Why are there wedding rings on a record album? (And by the way, what is a record album???)
As far as historians can tell, people have been giving wedding rings to each other since at least the time of the ancient Egyptians; that’s 3000+ years ago! To the ancient Egyptians, rings represented the sun and the moon; these celestial bodies were revered by them, and they saw the middle of the ring – the empty “interior” – as a gateway into the unknown. How cool! Married life is definitely a gateway into the interior of our psyche, and marriage gives each partner the perfect opportunity to explore the deepest (often unknown!) parts of each other and themselves.
Rings – across cultures – also represent eternity. After all, a circle has no beginning and no end, so the message of the ring is, “I will love you ‘til the end of time.” And, if you’ve ever wondered how the “ring finger” came to be designated as such, we can also trace this back to ancient Egypt. The Egyptians believed that the finger next to the pinkie on the left hand contained the “vena amoris” or “vein of love” that led directly to the heart. Awwww!!
In Jewish weddings, the words, “Behold, by this ring you are consecrated to me according to the laws of Moses and Israel” are traditionally recited. Modern couples may also recite words of their own that reflect their love and devotion to each other, or, they may have lines of a favorite poem or song that they want say to one other.
Wedding rings also symbolize the unlocking of a person’s heart; when each spouse gives the wedding to the other, it is to symbolically say, “You, my beloved, have unlocked the keys to my heart.” And speaking of the heart, in many (but not all!) cultures, you’ll see the wedding ring on each partner’s left ring finger. Why on the left hand as opposed to the right? Because the heart lives more on the left side of the chest; that’s why we put our right hand across our chest over to the left side – that’s how we literally put our hand over our heart. So, the left ring finger is closer to the heart, just like our beloved.
So back to the original question: why the wedding rings on the record album? Well, there are probably as many answers as there are people. My own take on it is this: just as we can listen again and again to a song and always hear new sounds in the instrumentation and discern new meaning in the same lyrics, so too it is with our beloved. We decide to share our lives with this special, magical someone. Over time, we come to discern the nuances and complexities, all the hidden “grace notes” of our partner. No matter how much we think we know our soulmate, there’s always something new to discover and learn. May we learn to stay present to the perpetual newness of our beloved, so that we’re always delighted by the one who stands before us.
I am so excited to guide and support you on your way to creating the marriage of your dreams!