DIY Pagan Prayer Beads

Today, I tried my hand at making a set of prayer beads. I have felt a sort of calling to make a set for a while, and last night I just felt like tomorrow was the day to make a set. I just realized that tonight is also the New Moon, which I think is pretty cool.

I looked at several varieties of prayer beads, and decided to go with one similar to a Rosary, because I liked the way it trails at the end. I have also seen a lot of Pagans use prayer beads in that are in a straight line, but I wanted mine to be necklace-esque because I liked the idea of my prayers coming full circle.

I used two different colored beads because 1) it reminded me of night and day, and 2) I wanted one color to signify a time to give thanks (gold) and the other to pray for someone/send positive energy to someone (black). I ended it with the big white bead because it reminds me of the Full Moon (Goddess) and the Stag to symbolize the Horned God.

It was pretty difficult to make them, but once you get the hang of tying tiny knots, its goes fairly quickly. I made this from scratch in a few hours.

Materials:
Thread
Beads (I used two strings, because I wanted two different colors)
A large bead (its called a Guru Bead for Malas)
Some more small beads to go after the large bead
A charm
Scissors
Patience

First, you need to tie a knot in your thread. Leave lots of room at the end, this will be where the larger bead and charms will go. After tying the knot, add one of your main beads, like so:

From there, you tie a knot to keep the bead in place, and then repeat the steps for all of your beads. Try to keep the beads close together, but if you want to run them through your fingers more, a little space might be better. This step is what messed me up, a lot of my spaces are uneven, but hey, its my first try. After adding all of your beads, it should look like this:

Once you've done that, you need to take both of the threads at the long end, and thread them through your large bead:

Pull it tight, and knot it to keep it in place. Then you can add your smaller beads:

And guess what happens next? That's right, knot it again. After knotting it, you add your final charm by tying it onto the loop of the charm. Again, try to keep it as close to the beads as possible:

And that's it! I hope this helps people looking to make their own set. You could customize the colors for whatever deity you'd like.

Now I'm off to cleanse it! Happy New Moon!