Put a ring on it...

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the nature of relationships. I’ve talked with couples where marriages of long-standing are a little tired and the relationship is sagging [in a manner of speaking]. I’ve also been talking to some young folk about an impending marriage.  As we plan this marriage together and the details of the ceremony, I was asked why people would bother with the expense of wedding rings. Let me digress…

In 25 years of performing marriages and attending weddings [please note that the marriage is the legal commitment ceremony defined by law and the wedding is the party celebrating the legal union], I’ve had about a 50-50 ratio of failed to successful unions. I’ve participated in celebrations where it was planned right down to the colour of the nail polish on the bridesmaids and the number of sequins on the bride’s dress. I’ve also performed ceremonies where we're standing in an arbor in a backyard with a bonfire and several attentive canines. When I plan ceremonies with couples I’m not about being the “wedding planner”, but I am all about the words spoken and the commitments made…

So the young couple asking about the need for rings was given my take on the subject. Some traditional theologians speak of the ring as representing an endless circle – love never-ending.  It’s true this is part of the ideology, but as a practising medium it has much more to do with the change in individual’ s auric field [a.k.a. corona discharge] than it does with historic convention. I’ve watched with the exchange of rings how an individual’s field suddenly blossoms to double its size and encapsulates the field of the betrothed. At the other end of the spectrum I’ve watched when a couple in distress, sitting before me in counseling, has taken their rings off. Their field is diminished and stops encircling their partner. This is a pretty heavy duty experience.  I ask people never to remove their rings in anger or haste.

In teaching the medicine wheel over the years I’ve talked about the cycles within cycles and wheels within wheels – the cycle of the day, the week, the moon cycle and cycles of birth, life fulfilled, and death.  Small cycles morphing into big cycles, like the seasons, the years and life itself. These are natural rhythms cycles we cannot escape, but we can augment them by the choices of the connections we make intimately and globally. To that end I have exchanged simple rings – friendship rings – with people who are dear to me. I’ve exchanged marriage rings with partners. I’ve shared family rings.  For me personally there is no greater token of the endless cycle of love, even if it is between friends rather than betrothed partners, then the exchange of a ring.

It is with some bemusement that I noted the lyrics of a song by Beyoncé in recent years. I’m not a huge fan of contemporary rap-style music, but I noted in the lyrics her suggestion that if her friend was serious, they needed to “put a ring on it”.  I agree. So any couple contemplating a formal marriage gets to see what their auric field looks like with – and without – the exchange of rings. I pull out the dowsing rods, and I show people the exchange of energy which comes with the exchange of a ring.  The rings don’t have to be platinum and diamonds; a simple silver band is an adequate choice.  We are what we think and we are what we project with the words we say…

I’m recently aware of karmic bonds between people I know and hold dear… people coming to the end of this earth walk as well.  It’s all about our consciousness, the elevating of this consciousness and raising our vibration to the highest it can be before we transition to the next level of being. It acknowledges or recognizes bittersweet karmic bonds. It’s never too late to put a ring on it…

Peace.

P.S. Just in case I have to practise what I preach, I wear a size 6 ring…