Glinda the Good Witch of the South
An excerpt from The Good Wiccan Guide – Part One: Introduction and Popular Mythology.
Glinda was described as a beautiful young woman dressed all in white with long red hair and clear blue eyes. However, she is supposed to be centuries and centuries old. Perhaps Glinda was on the Magic Diet (more on her diet on another Guide). She is called more than a witch; she is also called a great sorceress.
“(Glinda) knows how to keep young in spite of the many years she has lived.”
Soldier with the Green Whiskers, Wonderful Wizard of Oz
It is interesting to note that Glinda reveals in the Emerald City of Oz that she has a magic book which tracks everything that happens everywhere in the world. Her “Great Book of Records” sounds an awful lot like the Akashic Record. This is a concept popularized in the late 19th century, and a key concept in Theosophy. Baum was a Theosophist. Theosophy was a 19th century occult philosophy that believed that the mysteries of life, knowledge of G*d, and enlightenment was attainable. Thus, L. Frank Baum definitely has many hidden esoteric teachings and alchemy scattered throughout his books. If you have not read them, they are recommended. And the Oz books are terrific ways to introduce young people to mystical and metaphysical Good Wiccan concepts.
Yes. If you have young ones, the entire Frank Baum series of Oz books should be a must on your library shelf. In my Good Wiccan Guide – Part One, I clear up the confusion why in the movie Glinda the Good Witch did not tell Dorothy to use the ruby (silver) slippers to wish herself home.
As far as Glinda goes, in one way I wanted to be just like her and yet at the same time, I was always a little bit in awe and a little intimidated by her and her coven of incredibly beautiful ‘coven’ of capable women around her. It was only much later in life when I started to read between the lines of what Baum was saying about her age and diet. So this goes back to my previous post about witches being portrayed as hags. (http://www.goodwiccan.com/we-are-not-all-old-hags/) When you truly get the Way of the Good Wiccan, you will slow down your aging process and become more filled with glowing grace. I will be talking more about that soon enough, but for now if you are interested I do outline the steps of a Chakra-based Diet in my book, Kiss Addiction Goodbye – The Twelve Step Diet to Diet to Aid Recovery and Help Heal Addictive or Compulsive Behaviors.
~anand sahaja
