Franz Marc – ‘The Bewitched Mill’ 1912 {{PD}}
With Venus square Neptune, and Mercury square Pluto, we may be hard pressed not just to see where all this is going, but to form a complete thought; every time we think we have a concept firmly in mind, or an idea with a discernible shape, we find on its heels an immediate, ‘No! That’s not the way it is!’ that tears down the thought and starts fresh. Values may contradict visions, relationship demands may jam up creativity, and finances may put the brakes on what we are imagining–meanwhile, communications may be inadvertently destructive, or could transform us in the hearing/ receiving–and so leave us seeing things much differently than the viewpoint we started with.
Luckily we have two helpful aspects, a trine from Mars to Sedna, and a sextile of Mercury to Pallas. These make us able to trust ‘muscle memory’, to act and choose based on instinct and what we ‘know but don’t know’, and to find steady ground by thinking about and utilizing the practical option. So, there is a way through the fog, if we keep our wits about us.
The 8th sees these circumstances continue, with a couple of twists. We have an issue with our own empowerment and our values and commitments (Vesta sq Juno), with today’s influences even more rooted in what to trust, what not to trust. Today the mind is clear of deceptive or illusory input, but that also means we have a hard time seeing the potentials of things or visualizing how we want it all to turn out–which means heading successfully toward a goal may be tricky (Mercury contra-parallel Neptune)–and optimism or a realistically based effort could be in short supply (Sun opp Jupiter). Again, it may come down to the ability to sort areas where we’d best not move from those where we can rely on input and influences–not easy at all!
Today’s word image is a dream where you have no socks or shoes. Symbolically, what does that suggest? (Asking for a friend–seriously, it’s not my dream, but I have a few ideas)
Looking for more? Stuff here and here are possibilities–and have a great week!
Julie Demboski's ASTROLOGY 
Socks and shoes? Seems like maybe???, either a return to trusting oneself, or not being sure about stepping forward. Hope the dream happened in a soft spot……
Thanks, boo–those are good suggestions–I’ll pass them on 🙂
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Our feet connect us to the ground and earth, to what’s real ~ so in a sense they speak to what grounds us. Feet also enable us to move independently (or not), which could symbolize self-agency. For me, bare feet might be saying something about a natural, unadorned connection to our deeper selves, or conversely, of our feeling unprotected and exposed, vulnerable.
Feet have been coming up a lot lately (Neptune in Pisces?). A few nights ago, I dreamed my deceased Pisces grandmother asked me to lay my hands on her feet to heal them. Then yesterday I gave Reiki to a friend whose foot has been (mysteriously) bothering her, as has mine (same foot) ~ only in my case because of a recent injury. When the question came up of whether or not she would remain barefoot, I left it up to her. She decided to put on a clean pair of socks, partly, I think, for my sake.
Your post and question made me think about the recurring significance of feet in my own life, so thanks.:)
You’re welcome, LB, and thanks for sharing!
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Intriguing post (best kind of post, imo)!
I absolutely love Franz Marc’s paintings! There’s something about his work which always makes me smile inside.
I was recently reading a chapter in the book – Man and His Symbols by Carl Jung ( including chapters written by his close associates). It discusses dreams and dream interpretation quite a bit, as well as art and the interpretation of art. Carl Jung (and Freud)’s focus on dreams (and popularisation of dreams as a social acceptable subject matter) as a way to access the human psyche apparently influenced artists to use their dreams as subjects for paintings, which is partly why paintings became more abstract and surreal – thus leaving them more open to interpretation, and in some ways our interpretations of abstract and surreal paintings give us insight into our own psyche kind of like our interpretations of dreams do – is it the dream showing us our psyche or our interpretation of our dream doing that (question brought to you by someone who has natal Venus sq Nep – is the disappointment really a disappointment or is that just our interpretation of an event/experience and why did we interpret it that way).
Interpreting a dream and its symbols is both complex and simple. Always start with the simple because not everything in a dream is a ‘symbol’ sometimes it is what it is and feet are just feet.
Depends very much on the context around the ‘symbol’ and the impact on the dreamer of noticing the subject/object in the dream.
