Kavacha Designs | Sacred Armor™, since 2018
Love doesn’t end. It changes form.
Kavacha Designs | Sacred Armor™ makes openable heirloom amulets: small wearable altars. For anyone living with loss, a Kavacha can hold a prayer, a lock of hair or something from a place you stood together, so you can honor the one you love through ritual and keep them close to your heart.
In Jayashri’s words
“My relationship with my late husband did not end when he left his body. It changed form.”
Every Kavacha opens to a small chamber for what you carry.
I have a Kavacha that I keep for him. I lay it on the altar in my temple room, the place where I pray and chant, and inside I carry holy dust from the sacred place in India where we were married. It is something tangible from a place we stood together in this life, and holding it close gives me a way to honor our marriage and the love that is still very much a part of my life.
Kavacha began before my late husband was diagnosed with cancer. Neither of us could have known then what this little vessel would eventually come to mean to me. Since his passing, I have often felt that somehow he is still part of this work. I can’t explain that or prove it, and I don’t need to. I experience it as a continuation of the life we built together.
Creating Kavacha gives me somewhere to place my grief, my love, my faith and my energy. It gives me purpose while learning how to live without my late husband physically beside me. And now, as this work begins to reach other widows and people carrying loss, I understand its purpose differently. Perhaps this was always part of the path.
For me, the ritual is very simple. I place my Kavacha on the altar. I pray. I remember. I carry a little piece of the sacred ground where our marriage began close to my heart. I don’t use it to hold on to the past. I use it to honor a relationship that has simply changed form.
Love continues. We just learn new ways to carry it.
Jayashri Triolo
Founder & Designer
A ritual in three steps
Remember. Ritual. Carry.
One
Remember
Choose what they meant to you, in their words or yours: a prayer, their handwriting, a lock of hair, something from a place you stood together.
Two
Ritual
A small act you can return to, again and again, that gives your grief somewhere to go. Light a candle. Say their name. Pray.
Three
Carry
Seal it inside your Kavacha and wear it over your heart, or keep it on your altar. Every touch becomes a prayer.
In every tradition, or none
Ways to honor them
Every faith has always known that love continues. Choose the tradition that is yours, or simply the one that feels true.
Hindu
Place inside
A written mantra, a tulsi leaf, a thread from a sacred ceremony, or holy dust from a place of pilgrimage.
A small ritual
Light a lamp for them. Remember them during Pitru Paksha and on the anniversary of their passing.
Suggested vessel:Kerala Vertical
Buddhist
Place inside
A written dedication of merit, or a mantra.
A small ritual
Chant for them through the 49 days, and offer good deeds in their name, holding love and impermanence together.
Suggested vessel:Capsule Small
Jewish
Place inside
A handwritten prayer, or a piece of cloth that reminds you of the one you love.
A small ritual
Say Kaddish, light the yahrzeit candle, and carry their memory as a blessing. Like a mezuzah, a Kavacha keeps sacred words close.
Suggested vessel:Sri
Christian
Place inside
A favorite verse, a prayer card, or a handwritten prayer.
A small ritual
Carry it through All Souls’ Day, through Christmas, through every prayer.
Suggested vessel:Vertical Cross
Muslim
Place inside
A handwritten du’a for the one you love.
A small ritual
Recite Al-Fatiha for them and give charity in their name. Your Kavacha is simply a keepsake that holds your prayer close.
Suggested vessel:Capsule Small
Día de los Muertos
Place inside
A marigold petal, a small photograph, or a note.
A small ritual
As you build the ofrenda on November 1 and 2, carry a piece of it with you.
Suggested vessel:Moksha
No tradition
Place inside
Their handwriting, a line from a song, a love note, a lock of hair, or a small amount of their ashes.
A small ritual
Write them a letter on their birthday. Touch it and breathe. A ritual is simply love with a shape. It needs no belief.
Suggested vessel:Moksha
Free to print
Your ritual card
Print this card and keep it with your Kavacha. The front holds the ritual. On the back, write who you carry, what you placed inside, and the day you sealed it.
Choose your vessel
A Kavacha for what you carry
Love continues. We just learn new ways to carry it.