By 
Snake rings made of various materials, including gold, silver, and platinum, have become very fashionable in recent years. Although some women refuse to wear them because they associate the snake with fear, others find them irresistible: love or hate, the emotion invoked always seems to be intense. Perhaps for this reason, archaeological evidence shows that people have prized snake rings since long before history was first recorded.
Generally, rings, particularly those made of precious metals, have great symbolic significance in most cultures. The snake itself, however, is one of the most powerful symbols of all; perhaps the most important symbol recorded in the records of prehistoric man. The first recorded evidence of ritual behavior and religion is found in a large 70 to 80,000 year old snake-like rock found in the Tsodilo Hills of Botswana.
Local people call the place “The Mountain of the Gods”. The Serpent Rock gives the appearance of undulating motion due to the thousands of indentations carved into it that flicker as the light changes. The scattered broken spearheads suggest that people came from hundreds of miles around to participate in some kind of deeply significant sacrificial ritual; That humanity’s first religious activity involves a snake as its central object of worship perhaps should come as no surprise.
Freud’s work on psychoanalysis showed how, even for modern men and women, the snake is a powerful symbol of sexual desire: dream analysis often reveals the presence of snakes that usually have a sexual or sensual connotation and, often, they reveal repressed feelings. How could this have arisen as such an intrinsic part of the human psyche? Jung would have said that it was simply “part of the collective unconscious.” However, the real reason probably stems from the physical form of the snake, the sensation of touching its skin or at least imagining that you do, and its potential to cause death. Although long and soft, it has the constant potential to rear up and bite; it can wrap around the body and cause death in this way as well.
The fact is that the snake ring combines two of humanity’s most potent symbols into one object of extraordinary psychological power: the ring, which is a symbol of enduring union, and the snake, which symbolizes sexuality. For this reason, many cultures over the centuries have adopted the snake ring, including Christianity, the Chinese, the Aztecs, as well as Indian and Scandinavian culture.
When you buy a snake ring you are not simply acquiring a fashion item. Instead, you become part of a long tradition of people who have felt in the serpent’s ring more than just its physical presence. Some say you should never accept a gift of a snake ring, particularly a gold one, from a partner you are not married to or intend to marry. This is, of course, an old wives tale, actually based on a Scandinavian story I remember as a child, and not something you should consider if you really want a ring, though I might add, an interesting story to ponder. Anyway, if you really wanted to, you could always choose silver or platinum.