Left, right, left, right

[Rhonda Tharp]

I read something a few years ago about the significance of the left and right side of a person.

Right side - Solar - Male - East - Birth - Yang
Left side - Lunar - Female - West - Death - Yin

Some Celtic tribes used to marry by handfasting (holding hands while crossed, making an infinity sign), but over the years, patriarchal societies dropped the left hand and just accepted the right hand (shake) as an agreement, promise, etc.

In Christian traditional marriages, men are on the right, women are on the left. Women and men wore wedding rings on their left hand (female or "emotional" side) because they thought there was a vein that ran directly to their heart, so the ring "captured" their heart.

Interestingly, Odin sacrificed his left eye, and Tyr lost his right hand! (Talaria, which hand did Nuada have as his Silver hand?) Tyr is the God of Fairness in Battle...

Can anyone think of other references to left and right mentioned in myth?

 

[FreyjaLilith]

Well, there's the superstition that one who has their left hand as their dominate hand are evil and being controlled by the devil. The nuns used to smack the children who used their left hand, and forced them to use their right hand. Ohh there's so much more, if I think of any more, particularly from mythology, I'll post them.
The ring comment is very interesting..I would have never thought that was why the wedding ring is on the left hand!

 

[Talaria]

I am glad you posted this Rhonda because I am reading Michael Scott's (he writes historical fiction) books right now and one of his characters has a left handed silver hook and it is driving me CRAZY because I can't figure out who the hook handed man he is.(this specific character has an unknown identity) I thought it was Nuada for the longest time but I did so much research on him and found it is his right hand that was cut off by someones sword. I thought it was Tyr as well but alas then I read it was his right hand. That is why I asked in another thread if you knew anything about the Pictish Scots.

I have really been trying to dig into the left/right, evil/good topic for a while now. I know that King Arthur was right handed and Modred was left handed, In medievil times the right hand was used for eating and the left for uh..bathroom purposes, I think Darth Vader was left handed...I will have to start going back on my notes another time, I have a lot of this stuff written down somewhere. I am excited to talk about this!

 

[Rhonda Tharp]

Book sound interesting, what's the title?

I went back to my original source for more info on left and right and found the following:

Right - Righteousness
French - a droite - to the right
Logical

Left - Awkwardness
French - gauche = English "gawky"
German - link meant "wrong"
Anglo Saxon - lyft meant "worthless"
Evil eye was typically left
Intuitive

India recognized two ways to religious revelation - Right handed path and Left handed path.
When you put the palms of your hands together you are uniting your male and female soul or "shakti"

Irish druidic law said that no one circles the High Seat of Tara clockwise, they must go "widdershins" (counterclockwise)

When Leto gave birth to Apollo and Artemis, she grasped a palm tree with her right hand and an olive tree with her left hand.

Goddess Rhea placed her hands on the earth, and had 5 female spirits come from her left hand and 5 male spirits from her right hand.

Medusa's menstrual blood from her left side could bring a dead person back to life, while blood from her right side could destroy someone.

Romans four cardinal points or directions are based on left and right... left or the west (hostilis) is where the evil spirits and bad omens come from
and good omens (familiaris) come from the right/east.

Burial sites from the Stone Age found bodies buried facing west.

Aztecs called the west "the place of women"

Go "west" is synonymous with "to die"

Temple of Borsippa was known as the Temple of the Right Hand