Traditional Pagan Design

Materials:
• Eight beads to represent the eight Pagan Sabbats
• Thirteen beads to represent the lunar months
• Beads symbolizing the elements - earth, air, fire and water
• Spacer beads in color of your choice
• Beading wire or string
• Pagan charm (something special to you)

Directions:
Sort your beads and arrange them so they for a pattern that you like. You may want to try different patterns and designs and see which feels right for you.

Make a knot at the end of the cord or thread. String on your first bead based on your intent. String on two or three small, neutral-colored beads. These will be used as "spacers" between each prayer bead. Continue stringing on your intent beads, with the same amount of spacers in between them, until you have the amount you are satisfied with.

Tie on a special charm at the end of the string of beads. This charm could be a special bead, a charm fro a necklace or bracelet, a coin or something else that represents meaning of your beads. It might feature your goddess, or a symbol of your tradition, or might be a small pentacle.

One way to use these beads is to choose prayers or chants for your beads, and write them yourself. Learn these by heart. To use your beads, start with the first bead and say its prayer or chant, then move on to each bead in succession. Keep a special prayer for your charm, which would signify the end of the prayer or meditation session.

Empower your beads in ritual by running them through incense, or sprinkling them with salt and water, and asking your deities or any universal spirits you appeal to for blessings. Keep your beads in a special place, or wear them if you like.


More Ideas for Pagan Prayer Bead Designs:
• Chakra beads: incorporate the seven colors of the chakras into a prayer bead strand, and use in healing meditations. Use a meditative charm or a pentacle.
• Ancestor beads: use a variety of beads to symbolize your family’s heritage and origins. Use them in rituals celebrating your ancestors and kinfolk. Pick a charm special to your family.
• Triple goddess beads: combine three different colors to represent the maiden, mother and crone aspect of the goddess often found in Wiccan traditions. Attach a triple moon charm.
• Moon goddess beads: String on 13 white beads, or beads with moon symbols, onto your string. Use dark blue or black spacers in between them. Each bead signifies one full moon cycle of the year. Attach a charm that is a symbol of the moon goddess or of the moon itself.
• Elemental beads: Choose a yellow bead, a red bead, a blue bead and a green bead, and a white bead. Also choose 20 medium-sized beads in black. You will also need small spacer beads to go in between each. A good charm for this rosary is a pentacle, with each of the five points on the star representing an element: air, fire, water, earth, and spirit, the circle being the universe that surrounds and connects them all.
• Spellwork beads: consider the principles used in the Witch’s Ladder for spellwork, and work them into a bead strand. A great charm might be a witches hat, or a pentacle.
• Mother Earth and Horned One beads: use a variety of beads in earth colors to celebrate and honor the goddess as earth and the god as lord of the beasts. Charm ideas – stag, tree, pentacle
• Pantheon beads: use colors and charms specific to your pantheon (celtic, egyptian, norse, italian, etc.) Charm ideas – eye of horus, tree of life, triskilion, hammer.
• Specific deity beads: use colors devoted to a specific deity (the Morrigan: use red and hematite for example) Use a charm sacred to your deity (raven for example, or a cat for Bast)