A Curious Detail of Natural Magic
Dec. 8th, 2018 11:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ecosophia
These days people in most Western countries assume as a matter of course that engagement and wedding rings have to have diamonds on them. That didn't become the universal custom until after the Second World War, though; it was in 1947 that the DeBeers diamond syndicate launched the first of a series of massive ad campaigns under the slogan "Diamonds Are Forever." Well, maybe they are, but...In the lore of natural magic, every kind of gemstone has a different effect on consciousness; these are normally categorized by the old scheme of the seven planets. Diamonds correspond to the planet Mars. Their magical virtue is that they give strength and victory in battle, but they are also traditionally unlucky, and make their wearers unhappy.
Maybe it's just pure coincidence, but I find myself noticing that it was right after a stone of war and unhappiness became standard wear for married women that the divorce rate began to soar, and many branches of the feminist movement took on a distinctly angry and bitter tone.
If you want a better-omened stone for an engagement or a wedding ring, the magical lore suggests going for an emerald. Emeralds correspond to Venus, and are fortunate for love; they were held to strengthen the eyes and the memory; and they make the wearer truthful and difficult to fool by trickery, all of which would be helpful in marriage. I'm sure the diamond merchants won't approve, but it might be worth trying to reverse the trend...
Love is pure gold
Date: 2018-12-08 08:38 pm (UTC)Re: Love is pure gold
Date: 2018-12-09 06:59 pm (UTC)Re: Love is pure gold
Date: 2018-12-09 07:32 pm (UTC)As a curious and quite repellent historical footnote, when I was young, older African-Americans generally had silver wedding rings. Sometime early on--I no longer remember where and when-- I asked someone about that, and the answer was that jewelers wouldn't sell gold bands to African-Americans; gold wedding rings were for Whites only.
Re: Love is pure gold
Date: 2018-12-09 08:12 pm (UTC)