|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
 |
|||
|
Featured Project #3:
WHEN I WAS A YOUNG WOMAN I was fascinated with the
Catholics and their rosaries. I used to wonder how long it took to say
all those prayers, and what it was all for. It wasn't until years later After I completed my manifesting prayer strand, I began working with it on a daily basis. Every morning I got out of bed, got my coffee, sat with my beads and prayed for a place to live that would fit my family's needs and our budget. I kept the repeated prayers short and very focused so that the prayer strand wouldn't become a tedious chore. What I realized the beads did was to keep my mind focused in the direction I wanted to go. Within just a few weeks the perfect place appeared in the area we wanted to live and at a price we could afford. Since then I have made several sets of beads for different purposes and have enjoyed the simple repetitive focus they provide.
Prayer beads appear to date far back into pre-history when ancient people crafted early beads from natural items they found around them. Archaeologists have found 30,000- year-old fossilized shells, bones and teeth that are believed to have been used as primitive bead talismans, which were worn or carried for luck in hunting and to indicate social status. Over time, beads grew to be so valuable that a number of ancient cultures began to use them as currency.
Beads were also items of spiritual significance and thus were carried
as good luck talismans, like the sha sha, or luck luck beads of the
ancient Egyptians (from 3200 B.C.). The Desert Mothers and Fathers,
a third century culture, did not use prayer beads to count prayers. The ancient Chinese counting abacus may have been the original inspiration for stringing beads to count prayers. Hindus living in the eighth century have been given credit for being the first culture to adapt the purpose of the Chinese abacus to counting prayers on a string or strand of thread. One could say a prayer and slide a bead until the set number of prayers had been completed, much in the way the Desert Mothers and Fathers had dropped their prayer pebbles. The handy part was that the strand could be worn or carried for use at any time. The word 'bead' originates from the Anglo-Saxon word, 'bede', meaning prayer. So, even the name gives testimony to the spiritual and religious connotation that beads have carried throughout the centuries. Prayer beads are now widely used around the world by a number of different religions. Many people make their own prayer beads from meaningful components and use them in personalized forms of spiritual practice.
Prayer beads may be strung for any purpose you may have, celebrating a birth, honoring an ancestor, finding a nice car that you can afford, glorifying and worshipping, commemorating an event or even setting up a meditation. Your imagination is also the best tool for creating prayers to suit the purpose of the sets of prayer beads you make. You may find some examples in books or on the Internet that will fuel your imagination and creativity.
Making Your Own Prayer Bead Strand To make your own prayer beads you will need to decide what it is you are going to pray for, what kinds of repeated prayers you will do, how many times they will be repeated, and in what order. Then pick beads of a size and shape that will allow you to remember which prayer you are saying with that particular bead. Next, you may choose a focal bead to start and/or end with. This bead is the focal point of the prayer and it should be one that is meaningful to you. You may want to incorporate the meanings of colors, specific crystals and stones or the meanings of symbols (for charms) as you choose the elements for your prayer strand. You will need:
After you are finished building your prayer beads you should cleanse them with incense or sage smoke or your breath and then sit in meditation with them before using them for prayer. Find a quiet time each day when you can sit with your beads and say the prayers you have written for them. Remember to keep them short enough so that you can remember each prayer as well as complete your recitations in a reasonable amount of time. Manifesting Prayer Beads We all have a need to manifest something important at one time or another in our life; we simply need to invest the necessary time and focus to bring our desired item, event or state into being. You will need:
Manifesting Bead Prayers
Completion Drop
©
Carol Holaday, 2009 Crafting
a Magical Life contains MORE ideas There
are LOTS of other great craft ideas, too, Click on the cover image below to purchase. |
|||
 |
|||
|
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
|
|||
Copyright:
New Earth Publications, 1999-2010. PlanetLightworker.com is published
by New Earth Publications, | ||||||||||||
that I began to understand the power of the spoken word and the repeated
reciting of prayerful words. There came a time when I was in great need
of Divine assistance and I decided to try out the power of prayer beads.
I spent hours choosing the beads for my manifesting strand and chose
a central focal bead that spoke to me of growing good things. As I built
my prayer beads, I recited a little prayer chant over and over to myself.
Instead they would find and carry a specific number of pebbles with
them whenever they traveled, and would walk along, dropping a pebble
and saying a prayer until all of the pebbles had been used. In this
way they would insure that the correct number of prayers had been repeated.
Another commonly used prayer accessory for those who could not obtain
beads due to their cost or scarcity, was a length of twine or cord,
which was knotted a prescribed number of times, so that each knot acted
as a bead and indicated a specific prayer.
Anyone
can learn to make a set of serviceable prayer beads to suit their own
religious or spiritual beliefs; to attract love, luck and prosperity;
or to honor a specific deity, season, element, or planet, etc. Prayer
beads can also take the form of bracelets, necklaces, altar decorations,
wall hangings or even pocket talismans. They can be fashioned from beads
made of wood, bone, teeth, seeds, glass, crystal, gemstones, clay, flower
petals and more. You can hand-make beads or obtain them from craft supply
houses, online resources or your local bead shop. They can be strung
on silk, tiger tail wire, satin cord, twine, sinew or floss, to name
a few. Many prayer beads have a specially sized or shaped central focus
bead or charm, which may also be hand-made or purchased. The only limitation
in the construction of prayer beads is your ability to imagine what
you want and then build it.
Superglue
and scissors if you are using knotted cord
If
you are using tiger tail you will slide a crimp over the two wires
until it rests about 1/8" (3 mm) from the necklace closure. Leave
about 1" (25 mm) of tiger tail beyond the crimp
on one side and the rest of the length on the other. Use the flat
nosed pliers to squish the crimp flat so that it traps both wires
solidly.
String
your beads in the order in which you have laid them out, being extra
careful that they truly are in the order you planned for them.
For
tiger tail or cord, use the technique described above to attach
to the ring at the end of the necklace. For clamshell, attach the
clamshell loop to the ring and knot the cord to the clamshell. Add
a drop of glue and clamp the clamshell shut. If you are not using
a clamshell, then knot the cord several times, apply a drop of glue
and then trim any excess when dry.
if it will fit through the holes) then squash the crimp flat and
cut off excess tigertail. If you are using cord, you can either
triple knot the cord at the bottom or tie a spacer bead to the bottom
and thread the excess cord up through the bead above before trimming
it away. When using cord, be sure to use that drop of superglue
to secure it permanently.
