A Blue Castle

Dawn Chorus Walk, Nostell, West Yorkshire

For @tolkiengenweek’s: Day Six: Environment ● Places ● Objects and Symbols

Ring set with a wolf's tooth, 14th century

Gems have long been considered by all peoples as somehow magical because of their brilliance of colour and hardness, but other materials, such as teeth, also had magical properties.

This ring has the hoop engraved with two inscriptions, providing double the power; one a magic formula, the other a biblical phrase. The magical charm: ‘BURO + BERTO + BERNETO’ is to protect against toothache; the tooth set in the bezel may well have been expected to contribute to the prophylactic power of the words. The biblical phrase 'CONSUMMATUM + EST' are the last words Christ spoke on the Cross, and were used as a charm to calm storms.

cloud forest