Dream of Shoes: Meaning of Walking, Bare Feet and the Lost Shoe

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Dream of Shoes: What Is It About?

The dream of shoes features a pair of shoes, boots, sandals or trainers, or their absence: you walk barefoot, you look for your other shoe, you try on pairs that do not fit, you are dressed in an outfit that is too big, you receive new shoes. Like clothing, footwear is an everyday object, but it has a particular role: it links the body to the ground, that is, oneself to the path.

Readings therefore tend to turn towards walking and progress, and towards the role and place we occupy in different situations.

Shoes Full of Stories

Shoes lie at the heart of many stories. In Exodus (3:5), Moses is told to take off his sandals before the burning bush, because the place is holy: removing one's shoes becomes an act of respect, found in many cultures (people take off their shoes when entering a mosque, a temple or a home). In the tale of Rhodopis, reported by the Greek geographer Strabo, an eagle carries off the sandal of a courtesan and drops it at the feet of the pharaoh, who searches for its owner: this is one of the oldest known versions of the Cinderella motif. In Charles Perrault's version (1697), the slipper serves to identify the heroine. The seven-league boots of Tom Thumb (also by Perrault) allow the wearer to cover great distances very quickly.

Language has taken these images up: "to put yourself in someone else's shoes", "to find one's match" (literally "to find a shoe for one's foot"), "to have lead in one's soles", "to put one's foot in it".

Psychological Readings

In a Jungian reading, the feet and the shoe connect the individual to the earth, that is, to concrete reality, while the shoe is a kind of "garment" of the path, a way of protecting oneself while moving forward. An ill-fitting shoe would then say something about the way you move forward: too tight, you feel constrained; too loose, you rattle around in a role.

Some Freudian readings have attributed a symbolic sexual value to the shoe; this idea is famous and much debated, and it cannot be applied to a dream without your context. Researchers stress continuity instead: we dream of shoes when we are thinking about them (a purchase, a celebration, foot pain, a journey).

Here again, Artemidorus (2nd century) pointed out that interpretation depends on the condition of the dreamer: a soldier's boots and a craftsman's shoes do not mean the same thing.

What Changes the Meaning

Scene	Possible reading
Losing a shoe	Lack of a point of reference; in the "Cinderella" version: wanting to be recognised (see losing an object)
Walking barefoot	Direct contact with reality, simplicity, vulnerability
Shoes too tight	A role or situation that is too constraining
Shoes too big	Responsibility bigger than yourself
New shoes	A fresh start, a new role
Muddy or worn shoes	A long road, tiredness
Shoes that do not match	Coherence to be regained, a gap between two roles

Possible Readings

• The path: the way you are moving forward at the moment (see the dream of a road).
• Place: being "in your place", or "in someone else's shoes".
• Protection: being shod or not, being armed or vulnerable before the world.
• Identity: a shoe recognises its owner, as in Cinderella.

Questions to Reflect On

• Where was I going, and in which shoes?
• Did they hurt me, carry me, or leave me indifferent?
• Was I barefoot by choice or by oversight?
• In which role in my life do I feel "cramped"?
• Which stage would be more pleasant with different shoes (in a symbolic sense)?

Warning

Shoes in a dream do not predict any trip, change of job or meeting. If your nights are disturbed by recurring dreams, or if foot pain wakes you up, talk to a health professional. For guidance on how to read a dream dictionary, see the user guide.

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The meanings mentioned belong to tradition and symbolism. They are neither promises of results nor medical advice. Back to Dream dictionary.