This ring was originally released in our New Classics Collection. 

Cast immortal in sterling silver, bat wing and leg bones molded from the real thing, are composed into a beautiful setting cradling an onyx coffin cut jewel. 

The title of the ring comes from my favorite two lines of a poem by John Keats, 'Ode to a Nightingale':

"Darkling I listen; and, for many a time

I have been half in love with easeful Death,.."

For me personally, this 'death' is represented by our 'Shadow Selves' or the aspects of our personality that are considered dark or unwanted by either ourselves or society. As children we learn how to suppress the parts of ourselves that are unacceptable through our parents or others. However, these parts are never eradicated, instead they are slipped into the coffins of our psyches like secrets. Often aspects of our shadow selves will sneak out of this protective encasing and will rear their intense heads when we least expect it, or, these aspects are parts of ourselves that we choose to face and integrate into our adult personalities. Working and accepting our shadow selves is what Carl Jung describes in his writings on inner alchemy as the 'Nigredo' phase, the phase in which we confront the most dark aspects of ourselves in a quest for wholeness.

In 'traditional' alchemy, the 'Nigredo' phase is the phase in which all ingredients used to obtain the 'philosopher's stone' are burned, purified, blackened; in a sense, killed, in order for new life to spring forth. 

This ring is also a nod to 'Dracula', a movie that when it came out influenced my ideas on romance. I know the actual novel is different than the movie, but the bat bones here represent the creatures of the night, creatures that are often shunned by society much like the Vampire, and much like our shadow selves. 

This ring is also a nod to Victorian Mourning jewelry. After the death of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria fell into a deep grief that was shared by the nation. This led to mourning rituals being instilled in society, which had many intricate rules such as wearing black and then purple for set periods of time, wearing the hair of your beloved in lockets and rings, taking portraits of the deceased etc. 

This ring is in a sense, a talisman to remember your shadow, remember that all parts of yourself however dark and shadowy are worthy of acceptance, even if they are filling the coffin that's tucked away in the pit of your psyche.