White Copper Star Protection Talisman Script Totem Ring

The seven stars of the Big Dipper hold a particular place in Daoism. They govern the register of human lifespans, and the zodiac year, the rites for averting stellar influence and the rites of bowing to the Dipper all turn around those seven. The Scripture of the Northern Dipper of the Most High on Extending Life says each person has a natal star, and that a position in the Dipper corresponds to the hour of birth. Cutting the stars together with a talisman is common on rings of this kind, the star points joined by lines and the talisman characters set beneath. Rites of bowing to the Dipper were mostly held at night in temples, with seven lamps lit and arranged in the shape of the constellation. In folk usage the natal star is discussed alongside the zodiac animal and the year's presiding deity, and the accounts differ from place to place.

White copper base, the face shaped as a talisman, star points and their connecting lines set within it. The four options split two ways: size for men and women, colour for gold and silver. The gold is a plating; the silver is the natural colour of the metal. Plating is thin, and where it wears through the pale metal shows, which is a fault of plated work generally and not of any one maker, so know it before you buy. Gold and silver versions usually carry different prices, so check at checkout. Natural white copper darkens with wear, and the silver version shows that change more than the gold.

The men's face is broad with deep cuts and a sense of weight on the hand; the women's is a size narrower, the lines drawn finer so it does not look clumsy on a slim finger. Both are open and will close or spread a little. Do not force one onto a heavy hand. Copper fatigues, and bending the same spot repeatedly will break it; the break comes at the side of the band where the front does not show it. The gap sits at the underside, and once on it turns inward out of sight. Cuts on the women's version are shallow, so anyone with long nails will find matter collecting in them.

A talisman is written to be looked at, not recited. In Daoist practice a talisman has a fixed structure — head, core, foot — each with its part to play. When folk practice has one cut into a ring it is mostly for the look of the thing; for actual ritual use, only what is drawn on paper counts. Said plainly, that leaves the buyer on solid ground and immune to the claims made outside. The talisman's outer frame is a double line, the inner thin and the outer heavy, so from a distance it reads as a single border.

Gold and silver need different care. Wipe the gold with a dry cloth, since abrasives on the cloth thin the plating; the silver will take a firmer hand. In summer, sweat builds a pale film inside the band. An old toothbrush with water will shift it, but do not soak the ring, because water that gets into the crevices stays there. Keep toothpaste off the gold as well; it is abrasive too, and a few rounds of it will take the plating down to the base.