Occult or Hidden Meanings Behind The Wizard of Oz: a Response to Vigilant Citizen's Article

Once again, the one who goes by 'Vigilant Citizen' on the web and has a site by the same name (Vigilant Citizen Website), is so insightful, observant, objective and astute, that it has sparked much debate over the web and has personally inspired my thinking as well. My responses are generally so long when I leave them as comments, that I thought I would create my own blog about this stuff. This is my response in regards to his article about The Wizard of Oz, sometimes known as the first American Fairy Tale.

The original article:

http://vigilantcitizen.com/?p=2282

My comments are as follows: (two). I go by two or three names on there, whatever strikes my fancy.

1. Riddle November 18th, 2009 5:36 am : Again, really thought-provoking and fascinating article.. The Wizard of Oz has always been my de facto favorite movie of all time since I was a child, it is always there in the background and has always had special meaning for me. I think I always intuitively knew that it had other meanings as well. Besides it just being a wonderful movie. But you have even further opened my eyes about this as well. I have also read that L. Frank Baum actually also wrote this about the economic environment of the time (a timely lesson for us as well these days..), but in a symbolic way since he couldn’t reveal everything he knew. I can’t recall the name of the book that discusses this at the moment, but I will post it when I find it as well as the meanings of that interpretation if so inclined. You analyze these things with such a sharp mind and critical analysis, as well as intuitive understanding, just my style of writing. Your writing is so utterly objective and unslanted, just pure knowledge and truth! When people read ‘Occult’ they automatically think ‘evil’ but really the meaning is just ‘hidden.’ Thanks for pointing out the hidden meanings of this gem of a story. I think some may have misunderstood what you were trying to say, it is a wonderful story, heart-inspiring and with many deep meanings, more than one layer, that kind of work always has something to teach on many levels. That is what makes a piece of literature genuinely significant. I am a genuine truth seeker as well as you say on your About me section. I can relate. And I absolutely love your site! I am forever a loyal reader! See you again soon..
   
   
2. Psychopomp (riddle) November 20th, 2009 3:47 am : If Vanessa sees this message, this is for her, the Vigilant Citizen is not saying the Wizard of Oz is ‘bad’ he is just pointing out the occult or ‘hidden’ meanings of it. But it is really a very good enlightening story, it gives a good message of how we don’t have to rely on an external ‘God’ meaning an idol (real God I believe is within us and he/she would want us to learn/do for ourselves, the ‘Gnostic’ Jesus I believe..). But it is really a very positive message.. I watched it for years as a child and it has never affected me in any negative way. There are plenty of other things that could have done that. But also, I don’t have the name of the book, but it is a book about the Federal Reserve system of all things, actually i think it may be the Web of Deceit, there is a picture of the FR on the front cover as a spider interestingly enough. It is written by a woman, can’t remember her name. But saying that so if you look up the book you know. Anyway, when Baum wrote this book, the federal reserve had just been formed some twenty or so years earlier, probably less when he wrote the book. But since he was aware of things and couldn’t say it all in clear terms, he wrote this book in symbols. So really the tin man represents the industrial industry or metal working, the lion represents oh I guess the unions (I forgot exactly, sorry) and the scarecrow represents the farmer who was beaten down by the corporate culture at the time, which is nothing compared to today. But ultimately the scarecrow (farmer) is victorious as he ‘gets a brain’ and decides to go into business for himself or something to that effect. The scarecrow becomes the leader of Oz in the end of the book/movie. And of course Dorothy represents the common man perhaps. I’d have to source the book to get all this exactly, but wanted to get the info out there.
   And somebody commented in one of the earlier posts that the red shoes were actually silver in the book, but due to the new technicolor film process, they were changed to red to show it off. But the silver represented the mint I believe. So we have another layer on top of another layer in this story. If the symbol is deep enough, it will penetrate endless layers, and the surface will be just as significant as the source.