• 2 051 words • 8min read •
I had the chance to interview a person whose testimonial really had a significant impact on me. I don’t know if it’s because the quarantine makes me focus more on myself, my feelings, and my desires, but her words resonate impressively much inside of me. And talking with this woman changed a lot of things in my head. Most of all, it made me feel relaxed and embrace all the things that come in my way.
I am talking about Kari Gueham, the founder of a very intimate brand called MINERALOSOPHIE. Kari creates handmade mineral talismans, vibrant of chosen intentions, to cultivate inner peace and strength. As she defines, “Energy to wear.”
When it all started
What an excellent concept I discovered following Charlotte Muller (@lalocharlotte) specialized in Fertility, Prenatal and Hormonal Yoga. I saw this picture below on her Instagram account, and I felt in love directly. Her jewels attracted me so much. I did not wait for one more second to contact Kari and discover more about her project.
I discovered that Kari had a respectful and impressive career behind her, before she decided to move on her own. She was actually a human rights lawyer for almost 14 years. She started her career in the service of the Prime Minister and ended it at the High Authority for the Fight against Discrimination and for Equality, which is now the defender of rights. But after 14 years, Kari felt her little inner flame goes out a little bit every day.
“It was, of course, an exciting and gratifying activity. But it was no longer fulfilling me. I wasn’t listening enough to my essence anymore. I wanted to get out of this automatic world to add some beauty to my life.”
Kari decided to give a new orientation to her life. She wanted to give herself a more joyful life, and for that, she had to be free. “I resigned, like that, at Christmas, it was my Christmas present.” Kari had to cut clean to focus on herself, what she really wants for the future, and what truly gives her joy in her life. When she does something, she does it thoroughly. She was so committed to her job, until the end, that she could not have given the space she is giving now to her intuitions.
Taking time to discover herself
Before creating anything new, Kari felt the urge to first taking time for herself and just for herself. “Because when you have a job from 8 am to 7 pm, you don’t have time to listen to your creative soul.” She discovered yoga, Kundalini, more specifically, an environment she describes as an environment of benevolence and well-being in which she met beautiful people. This is how she learned to live in the present moment, to ask herself the right question and to listen to her intuition.
This time for herself helped her to remove all of her limiting beliefs. She learned to gain self-confidence and realize that she could do anything she wants.
“I have a husband who pulls me up. He regularly tells me that I can do anything. One day I said to him, “I know what I want, I want to make jewelry that provides well-being out of stone,” He offered me a jeweler’s drill, and with this drill, I started making my current jewelry. He kept telling me, “If someone else gets there, why don’t you get there.” Everything can be learned.“
Connect to a heritage
It is funny because stones always took part in her life. It’s like it was buried deep inside of her, and it resurfaces when she needed it the most. Her paternal grandmother healed with plants. “She was a midwife in Algeria, she taught my mother,” Kari grew in the Cévennes with this heritage transmit by her mother. She grew up with stones around her neck, she was used to drinking vibrated water, and her mother put a stone in her pocket to give her strengths when she was reluctant to go to school.
Stones have always been part of her. Kari has an innate knowledge of rocks. Before starting her project, Kari wanted to do training in the National Institute of Gemmologie. Here she learned how to work with minerals, sharpen her knowledge, and become a real expert. Of course, she knew all the benefits and symbols of stones already, but she didn’t really know the marks, the inclusions, to distinguish real stones from fake minerals, beautiful stones from rotten stones, tinted stones, and natural stones. “I just like to know what I’m talking about. I have to be sure of what I say, sure of what I work on and how I have to work them, It’s fascinating.”
The urge to live her family heritage led Kari, driven by authenticity, to create with organic mineral materials. It is now her time to transmit beauty, strength, and energy.
When it’s taking shape
After some years connecting to her inner self, Kari was ready to dedicate herself fully to MINERALOSOPHIE. Her jewels are not common at all. They are jewels of intent which are linked to a mantra.
“Because I am convinced that repeating a sentence over a period, long enough for the mind to integrate it, touching the sensual and soft touch of the stone, help to anchor a mantra. Every morning I wake up and each night I go to bed with the same sentence. While touching my lapis lazuli, a stone for self-confidence, intuition, and for the third eye, I repeat, “I am light, I am perfect as I am.” You feel beautiful like a goddess and strong like a warrior.”
