Hello & welcome. On this page you’ll find the following:
Symbolism of Celtic Soul Prayer Bead Sets
Ways to Use the Beads
Caring for your Beads
Ancestral Mothers of Scotland
Prayer Bead Gallery
and an invitation to keep in Touch
Celtic Soul Prayer Bead sets are made up from the following beads:
The Pendant - setting the tone for the set
Silver Step beads (3)
Birth, Death and Life Beads (3)
Mystery bead (1)
Main circle of beads (40)
Threshold beads (8)
The Pendant
The pendant might well have been what attracted you to this particular set of beads, and so might well set the tone for your prayer beads.
2. Step Beads
The three silver step beads are an invitation to intentionally shift your perception from the everyday and into sacred space. Step Beads - stepping into sacred place, connecting to place.
This practice might look different for each of us. I use them to connect to a favourite place, imaging my feet taking three slow steps on familiar ground, or following a path. With this practice I am also connecting to the energies and deities of this place.
The three step beads are slightly heavy and so satisfyingly weighty in your hand for this grounding purpose.
3. Birth, Death and Life Beads
We each have been born into this life and one thing we can be assured of is that we will die.
The first bead after the three step beads is the birth bead - acknowledging this birth and our existence in human form, and gratitude for being alive.
The death bead (which follows the mystery bead ) invites us to reflect on our own mortality. What is your relationship to death, is it something you've considered or is something you'd rather not think about?
The bead outside of the circle on the tassel represents life and our individual choices of what we engage with in our life.
4. The Mystery Bead
The mystery bead represents the unknown, whether you call it divine, source, Goddess or God. It also represents the acceptance of not knowing, and honouring the mystery of how that relationship unfolds. The mystery bead is generally made from a star cut quartz bead.
5. Circle of Beads
The 40 beads which make up the main circle are divided into 8 sections reflecting the festivals of the Wheel of the Year.
6. The Threshold Beads
The threshold beads divide the 40 main beads into 8 sections of 5 beads. Each of the sections represents the 8 festivals of the Celtic Wheel of the Year.
The sections aren't named and so if you wish to use your prayer beads by considering the different energies of the Wheel of the Year you can begin with whatever holy day season you are beginning with.
The sections are divided by threshold beads, which are generally are generally circular or spherical with a spiral or Celtic knot style design .
An Unravelling Ritual
The end of the silk has been left unravelled. The unravelling is a ritual for you, a symbolic act as the beads leave my hands and are welcomed into yours.
Ways to Use Prayer Beads
Meditation - Counting, using a mantra
Saying prayers or chants
Breathing into the circle - Using the 3 step beads to connect to a favorite place, using the beads with a mantra (which can be as simple as made up words, helps us focus as it doesn’t create images) then eventually just sinking into the feeling of place and into meditation without a chant or counting. One example of writing your own prayers is rewriting old prayers or charms. For example:
Create your own prayer book - I made the above booklets from folded printer paper and a black piece of card for the cover, or use a notebook or journal. Copy prayers or poems - from favorite writers such as John O’Donohue etc. Build up your own collection of writings you may wish to use as prayers.
Five tips for caring for your Celtic Soul Prayer Beads:
1. Avoid storing them by hanging them on something – Silk can stretch over time, so avoid hanging your beads on a hook or peg, this may weaken the cord and cause it to lose its shape.
2. Pouch or Bag. Selecting a special pouch, bag or box to store your beads helps them lay flat or gently coiled. (I don't provide these as it's a very personal thing).
3. Keep Away from Water and Perfumes – Silk is delicate and can weaken when exposed to moisture, oils, or perfumes. Avoid wearing your beads while bathing or applying scented products.
4. Handle them with Clean Hands – This stops both your beads and the cord from residue as natural oils and dirt from your hands can wear down the silk over time, so try to handle them with clean, dry hands to preserve their longevity.
5. Restringing I've only had two sets of beads break. One user shared that she was willing to take the risk because she always carried her beads with her while walking, often in very wet conditions. The second person was at the bedside of a loved one, and the beads broke at the same moment her beloved passed away.
The Path of the Ancestral Mothers of Scotland
The term 'Celtic' is a complex and often problematic one. While i've named my prayer beads 'Celtic Soul', it's a creative description which depicts the modern neo-pagan tradition of celebrating all 8 holy days (something that no other peoples would have done).
