Jewelry as an Altar: Memorial Charms, Mourning Jewelry, and How We Carry Love After Loss

Jewelry as an Altar.

Grief and mourning are considerable things: the residue of one's absence; a condensed
form of nostalgia; the syrup of one’s legacy. When someone leaves us, a phenomenon
occurs whereby all else evaporates but what’s love. It’s dense; it’s tender; it’s sweet.
I am reminded of my grandfather, now deceased, who survived his wife—his “sweetie,”
as he called her—by one year. During that final year, he sat in his burgundy leather
recliner, positioned beside the one she once occupied, photo albums stacked on the
small side table between them, its legs sure to buckle beneath the sixty-five years’ worth
of memories. Visitors gave him occasion to speak her back into life; the photographs,
like relics, summoned an exquisite lucidity in his retellings.

When he held a photograph of her, he would gently brush his fingers across her face, as
though he might still feel her skin. At his bedside stood an easel-back portrait of his late
wife, which he kissed every morning and every night. In that ritual—in the solid weight of
the photograph and his unwavering devotion—he found reassurance that even in death,
love endures.

Throughout history, from the ancestry bust amulets of Ancient Egypt and the memento
mori jewelry of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, to the highly ritualized
mourning jewelry and daguerreotype portrait pendants of the Georgian and Victorian
eras, humans have sought to immortalize their dead through relics—art, jewelry,
photographs. These tangible objects ground our continued connection to those who are
no longer physically present.

A well-known example is Queen Victoria, who, following the death of Prince Albert in
1861, is said to have plunged into a “cult of mourning.” She wore a gold locket
containing her husband’s photograph on one side and a lock of his hair on the other for
forty years, in memoriam.

Since its inception, Raiz has never been solely about creating beautiful jewelry. It is
about honoring what is meaningful—adorning ourselves with what we love and creating
dynamic altars that commemorate our unique lives and the people within them, both
present and departed.

The grieving process is inherently personal, and so too are the Raiz memorial stacks
one might design in tribute. There is no specific way to create your individual altar; we
encourage you to follow your inner guidance. That said, here are a few gentle ways to
inspire your creation:

Personalized Pendant Charms

These may be embedded with a photograph, a handwritten note, or commemorative
artwork. 

Protective Charms

Echoing the Ancient Egyptians’ belief in jewelry as a vessel of divine and protective
power—safeguarding both the living and the dead—our Petra Evil Eye Charm, Lourdes
Protective Cross, and Antonia Locke Protective Charm may be worn as symbols of
sanctuary.

Zodiac and Travel Charms

Honor your loved one’s place among the stars with a zodiac charm, or tell the story of
where they came from—or where they traveled—with our curated travel charms.
Many of our pieces are born from symbolism: the Bulgarian Dove Charm—the dove
revered across cultures as a messenger of the soul’s ascension into the afterlife; the
Butterfly Charm, a timeless emblem of transformation and rebirth; and the Delphina
Baroque Mini Pearl—pearls, for centuries, have echoed the quiet poetry of mourning,
long believed to be formed from tears.

As my grandfather showed me, there is a particular determination in those who grieve: a
resolve to preserve what death cannot take. Memory. Love. For many who have lost but
will never forget, our pendants and charms have become gentle, ameliorative
keepsakes, benevolent companions through grief: Everyone grieves differently. Some speak their loss aloud; others carry it in silence. Our pendants and charms make room for both.

When a loved one passes, we often cling to objects that make them feel near—a
handwritten note, a favorite sweater, an old photograph tucked into a wallet. Our
customizable pendants and charms offer this same intimacy, designed to be held close
every day. Many who wear memorial jewelry tell us it becomes part of their daily
ritual—something to touch during quiet moments, major milestones, and times when
words fall short. Over time, the jewelry comes to represent not only loss, but resilience:
an ongoing relationship with those who are gone, but will never truly leave.