MIL trying on my engagement ring

You're being completely unreasonable. It was always traditional to put a newly engaged persons ring part way onto the wedding ring finger and turn it towards your heart three times and make a wish.

No wonder you've got a strained relationship if your antsy about something so completely insignificant.

yes that bit does get to me. Waiting for me to come back in from the garden so I'd see her with it on. Felt very much so in your face
Maybe that's just your interpretation.
If you had anything about you , you should have said' oh let's have a look!, it's gorgeous isn't it' if there has been a smugness or to wind you up it would have deflated the moment.
It's you choosing to see it negativity, it's only that can change your outlook.

If someone is so lacking in boundaries that they meddle with others' possessions and then wave that in their faces, then they'll think nothing of a little thing like trying on so personal an item as a wedding dress. It's if she starts trying on OP's underwear that I'd really worry ....

In whatever case, if the basic injunction not to touch others' belongings is ineffective - not that it should be necessarily as most people would have such a basic grasp of etiquette - then the only solution is to restrict her access to those belongings. And if that meant restricting MiL's access to OP's home, or at least particular areas of her home, so be it. I have experience of people like this, and if you don't put up boundaries as a clear response to their overstepping one, they will crash through the next, and the next.

If she's made to feel a clear consequence of her actions, she will stop. As the old saying goes, play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

I’d be pleased she likes it so much if I were you. It’s yours, not hers and she’ll have to look at you wearing it.

But.. that's not really an answer. Maybe you're wrong to believe that? Lots of people would say it's very irrational to do so (as they would with any religious or 'spiritual beliefs')

Then tell your DP that he has to buy you a new engagement ring, due to the fact that his mum tainted the karma of your ring by trying it on.

When you buy a new pair of shoes, someone else may have tried them on before. Do you feel that with your special skills?

Yanbu to feel annoyed about her wearing your ring without asking - it’s rude and frankly a bit weird for a MIL.
Yabu to think it’s “tainted”, it’s really not.

I'd be more pissed off if she tried on the wedding ring too
Oh for goodness sake get a life or get therapy.
Would just like a show of hands as to how many of you have tried on your DIL's/DD's rings....
Personally i think wedding and engagement rings are ridiculous in this day and age. However I do understand people ha ing an attachment to them but it is just an object.

Your MIL was rude and she shouldn't access anything that's yours without asking you.

However, you sound slightly unhinged to go on about 'karma' and it being 'tainted'.

If you got on with her like a house on fire you might have offered it to her for a 'try on' without her doing it on the sly.

I wouldnt be surprised if she tries that next 😂

Well you’re the one marrying her son… I’d be more concerned about that tbh.

It wasn't very polite of her, but your reaction is definitely OTT.

I think in these situations it can be helpful to think about how you'd have reacted if your own mother or sister did exactly the same.

You're being silly, and I'm guessing this is being coloured by the other reasons you have a bad relationship. Trying on a ring isn't like she tried on your wedding dress.

Totally weird. Especially if she put it on her own engagement finger. She also made sure you saw her try it on and pretty much waved it in your face. Weird. What next? Trying on your bloody wedding dress? She’s clearly a nutbag. Get better on those boundaries OP and don’t let the loony MIL derail you.

Very wrong to try on someone else's jewellery unless they offer. I doubt it was a power play by your MiL though, she is simply rude. All the positive energy and love between you and your fiance will completely wipe out any influence from her.

I don’t get it… women melting over rings in this day and age. It is already ‘tainted’ by the notion that it is a relic of the days when it was normal for men to buy and own women.

Bit over the top to say it’s now tainted but it is weird and creepy to put on someone else’s engagement ring.

Does this happen a lot to you OP…that people who you have ‘bad karma’ with try on your belongings causing tainting?

I don’t think is a normal reaction to be honest…and I can’t imagine having so many ‘bad karma’ acquaintances trying on my belongings often enough for me to have a stance on it!

Sure, she probably shouldn’t have tried on your ring, it’s a bit crass, but it’s not suddenly been filled with ‘woo energy’ has it? It’s inanimate!

Kindly, I think if you had a better relationship would you have felt differently about her trying the ring on? If I had a good relationship with someone, it wouldn't have made any difference.
YABU on the 'ring is now tainted', it isn't 😉

That's nonsense and if you go on believing that, you will suffer unnecessarily and get very little sympathy from anyone.

It really is. Can you prove otherwise?