The Sandal: The Symbolism of the Journey and the Earth
Of all the things a person wears, the sandal is perhaps the humblest: a sole, a few straps, and a thin layer between the foot and the world. Yet in the stories of many peoples, this small object carries remarkable weight.
A god flies with it, a prophet is told to take it off, a hero loses one and changes the course of a kingdom. Looking at the sandal across these tales, we find a symbol of the road itself, and of the bare meeting of a person with the ground.
The Winged Sandals of Hermes
In Greek myth, Hermes, the messenger of the gods, wears golden sandals that carry him over land and sea as fast as the wind. Homer describes them in the Odyssey when Hermes is sent to the nymph Calypso: he ties on his lovely golden sandals, which carry him over water and over the boundless earth as swiftly as the wind. Later artists gave them wings.
The sandals are the sign of a god of travelers, roads and boundaries. Hermes guides souls to the underworld, protects merchants and carries messages between heaven and earth. His winged feet say that he belongs to both and is stopped by neither. The Roman Mercury inherited the same sandals.
Another hero wore a pair as well. Perseus, in the tale of the Gorgon, was given winged sandals by the nymphs, along with a cap of invisibility and a bag, so that he could reach the monster and flee. The sandals here are a gift that turns a mortal's quest into a possible one.
Holy Ground
In the Hebrew Bible, the sandal speaks of reverence. When Moses meets the burning bush in the book of Exodus, a voice says, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." A similar command is given to Joshua before Jericho. In these scenes, to stand barefoot is to acknowledge that one has come to a place not one's own.
The custom lasted. Visitors to many temples and mosques remove their shoes, and in Hindu and Buddhist practice footwear is left outside the shrine. Whatever the faith, the gesture says the same thing: here we step more carefully.
The One-Sandaled Man
The best-known myth about a lost sandal is the story of Jason. A king named Pelias had been warned by an oracle to beware of a man wearing one sandal. When Jason, the rightful heir, came to Iolcus, he had lost a sandal while crossing a river, carrying an old woman across who was really the goddess Hera in disguise.
The king saw the single foot and understood that the oracle had come to pass. He sent Jason to fetch the Golden Fleece, hoping to be rid of him, and so began the voyage of the Argo. The tale is told by Pindar in his fourth Pythian Ode.
Sandals and Law
In ancient Israel, the sandal also served in legal acts. The book of Ruth explains that in earlier times a man would take off his sandal and give it to the other party to confirm a transaction. The sandal stood for the right to walk on land, so handing it over meant handing over a claim.
It could also be a sign of rank. In the Gospels, John the Baptist says that he is not worthy to loosen the strap of the sandal of the one who is coming. Untying sandals was a servant's task, and the phrase marks the gap between them.
Footwear and Pilgrimage
On the road, the sandal was the traveler's tool. Pilgrims, soldiers and monks all wore them, and some religious orders still do: the Discalced Carmelites take their name from the Latin for "unshod." The Egyptian kings took it further: sandals buried with Tutankhamun carry painted images of captive enemies on their soles, so that the ruler would trample them with every step.
Walking in simple footwear is, for many pilgrims, a way to feel the road. People who walk long distances today, on routes such as the Camino de Santiago, are advised to wear sturdy, well-fitted shoes and to care for their feet, since blisters and injuries can end a journey.
Closing
The sandal is a small thing with a long reach. It lifts a god into the air, it comes off before holy ground, and it is lost in a river and sets a great voyage going. Wherever it turns up, it speaks of the same thing: a person on the move, in contact with the earth, going somewhere. Perhaps that is why we still say that someone has "taken the first step."
Related Esoteric Inquiries
- The Road: The Symbolism of the Journey
- The Staff: The Vertical Axis and the Symbolism of the Journey
- The Ship: The Symbolism of the Journey
Lux Esoterica.
2026.
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