[Main Blog Post] [Heathen Rosary] First Pass at Saying the Heathen Rosary

[jprussell]

For the past week or so, I've been giving it a go saying the Heathen Rosary in its almost-done shape, and I thought I'd share how to do that in case anyone else wants to give it a go.

If you do try it out, kindly let me know how it goes, as so far, I've been feeling this one out with little but prayer and divination to guide me, so hearing if it's helpful for others would be very big indeed.

Comments

[borealbear]

Late comment in the cycle, I know, but just wanted to say I appreciate your work with this project. Another one of those fun Heathen innovations that would seem jarring to a purist, but somehow makes a lot of sense. Catholicism has always struck me as the least "weird" and off-putting form of Christianity, since it's so much closer to polytheism and "normal" religions, as I like to call them (ie. the vast majority of historical religions that weren't monotheist and book/rules-based). The idea of combining spoken prayers with the tactile sensation of handling beads is appealing, and I like the idea of borrowing this.

Unfortunately it might be a little while before I get to actually try it and have any feedback for you, since I'd need to both assemble the physical beads themselves and do some translation work with the prayers. Well, I suppose I could just go with the English versions, since Gods presumably don't care about human languages, but something as personal as prayer would feel more right in my native language.

Still, I'll seriously consider the effort, since I think this could be a useful practice. As a former atheist, I'm still struggling a bit with how to relate to Gods and doing prayer and sacrifice properly. Having a structured framework for it like this one might very well reduce some of that friction and help make it a regular habit.

[jprussell]

Thanks so much for your kind words! I largely agree with your assessment of the "feel" vs purism, and on Catholicism. Growing up, I didn't know much about Catholicism, but as I've learned more about it, I've had a similar impression - likewise with the Orthodox church(es). Another Ecosophia regular, Kenaz Filan, went from polytheism to Catholicism largely because he believes it's "polytheism done right" - i.e. the emphasis on saints and angels addresses the need for localized, specialized spiritual beings, but he's come to be convinced in an over-arching, singular divinity. Obviously, I differ on that, but I can respect his position.

As for the practical issues with giving the prayers a try, after I posted this, it occurred to me that a "quick-start" version of the beads might be a cord with knots, which I believe has been used by other repetitive tacticle prayer practices (like the "Jesus Prayer" in the orthodox tradition and the Rosary in Catholic). Paracord or leather lace would likely work better than plain string, and you might want to do double knots for the "medallion" and "Well Bead" places. I'd like to give a little more thought to a an easy way to make the beads so as to minimize barriers to entry, but besides the knotted cord, I haven't come up with anything yet.

As for translations, fair enough, but I'm afraid I can't offer much direct help there, being nearly perfectly monolingual (my college Latin, Ancient Greek, and Arabic are rusty, corroded, and crumbled to dust, respectively, and those characterizations might be generous). I don't have a good feel for how easy or hard it would be to mimic the alliteration-based meter in other languages, but it ought to be at least a little easier to translate than straight rhythmic meter or rhyme, and likely would be easiest in other Germanic languages, but again, that's a guess.

Once again, I'm glad to hear this sounds appealing, and if you do get the chance to give it a shot, I'd love to hear how it goes. I've faced a similar challenge, and putting this together has been one piece of groping toward a solution. Besides this, the other major pieces for me have been ritual (the Sphere of Protection), meditation (currently working through the Druid Magic Handbook and Dolmen Arch material, but I began with the Poetic Edda, and plan on returning to explicitly Germanic material at some point), and divination (the Runes and Ogham currently), along with a simple daily prayer at a home altar (to the Gods & Goddesses, "well wights," and "holy forebears". I can expand more on what I've pieced together if it might be helpful).

Thanks again!
Jeff