Love Prayer Beads

Thank you to @broche for the basis of these swaps!

This will be a series of prayer/meditation beads with different purposes and types, so I hope you enjoy and will amass a collection of beads for every purpose!

You will be asked to create one (1) LOVE prayer/meditation necklace that incorporates several elements, but it will be up to you HOW you incorporate them into the necklace. [Note, if you are not pagan, you are still welcome to join us, as meditation knows no religion - just make sure you are open to the spirit of this swap and willing to make something your partner will enjoy and use (no haters!)]

Some background...

Christian prayer beads are called rosaries, and they are necklaces that incorporate prayer beads and a cross. Buddhists also have prayer beads, and there's are carved from fragrant wood and strung on a red string to be carried or worn on the wrist. There are even Muslim prayer beads called Misbaha, and they are used to count the names of Allah. Many traditions and cultures made every day necklaces or ritual jewelry that represented prayers or mantras.

The bead work as a memory tool, which each most often representing a type of prayer to be recited. By feeling along the string of beads, the person can focus on the saying or thinking of their prayers and the beads do the automatic counting or tracking of recitations for you. With each bead you feel, you can say a mantra or a prayer, or think of an affirmation or a key word to focus your mental state or intentions, or pray for certain people in your life, the world, etc.

In honor of Valentine's Day, we will make a prayer necklace with the focus on bringing love into our life, appreciating the love we already have in our life and/or to understand the nature of love itself.

How the necklace will be constructed:

1. The necklace will be made “rosary” style- a long round beaded necklace coming together into a point where you will include a focal point of a HEART at the end. You may use wire, string, hemp - anything you wish for the necklace but it must have a heart of some kind (stone, metal, bone, high quality acrylic, etc) at the end.

2. You need to choose the beads for the necklace keeping the topic of LOVE in mind as well as what spacers you want to use. Certain stones are wonderful to attract love, or to keep the love one already has - rose quartz immediately comes to mind (rose quartz also is a stone used for sexuality/fertility). You could also use red or pink stones or beads to symbolize the traditional colors of the holiday or to show the fire of passion and love.

3. The number of beads can be an important part of the necklace. 7 is a powerful number, the number 3 is also very important to many pagans, so you might do sets of 3 - maybe 6 or 9 of each color with a spacer bead in between. It should be long enough to put over the head without a clasp (you can include a clasp if you want though).

4. Your focal point should be a HEART of some kind. Stone, bone, metal, altered charm, high quality acrylic (NO cheap plastic!!), as long as it's a heart.

5. As another option, you can develop a set of prayers/meditational device for the various beads using number of beads, types of beads, etc. -- perhaps a spell for finding love, or a prayer in appreciation of the love you have in your life.

The beads are a great tool no matter what religion you are part of, to silence our minds and spirits and focus on the purpose of the beads. You can even use the beads to remind you to pray for those that you love.

Requirements---4.9 ONLY for rated swappers - newbies are welcome, but with a completed profile.Recent 1's or 3's need to contact me or I will ban before assigning partners. USA/Canada only to keep shipping costs down.

If anyone is willing to angel this swap besides myself please let me know. But I hope that is not necessary.

[Photo is as close as I could find to a rosary type necklace with a heart focal point, please feel free to deviate and create your own personal styled necklace!]

[If you have certain likes/dislikes for your necklace please state them just so your partner knows your taste (dislike of acrylic beads/certain stones/silver or gold/etc)]

If you have any questions, concerns, comments, etc... feel free to comment or send me a PM!

Past Meditation Beads Swaps (in case you want to find someone to make up what you missed):

• Elemental Prayer Beads