Usually ambivalent. Direct contact with mother earth. Is phallic with the shoe as the vulva and the foot itself as a euphemism for genitals. Can connote dying, passing on as well as slow wandering. Bare feet is a sign of mourning and respect. Footprints have high relation to black magic - fairies have no footprints. Can also bring luck and prosperity.
"In old customs an in art, footprints and worn-out shoes smbolized real presence.
[The foot] is also an infantile phallic symbol: in the story of Cinderella,
the slipper is a female symbol and the foot a phallic one. Feet are points of
contact with the ground, good conductors of the magical or spiritual fluid with
which a holy man is charged and which would disappear if in contact iwth the
ground" (Julien, 163).
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