Prayerbeads
To get closer to the Lady, the Mother Goddess, I make prayer beads based on Her symbolisms. Prayerbeads are not only known for the rosary or the mala, but were probably used for religious purposes in ancient Greece. We are not sure of this, of course, but there is a fresco from ancient Akrotiri, Thera, in which we see a woman with a string of beads in her hand from 1600 BC. This has inspired me to make prayer beads with a wider focus than just the rosary from Christianity or the Hindu mala.
Beads are of all times and cultures. Where perhaps the first beads were made of bones or dried berries, these later turned into glass and stone and clay, just look at the beautiful chains from the Viking age.
My prayerbeads are designed by themselves using color symbols, number symbolism and of course the symbols that hang from the prayerbeads. In this way I give the beads their own character and meaning that suits the receiver. You can have one made by me on request, where you hand me the symbolics that you would like to see incorporated, or you can let me adjust to your energy so that I make the prayerbeads myself based on what my intuition tells me. With the prayerbeads you will receive a manual with tips on how to use it and I will give you a personal message and the specific prayerbeads.
Information: It takes about 7 days to make the beads and she is on the way to the new owner / owner for 3 days. The costs of the beads differ.
Do you also want to request a personal prayerchain? Send a message via the contact form on this website and I will send you more information. Are you curious about the Moon Beads, then read further under the images!
Moonbeads
The goddesses and prayerbeads I have made so far are well received and I was inspired to try other things. The life and death * wheel is an important part of my life and work, the cycles of the moon and the seasons and of my own body are very important to me, since I was a young girl.
(* The deathwheel comes from Linda Wormhoudt, for more information read her book Nevelvrouw)
I wanted a cord that allowed me to do more with those cycles in combination with my self-development and connection with the feminine.
I made the moonbeads in a way that is right for me, in the form of prayerbeads, with gemstone beads and with the number symbolism that was most appropriate for me.
The moonbeads consists of 28 beads, divided into four phases. The first phase lasts 5 days, and symbolizes the death-life goddess and the non-physical phase. Think of the time of winter and the time when a deceased person makes his journey through the underworld. It is the unborn life and the ended life at the same time. I have listed it in 5 days because this is the time of the woman's menstrual period: her moon phases, for which this cord can largely be used. More on that later.
The second stage is the Virgo stage, where the white quartz beads begin with the white beads. This is the time of birth and growth, from spring, the crescent moon, the child and the young girl to her first period. It takes 9 days because often ovulation (Full Moon) falls around the 14th day of the woman's lunar cycle.
The Mother phase starts on the 14th day. This symbolizes the fertile phase of the woman, the red beads indicate this. It is the time of highlights, of fertility, think of the energy and symbolism of Midsummer, the solstice, the full Moon and everything that got its ultimate physical, vital, appearance during the height of life. It is the most material phase of the cycle and it is the ultimate creative moment (this is where conception can take place, whereby midwinter and midsummer therefore touch each other).
Het Maansnoer met spiraalbedel en godinnenhanger
From here begins the tipping point where the physical slowly deteriorates and we turn inward rather than outward in motion. So after these 5 days of highlights of vitality and matter, the tide turns and we go back down and follow the cord through the black beads. This is the phase of the Wise Woman or the Sorceress. In life it is the time of menopause and the old age, the autumn of life, of the waning Moon. It is the time of the premenstrual phase in women, which is often stormy. In this phase we meet our shadow side and we turn more inwards until we finally say goodbye to the life cycle and return to menstruation, or in a human life: death makes its appearance. It is a phase in which we can look beyond the material world, just as the boundaries between the worlds are traditionally lifted in autumn and winter. It is a phase of magic and deep wisdom about oneself and the world.
Then we come to the end and beginning of the cord as indicated earlier, the 5 black Onyx beads of the hidden face of the new moon and menstruation. The repulsion of that which was not fertilized and also the brain starts to act again on the first day of the cycle to start a new cycle, so we have come back to the double face of the Dark Mother of Life-Death -Life principle *
(* see Clarissa Pinkola Estes with the Indomitable Woman).
On the cord hangs a charm of a spiral, because the spiral stands, among other things, for the initiation that each cycle has in itself, if properly used and understood in this case: women. If you are still menstruating, you can hang the spiral pendant at the moment in the cycle where you are, in order to get more in touch with your own rhythm.
Or, if you are not (yet) menstruating, you can follow the phases of the moon, which is also 28 days.
Not every woman menstruates exactly 28 days. The cord is based on myself, as a kind of proto-type, but if you want a different number I will happily make it for you. A cycle is not always the same, nor is it always 28 days, and that is not a problem at all. Do you want to follow the Moon? For example if you no longer have periods and you still want to follow the cycle? Then the 28/29 days can of course be continued. Then take 1 day to meditate with the goddess at the end of the cord (highly recommended anyway).
The cord gives you more feeling with the cycle of the Moon and your own cycle. But you can also use it to get to know the traditional phases of the divine feminine better (white: virgin, red: mother, black or dark blue or dark brown: Wise Woman and the colorless or black and white phase: the dark mother). You can also involve goddesses who deal with these phases (or all) such as Nerthus, Freyja, Holle and Nehalennia.
The cycle can help you let go of things better by accepting change, it can help you with your fear of death, it gives you a framework for your personal development where you take a rest every month, or take action, creative time planned or doing self-reflection so that you get to know yourself better and can give more direction to your life.
Ultimately, it can be an aid to restore or deepen contact with nature, the sacred cycle of life. This can be done by meditating with it, by singing at each bead, reciting the names of goddesses and much more.
That was it in short, but for those who want a custom-made or a cord as in the photo, you will of course receive even more explanation and blog posts about this subject will follow.
