By Vigilant
With its memorable story and its cast of colorful characters, the Wizard of Oz became quickly an American classic. More than a hundred years after the release of this book, kids everywhere are still enchanted by Oz’s world of wonder. Very however recognize that, under its deceptive simplicity, the story of the Wizard of Oz conceals deep esoteric truths inspired by Theosophy. We’ll look at the Wizard of Oz’s occult meaning and its author’s background.
Although the Wizard of Oz is wildly perceived as an innocent children’s fairy tale, it is almost impossible not to attribute to Dorothy’s quest a symbolic meaning. Like all great stories, the characters and the symbols of the Wizard of Oz can be given a second layer of interpretation, which can vary depending on the reader’s perception. Many analysis appeared throughout the years describing the story as being an “atheist manifesto” while others saw in it as a promotion of populism. It is however by understanding the author’s philosophical background and beliefs that one can truly grasp the story’s true meaning.
L. Frank Baum, the author of the Wizard of Oz was a member of the Theosophical Society, which is an organization based on occult research and the comparative study religions. Baum had a deep understanding of Theosophy and, consciously or not, made of Wizard of Oz an allegory of Theosophic teachings.
What is Theosophy?
The Theosophical Society is an occult organization, mainly based on the teachings of Helena P. Blavatsky which seeks to extract the common roots of all religions in order to form a universal doctrine.
“But it is perhaps desirable to state unequivocally that the teachings, however fragmentary and incomplete, contained in these volumes, belong neither to the Hindu, the Zoroastrian, the Chaldean, nor the Egyptian religion,.neither to Buddhism, Islam, Judaism nor Christianity exclusively. The Secret Doctrine is the essence of all these. Sprung from it in their origins, the various religious schemes are now made to merge back into their original element, out of which every mystery and dogma has grown, developed, and become materialized.”
-H.P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine
The three declared objects of the original Theosophical Society as established by Blavatsky, Judge and Olcott (its founders) were as follows:
“First — To form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or color.
Second — To encourage the study of Comparative Religion, Philosophy, and Science.
Third — To investigate the unexplained laws of Nature and the powers latent in man.”
-The Theosophist, vol 75, No 6
The main tenants of Theosophy are thoroughly described in Blavatsky works Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine. At the core of Theosophical teachings are the same tenants found in many other occult schools: the belief of the presence of a “divine spark” within every person which, with the proper discipline and training, can lead to spiritual illumination and a state of virtual godliness.
Another important principle found in Theosophy is reincarnation. It is believed that the human soul, like all other things in the universe, go through seven stages of development.
“Theosophical writings propose that human civilizations, like all other parts of the universe, develop cyclically through seven stages. Blavatsky posited that the whole humanity, and indeed every reincarnating human monad, evolves through a series of seven “Root Races”. Thus in the first age, humans were pure spirit; in the second age, they were sexless beings inhabiting the now lost continent of Hyperborea; in the third age the giant Lemurians were informed by spiritual impulses endowing them with human consciousness and sexual reproduction. Modern humans finally developed on the continent of Atlantis. Since Atlantis was the nadir of the cycle, the present fifth age is a time of reawakening humanity’s psychic gifts. The term psychic here really means the realization of the permeability of consciousness as it had not been known earlier in evolution, although sensed by some more sensitive individuals of our species.”
The ultimate goal is of course our return to the state of divinity from which we’ve emerged. The same tenants (with subtle variations) can be found in other schools such as Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry and other orders teachings the Mysteries.