Feet, The Fool and the Zodiac

In the medieval mind, and probably much earlier in antiquity, the zodiac signs were thought to influence or rule over certain aspects of the body, which can be seen from the accompanying plates:

In the Zodical Man, Aries, the beginning of the Zodiac rules the head, whilst Pisces the fish at the end of the Zodiac rules the feet. For those not so acquainted with the zodiac these sigils can be reviewed along with this charming rhyme:

The Ram, the Bull, the Heavenly Twins,

And next the Crab the Lion shines,

The Virgin and the Scales,

The Scorpion, Archer, and Sea-Goat,

The Man that bears the Watering-Pot,

The Fish with glittering tails

The rhyme rightly describes Capricorn as the Fishtailed Goat,

as it was in Ancient Babylon. Capricorn is symbolic of man in his dual aspects of hard (earthy) matter and his spiritual (watery) nature, often in esoteric art the Initiate is shown to have a fish tail showing that the Initiate also journeys in the spiritual world.

The zodiac sigil for the Sea Goat Capricorn

appears to contain the sacred tools of the ancient architects – the engineers square and the measuring rope, which links the sacred buildings of antiquity such as the Pyramids at Giza to the medieval masons and the Gothic Cathedrals.

There is also a link between the Zodiac sign of Capricorn who has a fish tail for its hind quarters and Pisces the Fish who rules the feet of man; the symbolism directly relates to mans spiritual journey - the spiritual is often depicted as "watery" and hence an initiate would be depicted with a fish tail; the fish (pisces) was associated with the Knights Templar, a Chivalric Order established for esoteric purposes, and; furthermore the fish is of particular significance in the Christian faith (echoed in the Grail romances with the Fisher King).

Fish appear in number of the biblical stories, Christ walks on water to a fishing vessel, is the fisher of men, he breaks bread and fish to feed the five thousand; furthermore his ministry is within the Age of Pisces, the Christ fish becomes an symbol of the early Christians. Christ himself is anointed on his head (Aries) and he initiates his disciples by washing their feet (Pisces), that this action is both symbolic and important is stressed in Christ’s reply to a reluctant Simon Peter. The doors of the San Zeno Church in Verona show Salome dancing for Herod, contorted like a fish with her head touching her feet (completing the zodiac) after which John the Baptist is decapitated - embalmed heads become a point of interest in the Grail stories.

Moving then into medieval literature and the Grail story Perlesvaus which was almost certainly written by a Knights Templar again brings us this idea of the Fisher King and Keeper of the Grail and the interest in recovering Christian relics as well as embalmed heads – the Grail quest is both a temporal and spiritual journey. We can see in the Gothic Cathedrals, which are books made of stone, a continuation of this Grail Quest. At Chartres we see an image of a Knights Templar, or actually two Knights Templar (their famous seal depicts two knights on one horse) thus supposedly linking to the Zodiac sign of Gemini or twins but with, beneath their feet, a fish. In this way the feet, fish and Christ are somehow linked with the dual nature of man who stands upon Pisces who rules the secrets of initiation. 

It is worth noting at this point that the origin of Pisces, as seen in the sigil, is not one fish but two side by side. 

Like Gemini, Pisces is also a twin, two fish for two feet.

As the zodiac moves from Pisces to Aries, from the foot back to the head, we find ourselves at the beginning of April and April Fool’s day -  a tradition taken from the French in the 17th Century (called the April Fish in France), a day where many of us act the Fool and play jokes on one another. This use of Tomfoolery, or silliness, links almost certainly to the medieval practice of the Feast of Fools or Feast of the Donkey (or Ass) when all manner of tomfoolery was implemented within the auspices of the Church by the local populace it was a type of social pressure relief valve, in which medieval peasants would 'act the goat' and for one day only to turn the church led hierarchy on it's head. Incorporated by the church into the Medieval Feast of Fools where the true meaning became forgotten - it is mentioned at length in Fulcanelli's Mystere des Cathedrales, reminding us that the way of the Fool is in fact an esoteric spiritual path of initiation - the restless, traveling Initiate, perhaps also bringing to mind the expression 'we are all fools for God's sake'.

