THE RED SHOES AND OTHER TALES

In archetypal symbolism, feet represent mobility and freedom. Socially, shoes send a signal, a way of recognizing one type of person from another. In ancient times shoes were a mark of authority: rulers had them, slaves didn’t. In cold countries shoes are understood as instruments of survival. Shoes can tell something about what we are like, sometimes even who we are aspiring to be.

RED is the color of life and of sacrifice. Life and sacrifice go together. Problems arise when there is much sacrifice but no life forthcoming from it all. Then RED is the color of blood-loss rather than blood-life.

According to Clarissa Pinkola Estes in her book “Women who run with wolves”, the psychological truth in Christian Anderson’s fairy tale “The Red Shoes”, is, that a woman’s meaningful life can be dried, threatened, robbed or seduced away from her, unless she holds on to or retrieves her basic joy and wild worth. The tale calls our attention to traps and poisons we too easily take onto ourselves when we are caught in a famine of wild soul.

IT IS NOT THE JOY OF LIFE THAT KILLS THE SPIRIT OF THE CHILD IN "THE RED SHOES", IT IS THE LACK OF IT.

Adopted from Clarissa Pinkola Estes