Hellenic Prayer Beads

[child_of_the_air]

A few weeks ago, as part of an attempt to start a regular Hellenic pagan prayer practice for Advent--something I started successfully but failed to maintain--I made a set of Hellenic pagan prayer beads:

 

I don't actually know if there was an ancient Greek tradition of using prayer beads, but as a culturally-Catholic-influenced pagan, I was partly inspired by the Rosary. I decided to arrange the beads in sets of "decades" of ten, where each set of ten would be used with a prayer to a specific god, with a prayer to Hestia (who traditionally is invoked first and last during prayer and when making offerings) between decades.

Along with the initial and final prayers to Hestia, I decided to use six decades, dedicated to Athena, Artemis, Hekate, Hermes, Apollo, and Hephaestus, all gods I have some feeling of connection to. So that Hestia receives the same number of prayers as the others, I double the prayer to Hestia before the first decade, after the last decade, and between the third and fourth decades. This produces the following cycle of prayers:

Hestia (2x)
Athena (10x)
Hestia
Artemis (10x)
Hestia
Hekate (10x)
Hestia (2x)
Hermes (10x)
Hestia
Apollo (10x)
Hestia
Hephaestus (10x)
Hestia (2x)

The set of prayers I came up with were fairly formulaic, so as to be easy to remember, and fairly short, so that the whole cycle of six decades takes roughly twenty minutes to get through. They were also modeled after the "Hail Mary," the main prayer used with the Catholic Rosary. For those of you not familiar with it, the text of that prayer is:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

The set of prayers I came up with are as follows.  Readers should feel free to use them themselves if they like them, with or without prayer beads.


HESTIA

Great Hestia, who was born both first and last:
You warm and guard us ‘gainst the stormy blast,
And keep us safe and fed beside the fire.

So hail to you, who’s born both first and last:
We ask your aid, for us and for our world!


ATHENA

Athena, grey-eyed lady of the spear:
You bear the Aegis and you weave your web
And are renowned for your ten thousand roles.

So hail to you, wise lady of the spear:
We ask your aid, for us and for our world!


ARTEMIS

Fierce Artemis, great lady of the bow:
Swift maid who loves the chase and cheers the hounds,
You loose your silver shafts upon the world.

So hail to you, great lady of the bow:
We ask your aid, for us and for our world!


HECATE

Hecate, you who hold your torches high:
You tread the boundary between light and dark,
Teach strength to weakness, and bring hope to fear.

So hail to you, who hold your torches high:
We ask your aid, for us and for our world!


HEPHAESTUS

Hephaestus, crafty master of the forge:
Upon your anvil wondrous things are made,
And by your hands it was we learned to build.

So hail to you, great master of the forge:
We ask your aid, for us and for our world!


APOLLO

Phoebus bright, great lord who shoots afar:
You fill the world with light and play your lyre
With art the waves themselves take pause to hear.

So hail to you, great lord who shoots afar:
We ask your aid, for us and for our world!


HERMES

Swift Hermes, lord who brings us luck and help:
You freely pass through every bound and realm
And aid the traveler and the trickster, too.

So hail to you, who brings us luck and help:
We ask your aid, for us and for our world!