L. Frank Baum published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the year 1900. A Harry Potter novel of its time and popular among American kids. It would reach global acclaim as one of the first technicolor Hollywood films in 1939, though deviating from the original work and its meaning.

Monetary documentary maker Bill Still was one of the first to point out that this American fairy tale is about sound money adoption.

I would like to expand on his historical take and add the mythological perspective. To point out all the little gems that remained unaddressed regarding self-sovereignty, and all the things related to the Bitcoin rabbit hole.

I urge the reader to read the book first or listen to the audiobook. It will make the experience more worthwhile and easier to follow. The movie won’t do as well, as most of the highlights only appear in the written work.

Into the Cyclone

The story sets out with the hero Dorothy living with her aunt and uncle in a gray and dull country. The name Dorothy means god’s gift and may be connected with d’or (golden in french).

The significance of the gray is a reference to the loss of imagination. It’s a frequent theme in the work of Michael Ende, the writer of the Neverending Story, who also wrote a money fairy tale called Momo. In that story it’s the gray men who steal the people’s time. Consequently the children lose their capacity to play imaginative games.

The gray may also point to reaching the state of complete nihilism. A life in which all color has been lost. Many fall into the rabbit hole only after first reaching a state of meaninglessness and total desperation. This motif is also played out in the Matrix. Neo has a shitty job, experiences a futile life and opens a page “On Nihilism”. Those introductory scenes are even filmed in a filter that takes out most of the color.

Dorothy’s journey starts when her whole world has turned completely gray and meaningless. Only then does the bridge open to the imaginative world. That bridge can be a rabbit hole or a drainage pipe into a sewer. In this story it’s the cyclone. Dorothy, her dog Toto and the house get violently swooped up in the twister, and whirl through the sky to the distant land of Oz.

Munchkin Country and the Dark Forest

The house crashes down on top of the Wicked Witch of the East, making Dorothy the new owner of her silver shoes. Though, new owner? The story says “silver shoes that fit as if they were made for her”. This suggests that the shoes were hers all along and that she might have just forgotten about it. They carry a special power she’s yet unaware of, namely the power to bring her back home.

The Good Witch of the North then sends her off onto the yellow brick road (gold bars). The road leads towards the Emerald city ruled by the Wizard of Oz (ounce), at the central point of the land. Dorothy is advised to tell Oz her story and ask him for help on how to return home. She doesn’t know she is already able to go home, this will need to be unveiled to her later on in the journey.

Without any self sovereignty, one resorts automatically to authorities for problem solving.

Dorothy will find out soon enough that Oz doesn’t have any answers.

With sound money under her feet she starts walking the golden path, but it is not enough to get back home. Bitcoiners experience that saving satoshis unlocks their time, only then to start questioning what they really want to do with their given time here on Earth. The journey of becoming oneself has just begun.

In order to truly become oneself, the hero needs to unlock their own brain, heart and courage. In this story symbolized by the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Lion. These entities share the same road as Dorothy, namely that they already have what they desire, but don’t know it yet. One could argue that they require development by being challenged on the journey. Or in other words, the self will need to befriend each one of them.

The journey continues to a place where there are no fences, and where the land is rough and untilled, into the Dark Forest. Symbolizing the road from the known into the unknown. It gets so dark for Dorothy that she cannot see the path anymore, and fully needs to rely on the Scarecrow and Toto. The dog can be seen as Dorothy’s instinct. She’s now thus guided by her wisdom and instinct, until she gets through the first part of her unique path.

Emerald City

Overcoming the first obstacles and having avoided the eternal sleep in the red deadly poppy fields (communism), the crew arrives at the gates of the green (fiat) Emerald City. But they cannot simply enter. Two things are needed to gain access:

First, they are each forced to wear a “pair of green spectacles”, like the other citizens, to protect their eyes from being ‘blinded’ by the splendor of the emeralds (compulsory acceptance of legal tender laws).

