Good Vibrations

We're cranky skeptical scrooges a lot of the time. Most of the time. Okay, fine, all of the time. Energy healing is for people without jobs who live in the woods; we believe in pharmaceuticals. So our appreciation for Ragia Momtaz Vibrational Art's prayer beads - a beautiful jewellery line created with the intention of releasing positive energy vibrations - stemmed from entirely superficial grounds. The rainbow variety of semiprecious stones arranged in stacks to create jewellery versions of prayer beads are gorgeous, and accessory junkies that we are, we've been longstanding proponents of wearing seb7as and rosaries as jewellery.

The eponymous brand was started last year, when, after a trip to India, Ragia Momtaz became inspired by the Malas worn there. "They wear all the prayer beads as jewellery," Momtaz explains. Fascinated, she started researching the beads. "I found that the numbers 11, 33, and 99 are very sacred across all religions."

"I started looking up alternative healing therapies, looking into energy healing…I'm interested in anything related to that, like colour healing, crystal healing…" Eventually this interest metamorphosed itself lead into 'Vibrational Art', a term she coined to describe her unique take on accessories. "At the end of the day I'm an artist, so I take whatever information I get about alternative healing and put it into art," she tell us.

Her current works only feature beads in those three sacred numbers, and "anything I create has to bring something positive to the wearer." And what she created for the collection so far are a colorful array of prayer beads. From pale translucent beads to ones in deep dark shades, she uses stunning stones like jade and rose quartz. Some of the prayer beads are made of wood, intermittently injected with colourful beads, and infused with brightly hued threads or pops of silver.

"I believe that [with] anything that goes directly on your skin, the more natural it is the better it is for you," Momtaz tells us. "It feels good on your skin," Momtaz explains, "I think that what you wear does reflect on how you feel."

But what about people (ahem, us) who don’t quite believe in all of this – do they experience a positive effect akin to believers? "It's definitely better if you believe in it," Momtaz says, "But there are a lot of converted skeptics out there!" Momtaz explains that all this energy healing, which one might call "new age" is definitely a growing global movement, wherein people are trying to find some kind of inner peace, "and are going back to basics."

Though the brand's first collection currently revolves around prayer beads, there are rosaries and Malas to come, and if the initial pieces are any indication, healing powers or not, the coming works will look equally gorgeous. But the brand's future will not solely revolve around jewellery that has an instant association with religion. "Some of the pieces are going to be more spiritual," Momtaz explains, "but then again, spirituality and religion are very closely bound." In coming lines she also plans on "playing with words," with the belief that "when you're exposed to positive words – faith, love, anything that resonates with you – it has a positive effect on you."

Well, we for one are game to try out this whole alternative energy thing, and whether or not it works out, we still love how Vibrational Art's pieces look!

You can check out their Facebook page here or follow them on Instagram @ragiamomtazvibrationalart.