Lunaea's Goddess Rosaries

My friend Lunaea Weatherstone is making truly luscious Goddess rosaries and amulets these days. I asked her to make a custom one for me, and it arrived yesterday in a silver box tied with a glimmering ribbon. It's beautiful - the beads are blue and silvery, the colors of mermaids and oceans and islands and moonlight. The central amulet is a mini-collage of a Renaissance Madonna & Child with the word "grateful" cut from an antique book. On the back, a snippet of antique sheet music about an old sweet song at the end of day. To me, it is a reminder to rise up with an "attitude of gratitude" and to go to sleep at night the same way. I like the way it feels as I wear it, solid and grounding me yet light at the same time.

The rosaries that Lunaea makes are divided into 5 sections of 9 each, with 3 beads leading down to the amulet. 5 sets for the four elements plus Spirit, 9 the sacred number of the Goddess, the power of 3 times 3. The last 3 beads before the amulet for the triplicity of Maiden, Mother and Crone.

I started thinking about the different kinds of prayers I could use with the rosary, all in sets of 9, and came up with a few. I'll just share one today. It's Jennifer Berezan's revised "Hail Mary" that is used so effectively on her devotional CD "She Carries Me":

1 - Holy Mother full of grace,
2 - Power is with thee.
3 - Blessed are you,
4 - Queen of the Universe (crystal bead)
5 - And blessed is all of creation.
6 - Holy Mother, (crystal bead)
7 - Maker of all things,
8 - Be with us now and always.
9 - Blessed Be.

After saying the rosary five times, I touch the last three beads leading to the amulet, saying: "By the power of the Maidens of Spring, the Mothers of Summer and Fall, and the Crones of Winter, may it always be so. Blessed be."

As I go through the five sets, fingering the beads as I chant, I fall into that magical alpha state that is like drinking from a deep, deep well. I like this prayer especially because I can hear the entire chant "She Who Hears the Cries of the World" from the CD inside my head, and it brings the power of that piece of music to my prayers. Thank you, Jennifer. Thank you, Lunaea. Blessed be.

Comments

[Sharon]

I was pleased to see another version of the Hail Mary....I always had a hard time when reciting the formal version I learned in Catholic school... when it came to "Pray for us sinners, now at at the hour of our death". Such doom and gloom. So my version goes like this:

Hail Mary
Surrounded by Grace
You are with the Lords
Blessed are You
Among Women
and Blessed is the Medicine of Your Love, Jesus

Holy Mary
Mother and Goddess
Pray for us Now
and whenver we need it...
...Ah Woman!

Blessings!!!

[Del]

I love your blog. thank you - it made my day and made me think of many things. My FGG, Stephanie, just moved to Bremerton, WA. I miss her very much and we had talked about me moving too. It is hard, I was teaching and the teacher that had that position decided she wanted it back so I am displaced. I also have to think about my son and daughter - it would break my heart if I couldn't see them. I'm sure my daughter would move to WA - there's more there than here in Oklahoma. My son is reluctant to embrace any change and he has lived here since he was 4 - he would be afraid to leave here, but honestly... it depresses me to stay here and think when I die I'd be buried here - ugh. To move - you have to have a job and money to move and there's a large disparity in cost of living so I might be stuck here longer.

I miss the ocean so much. Thank you for your blog.