Basic Care for Prayer Cords
It’s important to recognize that over time and with use, all tools, including ritual items, can become dull. They need regular maintenance. This guide is designed specifically to help keep your prayer cord in working order so you can continue to use it as part of your practice for years to come.
Attuning with your Prayer Cord
When you receive a new tool, the first thing you should be doing is attuning to it. With items bought right off the shelf, like pre-made candles or a dagger, it is important to cleanse them to make sure anything left over from the shop and all the people who handled it before you can be removed, so nothing is interfering with your Will and your work. However, with items designed for a specific use— already consecrated, for instance— doing a full cleansing on the item may remove all the work put into it.
For a dedicated prayer cord, our first goal, since cleansing is not what it needs, is attunement.
To do this, I recommend you set aside some time to be alone, in a quiet space, and sit with your prayer cord. Begin with meditation. Once you feel your mind cleared, your focus properly centered, take your prayer cord into your hands, and move your focus onto it.
How does it feel in your hands? How does it make the focus of your mind change? Are there any sensations you immediately get from it? Spend time with it just in your hands, and observe it.
Now that you have a general feel for it, go through rounds either with a dedication to the Nine, using each of the major beads for it, or the enn for the specific demonic divine the cord is made for. For a specifically tuned cord, each bead can be used to call upon a different aspect of the demon it is dedicated to, and this can be done through epithets, or focusing on the essence of what that specialty is.
After going through each of the beads, spend some more time sitting with it again. How does it feel now?
Take note of what you feel, any sensations, the weight of it in your hand, because you can use it for knowing when you need to reattune to your prayer cord, or when your prayer cord needs some maintenance.
Re-Consecrating a Prayer Cord
If there comes a time where it feels as though your prayer cord is not as deeply connected to the demonic divine as when you received it, you may wish to do another consecration ritual to rededicate it.
What you will need:
Incense (to represent Air)
Candle (to represent Fire)
Water in a vessel
Earth in a vessel
Your prayer cord
The length of this ritual depends upon how long you sit with your cord afterwards in concentration, and if you decide to also do a pillar ritual for charging your cord at the same time. This rite and the pillar ritual can be combined or done separately. It is preferable to do them all at the same time if possible.
Begin with opening your circle as you would normally. If at all possible, have your altar or working space facing in the direction for the demonic divine the cord is dedicated to, or the direction most closely associated with the purpose of the cord. Have all your tools ready at your altar before beginning.
In this ritual, you will be bringing your cord to each of the elements, and asking for attunement with each. For specific demonic cords, I recommend you find aspects of them which fit in each elemental space, even if their main elemental attributions are different, so that you make sure that it is them, all around, that the cord is being consecrated for.
For Air, we pass the cord through the smoke of the incense, speak the enn of the demon or any epithets we have for them which would relate to the domain of Air, and focus upon the cord, putting all our intention into it.
For Fire, we pass it quickly through the flame.
For Water, please be mindful of what kind of stones are used in the cord and whether or not water will interact poorly with them. Rather than dunking it in the water, you can dip your fingers in the chalice and pass a few drops over the cord. If the stones have no trouble with water, you can let the drops hit the stones, or you can keep it to the bits of the cable visible, like the finger loop.
For Earth, you can sprinkle some of the Earth on it, or lay it on the Earth, depending entirely upon what you got as your representative. If you cord is soaking wet, it will get muddy, so be mindful of that. Leaves of herbs work well for this, so it does not have to be dirt.
Once all the elements have been completed, hold your cord in your hands, focus on it, and speak the words you have prepared for dedicating it to the specific demon— or to your craft in general. When you feel it is right, you can either end the working here, or sit with it in meditation, reattune to the cord as described in the section above, or go into the pillar rite, as described in the section below.
Pillar Rites
A pillar rite can be completed with visualization alone, however, for a full rite, you will need the following tools:
candles (3-5)
string
a sigil
your prayer cord
an offering
While this rite can be done on your altar, if you plan on using your altar for anything else in the meantime, I recommend setting this up in a separate space that won’t be disrupted for the duration. This will minimize charging your cord with mixed intentions and energy.
