Pagan Prayer Beads: Magic and Meditation with Pagan Rosaries

by John Michael Greer, Clare Vaughn

Religions from around the world, Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholicism, Islam, and many more, including the Pagan earth religions use prayer beads as useful guides to remembering prayers and principles. Pagan Prayer Beads by John Michael Greer and Clare Vaughn is a unique and practical introduction to the design, creation, and use of Pagan rosaries, teaching the reader to design and make personal prayer beads for use in myriad spiritual practices. Cowritten by a beading expert (Clare Vaughn) and one of the leading lights in modern Paganism (John Michael Greer), this book will garner an eager audience from beginners to elders looking for new inspiration in their personal spiritual practice. Beautifully written, instructive, and straightforward, Pagan Prayer Beads is user friendly and easy to understand. Lovely black and white photographs accompany the text to further illustrate the art and craft of Pagan prayer beads. The howto sections were "tested" by novices to both crafting and "the craft," who found the directions clear and easy to follow. Throughout the book, Greer and Vaughn have included fascinating history and lore as well as crystal properties, Pagan symbology, and deeply meaningful prayers and rituals to use with the rosaries. * 30 lovely black and white photos accompany the beading instructions.

Genres: Paganism, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Wicca, Crafts, Prayer, Magick

208 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2007

About the author

John Michael Greer is an author of over thirty books and the blogger behind The Archdruid Report. He served as Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America. His work addresses a range of subjects, including climate change, peak oil, the future of industrial society, and the occult. He also writes science fiction and fantasy. He lives in Rhode Island with his wife.

Reviews

[Maya · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book if you want to think about designs for your prayer beads, not so good if you are looking for what to do now that you've got them.

[Camila · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to read this book since 2015 and I believe that created some huge expectations that of course were not met. I imagine a sort of holy grail to the questions on how to use pagan prayer beads, but instead I found myself with a book with a lot of details on materials and design, rather that what I truly wanted, which was to learn how to meditate with them. I have to mention it did included some section on how to use them, but it left me unsatisfied.

[Heka · Rating 3 out of 5]

I purchased this because I love beading, love meditation beads, and hadn't considered combining the two interests on my own. I've since made a few meditation strands for myself, one of which was inspired by this book. I expect that I will make many more in the future!

This book seems to be targeted at those who have no beading experience so I ended up skimming a lot and skipping around quite a bit. However, it also caused me to consider some new materials that I hadn't worked with previously and provided terminology that guided me to new reference materials online. I've now used this book as a reference for a handful of beading projects--most of which were not Pagan or meditation-related!

[Julian S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent place to start for beginners. I think even if you have a little experience, the authors have some good points about what stringing materials to use and how different kinds of beads interact with those, in terms of the rosary being durable or having long-lasting thread. I liked the way the book lays out a ton of "recipes" for different rosaries but is completely open for experimentation and modification. The only thing I didn't like was that, organizationally, some of the prayers for specific rosaries were in a whole different section of the book than the "recipes" or the photos. A great guide and one I plan to use as a reference.

[Jana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I suppose if you expect a book that talks about what to do with prayer beads, this will disappoint you. But for me it was exactly what I was looking for on techniques how to make prayer beads, ideas for different prayer beads (although some I already had beforehand in a similar way, now I know how to have those ideas come to life). Also, of course, a little section on what you can do with your prayer beads when they are finished. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and cannot wait to get started. My head just came up with so many good ideas while reading, I will be making rosaries for the rest of my life and won't get bored with it!

[Thorn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking for something that deals more with prayer bead use, and less with prayer bead making.

In addition, I feel like this book would have greatly benefited from detailed illustrations of the crafting techniques. The verbal description was extremely detailed, and completely impenetrable to me, someone that has no familiarity with beading

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative, well written.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid information regarding organization, and construction of Rosaries. A good primer for those who are just beginning and a great refresher for seasoned craftsmen.

[Meg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't get much out of this book. There was a lot of technical detail about beading, choosing materials, stringing, fastening, etc., which (to me, as a novice) felt kind of like when you just want to learn to change your oil, and someone wants to explain to you how your entire engine works. I mostly skimmed this part, figuring I could get some basic, minimal technical assistance from my local bead shop (which I did). I guess if you don't have a bead/ craft store nearby, or if you get *really* into making prayer beads, this level of detail might be helpful.