Such purposeful and exacting foolishness finally takes us to The Fool, or zero in the Tarot deck. The Fool in the tarot deck analogous perhaps to the joker or court jester but more specifically to the Troubadours of the South of France's (Cathar Country), begins a journey on a spiritual path of initiation armed only with a sack (containing his Karma) on a stick carried behind his shoulder and a dog (indicating the Astral body of emotions) running at his heels a  little like the leopard from Dante's Inferno (Dante begins his journey meeting the Astral as an independent entity manifested in a leopard - sometimes translated as panther - ‘una lonza leggiera e presta molto’. ): The Fool stands at the beginning of a physical and spiritual journey. 

This Tarot card in whose earliest rendering shows the Fool barefoot reminds us that it is our feet, linked to the secrets of initiation, and the twin-fish, that take us on both a temporal and spiritual journey, and that it is the bringing of the feet to the head in a circle (zero) which completes the Zodiac.

Review of the Xeroshoe Huarache Sandal Kit

I previously gave a poor review of these shoes; I did not like them at all, however I recently found myself in the tropics and being unable to find my normal sandals took my huaraches. As you can see they are a Xeroshoe Huarache kit and I had to finish making them.
(The Xeroshoe Kit contains 2 rubber soles which smell like tyre tread, two lengths of paracord, a hole punch and a hair clip and no instructions. You have to go online to the Xeroshoewebsite and watch a video). Making them was very frustrating and a trial and error affair...and I still do not think that I got all the knots right, but now I am scared if I take them to bits I will be unable to get them tied again!

So, having arrived in the tropics to 35 degrees Celsius and almost 100 degrees humidity I was very thankful to have these huaraches as they are so light (due to the thin rubber sole) and with the minimalist paracord strap allow maximum air flow to the feet.
Previously my criticism was that they were uncomfortable and that the toe post dug into the toe webbing, however I have now worn these in and they are becoming more and more comfortable. Of course I was reluctant to blame my poor attempts at tying the paracord strap rather to blame the shoe itself...my fathers oft quoted expression now comes to mind: a poor craftsman blames his tools...

Running in them feels a little strange yet they soon become second nature, mainly because  they are so light and the sole so flexible. The 6mm rubber sole has almost no "bounce" so that the barefoot experience is probably the closest you will get however I found running in these particularly heavy going on the ankles. That toe post strap will also take a while to get used to as it feels a bit tight at first.

I found that the paracord eased in after a few days... I started to get a foot slap sound which is not right...and so needed a readjustment to make it tighter. A few days of adjusting the paracord and they became a very comfortable sandal.

However after a further week they loosened up again and I again experienced the foot-slapping sound, so again started to tighten up the paracord. To fully lock the foot to the sole meant making the paracord quite tight, and this meant that the cord between the big toe and the second toe started to chaff the skin. I re-cut the paracord and removed the thick wrapping which I had made around the toe post.

I found that the thinner the cord at the big toe the more comfortable however, I also found that although the paracord was now tight enough to lock the foot onto the sole, after a day of wearing them the paracord had left grooves in my skin, and the top of my foot was a bit puffy. For this reason I cannot envisage these sandals as practical for running.

Conclusion
These huaraches have been a lifesaver in the hot and humid tropics.The one criticism I have is the paracord which feels a little uncomfortable at first, I think a wide strip of leather would work much better, however Xeroshoe chose Paracord because of its durability however I found the paracord to be a poor choice of material. I fully intend to re-string them with leather lace or a wider strip of leather.

