picture credits  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is my fav fairy tale. It speaks to me of owning our courage, wisdom and passion so we have a healthy awareness of our self-esteem.  All too often, self-doubt keeps us from recognizing who we truly are.

The following is from thesaurus.com:
self-esteem [self-i-steem, self-] Part of Speech: noun
Definition: pride amour propre, conceit, confidence, dignity, egotism, morale, narcissism, self-assurance, self-content, self-regard, self-respect, self-satisfaction, vanity, worth
Antonyms: self-deprecation, humility

The above definition of self esteem is not very positive. Perhaps this is where the problem lies.  How can we feel good owning a quality which seems to be loved and hated at the same time.  We all know that pride comes before a fall, and some of those synonyms would make us prime candidates for a personality disorder.   If this is how society views self-esteem, is it any wonder we have trouble acknowledging our positive sense of self?

We may need a tornado or a real shake-up to wake us from the deep sleep of denial in which we have hibernated.  In that state of being asleep to truth, it will take courage, intelligence and passion to question what is real and what is imagined, as we live in to a fully awakened state of being.  Self-belief and a healthy acceptance of our qualities…both good and not so good…is a very empowering place to be.

Just like Dorothy, when the journey is over, we may indeed wake up in our own bed.  Our lives may look the same on the outer, but nothing will ever be the same again on the inner, and that is where true power lies.

All of the main characters in the Wonderful Wizard of Oz are aspects of Dorothy as she develops into her own person and recognizes her own power.

The Cowardly Lion wanted courage.  Oddly enough, he was consistently brave while on the journey, even though he thinks he is a coward.

The Scarecrow wanted intelligence/wisdom, but time and again he used creativity to cleverly solve problems.

The Tin Man wanted heart/passion, but is so filled with heart and sensitivity that he is moved to tears when adversity occurs with the various characters they meet on the journey.

Dorothy is already very powerful; she just doesn’t see it yet.  She kills the Wicked Witch by crushing her when her house lands.  She has proven she has the ability to crush/overcome the evil in her life and still doubts her ability to find her way without help.  The Good Witch of the North tells Dorothy she will need to travel to the Emerald City and ask the Wizard of Oz to help her get home.  Are we also trusting the well-meaning people in our lives who may be keeping us from owning our power?

Dorothy meets courage, wisdom and passion on her journey in the Lion, Scarecrow and Tin Man respectively.  She overcomes many obstacles on the road to Oz only to find that the Wizard, who seemed so big and powerful, was really a little old man hiding behind a facade.  He had no ability to grant them what they were looking for; they had earned what they were looking for while on the journey.

Stepping out on the road to Oz takes a lot of courage.  Dorothy’s life was barren and bleak.  An orphan who lived with her Uncle and his wife; her dog Toto is her only source of joy.  (Just as an aside, dog spelled backwards is God.  It is impossible to categorize God in any way….but I sometimes imagine dogs come closest with their ability to provide unconditional love, and to live in the moment.)  Dorothy’s life gets turned upside down, but she isn’t alone…she has her dog!  I think of Toto as that part of Dorothy which is bigger than she is….it is her higher self.

In 1900, when the original story was published, the farm signified livelihood for many people.  Dorothy was unhappy with her life, but was unable to make a change until she owned her amazing self-confidence and wakes to a blissful family reunion.  I believe this  family reunion is a metaphor for her integration of all the parts of herself she had been unable to own.  Is it any different for us today?  Many of us are unable to access the level of happiness available to us.  We need to own our amazing self-confidence so we’ll have more ability to call our own shots, and live the kind of life which brings us joy.

A few at the very top have always controlled the masses by controlling money or our livelihood. If we wait for an outside answer, or for someone behind the curtain to save us, we will never find autonomy or the ability to make our own choices.   Even when Dorothy understood the Wizard was not who she thought he was, she still abdicated her own power and expected him to be her saviour.  It wasn’t until Toto (higher self) ran from the hot air balloon, (calls her in another direction) and Dorothy goes after him, that she was given the opportunity once again to find her own way.

We are all ultimately orphans.  No one can do our work for us or care for us; that is an inside job…but we aren’t alone.  We have all we need within us to find our way.  We must develop a very strong belief in ourselves, so others cannot manipulate or rule over us.

There are amazing adventures occurring in our own World today.  Recent occurrences such as those happening during Occupy Wall Street, as well as in countries such as Turkey, Egypt, and Brazil, are just some examples of the masses stepping out with courage, passion, and intelligence to uncover the Wizard. Manipulative figures have controlled us and we become willing participants when we know better and still expect them to save us.

Here’s a little bit of information you may not be aware of…..

“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He, who understands it, earns it … he who doesn’t … pays it.” Albert Einstein

The rules of international banking stipulate that for every dollar in reserve, $9 can be lent.  This $9 doesn’t exist anywhere; it is make-belief numbers electronically passed back and forth between the wizards behind the curtains.  Talk about the ultimate fairy tale!   (From what I understand, certain countries are tightening up these stipulations internally so there is at least $5 in reserve for every $10 lent. That is still lending money that doesn’t exist to make profit!)  It’s not make-belief though when we are paying the interest on all those “loans” so easily made available to us in this consumerist society.  These wizards use compound interest to inflate their own pockets and take from the (pre-tornado :)) Dorothy’s of the world. Our precious life energy goes to making a few at the top very wealthy. (This post goes further in to this concept. Warning…it may have you thinking of money in a whole new way!)

The good news; their power base is crumbling.  Toto tips over a screen and it comes tumbling down to uncover the Wizard for who he is.  I think our higher selves (Toto) are nudging us to look behind the screen…at the whole picture!  Most of the people we see who are in identifiable positions of power are puppets, just like the Wizard.  In the story, he had been longing to return home to Omaha to be an illusionist in a circus again.  Fitting really! :)

Those controlling the wizards behind the curtain are few in number and we have the ability to uncover them…we are many.  Dorothy battled good and evil, came face to face with untruths, and realized she had it in her all along to find her own way.  So do we!

Take Care, Paula