Draw the sigil of the demon the cord is dedicated to if you are doing this rite for a specifically consecrated cord, or a sigil for yourself, your craft, the specific work you want to do with the cord, etc, if it is otherwise dedicated. I recommend drawing it by hand because the act itself takes energy and focus. Even if you are not a good artist, and it doesn’t turn out looking exactly the same, the focus and dedication you put into it is what matters. If you have artwork you wish to use for this, or a custom made piece, make sure you have dedicated it or fully consecrated it before using it for your pillar rite. This can include amulets you have had made.
Place the sigil at the center of your ritual area, with your cord on top of it. Around it, in a ring, place your candles. For three candles, make a triangle. Five works either as a pentagram or a circle. While I said 3 to 5 candles at the beginning, you can technically do it with two if you must, and place the candles one on each side. These can be as small as tealight candles or as large as pillars, just know the burn time and fire safety varies.
Take your string, and wind it loosely around the base of the candles, making a perimeter around the cord and sigil. This is not necessary, but helps to add a physical boundary to aid in your visualization.
Open your circle, and light each candle with a statement of intent: how you wish to charge your tool with the specific energy you have chosen. Once all candles are lit, invoke the demonic divine to aid in this endeavor.
Visualize now a pillar of light forming in the perimeter set by the candles and string. Focus on it. See the light pouring into it. Sit with it for a while, focusing on it like this. Yes, it may be colored light. Yes, it can descend from above, or rise from below. These decisions all have a close tie with your intent for the cord and your practice with it.
Once you feel like the pillar of energy is stable, you can leave it for a while. Small candles burn quicker, so your ritual is complete once they are burnt out. Do not leave candles unsupervised.
If you use a larger candle, you can let it burn out all the way, or come back to them, close the ritual with the intent that you will save the candles for continuing the pillar another time, and snuff them. Gather up the candles once cool, and tie them together with the string. If you can, store the candles with the sigil you made, so none of the tools for this get mixed up with other ones or get used for other purposes. When you next feel the cord needs to charge, bring out the supplies again, and start it again using those candles, sigil, and string again.
Lastly, make sure to leave out an offering for the demonic divine on your altar, as thanks for their assistance and guidance in this.
Anointing Your Cord
Anointing a prayer cord is not strictly necessary for use, however, it can be a very pleasant and useful addition. There are oils for everything, and you can make them yourself, if you have the materials and know-how. If not, you can use the oils prepared by someone with those skills.
Choose the oil you feel is closest aligned with what the prayer cord is for. If the cord is aligned to a specific demonic divine, you can use an oleum specifically made for them. Or, you can choose an elemental or planetary oil— or any other oil which may fall under their domain.
To do this, you do not need to open a circle, though it is preferred. This can be done after a consecration, during the same rite, before doing a pillar ritual. Anointing the cord can be a way of fine tuning it to your focus, so it is recommended you do so before the pillar ritual, to hone in the energy you want it to be filled with.
If you do not plan on allowing anyone else to handle your prayer cord, you may mix the oil or oleum with a few drops of your blood to further attune it to yourself. (I am not sure why you would share a prayer cord with someone else, but just in case.)
Sit with your prayer cord, take a few drops of the oil in your hands, and speak the enn of the divine for your cord, their epithets, etc, as you work the oil into the cord. Make sure the stones used do not have adverse reactions to oil. If they do, work it into the cable connecting the stones and the loop, rather than into the stones themselves. Lava stones are perfect for absorbing oils and carrying them for a long period of time.
Focus as you anoint the cord, stating your intention for the oil, what you wish it to do, as well as state your intentions for the cord itself. Once the length of the cord is anointed, go through each bead with your dedications as you normally would.
Take note of how the cord feels different. These notes can help later if anything feels off about your cord and you aren’t sure what. This will help you trouble shoot, find the problem, and then correct it quickly.
This wraps up the basics on how to care for your prayer cord! If you wish to see future articles of this type, or ones which go more in depth, write to us as ordosonituslux@gmail.com or shoot us a message on Twitter @RevenantOracle
Frater Solaris