Talk about a perfect jewelry piece for anyone who believes in New Year’s resolutions and daily gratitude practice: The Mystics and Sages calendar ring features 365 small markings in its sterling silver, one for each day of the year.
These delicate etchings symbolically ask the wearer to slow down, live in the moment, and recognize the seasonality of life, says Mystics and Sages founder Baiyinah Brookins, who works directly with the Tuareg artisans who make the ring using their traditional tools and methods.
“Each design echoes generations of lore and symbolism,” Brookins says. “Our pieces are not merely adornments—they are testaments to a process that honors every artisan’s skills and story.”
Brookins created her brand in 2023 to promote the Tuareg—a nomadic people of Niger, Mali, Libya, Algeria, and other Saharan countries of Africa—and the jewelry they create. She works with Tuareg artists based in the United States as well, finding partners through art fairs, cultural festivals, and family members.
With Mystics and Sages, Brookins is preserving handicraft traditions, highlighting sustainable practices, and bringing products to market that combat fast fashion. Its jewelry incorporates rich detail, folklore, and motifs of the Tuareg tribe in each piece, she says.
“We are a woman-led jewelry brand that collaborates with the original silversmiths of the African continent,” says Brookins. “Some of the artisans we work with have been crafting jewelry using traditional methods for over 70 generations.”
Mystics and Sages truly started when Brookins was a child, and her father returned from a trip to West Africa with a gift for her—a Tuareg-made half-moon necklace of tiny black glass beads. Brookins says she was fascinated with the necklace and bugged her father for more information.
“I wore it all the time, and my father only knew where he had bought it. So I went to the local library and started checking out books, researching the Tuareg. I fell in love with their jewelry, and from then on I always had some piece of Tuareg silver in my collection,” she says.
Brookins knew she wanted to use her business degree from Chatham University to find her way to entrepreneurship. First, she held various jobs including museum store supervisor and operations analyst.
Her favorite pieces from Mystics and Sages include the Cross of Agadez earrings—that cross is a foremost emblem within Tuareg jewelry—and the Royal Scarab earrings, featuring maroon-colored oval pieces of agate, which the Tuareg believe is stabilizing and grounding for the wearer.
Tuareg blacksmiths utilize the lost wax casting technique to shape the silver in the Cross of Agadez earrings. Many Tuareg metalsmiths use gravers—tools for cutting and shaving silver—to create the marks and symbols on Mystics and Sages pieces. Think of gravers as miniature chisels, Brookins says, noting that most of the ones used in crafting her brand’s jewelry are upcycled from files or screwdrivers.
“I love storytelling, and these pieces are full of stories that you can share and tell others when you are wearing a piece of our jewelry,” she says. “Once you know the tribe and its symbols, you can see why I’m so passionate about it.”
Top: Mystics and Sages’ Royal Scarab earrings ($175), made with silver and agate (photos courtesy of Mystics and Sages)
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