What is it with the feet?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 16 Jan 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

ros	16 Jan 2004
What does the feet showing or not showing mean? Would someone explain if there is a reason for some feet to be showing & others not. Are we to look at the colour or 1 or 2 feet or shoes or boots etc. What is it with the feet? Thanks for any replys?

velvetmirage	16 Jan 2004
This made me think of old issues of modesty, where women had to keep their ankles covered for fear of inflaming the passions of the men. Not sure how that could apply to a reading, but that's what I thought of.

wildinthemist	18 Jan 2004
A bit of stuff on feet 1. If one foot rests on land and the other is IN water it means that you are equally comfortable in both the conscious or subconscious worlds. (Temperance) 2. If one foot is one land and the other is resting on the water … you have not yet dipped your feet into the subconscious, but are ready. Star … leads onto Moon with the rise of stuff from the subconscious 3. Because the foot is in direct contact with the earth, it represents groundedness, foundation. 4. Bare feet can be seen as a sign of mourning, but also as a symbol of liberty. 5. The RIGHT FOOT – represents progress in spiritual growth … the right side of the body is the side of spirituality and intuition. 6. The LEFT FOOT suggests a lack of growth spiritually, or a reliance on what is concrete, seeable, measurable etc. 7. So, if feet are covered, it suggests a lack of groundedness. 8. If one foot is visible, then that symbolic meaning needs to be taken into account. 9. Looking at shoes is important too. E.g. The Emperor has legs and feet encased in armour. This suggests rigidity. 10. 7 of Wands – notice that he is wearing different shoes, a lace-up and a half-boot. This means that he feels ‘out-of-sorts’. 11. Shoes can bee seen as phallic, symbolising the vulva, and the foot as the genitals. This suggests the active, male energy of Chokmah (The Great Father) flowing into and finding form in Binah (The great Mother). Also, think of the symbolism of the shoe in the story of Cinderella. 12. Also, depending on the context, a shoe might represent status and position. E.g. The Fool is the only one wearing ‘golden’ shoes, indicating his specialness. wild

ros	18 Jan 2004
Thanks!

Jewel-ry	18 Jan 2004
Hi wildinthemist, Great! Thanks for sharing this. J :)

Phoenyx*	18 Jan 2004
Wow, I would have never thought to look that deeply into the little bitty details. Thank you wildinthemist for that insight.

maya	18 Jan 2004
[font=times] [font=times] [color=khaki] [size=4] Hello wildinthemist, this is really great. Thanks. Let me give in another hint.[/color][/size][/font] -------- 5. The RIGHT FOOT – represents progress in spiritual growth … the right side of the body is the side of spirituality and intuition. 6. The LEFT FOOT suggests a lack of growth spiritually, or a reliance on what is concrete, seeable, measurable etc. -------- [font=times] [color=khaki] [size=4] I would see right foot as active and left foot as passive or as action and reception.[/color][/size][/font] [font=times] [font=times][/font] [font=times]

Phoenyx*	18 Jan 2004
Maya, assuming that the right and left sides coincide between hand and foot, with the right foot and right hand representing activity and action, wouldn't it depend on whether the person was right handed or left handed? After all, for a left handed person, wouldn't their left hand be their dominant, action hand instead?

wildinthemist	18 Jan 2004
Ah Maya, You have tapped into one of the dilemmas/questions that drives me absolutely nuts with tarot. I have read so many variations ofn handedness (or footednessLOL), and the whole left-side/right-side of the body argument. If we work on the premise that the left brain controls the right side of the body, and is functionally involved in logic, sequentuial thinking etc, is male, active ... then the right side of the body would relate to consciousness and comfort in the conscious world. Thus, the right brain ... controlling the left side of the body, functionally creative etc, female, passive, would relate to the sub/un..conscious. etc. In other words, the reverse of what I wrote. On the other hand, if we simply divide the card in half and say that the right side = right, passive, unconscious... and left side .... conscious and so on, then it all depends on whether the figure is facing. Then we have the question of whether we look at hand(foot)edness from our perspective, or from the perspective of the figure on the card.......................AAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH! My brain hurts. So how did I solve it? I relied on what I was taught. Not very 'scientific' but sometimes you just gotta let something go before you end up in a psych ward somewhere screaming "right-left-right-left" while you are bouncing off the walls........

maya	18 Jan 2004
Dear Triquetra, it is absolutely independent if you are right- or left-handed. The female side is always left and the right is male. No difference with women or man also. I wonder if people who are left-handed prove to be more intuitive. dear wildinthemist, I don't care about handouts much. Though, there are good books in print, whatsoever. Book of Thoth by Crowley and Foster Case´s book on tarot are fine. My statement builds on Chinese wisdom. And I have tested it. Whenever I take action right foot in front, whenever I am passive or receptive left foot in front. That is strange, isn't it? I wonder if your test would be different? I would state there is no side of brain that rules upon the other. They just serve different functions and are complementary. Who rules is not our brain. It is our level of consciousness. Is it low then hardly there is contact with subconscious and unconscious. So logic is the only part we have to offer. This is partly depicted in card number Four. Not that I say logic is no good but it surely is much more comfortable to have other resources at hand. Same with eyes. Right eye sees what we want to see, what we give in. Left one sees reality. Right and left together see what reality is like and what part we play within. [font=times] [font=times][/font] [font=times][/font][font=times][/font] [font=times]

wildinthemist	18 Jan 2004
Dear Maya, When I was talking about one side of the brain 'controlling' some functions, as opposed to others, I was talking physiologically only. For example, Broca's area in the left temporal lobe of the brain is the language area. Although the two hemispheres of the brain are complimentary, when there is damage in one area, the other hemisphere (or another part of the same hemisphere for that matter) doesn't necessarily take up that function. (I have a 28 year old brain-damaged son). So, in my post, I wasn't referring to consciousness exactly. I guess that I didn't make myself very clear. My apologies. You wrote: Same with eyes. Right eye sees what we want to see, what we give in. Left one sees reality. Right and left together see what reality is like and what part we play within. This sounds interesting. I'm not sure, exactly, what you mean when you write "what we give in". Can you expand on that a bit more?

maya	20 Jan 2004
Quote: …You wrote: Same with eyes. Right eye sees what we want to see, what we give in. Left one sees reality. Right and left together see what reality is like and what part we play within.… This sounds interesting. I'm not sure, exactly, what you mean when you write "what we give in". Can you expand on that a bit more? Well, the right eye sees what we interpret to see. We add our frames to our seeing. It is our action eye. You may say, you see what you are able to perceive according to your sophistication of awareness. Left eye is receiving plain reality. [font=times] [font=times][/font] [font=times]

The What is it with the feet? thread was originally posted on 16 Jan 2004 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.