Second, “taking a golden key off a peg” is required to open the door. We are now firmly off the gold standard, and have entered the fiat world. Since we measure value in terms of green fiat units, our ability to see value and price signals have now become impaired. Where we see prices rising, it’s actually caused by the failing vision brought on by the green spectacles we have to wear. The stock market only goes up if you see it in fiat terms. Looking through golden spectacles, we still haven’t recovered from the Dotcom Bubble. And through orange glasses, everything is deflating.

Inside the Emerald City they each get an audience with the Wizard, who appears in different forms to each of them. The wizard promises to fulfill their wishes of getting — respectively — a brain, a heart, courage and a ticket home to Kansas. In exchange they will need to kill the Wicked Witch of the West. Dorothy claims the Gold Cap by killing the witch with water (liquidity).

They return to the Emerald City to cash in on the promises Oz made. However, they soon figure out that the terrible wizard was just a fraud behind the curtain, faking his appearance and unable to deliver anything. The man claims that his previous occupations were that of a ventriloquist and balloonist, implying that the man is only an expert at imitating and inflating things.

Oz points out the following and calls on self responsibility: “How can I help being a humbug, when all these people make me do things that everybody knows can’t be done.” For the brain, the heart and courage cannot be given as they are innate. And believing somebody else has them is giving away your power. Oz governs by abdication of individual authority.

He exits the scene by inflating a green hot air balloon. The scarecrow becomes his successor. Since Oz wasn’t able to send Dorothy back home, her final hope is to visit the Good Witch of the South.

Dainty China Country

The knowledge of the Wizard being a fraud and the journey on the path to self-sovereignty, changes one’s perception of the world. The journey has made the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and Lion more confident and strong. Ergo, the world reveals itself now to be a brittle, fearful and single-minded place. A Clown World.

This is illustrated by the heroes moving through the Dainty China Country. It is an enclosure where the fragile porcelain people live, who can’t handle life outside the walls. A filter bubble of sorts. They don’t like to argue, as they’re afraid to get hurt and break. The jester is the only one who speaks plainly, who’s willing to break and then glue himself back together. In the eyes of the china people, he’s considered a crazy, ugly and foolish figure that needs censoring.

The rest of the South is inhabited by the Armless Hammer-Heads, who are immovable like rocks, and live on an up-sloping terrain. They attack travellers by bashing into them with their flat heads. This would perhaps reflect the pigheaded behavior that becomes visible once one is becoming more sovereign. The effort of moving through this country is utterly pointless, and is eventually circumvented. It’s the road not taken. All in all, this part of the story depicts a stage of facing adversity, resistance and ignorance.

There’s no Place like Home

Dorothy and her friends finally arrive at Glinda, the Good Witch of the South. The witch explains that Dorothy has had the power to return home since the day she arrived in this world. Three clicks of the heel with the silver shoes would have teleported her back to Kansas at any time.

Dorothy’s friends respond by saying that had that knowledge been known to her, they wouldn’t have gotten what they desired: a brain, a heart and courage. The journey was necessary.

If we consider this 120+ year old story to be an accurate description of a Bitcoiner’s journey and the modern day fiat clown world, some conclusions seem inescapable:

1. The story has played out before or hasn’t stopped playing out

2. We weren’t listening and therefore forgot the story

Does this mean we just keep falling asleep without ever finding a solution that will keep us awake? And how about now with Bitcoin? Could it release us from this wheel of fire?

L. Frank Baum was aware of the monetary situation, and probably a precious metal bug himself. He wrote this book as a reminder.

A program that could always reflect the truth back to whomever had cracked the code. Plus a clever narrative device that entices the reader to discover its monetary references and the self-sovereign journey.

It is important that we keep sharing these stories. Because if we don’t, we start forgetting. We fall asleep. But with the help of Bitcoin, the hardest money in mankind’s history, we can hopefully stay awake this time. An unparalleled quantum leap for the entire human race.

Bitcoin will guide every lost soul back home.