Most symbols in dreams are personal rather than collective – thus the dreamer has to figure out for themselves what their feet mean to them, rather than rely on what (their) feet mean to other people and to the collective. However sometimes the symbol is collective, esp in cases where the dreamer is caught up in a collective/group, and relates strongly with that collective/group (ie. religion – is your friend religious or going through a religious phase? If yes, what do feet mean in that collective context?)
Why are these no shoes and no socks feet important enough to your friend to make them share it with you and ask you for your take on it? Did it scare them or sooth them to have bare feet? Did it feel bad or good to them?
(sounds like it could be a Uranus moving into Taurus dream… being surprised by the senses… the sensual… the feet are very sensitive… excellent for ‘feeling’ your way in the dark and understanding the structure or lack of it of what lies beneath them, ahead and behind)
Does your friend regularly wear socks and shoes in waking life? Would they rather go barefoot or do they prefer their feet to be armored/protected? Did they recently buy new socks or shoes? Do those new shoes hurt and is it a relief to take them off? What were their feet doing the day before the night of the dream? Was it a night dream? What time did the dream occur? Was it a just before waking up dream?
(just before waking up dreams tend to be more body-related…)
Were your friend’s feet hot while they were sleeping and thus having bare feet was a way to cool them down or to tell the dreamer about the status of the feet.
Did they take the shoes and socks off in the dream or did they not have shoes or socks in the dream?
What bothered/stood out more for them – bare feet or lack of shoes/socks?
What was the point of having bare feet for the dream? Was it a challenge during the dream?
I once had a dream where I had to walk barefoot on a beach of sand mixed with broken glass and trust that the soles of my feet would be unharmed.
Without further context to the dream (which I realise you can’t share without your friend’s consent), your friend’s feet are just feet not only with socks or shoes but without a body attached… were the feet attached to your friend’s body in the dream or were they like the Monty Python’s Flying Circus bare foot?
Has your friend been watching Monty Python’s Flying Circus?
Hi upturned! You provide many excellent questions for thought–thank you, I’ll pass them along to my friend (and the Monty Python foot mention gave me a laugh–hadn’t considered that! But no, the feet were attached to my friend’s body). And I agree about Marc–we have a huge print of ‘Fighting Forms’ that I love. You have clearly thought deeply about dreams, and you have an intelligence in your approach that I see as most effective–ready with a question, and potential implications, rather than a flat answer–so again, thank you. I think the most valuable thing you point out is context–without it there’s no real interpretation possible–so when I dangle a symbol out there in mid-air like that, without context and in the daily image spot, I’m seeing it as just that: an image for each individual to fit into the context of their own psyche/ life. Mentioning that it’s from a dream is both accurate (as that’s where it came from, my friend reporting and discussing with me a dream of which this was a small part) and to give it a closer connection to the unconscious/ 12th House state for the reader (like saying, ‘You’re being shown this by the unconscious, it’s being emphasized, what does it mean?’), and as you say (and I agree) dream symbols are much more personal than they are Collective. Your wonderful discussion (and I do mean wonderful, it’s like a compact guide to highly effective dream analysis) makes me wish I had been more clear in offering the image and phrasing my question (and a little less joke-y, ‘Asking for a friend’), as in re-reading I realize it sounds like we were looking to understand it, when we had already hashed it over–so I’m sorry for being misleading–but wow, if I had I would’ve missed how you lay things out, and you succinctly point to/ refresh/ and teach in a way I find both generous and top-of-the-line perceptive. Thank you so much for this–it will be exceptionally useful for any readers interested in interpreting dream material, and I hope they’ll visit your blog, which consistently offers some of the best topic synthesis and thoughtful reflections on the psyche and human behavior around.
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Hi Julie,
hope you’re well!! Love the avalanche of new posts 🙂 Been catching up…
Agreed, most symbols are personal. Thought I’d add my literal interp 🙂
Shoes/socks for me would mean men in my life, proven time and time again. Of course, must be interpreted according to the feeling that the dream evoked. Someone might be afraid to find themselves without a man (no shoes), others might celebrate the freedom. Something like that.
Hi H.!
I’m very well–hope you are, too.
This is such an intriguing and nuanced interpretation–and serves to show how very personal a dream symbol can be! Thanks for sharing it–food for thought there.
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In my search for universal symbolism, I stumbled upon some interesting things that can serve me well in work, so thank you for posing the question, Julie, food for thought for your readers as well 🙂
Nice to hear, H. 🙂
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