Magic Ring - History and Function

History and Function

Images of Celtic gods have been found wearing a torc or a neck ring, and torcs are on rare occasions mentioned as decoration in early Irish and medieval Welsh literature, but none are described as magical. Seventy-five complete neck torcs and fragments of many more were found at Snettisham, in Norfolk, England in the twentieth century and had been buried deliberately in twelve or fourteen separate hoards dating to the first century BC; it is not known why.

J G Frazer, in his study of magic and superstition in The Golden Bough, has pointed to evidence that rings can serve, in the primitive mind, as devices to prevent the soul from leaving the body and to prevent demons from gaining entry. A magic ring, therefore, might confer immortality by preventing the soul's departure and thwart the penetration of any harmful magic that might be directed against the wearer. These magical properties inhibiting access to the soul may explain "an ancient Greek maxim, attributed to Pythagoras, which forbade people to wear rings" in ancient Greece. Muslim pilgrims in Mecca may not wear rings. But Muslim pilgrims are forbidden to wear any kind of jewelry or cloth other than "ehram", so this might not be relevant to the point.

Ancient drawings of Mesopotamian gods sometimes include one or several rings attached to staffs or poles, but no reference has been found in writings recovered from that time to show whether they were magical or merely decorative. Generally, however, the two most common types of magical rings in mythology and fiction are arm rings and finger rings.

Magical rings can be magical for a variety of reasons and their magical properties may be either very specific or of a more general nature. A folk tale or story may give no reason for a ring being magical, or it may have become magical through being enchanted by a magician or touched by a god. A ring may also be magical because of the material of which it is made; often a ring is a mere carrier for a special jewel, which itself is the source of the magic. Other rings are magical because they are inhabited by a spirit.