It’s about believing in the power of intention. It is more than assuming that the stone will do something to you and wait; instead, it is considered in it by giving it power. You dedicate to this stone a force in which you believe very strongly.
To protect the authenticity of her project, Kari limits her stocks, she is working with stones that are not alike, each piece is unique. Kari advocates reasoned consumption, which is very important to her. She is also sourcing with rigorous criteria: family farms/mines that have a strong sense of ethics, no working children, no explosives. That’s why you cannot find jewel with diamonds yet, because it’s too difficult to find ethical farms for now.
Exclusive rendezvous
Kari does not sell her unique jewelry in shops, she receives her clientele in her beautiful showroom in Alma-Marceau, in Paris with a private appointment.
The whole experience is very personal. As a client, you need to contact Kari directly so she can send you her book with all her creations. In her book, she links each jewel to an intention, according to the stone, to guide you in your choice.
When you are ready to see the jewels for real, Kari welcomes you in her showroom alone. Prepare yourself to stay there a little while, because this time is a profound moment of exchange.
“We reveal ourselves. We chat a lot. I feel what a person needs, it is a story of relationship and exchange. In my profession, I have the solitary and meditative side of my manual work, which balances so much with moments of exchange I have with people who want to meet my collection. These moments are part of my accomplishment and my personal development: creation/exchange.”
It is all about vibration and harmonization. Everything must be in harmony and, if possible, without luster, without fake, without superfluity. This is how Kari created a strong community of Mineral Sisters. Now, the life of Kari is filled with beautiful encounters. She creates with her own hands which makes her happy and builds a strong and intense community. A very authentic process that fills her with happiness. “For the future, I don’t know, I never calculate anything. I live in the present, I catch opportunities.”
About inspirations…
Virginia Wolf inspired a lot Kari throughout her life. Virginia Woolf is an English woman of letters. She is one of the main modernist writers of the twentieth century. Her essay “A Room of One’s Own,” published in 1929, holds an essential place in the history of feminism. The main subject of this text is the place of writers in the history of literature, mainly in the British context. Woolf examines the factors that hindered women’s access to education, literary production, and success. One of her main theses, which gave its title to the work, is that a woman must at least have “some money and a room of her own” if she wants to produce a romantic work.
Another source of inspiration is “creative images that call me, that vibrate in my body when I can listen to it.” For instance, the hand of MOODra (picture below) was inspired in a church during a classical music concert.
“Either I draw my ideas, or it’s very intuitive, and I work directly on the stone. I find a lot of inspiration in the stone itself. Sometimes, I can be led to do something else and lots of things. The material speaks very well on its own.”
The duration of the jewel’s creation depends a lot on the kind of stone she decides to work on. Because each stone is different and needs special care. A crystalline or volcanic stone like black obsidian will be much more challenging to operate than a leopard jasper, which will be more clay, so more malleable. A stone can break very quickly. They can also catch fire if she doesn’t work them in the water!
Traditions and symbols are also part of her inspirational process. Kari soaks every jewelry in palo santo oil. Palo Santo is a tree that grows in Latin America. Its particularity is that it only flowers in winter. The shamans use these plants to help the healing process. Kari soaks every jewel into the palo santo oil because it increases the energy of the stones. “Some people burn the palo santo woods to get rid of bad energies while repeating a dedicated mantra.”
A piece of advice
“You have to take risks. When you don’t take risks, you don’t leave your comfort zone. I resigned because I needed to face reality and discover more deeply about myself. I find it complicated to continue working, especially if you aim to do your work well, and find your new path in the meantime. Otherwise, I call it a hobby, and a hobby remains a hobby; it’s not something that can hatch.”
Kari is also referring to the cardinal virtues as an anchor both for her husband and herself. A cardinal virtue plays a pivotal role (the adjective “cardinal” comes from the Latin cardo, which means “hinge, pivot”) in human action, in particular in Christian moral doctrine, and determines the other virtues. There are four cardinal virtues: prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice.
“You need to demonstrate the strength of soul and courage. Obstacles must be overcome.”
Kari finds that every human being is capable of anything. The only thing to check is whether you are capable of doing what you dream of to avoid delusion. The most important is to be genuinely in your project. “Because, in the beginning, you don’t count your hours.”
MINERALOSOPHIE