My whole life I've had an attachment to rosaries. The Virgin Mary was my most favorite person in Catholicism, and I collected catholic rosaries in her name, even going so far as to get one from the Pope himself.

Now I'm no longer Catholic, but I still have the rosaries hanging nicely in my bedroom and in my special box. I've been looking up other types of prayer beads, both standard and homemade, and decided to make my own homemade prayer beads, just for the hell of it.

So I went out to the store, and saw these beautiful red and unakite stone beads, and just HAD to use them. After thinking it over for a while, I decided to model them after the Tao Te Ching book.

There's 81 chapters in the book. 81 divided by 3 is 27, and that divided by 3 is 9. Hence, the 3 sections of 9 beads (each section divided by 3 beads) in the circle part. One bead used for each chapter (which are REALLY short, so it's no different than saying the Hail Mary for each bead on the Catholic rosary).

As for the strand part, the 5 green beads represent the 5 elements of the East: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. The big red wooden bead on the very end is the Yin-Yang symbol, with the I Ching lines surrounding it.

What's ironic is that the numbers 3, 5, and 9 are very special and symbolic for me. So this entire set works out perfectly for me.

No, this isn't a standard rosary, I don't even know if taoism has any sort of prayer beads integrated into it. This is just made up with taosim-related symbols in it for personal use, and the beads' colors are just personal preference. Prayer beads help in meditation, and I usually need something for my hands to hold anyway, so I'm hoping this will help me.
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Materials: Red stone beads, Unakite stone beads, Small clear glass beads, 'Soft Touch' metal thread, Red wooden yin-yang bead.

Concept/Design (C) WhiteFoxDK, but is listed under a Creative Commons license. That means, you are free to use this design for PERSONAL USE. NOT for selling to others and making a profit off of it. That's like going into Tiffany's, copying a necklace of theirs, then reproducing it on your own and selling it off. You'd be charged and/or arrested for that!

Besides, it's just plain rude. I wouldn't do that to any of you guys, so don't do it to me.

Note: this does not apply to people who happen to make similar looking designs. I'm well aware that many people do, this only applies to this EXACT design I'm showing here. Down to the exact placement of every single bead.