“The Adventures of Pinocchio” is a novel written by the journalist Carlo Lorenzini (known as Carlo Collodi). The novel, famous all over the world and much loved by children, hides esoteric symbols related to the path of spiritual awakening of human beings, that is the path which allows a “wooden puppet” to become a “real child”.
We should read and read again this wonderful fable because it contains fundamental messages for our inner evolution.
Here are the main esoteric symbols:
Pinocchio
The name Pinocchio refers to pineal gland which, according to esoteric traditions, symbolizes the third eye, that is the one that allows transcendent vision and guides the initiatory path towards awakening.
Geppetto
The creator of Pinocchio, molds it from a wooden trunk, creating a puppet that is – in fact – an allegory of a being unaware of his own divine nature. Geppetto has a strong connection with the Platonic Demiurge. The word “demiurge”, from the Greek, means “craftsman”, and represents, in Platonic philosophy, a semi-divine entity capable of creating imperfect human beings. Not surprisingly, Geppetto’s house is full of watches, which serve to measure one of the greatest illusions of physical reality: the time.
The Great Architect
The Great Architect is the One who infused a breath of life into the inanimate puppet. Therefore, the Great Architect is God.
The Fairy with Turquoise Hair
The Fairy with Turquoise Hair is the representation of Divine Wisdom, the essential element for the transformation of Pinocchio into a real child. She is the one who tells Pinocchio that his desire to become a child will come true only if he will deserve it. Human beings are in fact endowed with free will and it is through its exercise that one can grow and reach spiritual awakening. The first step of Pinocchio is the one which leads him to school, which represents Knowledge. The Fairy with Turquoise Hair always helps Pinocchio in difficult moments. Sometimes we do not feel the divine presence beside us, but we can be sure that we are never alone.
The Talking Cricket
The Talking Cricket is conscience, that inner voice that shows us the right path and suggests ethical choices. The voice that sometimes we too don’t want to hear. At the end of the novel, when Pinocchio’s awakening process is completed, the Talking Cricket receives from the Fairy with Turquoise Hair a gold badge which, according to the alchemical tradition, represents the highest point of the inner journey.
The Fox and the Cat
They are temptations and, in a certain sense, they represent our most fragile and corruptible part. In fact, they are the ones who show Pinocchio the way to easy success. Despite the warnings of the Talking Cricket, Pinocchio follows these two characters only to discover that the price to pay by following the wrong direction is very high: he won’t be able to see his father and Mangiafoco will become his owner.
Lucignolo
Lucignolo is the boy who invites Pinocchio to reach the Land of Toys and therefore to remove Pinocchio from the right path, that of the school, which would allow him to meet the “masters”, those who can act as his spiritual guide and start him on the initiatory path.
The Land of Toys
It is a “place” without school or laws, a place devoid of Knowledge and ethics, which is why it is inhabited only by children, that is, symbolically from souls not yet evolved. The land of toys is therefore the representation of a life based on ignorance, not in the sense of lack of culture, but in the sense of indifference towards an inner research and growth; a place where the only goal is to satisfy the lowest needs of one’s existence. The coachman, who has the task of supervising, encourages this way of living because this is the way to create “slaves” and in fact the kids who follow him are transformed into donkeys, symbolic representation of the most bestial and instinctive part of the human soul.
The whale
The final part of the novel when Pinocchio is swallowed by the whale is strongly inspired by the myth of Jonah, the prophet who was in fact swallowed by a whale. The belly of the large cetacean represents the awareness of the inner darkness, the apex of the final phase of the initiatory journey and the escape to the exit from his womb represents the enlightenment.
What is the takeaway?
The tale of Pinocchio teaches us that enlightenment is reached with the will, with the ability to defeat our weakest and most instinctive part, therefore with the choice of starting the most difficult path: the constant inner improvement.
♥
“Enter in by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter in by it.”
Matthew 7:13
