If your son or daughter comes home from school one day sporting a little macrame-style bracelet with bright colored beads called a “Shamballa bracelet”, it might be time for a heart-to-heart talk on how not to throw money away on worthless baubles.

For those who have never heard of them, Shamballa bracelets contain beads of different colors which are said to represent the seven Chakras, or energy centers, which is founded in the Hindu belief system. These chakras supposedly have the ability to receive, assimilate and transmit an alleged life force energy known as “chi”.  States of ill health are believed to be due to distortions in the chakra system which prevent the life force energy from freely flowing in and out of the body.

In the case of the Shamballa bracelet, the colors of the beads are given special “powers” to affect the wearer’s emotions or physical condition. For instance, a Shamballa bracelet with red beads is supposedly linked to emotions of passion and sexuality, and is said to promote feelings of security, grounding, stability and support.

The color violet is said to be associated with the crown chakra. “This is associated with bliss and spirituality, balancing all aspects of ‘self’-physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Violet rays are said to promote all ‘knowingness’, inspiration, wisdom and awareness of your higher self.”

There are also Shamballa bracelets which are said to be “infused with Kabbalah.” The colors are said to be associated with the “cardinal numbers” which correspond “to the divine primordial ideas with which the visible and invisible world was created.”

The name “shamballa” is said to refer to a mythical Tibetan kingdom located deep within Asia at a difficult to find location. This mysterious place is used as a symbol of enlightenment, peace and meditation.

The actual bracelets are the brainchild of a Danish fashion photographer who developed a passion for gemstones while exploring the world in his late teens. He claimed that he “felt the energy of rocks in his soul” and has been enamored with gemstones ever since. He started Shamballa Jewels in Paris in 1994. Supermodel Helena Christensen showed up at the Oscars sporting one of these bracelets, thus launching the bracelets into the international limelight.

The theme of Kornerup’s creation is the “energy of creation, symbolized by the Star of Shamballa and the Thunderbolt. The star represents the female creative energy of the universe and the thunderbolt the male firepower of creation.”

Mads once said: “When formulating designs, my goal is to remind the mind and body

of its natural ability to open and heal.”

None of these beliefs are consistent with Christianity. First of all, the life force energy it supposedly possesses has been called “the new age god” by the authors of the Pontifical document, Jesus Christ the Bearer of the Water of Life.

Second, there is absolutely no evidence of the existence of the seven chakras with which the colors on these bracelets are said to conform.

Third, while colors do make an impression on our emotions, this has to do with wall color, not small beads worn on the wrist. There is simply no evidence that the wearing of a bead of a particular color can promote “all-knowingness” or “feelings of security, grounding and stability.”

These claims are as unfounded as those associated with the common rabbits foot superstition which alleges that a person can bring all kinds of good luck upon themselves by rubbing it three or four times before a sporting event or buying a lottery ticket, etc.

As such, believing in the powers of Shamballa bracelets is just as superstitious. Even if worn just for fashion’s sake, it is still promoting objects of superstition and should be avoided.

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