Jewelry, rings and precious stones
Traditional meaning and context
The Zhougong manual gives receiving a gold or jade ring a favorable association with the birth of a distinguished child. Yet pearls and jade filling one's arms are classed as highly unfavorable. Precious material alone does not settle the omen: the object, manner of receiving it and quantity change the traditional scene.
You obtain a gold or jade ring.
The manual associates this with the birth of a distinguished child. This reports its family symbolism, not a prediction of pregnancy.
Your arms are filled with pearls and jade.
The manual calls this highly unfavorable, despite the value of the objects. It gives no further event in this brief entry.
These are historical omen associations, not evidence of what will happen to you or your family.
MingSez’s reading
We read jewelry through value, attachment and the significance of wearing or receiving it. A modest inherited piece may matter more than a pile of expensive stones. A gift accepted happily differs from one that feels burdensome or unwanted.
How the scene changes the meaning
You receive a ring from someone important to you.
The relationship and the way you receive the gift can carry the meaning. We would not assume that every ring concerns marriage.
You struggle to hold a large quantity of jewels.
The load changes abundance into a burden within the scene. Notice whether you want to keep it all or let some go.
A question to take with you: Was the jewelry meaningful because of its value, its giver, or what you had to do to keep it?
Sources and related reading
- Zhougong Dream Manual, Gold, Silver, Pearls, Jade and Silks
Gold, Silver, Pearls, Jade and Silks section: obtaining a gold or jade ring; pearls and jade filling one's arms. Fixed Wikisource transcription revision 7907671; underlying physical edition unspecified. The traditional title does not establish authorship by the historical Duke of Zhou.