No snark.

I wrote above:

I used to apply Jung's allegorical journey to my reading of Tarot cards, back when I was a moonbat, but in truth, the only thing I believed in was my own scepticism.

The appeal of symbolism is that it's a way of looking at one thing to mean both what it means concretely and also what it means symbolically. In this way, we take The Wizard of Oz (or any journey story) as both a story about a girl trying to get back to Kansas and also a story about a symbolic journey - the journey that perhaps we all are on.

Just as a hero sets out on a journey in search of the holy grail or the golden fleece or the broomstick of the wicked witch of the west, we are the heros in our own myths and we are in search of what we are in search of. Jungians might call that integration of our inner and outer selves. Americans might call it the pursuit of happiness.

As we follow the journey of a story, there is also a symbolic journey going on. The hero has tests or trials and has to emerge on the other side intact - bruised, battered, but made strong and wise by confidence, courage, and commitment.

The appeal of symbolism is that it gives a story the possibility of universal applications. We don't really know what the symbolism means, but we can imagine that since Noah's ark is rudderless, a human cannot steer it. It will go where it has to go blown about by the sea and wind. Like our lives.

If you get my circuitous drift.