Divination and Enchanted Rings

That kind of fortune-telling, called Divination, has held an empire over the mind of man from the earliest period. It was practised by the Jews, Egyptians, Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks and Romans, and is known to all modern nations.

The species of divination by rings is called Dactylomancy.

Scott, in his work on Demonology, observes, that in the now dishonored science of astrology, its professors pretended to have correspondence with the various spirits of the elements on the principles of the Rosicrusian philosophy. They affirmed they could bind to their service and imprison in a ring some fairy, sylph, or salamander and compel it to appear when called and render answers to such questions as the viewer should propose. It is remarkable that the sage himself did not pretend to see the spirit; but the task of reviewer or reader was intrusted to a third party, a boy or girl usually under the years of puberty.

As to divination by means of a ring, in the first place the ring was to be consecrated with a great deal of mystery: "the person holding it was clad in linen garments to the very shoes, his head shaven all round, and he held the vervein plant in his hand," while, before he proceeded on any thing, the gods were first to be appeased by a formulary of prayers, etc. The divination was performed by holding the ring suspended by a fine thread over a round table, on the edge of which were made a number of marks, with the twenty-four letters of the alphabet. The ring, in shaking or vibrating over the table, stops over certain of the letters, which, being joined together, compose the required answer.

Clemente Alexandrino speaks of enchanted rings which predicted future events--such were two possessed by Execustus, the tyrant of Phocis, who was able, by striking them together, to know, by the sound, what he ought to do and what was to happen to him. He was, however, killed through treason. The magnificent rings had been able to tell the time of his death, but they could not point out the means of avoiding it.

Arabian writers make much mention of the magic ring of Solomon. It is said to have been found in the belly of a fish; and many fictions have been created about it. The Arabians have a book called Scalcuthal expressly on the subject of magic rings; and they trace this ring of Solomon's, in a regular succession, from Jared the father of Enoch to Solomon. Josephus, after extolling the wisdom and acquirements of Solomon, and assuring us that God had enabled him to expel demons by a method remaining of great force to the days of the historian, says:

"I have seen a certain man of my own country whose name was Eleazar, releasing people that were demoniacal, in the presence of Vespasian, his sons and his captains and the whole multitude of his soldiers. The manner of the case was this: he put a ring, that had a part of one of those roots mentioned by Solomon, to the nostrils of the demoniac; after which, he drew out the demon through his nostrils; and when the man fell down, immediately he adjured him to return unto him no more, making still mention of Solomon and reciting the incantations which he composed.

"And when Eleazar would persuade and demonstrate to the spectators that he had such a power, he set a little way off a cup or basin full of water, and commanded the demon, as he went out of the man, to overturn it, and thereby to let the spectators know that he had left the man; and when this was done, the skill and wisdom of Solomon was shown very manifestly."

In the popular old ballad of Lambert Linkin, rings give proof of a terrible coming event by bursting upon the fingers:

"The Lord sat in England

A drinking the wine.

"I wish a' may be weel

Wi' my lady at hame;

For the rings o' my fingers

They're now burst in twain.

"He saddled his horse,

And he came riding down;

But as soon as he viewed,

Belinkin came in.

"He had na weel stepped

Twa steps up the stair,

Till he saw his pretty young son

Lying dead on the floor.

"He had na weel stepped

Other twa up the stair,

Till he saw his pretty lady

Lying dead in despair.

"He hanged Belinkin

Out over the gate;

And he burnt the fause nurice,

Being under the grate."

We would refer our reader to a beautiful Syrian legend in the "Household Words," in which a ring is made to play an interesting part upon the fingers of a maiden, who is able to know of the good or ill fortune and faith of her absent lover through its changes. He, in giving it, had informed her: "If good fortune is with me, it will retain its brightness; if evil, dim. If I cease to love, and the grave opens for me, it will become black." Fitful changes then come and go upon the ring, as the light and shadow of life accompany the roving lover.

There is a like notion in the ancient Scotch ballad of Hynd Horn:

"And she gave to me a gay gold ring,

With a hey lillelu and a how lo lan;

With three shining diamonds set therein,

And the birk and the brume blooms bonnie.

"What if these diamonds lose their hue,

With a hey lillelu and a how lo lan,

Just when my love begins for to rew,

And the birk and the brume blooms bonnie.

"For when your ring turns pale and wan,

With a hey lillelu and a how lo lan,

Then I'm in love with another man,

And the birk and the brume blooms bonnie.

"Seven long years he has been on the sea,

With a hey lillelu and a how lo lan;

And Hynd Horn has looked how his ring may be,

And the birk and the brume blooms bonnie.

"But when he looked this ring upon,

With a hey lillelu and a how lo lan,

The shining diamonds were both pale and wan,

And the birk and the brume blooms bonnie.

"Oh! the ring it was both black and blue,

With a hey lillelu and a how lo lan;

And she's either dead or she's married,

And the birk and the brume blooms bonnie.

"He's left the seas and he's come to the land," etc.