Why Putting Salt in your Shoes Brings Luck?
In the Middle Ages, salt was one of the most valuable resources you could possess. Used to preserve meat, salt was also known to have powerful medicinal properties.
Throwing it away was simply unthinkable... yet people put salt in their shoes for good luck!
So what pushed our ancestors to “waste” (we will see in this article, it is not entirely true) such a precious commodity?
This is what we are going to see today together by looking at the magical, mystical and spiritual powers of salt.
Contents :
Salt: a magical tool of purification
Consequences on its lucky character
Salt: a magical tool of purification
Everything that makes up our world has particular energies and vibrations.
People, animals, plants and even minerals all have something of their own, a kind of soul.
Thus, the energy that circulates everywhere will have different reactions depending on the things it encounters.
With this in mind, salt really does have special powers. Where most of the elements that surround us will leave their own trace to the energies that encounter them, a kind of residue showing their existence, salt will rather have a purifying role.
By first being confronted with these crystals, the energy will arrive to us purer because it is free of anything that could dirty it.
This type of consideration is in reality very close to those that the sorcerers who once populated our countryside could have had.
If you are interested in the ideas resulting from this practice with its undoubtedly unfairly tarnished image, take a look at the various witchcraft objects and tools that we have to offer you.
Consequences on its lucky character
This almost cleansing effect that we see is interesting.
There is also a second spiritual property that results directly from this: salt allows room for positivity.
Some will tell you that it attracts positive energies. We do not entirely share this opinion.
For us, salt will rather, by ridding energies of traces of negativity, leave more room for what could sublimate them.
Even if the consequences will be roughly the same, this subtle difference must be highlighted.
In short, this theory on salt has been shared by many people from very different peoples for millennia.
To go further, here is an article which also talks about purification by salt and another presenting traditions from around the world linked to it.
For us, as for millions of other people, there is no doubt that there is some truth behind all this.
In any case, this is a good explanation as to why putting salt in shoes brings good luck.
So why put salt in shoes?
Very concretely, people thought in the Middle Ages that salt repelled the devil.
This belief comes from the incorruptible nature of this commodity. In fact, you can leave salt for several years without touching it and it will never rot...
It is not for nothing that it was used for food preservation for millennia!
In short, if putting salt in your shoe brings luck, it is precisely because it is supposed to ward off the devil (and by extension, all the demons who serve him).
By doing this, you walked around throughout your day with a sort of good luck charm protecting you from his attacks, yes, but not only that...
You also left a few grains of salt everywhere you went, protecting all the places you visited.
Putting a little salt in your shoes was therefore a way to protect you, but also everyone you loved!
Other salt-related superstitions
You will have understood: the idea that salt wards off evil spirits is really very old.
Like everything that has endured in history, salt was the source of great folklore and numerous and varied local customs.
Listing them all would probably take days. In fact, just about every village or community around the world may have its own traditions related to salt as this food has been used by all of humanity.
Yes, putting salt in our shoes to bring us luck is (very) far from being the only custom we could tell you about!
To learn more about this kind of folklore that our ancestors once respected, you can take a look at our collection of European lucky charms. Each has its own history and is linked to a particular facet of our beautiful continent.
In short, without wanting to be exhaustive, here is a list of the main customs linked to lucky salt :
- Even today, you should never move into a house without bringing a pot of salt with you.
- Spilling salt on the dining table was a sign of great misfortune, especially of relationships that would soon break up.
- When a baby was born, people would sometimes hang bags of salt above the baby's bed to protect it.
- During baptism, salt was placed near the child to facilitate his entry into the house of the Lord.
- In the same vein, a few grains of salt could be placed on the coffins of the deceased to help them access paradise.
- Salting someone else's dish is something you should never do. This can be the source of a lot of worry for both people.
- On the other hand, passing salt at the table when someone asks you to is an effective good luck gesture.
Salt in sacred texts
In Moroccan villages, in Naples, in England, in India or in China: salt is everywhere seen as something magical.
This idea is also found in the sacred texts of most religions!
Take a look, for example, at these extracts from the Bible:
Salt is a good thing; but if the salt becomes tasteless, with what will we restore its flavor? Have salt within yourselves, and be at peace among yourselves. -Mark 9:50
You shall offer them before the Lord; the priests shall cast salt on them, and offer them as a burnt offering to the LORD. - Ezekiel 43:24
Or this one from the Koran:
It is He who left free the two masses of flowing water: one palatable and sweet and the other Salt and bitter; However, he has created a barrier between them, a partition from which it is forbidden to pass. - Surah 25:53
