ankles
The Seba library treats Ankle in 8 passages, across 6 authors (including Hillman, James, Liz Greene, Marvin W. Meyer).
Alexander the Great (wounded in the ankle), Odysseus’s leg, Jason’s single sandal — all these are marked in the foot. Does the fact that every human descended from Eve shall be bruised in the heel by the serpent say that each human being is susceptible to the puer?
Hillman argues that ankle and foot wounds are the archetypal signature of puer psychology, marking the spirit’s failed downward reach into embodied, worldly existence.
, Senex & Puer, 2015thesis
the father kept his hand firmly on the son’s ankle bone, which remained mortal. This version of the tale seems to predate the story that Thetis dipped her son in the river Styx to render him immortal, forgetting the ankle she was holding.
Greene reads the retained mortal ankle as the mythic point where numinous parental projection meets inescapable human limitation, a fated wound built into the heroic archetype.
, The Astrology of Fate, 1984thesis
Toechtha the right ankle, Aol the left ankle, Charaner the right foot, Bastan its toes, Archentechtha the left foot
The Secret Book of John assigns distinct demiurgic angelic powers to each ankle, embedding the joint within a Gnostic cosmological anatomy that maps divine authority onto every bodily part.
, The Gnostic Gospels of Jesus: The Definitive Collection of Mystical Gospels and Secret Books about Jesus of Nazareth, 2005supporting
a directional shift of the visual target was elicited by vibration applied to neck muscles … and, more surprisingly, to ankle postural muscles
Gallagher cites experimental evidence that ankle proprioceptive signals directly shape visual-spatial perception, demonstrating the ankle’s constitutive role in body-schematic orientation to the world.
, How the Body Shapes the Mind, 2005supporting
the shape and structure of the human foot, ankle, knee, hip, and vertebral column, as well as the proportions of limbs, demand a specific musculature and nervous system design
Gallagher situates the ankle within a morphological account of upright posture, arguing that bodily structure and achieved stance co-constitute each other and redefine the human world.
, How the Body Shapes the Mind, 2005supporting
plumb line through the top of the head, middle of the ear, shoulder, hip joint, knee joint and ankle can be imagined to assess alignment
Ogden employs the ankle as a key alignment landmark in sensorimotor psychotherapy, using vertical plumb-line assessment to reveal somatic-psychological correlates of traumatic disorganization.
, Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy, 2006supporting
In the center lay a cowrie belt, arm and ankle rings, earrings, the shards of all sorts of pots, and a digging stick. All that we were able to learn about this was the fact that a woman had died in this hut.
Jung observes ankle rings among ritual mortuary objects in an East African village, noting the numinous yet opaque character of such material deposits without elaborating their symbolic significance.
, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, 1963aside
ankle weights or weighted vests to enhance grounding exercises; doing push-ups or lifting weights or even pushing against one’s own arm or thigh can be useful in providing resistance
Ogden mentions ankle weights as practical therapeutic props for grounding exercises in somatic trauma work, a clinical detail subordinate to the broader framework of somatic resourcing.
, Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy, 2006aside