Introduction to Prayer Beads
Prayer beads are a tool for prayer and meditation used by many of the world’s religions. The repetition of prayers, chants, and mantras allows us to step outside of head-knowing and into heart-knowing. Prayer beads add a tactile grounding that integrates the knowing of the body into the contemplative practice. As an artist, I take great joy in creating beautiful, tangible pieces. Uniting that creation with the beautiful, tangible spiritual practice of prayer beads was an invitation I could not refuse. So I joined my spiritual direction training with my artistry to create customized sets of prayer beads.
Custom Prayer Bead Sets
Custom sets are in the Anglican style. While an Episcopal priest created this style in the 1980s, I have found that these prayer beads adapt well to various spiritual understandings. The beads are prayed in a circle, starting with the central charm and moving around the circle of 33 beads before ending with the charm again. The beads and charms in the set use materials, colors, and symbols that are meaningful to the person who will be using the beads. We will also work together to find or create prayers tailored to their spirituality and beliefs. Each set of beads includes a thirty-minute session to explore potential prayer choices. A diagram of how to use the beads is also provided. Examples of beads and prayers are included below.
Pricing:
- $90 for beads and prayers
- $65 for beads alone
Creativity Prayer Beads
Description
These prayer beads are made of three types of carnelian beads- round for the weeks beads, faceted for the cruciform beads, and a large tumbled stone held in a wire cage for the central charm. Small yellow beads were used as spacers to provide a smooth transition from bead to bead. Carnelian was chosen for its connection to creativity and joy.
Prayers
The Charm/Cross:
Our creativity is the Creator’s creativity within us.
The Invitatory Bead:
Day has come and out I go to face the sunlight
I will sing a song as I go
Day has come and out I go to face the sunlight
You will be the voice in my throat
Cruciform Beads:
Oh, Universal Artist
Who practiced every art to form Your Creation
Help me not to limit myself
But to explore all that calls to me
Help me to be not afraid
Of learning or of doing it badly
Of making mistakes
But to enjoy and relish the experience
Grant me a rich life
Full of service and creation and adventure
Deliver me from trying to do it all alone
Instead welcoming the abundance of community
To love and to let myself be loved
Help me to practice creating as a sacred act
To see art and story as necessary
I bow to the will of the Great Creator
Knowing that the urge to create comes from You
Love your Creation through me. Amen
Weeks Beads:
I answer the call to engage in my creative power, which seeks expression in the world.
Dismissal Bead (Invitatory Bead):
Day is done, and here I am at home again but
You have been the stories I’ve told.
Day is done, and here I am at home again but
You have been the voice in my throat.
The Charm/Cross:
Creativity is God’s gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God.
Celestial Prayer Beads
Description
The charm on these prayer beads is a silver hexagon with a moon and star image on one side, and a shining sun image on the opposite side. This charm was paired with deep blue glass weeks beads, and large faceted crystal bead for the cruciform and invitatory beads. Smaller crystal beads are used as spacers. These beads were inspired by the majesty of the heavens.
Prayers
The Charm/Cross:
I am part of the Universe
The Universe is part of me.
I am made of star stuff.
The Invitatory Bead:
I arise today
Through the strength of heaven
Light of sun
Radiance of moon
Spendor of fire
Speed of lightning
Swiftness of wind
Depth of sea
Stability of earth
Firmness of rock
Cruciform Beads:
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is humankind that you are mindful of them,
Human beings that you care for them?
You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.
Weeks Beads:
I celebrate the vastness of the Universe
I honor my small place within it.
Dismissal Bead (Invitatory Bead):
Is this what it feels like to finally feel right?
There’s some hope in the wind that blows my way again
It’s kind but it’s confusing to want to hold something worth losing
Don’t want to hold it again
Knowing that it will end
Knowing the dark of night is what makes the stars so bright
The Charm/Cross:
I am part of the Universe
The Universe is part of me.
I am made of star stuff.
Pisces Prayer Beads
Description
These prayer beads are made of green sea glass and pearlescent resin for the weeks beads with silver metal fish for cruciform and invitatory beads. The central charm is a piece of aquamarine held in a silver wire cage. Small faux pearls are used as spacers. These beads were designed for someone with a spiritual affinity for water, who also resonates with the astrological sign of Pisces.
Prayers
The Charm/Cross:
Sing like the sirens
Show me my harbor
Make me row faster
Love me soundly
The Invitatory Bead:
Water flows from high in the mountains
Water runs deep in the Earth
Miraculously, water comes to us
And sustains all life
Cruciform Beads:
I don’t know who God is exactly.
But I’ll tell you this.
I was sitting in the river named Clarion, on a water-splashed stone
and all afternoon I listened to the voices of the river talking.
Whenever the water struck a stone it had something to say,
and the water itself, and even the mosses trailing under the water.
And slowly, very slowly, it became clear to me what they were saying.
Said the river I am part of holiness.
And I too, said the stone. And I too, whispered the moss beneath the water.
Weeks Beads:
The stream just allows its journey to unfold, navigating the twists and turns, following the contours of the land, finding its level, filling and deepening
Dismissal Bead (Invitatory Bead):
Like the tears of the earth. the rivers they run
Coming down from the mountains
In the bright morning sun
Where I cleanse my soul and get carried away
The Charm/Cross:
So I keep looking out
The waves keep me alive
I serenade every night
Just waiting for a sign.