Look, I know what you’re probably thinking: Shoes? And yes. Shoes. Even the most humble of tennis shoes is a wealth of magical possibility. (Also probably smells, but that’s another topic entirely.)
In most cultures that use shoes, footwear has a unique significance attached to them. Shoes have historically often been the difference between life and death. While there’s much to be said about using foot-shaped shoes with thin, flexible soles, any shoe is a safeguard against parasite infections, damage from extreme heat or cold, or disabling injuries from sharp stuff. Shoes also mold to the feet of the wearer to an extent, so they have a very intimate connection to their owner.
Shoe Folklore
Magic involving shoes is often connected to West African foot track magic, usually via Hoodoo and other diaspora religions and magical traditions. Sprinkling spell ingredients into a target’s shoes is a way to ensure that your magic goes to work on them.
A related practice involves writing a spell target’s name 3, 7, or 9 times on a slip of paper, then tucking that paper in your shoe. This allows the spellworker to keep their target “underfoot,” preventing them from causing trouble.
A 1964 blues song, Conjured by Esmond Edwards and sung by Wynonie Harris, talks about using graveyard dirt in a person’s shoes to ensure their loyalty and punish infidelity:
You said I was jealous when I didn’t go to work,
You sprinkled my shoes with graveyard dirt.
Shoes are also often viewed as impure objects, and much shoe folklore involves removing them before entering temples or other holy places. As the barrier between the wearer and the dirt of the road, removing one’s shoes is a purifying act — shedding this connection to the mundane world before entering the realm of the spiritual.
It’s also said that putting shoes on top of a table invites misfortune. This may stem from old coal mining superstitions. When a miner died, their boots would be placed on the family table. To do so with a living person’s shoes, however, was believed to bring death into the home.
This isn’t shoes’ only connection to death, either. There was an old belief that burying a dead person’s shoes would keep them from troubling you. This caused some problems for an 1889 murder trial, unfortunately. A London man named Edward Rose went missing on the Isle of Arran. Three weeks later, his body was found hidden under a boulder. A police officer took the man’s boots and buried them, which greatly annoyed the judge. A letter to Folklore journal in 1890 explained that burying the boots of the dead would keep their ghosts away (which could be especially helpful if you’re dealing with the vengeful ghost of a murdered man).
On the other hand, putting a new, unworn pair of boots on a table was said to cause fights among family members. This may be somewhat related to the Evil Eye — a bit of malevolent magic that arises from envious looks. Putting new, unworn boots on a table (in other words, prominently displaying a desirable object) could invite the same kind of envy and misfortune.
In ancient Rome, the right side was considered lucky and the left unlucky. (This comes from the Greek practice of augury, where birds going toward the right were considered a lucky omen, and those going to the left were unlucky.) Entering a room should be done right foot first, as should getting out of bed or going down stairs. Putting one’s footwear on the right foot, then the left, was considered better than the reverse.
In parts of England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland, shoes were seen as protective. Not just against sticks, stones, and the occasional bit of broken glass, either — they were used as protective charms. Author Dr. Jacqueline Simpson notes that miners in Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and Wales would leave clogs in specific part of mines. These were the end of passages, the beginning of backfilled passages, or anywhere that a shaft had collapsed. This appears to be a very old tradition — historians have found leather boots in England’s oldest coal mines, dating back to circa 1450.
Shoes were also used to ward off nightmares and illness. If someone had a fever that wouldn’t break, burning one of their shoes was said to cause it to break. Putting your shoes outside of your bedroom door, with one pointing toward the bedroom and one pointing away, was said to keep away nightmares.
Interestingly, shoes are more than just protective emblems or links to their owner. They’re also sometimes used in love divination. Placing one’s shoes in a T shape and reciting a rhyme was said to reveal the image of the owner’s true love.
You can also divine by reading the wear patterns on a pair of old shoes. If they wear out on the balls of the feet, the owner would be long and prosperous. If they wear out at the heels on the inner portion, the owner would be wealthy. On the outer portion, poor. Holes in the toes indicated someone who wouldn’t be able to hold on to money.
Interestingly, shoes are also sometimes used to gain money. An old prosperity charm involves putting a silver coin in the left shoe of a pair of old shoes, putting them on, then walking in circles before putting them away.
The US custom of a bride keeping a silver sixpence in her left shoe during her wedding comes from an English belief that this would help ensure long lives, good health, and prosperity to the married couple.
Humans aren’t the only ones with magical shoes, either. Horse’s shoes are sometimes used as symbols of good luck. This comes from back in the day, when shoes were forged from iron. Faeries are said to be harmed by “cold iron.” Nobody seems able to agree what “cold iron” actually is, or why it harms creatures like the Fae. The details are lost to antiquity, but there are stories reaching back to the medieval era of faeries, elves, and other supernatural creatures being harmed by iron. Hanging iron — in this case, in the form of a horseshoe — over an entryway was an easy way to keep tricky faeries away from your house.
As for whether you should hang a horseshoe points up or down, that seems to be a matter of preference. One camp says that hanging it points-down lets the horseshoe’s accumulated luck rain down on anyone who passes under it. The other says that hanging it points-down lets all of the luck drain away, preventing it from being a lucky charm.
Sometimes, even regular human shoes can be lucky. Throwing old shoes at something is said to be lucky. This is the root of the practice of tying old shoes to a newlywed couple’s car or throwing shoes after them as they leave the wedding venue. Throwing shoes at a ship leaving port is also said to ensure a safe, prosperous voyage.
Shoe Symbolism
In British-derived traditions, shoes are symbols of good luck and protection. Their folklore and magical uses are varied and fascinating, but ultimately follow the shoe’s function: they protect an important part of the body, and losing or damaging them opens you up to illness, discomfort, and injury.
Since shoes also carry the shape of the owner’s foot, they’re also a powerful tool for sympathetic magic. This is apparent in charms that involve turning, burning, or placing a person’s shoes in order to end an illness.
Since they’re also a part of everyday wear for most people in the western world, the use of Hoodoo spell powders sprinkled in shoes also makes sense. It’s an easy, effective way for someone to ensure that their target comes in contact with their working.
I’d also argue that shoes are an emblem of closeness. You can see this in shoe love divination, where people (usually young women) use their shoes to see visions of their true love, or prosperity charms that involve putting coins in a shoe. Keeping a coin in a shoe as you wear it is a way to keep a bit of wealth close to you, where it can’t be spent, lost, or stolen.
Do you have old shoes? You might not want to throw them away — even if you don’t wear them out and about anymore, you can still put them to good use!
Marble Crow 