You can find out more about these for real gorgeous knotted rosaries at Rosaryworkshop here. Any resemblance to mine is imaginary.
I finished my first string of practice knots that end in a circle like a rosary. It’s brown #36 twine, with 35 knots, mostly Hail Mary knots, two or three Our Father knots, and the joiner knot completing the circle.
If you’ve ever been fishing with me, you know disciplined knots are anathema to me. Undisciplined knots collect about me like chiggers. So this string of 35 untangled knots is nothing to snigger at.
When you’re done…
At first, I wondered, why didn’t I stop at 33 knots, like a small chotki (Orthodox prayer rope)? But now I’m seeing things differently:
35 X 2 = 70.
Seventy’s nothing to sneeze at. It’s three score and ten, a lifetime, unless by reason of strength you live fourscore.
And three and a half has a nice apocalyptic meaning to it: brief and unfinished.
If I count the joiner knot, for a total of 36, then 36 X 3 is 108, the traditional number of Buddhist mala beads. My—uh—free style, shall we say, string beats 89 bucks or more on eBay.
As for the aesthetics, I suppose #36 brown twine is a step up from a string of paper clips, my first device for counting prayers, which I still have in a little metal Whitman’s Sampler box.
I’d be willing to show anyone only six or eight of my 30+ Hail Marys, knots formed with three loops. Since I can’t identify the Our Fathers, with five loops, I guess I’m not going to show you any Our Fathers.
As for the joiner knot, forget it. Let’s just say, it does what it’s supposed to. But not even a blind, numb Isaac could bless that sucker.
There’s a short tail and a long tail, as required at the near completion stage. But the long tail isn’t long enough for even one knot, and it’s supposed to accommodate five plus the cross. My ends are still Scotch taped to prevent fraying.
It’ll be my baseline. Future rosaries will, I hope, show significant improvements over this Quasimodo thing.
Guess I’ll sum up with a Bible sort of quote. Considering my sort of kind of prayer rope, what could be more fitting?
Counting the 36 total knots on her hand-tied string of #36 brown twine, Mary Magdalene stood weeping outside the tomb.
“Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” a man asked.
Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, you interrupted me praying. Now I’ve lost count. So easy to do on this homemade thing.
“I’m saving my shekels to get maybe an antique set from a nun’s estate or something, with Swarovski beads and a sterling silver crucifix, maybe a Blessed Virgin medal. Swarovski are the best kind of beads, you know, made near Zurich, Switzerland.
“But, forgive me, I get carried away. I’m looking for Jesus. Tell me where you put him, and I will take him away.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She dropped the string of #36 twine with 36 total knots on the ground, forgotten; turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means, my dear Teacher).
Jesus said to her, “Do not try to grab hold of me, not with the Jesus prayer or the Rosary or ten verses of ‘Just As I Am’ or speaking in tongues or the infallible pope or the infallible Bible. Ask Jacob; there’s no hold that’ll hold me.
“I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’
“Once I’ve come in the person of the Holy Spirit, I’ll abide with you, in your heart forever. Then beads and Bibles will help you be still and hear my voice, my still small voice.”
With apologies to John 20.
Tags: cord Rosaries, prayer
I’m sure no apologies would be necessary. Wish I could see your knots.