Product Description

Recounting the history and symbolism of prayer beads, this work teaches basic techniques for stringing beads and a host of other objects into prayer beads. It offers a variety of prayers and rituals to use beads on a daily basis as well as suggestions for different ways they can be made and used.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #218296 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

About the Author
Eleanor Wiley, a former speech pathologist and gerontologist, began making jewelry about seven years ago. Nearing age 60 she faced a vocational and spiritual crisis and began making prayer beads. A fossil ivory "Goddess of Transformation" came her way and her first set of prayer beads was born. She teaches workshops on making prayer beads as a spiritual practice all over the world.

Maggie Oman Shannon is the author of The Way We Pray and editor of Prayers for Common Healing. She is a writer and editor whose work has appeared in numerous publications.

Customer Reviews

I was a little disappointed
I found that there were a couple of nice ideas I hadn't seen before: one was the idea of making a string of beads to memorialize some occasion or person. A woman who had lost custody of her children, for example, made a string for each of them and told them when they held them she would be holding their hands. Another woman whose cat had died made a string using the colors of her cat's fur, and little charms that reminded her of her cat.

The other idea I liked was making a strand that was not in the form of a circle, but had a loop on one end and a pendant on the other, rather like a button and buttonhole. The strand could be buttoned into a circle around the wrist as a bracelet or around the neck as a neclace.

But beyond that I was a little disappointed in the book. It seemed mostly to be about prayer beads as an art form, rather like any other book on jewelry art, but there wasn't much about their actual use in prayer. There was a little lip service to prayer beads in world religions (including modern uses), but not much detail on the subject. I've found that sites on the Internet have a lot more information than her book did. There was a nice compilation of prayers at the end, but nothing about how to arrange them for use with prayer beads. The beads shown in the photos were in random arrangements, chosen more for length than number of prayers. The instructions would talk about using enough beads to make the necklace two feet long, for example.

Anyway, just my reaction. I've found so very much great information on the 'Net that the book just seemed to fall short. Actually Basil Pennington's book on the Catholic rosary ("Praying by Hand") had more information on prayer beads in world religions than Wiley's book did.

A little book full of prayerful practices and ideas!
I originally bought this book hoping to find new styles, patterns, and detailed instructions to make the traditional Catholic style rosary.....however, what I ended up with was a wonderful tool explaining the meaning of rosaries and the spiritual significance and prayerful practice of making 'non-traditional' rosaries (Malas, Rosary Bracelets, Rosary Shawls, etc.).

Recommended for anyone who loves working with beads and incorporating beadwork into their spiritual practices. Few photographs (black & white only) and some crudely drawn (but user friendly) diagrams scarttered throughout the book. A good book for beginners, but advanced and professional Rosary Artisans may find this reading dreadfully dull.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I paid full price, but would definately recommend buying it 2nd hand or when it is on sale!

the point is the process
I think this book is probably most helpful if you are already familiar with meditative prayer, using beads or not. Selecting the beads and resources (or finding you already have them, as I did today after getting the book as a gift) and making the beaded object are all parts of a prayer in themselves. When you come back to the object you have created, you are aware of the process and the feelings you put into the work and can call these up again--either in actual prayers you have memorized or which come to you at the time *or* simply in holding the beads and moving them through your fingers. If you assign a special prayer purpose to each bead (red bead = pray for your mother or whatever) then you may use the beads with a prayer for each one like a traditional Catholic or Anglican rosary. But making the beaded piece itself creates a prayerful mood you have access to when you use it--or which you can explain to others if the piece is a gift.