The Wisdom of Oz: Reflections of a Jungian Sandplay Therapist [Paperback]

This book came to me at a crossroads in my own life, at a time when I was experiencing my own personal journey to find the metaphorical `home', which paralleled Dorothy's journey in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I was so moved by Gita Morena's brilliantly insightful interpretation of the Oz story that I contacted her, and traveled across the country twice to attend meditation retreats that she led. The wisdom she brings to the interpretation of the Oz story is profound, inspirational and life-enhancing.

As great-granddaughter of Oz author L. Frank Baum, Dr. Morena brings a unique perspective to the interpretation of the Oz story in her masterfully written book. She begins by sharing her family history and setting the stage by showing how Baum's tale addressed numerous social, cultural and political issues in late 19th century America, when it was written. Dr. Morena is also a PhD Jungian psychologist who embraces Eastern philosophy, and it is this perspective that enables her to bring clarity to the true meaning of Dorothy's journey.

At some point in most every life, the proverbial `cyclone' hits out of the blue in the form of a major and unexpected upheaval. For those who allow their path to unfold, this `cyclone' represents the beginning of a sacred journey towards our true `home', which, as Dorothy learned, is the undiscovered or untapped resources we all possess, and the very "essence of who we are". Each character in Oz actually symbolizes an aspect of ourselves that must be acknowledged, developed and integrated into the whole. The Scarecrow represents wisdom, the Tin Woodman represents compassion, the Cowardly Lion represents courage, and Toto represents the intuitive or instinctual energy we each possess. Even the Wicked Witch represents the "shadow" or dark and repressed side of ourselves that we may not want to face, but must be addressed in order to find `home'. Dorothy's journey has several distinct phases and contains many challenges, paralleling our human journey along our own yellow brick road in life. We must also learn as Dorothy did that there really are no magical "Wizards" who can rescue us and send us home - we must do this for ourselves. In her book, Dr. Morena also shares her own very personal journey, which parallels Dorothy's. It is through facing the challenges in life's journey that we develop our own wisdom, compassion, courage and intuition, and find our own way `home'. As Dorothy realizes at the end of the story, she already has everything she needs inside of her.

The Oz characters and the journey along the yellow brick road touch a deep chord in many readers, and have become powerful metaphorical symbols in our culture. Dr. Morena illustrates this point using examples from the "sandplay" portion of her psychotherapy practice. Clients are guided to create scenes in a type of sandbox, choosing several of thousands of small figures available. As with art, music or poetry, these scenes help express important aspects of the inner self and the personal journey that a person may not be able to express in words. Time after time Dr. Morena's clients are drawn to use Oz characters or to create a yellow brick road in the sand, thus demonstrating how these characters do represent aspects of ourselves that must be acknowledged, developed, and/or integrated into the self. It is quite fascinating.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in a deeper look at this classic tale, and how its symbolic imagery can illuminate aspects of every human journey.

I am forever a student. In this book Gita relates the world of Oz to the field of psychology, something I have never seen. Exploring her family heritage she gives ample backround in explianing that we are all traveling in our own yellow brick road. Truly exceptional, Gita has a way with words. This is definatly a book for the eager to learn and open-minded. If you are such, it is a must read...

This is a note to Dorothy Gita Morena, please get your book back in print. Reading this book has been a joy and a great experience. I am learning to be be social worker and this book has been a catalyst for a presentation a class mate and I did only this last week. We used power point and actual class experimentation with sandplay and many of the people loved it. The other great thing about this book is all her experiences being in the Baum family and the great photos, most of which I have never seen before. I also love all her reflections on Oz and Jungian psychology which were great. So just thanks and hope it gets back in print.

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