I also felt like there was too much technical description about design. Admittedly I wasn't trying to make a very complex design, but I didn't find it hard at all to come up with something pleasing. It seemed to me like just basic aesthetics: Do I like how this looks? Does it convey the "feeling" I'm going for?

Finally, the part I was most interested in - the spiritual aspects of designing and using a Pagan rosary - was pretty minimal. There were five "recipes" for specific Wiccan and Druid rosaries. I enjoyed the chapter on "specific-situation" prayer beads, like ancestor rosaries or body-honoring rosaries, but it was pretty short. The chapter on using prayer beads was 15 pages long, and just gave a few examples of poems/ chants to use with your beads (and no suggestions for how to create your own). Having seen the lovely snippets of rosary prayers on Cauldron Farm's Pagan Prayer Beads website (http://www.pagan-prayerbeads.com/), I know there is more creativity and inspiration out there.

As a final note, I know color plates are expensive, but a few would have really helped this book. Black-and-white pictures of rosaries don't capture the color or texture and are not very evocative. (Donald Engstrom-Reese's Pagan Prayer Beads page - http://web.me.com/iowariver/Walking_i... - has some lovely pictures, although my taste runs a little bit simpler.)

[Tami · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pagan or not, many of us see the benefits of using rosaries, malas, or prayer beads to aid in mediation, contemplation, or prayer. However, Pagan Prayer Beads illustrates that the usages of these items need not be so narrow. Prayer beads can be used in formal and informal spiritual rituals and acts but they can also be used to symbolize special connections to specific deities, to the ancestors, to memorialize loved ones, or as a remembrance of a special occasion. Essentially, your creativity is your only limit when it comes to the usages of prayer beads.

In this book the emphasis is on creating prayer beads that suit your particular personality, spirituality, and needs. Throughout the text, the authors offer plenty of ideas and photographs of bead designs as well as information on animal, deity, and colour symbolism that the reader might find useful while creating his or her own prayer beads. The book also includes a variety of easy to understand step by step designs that those new to beading can follow if they aren't really ready to create their own unique prayer beads.

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable and inspirational ideas for those of us who dabble in Paganism, Magic, and Meditation (or even those of us who are more serious about those things). One of the best parts what how often Green and Vaughn remind the reader that these are their ideas and anything the reader does differently will be right. No two strings of prayer beads should be the same - even if they were mass produced the intentions and prayers of the individual using the beads would change each string to something unique.

There is an excellent section of Correspondences (Red is for _____, Dolphins represent ______, etc.) that is useful for more projects and magics than just the making of prayer beads. Also a nice balance between a couple of the major sects of Paganism (Wicca and Druid) since each has a similar yet different way to organize the energies, year, Dieties, etc.

Even non-pagans who play with meditation could find inspiration here, if they were so inclined.

[Scarlet Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok... at first I was very disapointed by this book. I mean, it just amounts to a book on beading techniques written by a couple of pagans. I don't need to know how to tie a knot and some of the "advice" they give is rediculous common sense... I felt like they felt forced to make their book longer or they would have ended up with just a pamphlet. That said, I did end up enjoying it and her advice on beading was somewhat useful. There wasn't, however, very much talk about what to do with your prayer beads once you constructed them...

[JHM · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the title suggests, this book talks about how to design, make, and use prayer beads in a Pagan context. Vaughn's book is very clearly written, and combines illuminating personal anecdotes with how-to information. She assumes no prior experience with beading and has lots of helpful hints about selecting materials as well as putting them together.

[Plaguedoctor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very cool book on how to make your pagan prayer beads and rosaries. This book does a good job explaining each type of prayer beads, rosaries, how to make them, background history, and more. However, the techniques in this book are not for novices and are more oriented towards people who are more advanced with beading.

[Lilla · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to second Maya's review [http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... "A good book if you want to think about designs for your prayer beads, not so good if you are looking for what to do now that you've got them."

[Ella]

Good information, but not at the level I was hoping. Wished there were more examples. Only showed Druid and Wiccan examples and they're far from being the only types of pagans out there. I'm glad I borrowed it from the library instead of buying it.

[Lost · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit disappointing. Photos are of poor quality and black and white. I think they should have been in color due to the nature of the book and the significance of color in pagan prayer beads.