My Personal Prayer Beads: The Journey to Completion

What process does one go through when creating personal prayer beads?  Well, I know but I don't know....not exactly.  Part of it is pre-planning, for sure.  There's a lot of thinking about the elements, dieties, ideals, colours, etc. that are important to you and that you want to incorporate.  A lot of the process, however, just 'happens' once you've done the intellectual work.  Through meditation & 'not' thinking about it, a design will emerge and you will 'know' that it is right for you.

Searching for the beads & charms you envision in your head can be both fun & frustrating.  There may be times that you have to compromise a bit.  You will not always find exactly what you are looking for but don't loose sight of your goal....to create a set of prayer beads that have special meaning to you.  Take the time you need to find the elements you desire.  It's not a race, it's a journey.

Here are some of my rambling thoughts & impressions that resulted in the prayer bead set pictured here....

I chose amethyst beads, beautiful dark purple ones, as the predominent beads for my strand.  Amethyst has long been used to open the spiritual and psychic centres, making it one of the power stones.   It symbolizes piety, humility, sincerity and spiritual wisdom.  And besides, purple is my favourite colour.  Yes, sometimes it's that simple.

I feel a great affinity & connection to the cycle of the seasons, so I included single beads to represent them.  The green aventurine for spring & new growth, yellow jade for summer & sunny flowers, peach aventurine for autumn & the changing leaves, and white jade for winter & the blanket of snow that covers the fields.  These four beads also symbolize the four directions (north, east, south & west) and the four elements (earth, air, fire & water).

There are five amethyst beads between each of the seasons beads for a total of twenty-five.  Why?  I'm not really sure...I just know that ever since I was a child the numbers 5 and 25 have been two of my favourites.  It just seemed 'right' to include them somehow in my bead set.  My other favourite number, twelve, is represented in the green, yellow, orange & white beads....4 seasons + 4 directions + 4 elements = 12.

The 'drop' portion of the set starts with a round, open-work, sterling silver bead to represent the Divine Universal Power which I have no specific name for at this time but absolutely know exists.  The faceted rose quartz heart represents love in all it's forms...love of self, love of family, love of friends, love of strangers, love of nature...love of all things. 

The triskele charm symbolizes all aspects of theTriple Goddess; the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone...the sacred feminine.  This ancient Celtic symbol also represents the three Celtic Worlds....the Otherworld, where spirits, gods and goddesses live; the Mortal World, where you and I live along with plants and animals; and the Celestial World, where unseen energies live and move about...like the forces of the sun, the moon, the wind and water.

This set of prayer beads will be my 'everyday' beads...the ones that I will carry with me at all times...the ones that I will pray and meditate with daily...the ones that will provide comfort & strength to ground me when the world around me is going haywire (as it often does).  Each time I hold them a sense of calm envelopes me and the spiritual energies flow through me.  It's an incredible physical sensation that fills my whole being.  I can't really find the words to describe it.

So, this has been my journey in creating my own personal prayer beads.  I hope that your journey is as rewarding as mine has been.