The four Gaelic festivals are:
Imbolc (Là Fhèill Brìghde)
Beltane (Là Bealltainn)
Lughanasadh (Lùnastal)
Samhuinn
I use the frame of the Wheel of the Year to hold stories of the Ancestral Mothers of Scotland. Some of these stories come from folklore (the lore of the people) such as tales of the Goddess Brighid and the Cailleach, while others have emerged from my relationship with the land.
While you might well have your own figures you connect to, the figures i call the Ancestral Mothers are my inspiration for creating the beads.
The Descending Moon (Autumn Equinox)
The full moon of Autumn Equinox beckons preparations for the dark of the year. To Breejah and the women of the Bear this means tending to the Cave of the Grandmothers and the rituals which herald the return of the great She bear, whose winter journey provided the first descent and return story.
Hag Eye Moon (Samhain)
Samhain, the Gaelic festival of the dead, a time of honoring ancestors - our blood and bone ancestors and those lineages we have adopted or been adopted into. Samhain holds the story of the great Crone, the Cailleach who makes her way to the Cauldron of Corryvrecken to wash her great plaid. An age-old ritual in which she brings the land into winter. As she lifts her bleached shawl from the churning water, shaking it dry, lifting it up and around her shoulders the falling drops of water freeze instantly and turn the tops of the surrounding hills white with the first dusting of snow.
Antler Moon (Winter Solstice)
Winter Solstice holds the story of the the Old Antlered One, and ancient towering, antlered skeletal figure. She brought life to these northern lands and was first honored by the people who followed herds of reindeer. Among those people were the women who wore antlers, the wise women of the clan and among them, she Who Runs With the Herd. Their rituals include gathering at a stone & bone shrine where they undertake their shapeshifting ritual, to take reindeer form and run with the herd.
Kindling Moon (Imbolc)
The festival of Imbolc welcomes Brighid back into the world. With her return Brighid brings hope and as an activist hers is an Active Hope rooted in action. Among all of Brighid’s traditions and rites I work with her gift of Keening, of lamenting - a tradition Brighid brought to the world.
Bear Returns Moon (Spring Equinox)
Spring Equinox marks the emerging from the dark of the year, the ritual of looking back at our time in the deep and deciding what stays there and what we move forward with. To our earliest ancestors seeing bears emergence from the cave would have been an auspicious sight. To comes across a bear in hibernation you might well think she was dead with her low heartbeat and slow breathing. And yet she comes back to life, and as she does the land magically starts to awake and bear often gives birth in hibernation and so she emerges not just coming back to life but with new life in the form of cubs by her side. In the story of myth - descent, deep and return - Spring Equinox symbolizes the great return.
Seal Skin Moon (Beltane)
The time of Beltane on the Ancestral Mothers calendar is honored on the 1st crescent of the waxing moon. This moon honors the Ancestral Mother Cee-al, who lived in Scotland in the Mesolithic, connected to the isle of Oronsay and the great shell middens. Hers is a story connected to the seal people, her mysteries around honoring our wild self, reading the landscape and the tale of the Selkie-Skin.
Gathering Moon (Summer Solstice)
Summer Solstice offers us the longest day and the shortest night. In these northern lands it barely gets dark, and the land is bathed in the magical wash of long lingering twilights. It’s by the light of twilight that we can almost see the unseen, faces in the cliffs become visible. The Ancestral Mothers are celebrated int he stories of the ‘Big Women’ - of the female warriors and tales from the Western Isles. It’s about connection community, taking time to step outside of patriarchy and dream new ways of being and organizing how to put those plans into action.
Talon Moon (Lunastal)
Late summer is a time of being under the wing of Talieasker. A bird woman who is far more eagle than human. Hers is a ritual of excarnation, of tearing the flesh from the bodies, a ritual where the dead were left out in sky burials for the raptors to clean. I met this figure on the Isle of Eigg, by a huge eagle shaped rock called the Eagle’s Primotory by a curious place called the Oracle’s Chamber. Taliesaker’s rite, for the who seek her in this out of the way place, is to lie you down, lull you into a place between the worlds before she performs her ritual, which often involves the metaphorical ripping away of accumulated, unwanted ayers. Not a ritual for the faint hearted.
Prayer Bead Gallery
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