Let’s talk about feet for a minute. Or, more specifically, bare feet. I was working on a deconstruction of the images in the Death card (Transformation of the Body), which I will publish here soon, when I had a mini-epiphany about the meaning of bare feet in the Major Arcana.
Sometimes the figures in the cards are wearing shoes (Magician, Emperor, Lovers, Justice).
Sometimes the figures have no visible feet at all (High Priestess, Hierophant, Chariot, Judgment, and the World).
The rest of the time, the figures are barefoot.
I believe I see a pattern here and an underlying meaning.
When a tarot figure is drawn barefoot, it indicates that the figure is experiencing something you and I encounter here in the physical world. It is an activity that a soul performs or does while incarnate in the Earth Life School.
The Fool (novice) naively walks into the unknown.
The Empress represents the experiences here on Earth—what you do while physical and incarnate.
The Hermit, Sage, or Wisdom figure is literally walking into the world to explore and experience it.
The Enchantress or Strength responds to the catalyst of the Wheel and is “taming” the beast of negative catalyst.
The Hanged Man is performing service.
The Alchemist or Temperance accelerates evolution from within a single lifetime (and those feet have the wings to prove it).
The figures in the Devil are experiencing earthly addiction.
The figures in the Lightning Struck Tower are experiencing enlightenment.
The figure in the Star is experiencing faith and hope.
The figures in the Sun are experiencing the Creator’s love.
In all of these instances, these are things you and I can do while incarnate.
While examining the Death card, I realized that Death’s “harvest,” as depicted in the card, consisted of hands, heads, and bare feet (no foot is shod). When I publish my essay on the death card, I will address the heads and hands, but seeing those severed bare feet made me realize they symbolize the harvest of our earthly “experiences”—all the lessons we learn while in one or more of the above archetypes (such as addiction, enlightenment, exploration, etc.) during our lifetimes.
The cards showing figures wearing shoes are not “experiential." We don’t incarnate into the Earth Life School to practice “will” or “consciousness” (Magician card). We certainly do these things, but they aren’t "harvestable” activities. They don’t polarize us like the barefoot activities do.
We don’t come here specifically to explore the subconscious (High Priestess).
We don’t come here to discern (Emperor).
Having a body (Justice) is not a goal in itself; it’s what we do with the body that matters (Hermit/Wisdom).
I suggest, for your consideration, that cards depicting figures with shod feet or no visible feet at all represent activities or experiences that are not “harvestable” upon death. They do not influence the post-death Life Review. They do not advance the soul, unlike the activities shown in the cards with bare feet.
I understand Don spent a lot of time interpreting the imagery of the Magician and the High Priestess, but ultimately, these two archetypes are descriptive rather than experiential. Essentially, the Magician’s use of the High Priestess is similar to Intelligent Infinity’s use of Infinite Potential to create Love and Light (“the Word”) and the Universe. This is not an activity tied to Earthly calling.
But every card featuring a barefoot figure is a calling. Those specific cards, and the activities and experiences they contain, are the “harvestable” activities and experiences that move the needle and help our souls progress toward Graduation.
I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that many figures in the Mind Row lack feet or have bare feet; these are attributes of the mental, not calls to action while incarnate, to grow the spirit.
However, the Body and Spirit rows are filled with barefoot figures; this is where the rubber meets the road. These are the experiences and actions we need to undertake while in the physical to advance our souls.
There are some universal drawing conventions that work in all the cards:
· The left side is STS, the right side STO.
· Orbs are STO.
· Where fingers point is significant.
· Black and white, male and female, indicate polarity.
· Birds, triangles, and water are spirit.
· Clothing represents protection, bareness, and vulnerability.
I want to add bare feet to the list of meaningful universal imagery. If a figure on a card has feet and is shod, it represents a characteristic or attribute. If the feet are bare, it signifies an activity that you and I can (and probably should) explore while incarnate. Because at the end of our lives, only these particular activities are “harvestable.” They are the activities that lead to polarization and graduation.