Hela Prayer Beads
by Raven Kaldera
(You can use any kind of beads for these - some like bone, some stone and glass, some painted wood, some ceramic. My personal set is mixed. One bead for every non-italicized line, except for the Nine Gates of Death and Her Ladyships Prayers, which have one bead for each verse.)
I. Elemental Deaths
Hail to the funeral pyre that lights the shadows,
Hail to the ocean that devours all flesh,
Hail to the open grave in the earth,
Hail to the carrion birds that feed and fly.
II. Opening the Nine Gates of Death
Open before me the gate of sorrow,
For I come with a song of joy
To bring light into the darkness.
Open before me the gate of grieving,
For I come on the wheel of time
To begin a new year’s turning.
Open before me the gate of silence,
For I come with the trumpets of daylight
To shatter the pressing glass.
Open before me the gate of drudgery,
For I come with willing hands
To find sanctity in the thawing earth.
Open before me the gate of fear,
For I come with a will unbroken
To brave the summer storms.
Open before me the gate of madness
For I come with the blade of clarity
To rend the veil in two.
Open before me the gate of weeping
For I come with the strongest heart
To endure the pangs of living.
Open before me the gate of hunger
For I come with words of hope
To fill the cup to the brim.
Open before me the gate of Death,
For I come with the breath of the future
To bring the dead back to living.
III. Elemental Deaths
Hail to the funeral pyre that lights the shadows,
Hail to the ocean that devours all flesh,
Hail to the open grave in the earth,
Hail to the carrion birds that feed and fly.
IV. Her Ladyship’s Prayers
O Lady Death who guards my ancestors in your autumn peace,
Teach me to find the stillness within.
O Hela of the Skeletal Hand, whose standards are unyielding,
Teach me serenity in the face of dire necessity.
O Hela born of foreboding and fire,
Help me to find my way through the shadows of mourning.
O Hela whose realm is oasis in the ice,
Teach me compassion for others that does not squander my self.
O Lady who speaks only truth,
May all my illusions be stripped away.
O Hela Half-Rotted,
Teach me never to flinch at any part of Death.
O Lady who sees far and clear,
Teach me to make decisions beyond the bounds of my heart.
O Lady of the darkest Depths,
I pray you ease my transition from life to death to life.
O Lady of the Straw Endings,
Teach me to praise loss, death,
And the passing of all things,
For from this flux
I know your blessings flow.
V. Elemental Deaths
Hail to the funeral pyre that lights the shadows,
Hail to the ocean that devours all flesh,
Hail to the open grave in the earth,
Hail to the carrion birds that feed and fly.
VI. Ninefold Death Prayer
Hail to the ashes of the cremation grounds,
Hail to the silence of the tomb,
Hail to the gleam of the white bone,
Hail to the stones of the barrow-mound,
Hail to the whispering wind that mourns,
Hail to the opening of the empty hands,
Hail to the work of the carrion beetles,
Hail to all that rots to feed Life anew,
Hail to the end that is the beginning.
VII. Elemental Deaths
Hail to the funeral pyre that lights the shadows,
Hail to the ocean that devours all flesh,
Hail to the open grave in the earth,
Hail to the carrion birds that feed and fly.
