Mojo
Just for you, MeeWah!
I hardly ever read about Tarot, but I love reading about the beliefs of different cultures and especially about different forms of mythology.
I am especially amazed when I find similar beliefs in cultures that had nothing whatsoever to do with each other. Symbology about shoes is one of these cases. There are three very differenct cultures who all have almost identical symbology about shoes. Ancient China, ancient Germanic and the Mayans of Mexico all used shoes as references to sexual organs. In particular, shoes representing female genitalia and boots representing the male (except the Maya, where men are always associated with the bare foot).
Actually, I think Butterfly was on a good track with her left brain/right brain approach....
Take another look at the 7 of Wands... one shoe, one boot. The "female" symbol on the right foot, which is associated with the left brain - the thinking brain, and the "male" symbol on the right foot, associated with the feeling brain. Interesting dichotomy, huh? MeeWah is right about the yin/yang, but in this case, it's refreshingly flip-flopped from what you would expect.
Of course, once you start thinking about associating shoes with genitalia, it really changes the whole feeling of the Cinderella story, huh? Especially when you consider that the story originated in China and was developed into the story we now know in German folklore.
I hardly ever read about Tarot, but I love reading about the beliefs of different cultures and especially about different forms of mythology.
I am especially amazed when I find similar beliefs in cultures that had nothing whatsoever to do with each other. Symbology about shoes is one of these cases. There are three very differenct cultures who all have almost identical symbology about shoes. Ancient China, ancient Germanic and the Mayans of Mexico all used shoes as references to sexual organs. In particular, shoes representing female genitalia and boots representing the male (except the Maya, where men are always associated with the bare foot).
Actually, I think Butterfly was on a good track with her left brain/right brain approach....
Take another look at the 7 of Wands... one shoe, one boot. The "female" symbol on the right foot, which is associated with the left brain - the thinking brain, and the "male" symbol on the right foot, associated with the feeling brain. Interesting dichotomy, huh? MeeWah is right about the yin/yang, but in this case, it's refreshingly flip-flopped from what you would expect.
Of course, once you start thinking about associating shoes with genitalia, it really changes the whole feeling of the Cinderella story, huh? Especially when you consider that the story originated in China and was developed into the story we now know in German folklore.