[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.

[(Anonymous)]

A simplified version might be handy to get started, but personally I think I'd rather wait a little for a good thing and do it "properly". Especially since the "physicality" of it is part of the appeal...and I do have a soft spot for cool ritual objects. :)

Speaking of the DMH/Dolmen Arch, your Heathen/Druid hybrid approach is interesting for sure. I can see the appeal, since I've been kind of torn between both of those traditions myself. I actually thought I'd settled on the Druid Revival before I found myself on this path again unexpectedly. And I do really like the DMH system conceptually, but I find that Golden Dawn-style magic fits me much better in practice.

Even if I'm not doing the DMH, though, I have a lot of fondness for the Ogham, both in the aesthetic sense and with the tree symbolism. In spite of being a novice I also got (what felt like) some surprisingly accurate results with it. I'd very much like to go back to it one day, when I'm thoroughly practiced with the runes, so it's good to see from your example that the Ogham can be combined with a Germanic approach too.

By all means, I'll let you know when/if I get a chance to try it out. I'm doing the classic JMG triad of ritual/meditation/divination as part of the Heathen GD course, and hoping to have a proper altar setup soon. When you say "Gods and Goddesses", am I right in thinking this means you invoke them all as a collective in this case, rather than a set of specific ones?

A couple bonus questions for the Rosary: do you think it would make sense to do this in a magical space? Ie. an open Grove in your case with the DMH, or an open Temple/Ve with GD methods. And how do you feel about vibrating the final ALU of each bede rather than just speaking them? Maybe it's just me, but that word feels very easy and "right" to vibrate, with the sounds all flowing into each other. Which of course makes a lot of sense when we know this word was very likely used for magical purposes back in the Iron Age...