In the earliest times, jewelry was probably worn to avert neegativity, then envisioned as "evil spirits." Jewelry was also often placed in timbs with other grave goods ti guard the dead.
As perception of the energies within objects sharpened, certain stones and metals were associated with the various organs and regions of the body and were worn to guard the health. Later, stones, metals, horn, feathers, bone and many other matericals were donned for their power to attract love, health, money and other necessities of life.
At first, humans recognized the energies within natural products of the arth and utilized these in their rites. When mining, metallurgy and lapidary became more sophisticated, artificially created peices began to be used in magic.
Where materialism has rules over naturalism, jewelry has survived purely as ornamentation or, at times, as a statement of class definition. Yes, jewelry still has a few ceremonial roles, such as engagement and wedding bands, but even these have lost their priginal magical messages.
Here is what kind of magic lies in you jewelry....
RINGS:
The ring is a circle, symbolic of eternity, unity, reincarnation and the universe. In earlier times the ring was associated with the Sun adn Moon. It was an object of protection, a magical guard that warded off negativity through its continuity.
Rings are still an accepted symbol of marriages and other unions because of their association with eternity.
All rings were once magical or sacred. Even goddesses and gods wore rings; Babylonian mythology is replete with stories of the rings of Shamash and Marduk. Rings have also been linked to the zodiac, the yin/yang and the 'magic circle' pf magicians and Wiccans. Their magical history is complax and fascinating.
In a magical sense, wearing a ring 'binds' you with power, with energy. The materials of which the ring is constructed, plus your visualization, determine the nature of this energy.
The binding sybloism of the ring was so omnipresent and accepted the rings were soon subjected to religious and magical restrictions. Priests of various deities in ancient Greece and ROme removed their rings prior to entering sacred space. Some were eternally forbidden to wear them. Even today, some shamans remove all knots and rings from their bodies prior to a magical ritual.
Becasue rings kept energies in the body, they were also thought toinhibit the release of power. In any type of magical need, rimgs were taboo because of the belief that they would lessen the effectiveness of the magic.
In spiritual rituals,in which we open ourselvesto higher beings, rings were thought to block the process due to, once again, their resricting quality.
The apperance and attractiveness of a ring, and certainly its material value, are a little importance of magic. The ring's design, the metal and stones used are the only factors involved in selecting rings for magic.
Today, magical rings can be purchased from occult stores or sometimes made-to-order for specific ritual purposes. Better still, many practitioners are creating their own through the craft of lapidary.
The finger on which a ring is worn has magical significance. the index or "ring" finger wasonce thought to be especially powerful. Herbal medicines were applied to the body with the ring finger to strengthen the effectiveness of the cure. Thus, rings containing stones which speed the body's healing are best worn on this finger.