Singing My Prayer Beads

Most prayer beads are recited using spoken prayers. However, I prefer to use sung prayers (chants) with my Triple Goddess prayer beads. The chants I picked for this purpose are some favourite beloved chants used at my Women's Drumming and Goddess Chanting Circle which I facilitated for 13 years here in Edmonton. But I learned these chants many, many years earlier.

For the Alpha and Omega:

To start and to complete the prayer beads ritual, I sing the beautiful chant There is a Secret One Inside three times at the Alpha commencement point and then later, three times at the Omega endpiece. I learned this chant about 25 years ago from a witch in North End Winnipeg. The chant's bead imagery is perfect for this ritual!

There is a Secret One inside:

All the stars in all the galaxies

Slip through Her hands like beads.

To hear the chant, click the mp3 link here.

For the Turquoise Separator Stones:

At each turquoise stone, I sing this chant once. We All Come From the Goddess is the first modern goddess chant ever written, composed by the Dianic witch Z Budapest in 1970. It's also the first goddess chant I ever heard and learned about 30 years ago. Its imagery of the Goddess as a vast Ocean and humans as tiny drops of rain coming from and returning to Her is so appropriate for these water-blue beads.

We all come from the Goddess

And to Her we shall return,

Like a drop of rain,

Flowing to the ocean.

Here is a short rendition of the chant so you can hear what it sounds like:



For the Maiden, Mother, Crone Beads:

I sing the appropriate verse of the Triple Goddess Chant for every bead of its corresponding Goddess sequence. In other words, each verse is sung nine times in succession. Not only does each verse honour one aspect of the Triple Goddess, it also incorporates the moon phase imagery for that aspect.

1. For each bead of the Maiden sequence:

Holy Maiden Huntress

Artemis, Artemis --

New Moon,

Come to us!

The Greek Moon Goddess Artemis is the twin sister of the Greek Sun God, Apollo. She is forever unmarried and untamed, living wild in the forests of Mount Olympus with her band of female huntresses, all wearing short tunics and short hair. Uh-huh, sistah! Her Roman equivalent is Diana.

2. For each bead of the Mother sequence:

Silver Shining Wheel

Of Radiance, Radiance --

Mother,

Come to us!

This verse invokes the power of the Full Moon rather than a specific Goddess.

3. For each bead of the Crone sequence:

Ancient Queen of Wisdom

Hekate, Hekate --

Old One,

Come to us!

Hekate is the Greek Goddess of the Crossroads, so ancient that She predates the deities of Mount Olympus. She was the only one willing to help Demeter find her daughter Persephone who was abducted by Hades. Hekate alone was powerful enough to descend to the Underworld and return again, leading Persephone back to the surface.

I learned ever-so-slightly different words for this chant than the ones used in the following video. Traditionally, chants are taught by oral tradition, passed from one person to the next, within circles or gatherings and so small differences in words and music sometimes arise.



This concludes my series of posts about my Triple Goddess prayer beads. Bright Blessings to you for persevering through them, LOL!

[Prayer beads photo by My Rare One, 2017]