both Buddhist and Hindu cosmologies describing the samsara are a repeat with color, direction, and alchemical symbology. The latter consists of the traditional four elements plus the fifth of ether. But Nirvana itself is reality, devoid of elemental distinctions, upon realization of Shunyata or Void, which in this story is represented by Kansas, one leaves these behind and acquires the Dharma kaya or divine body of truth. Glinda tells Dorothy she can return in three steps, or the three Bardos of the Tibetan book of the dead. Glinda says, "And each step will be made in the wink of an eye." But first, she promises to deliver the three companions back to their respective of Kingdom. by using the three commands of the Golden Cap, symbolic of the Seventh Chakra, Halo, or Nimbus. The sequence in which the winged monkeys are instructed to carry them back is the same order in which they were found by Dorothy, and Dorothy herself is the last to return. In her flight, however, the silver shoes fall off, lost forever in the desert, as her final return to spirit, they're no longer needed. The movie colored the shoes red, and not altogether, inaccurately. For red, the color of the first chakra is where the Kundalini sleeps, well grounded, until cold to carry the soul home. In a flash, the Kundalini rises, up through all the chakras, and all the colors of the rainbow. Dorothy finally achieves her one desire for all along. She knew that somewhere over the rainbow, there's no place like home. Thank you for venturing into the unknown with me. Full details about the selected text are available in the episode description. Selected readings are for the purpose of research and study, entertainment, and discussion. Divuse and opinions expressed in the included readings belong to the original authors and creators, and may not necessarily reflect my own. The episode description also contains links that will allow you to join the community on social and support the continued production of this podcast. Don't forget to follow the show on your favorite podcast player, so you're alerted when new episodes are released. In a wonderland they lie, dreaming as the days go by, dreaming as the summers die, ever drifting down the stream, lingering in the golden gleam, life, what is it? But a dream. Night night bits. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Long-term listeners of this podcast know that I've spent the last five years talking about the dark. It's an instrument for serious private inner work designed to dismantle your excuses and never inflate your ego or assume the role of a sick fanatic companion, and the wait list is finally live. Welcome to the new era of inner work.