Despite my reservations of the paracord I would say that, all in all, the Xeroshore Huarache Kit gets a belated thumbs up from me, they are well worth giving a go...they may well be the best and most cost effective barefoot running shoe / sandal on the market...and would at least provide a low cost entry into running sandals - to see if running sandals are for you...I have to say that having worn these sandals every day for 2 weeks that the running sandal is not for me, I will wear them for walking around and on the beach but for running I prefer my leather Skora Form!

Runner's Knee and the Ego

One of the attractions of "Barefoot" running is the promise of never having a running injury again. This idea is romanticized to a large extent by the book Born to Run and the account therein contained of Barefoot Ted. But barefoot running is not quite the cure all it is made out to be - the lawsuit against the claims made by Vibram Five Fingers being an example, as well as people actually snapping their metatarsals.
For me, after a year of barefoot running I have succumbed to runners heel in my left foot and runners knee on my right knee. The heel pain, which could be the start of Plantar Fasciitis, started when I had stopped running over December having contracted sinusitis, not helped by wearing traditional shoes everyday to work, however after a hiatus, I found that running again barefoot helped the heel pain to some extent that is until after a slippery muddy run I also got runners knee.
The knee pain seemed to be linked to a stiffness in my hip and the pain in my knee actually made me stop running. Three miles from home and the night drawing in, the only thing I could do was switch on my headlamp and trot home. (As night fell about 20 deer came out of the forest - it is a remnant of old Sherwood Forest - to watch me... now immersed now in darkness, I found the normal everyday world meets a sort of non-ordinary world of a more primordial experience, fear, focus and intent) I found that the pain would go when I completely relaxed my hips and knees and slackened the pace - in the darkness I did not have that worry of "what do I look like?". I guess I was almost shuffling along. However when I put on the pressure to start running faster the debilitating pain in my knee started again.

I was barefoot running forefoot striking so where did it go wrong, as both these conditions are meant to be helped by barefoot not caused by it? Over the next weeks I solved the heel pain by really focusing on my walking (rather than running) and seeing where the pain would start and then modifying my foot fall, in this case making sure my left foot went more on the outer edge as this was the only way I could relieve the pain. In this case the pain was a useful tool to find a solution.
As for the knee pain it is reoccurring, and just as I was back to running 8 miles pain free it came back as bad as ever. Truly Awful. Again 3 miles from home the only way I could run was to totally relax my hips and knees, and this was not something I could do intentionally it was a very abstract action, but I knew when it was happening as the pain in my hip and knee stopped.

Louise Hay in her book "You Can Heal Your Life"  says the knees express "bending and pride, ego and stubbornness...we want to move forward but we do not want to change our ways. This is why knees take so long to heal; our ego is involved."

Taking a spiritual approach falls in line with my whole "barefoot journey" using it to uncover at greater depths aspects of myself however I often dispute the current trend in New Age books to disparage the Ego - Wayne Dyer for example often states that Ego is Edging God Out. However I disagree. The Healthy Ego is a big part of western life in general, and even a part of western spiritual practise to find an individual (and direct) connection with this Great Spirit (or Godhead). The development of a healthy ego, a part of the historical (hidden) western esoteric thought, or Mystery Schools, is at odds with the Eastern tradition of abandonment of the Ego. One of the clashes of culture (and politics) from the West to the East, is I believe, a totally different sense of self. The Western tradition is focused on individuality whereas the Eastern tradition, a sort of group (tribal) sense of self as a community.

Anyway according to Louise Hay the solution to knee problems is:
FORGIVENESS; UNDERSTANDING; COMPASSION
Something I know I need to work on, whether it is related to my sports injury...perhaps I need to not stubbornly run 8 miles when my body is telling me not to...perhaps I need to be more compassionate and forgiving to others (and myself) who knows? What I do know about the Western Tradition is that we shouldn't reject our Ego we should embrace it and healthily develop it...We can use our individuality in Forgiveness and Understanding...and, as the Dalai Lama recently tweeted: we can all practise Compassion.
As for knee injuries, well, I guess these will always plague runners...but the pain teaches us how to run correctly, and maybe also teaches us a greater truth at the same time.