Left eye

Posted by Pamela on August 24, 2007

In Reply to: Left eye posted by ChrisA on August 23, 2007

: : I am looking for understanding to references to the "left eye". I've overhead sayings, such as "I'll shoot him in the left eye", and Norse gods giving their left eye for ravens. Why the left eye? Is there some mystical association with this eye, wisdom perhaps? References on the web seem sketchy at best.

: There is certainly a connection with wisdom because it was wisdom for which Odin gave up his left eye. The ravens associated with him are Huginn and Muninn (Thought and Memory) but I don't think they were part of the deal. Why it should have been the left eye I don't know.

A quick look on Google shows that it isn't just Odin who had something special about his left eye - the left eye seems to play a significant role in mythology from Egypt through to Japan (and there is an old superstition that a witch has two pupils in her left eye as well). Pamela

• Left eye Smokey Stover 26/August/07