Beads, from the Anglo-Saxon word “bede”, meaning to pray, are a form of prayer and meditation for many people around the world. As the beads are woven together, the thread disappears, but it’s presence provides all of the underlying structure. Similarly, the Holy Spirit invisibly, yet essentially, weaves together the fabric of our lives and connects us with our spiritual community.
Beaded prayer packets are found in many parts of the world. Sonya Clark from the University of Wisconsin at Madison has created an International traveling exhibit called Beaded Blessings to acknowledge this tradition and spread the practice even farther. It is an art project composed of palm-sized packets with an aspiration, prayer or blessing sealed inside. Sonya believes that the act of thinking clearly about your aspiration, writing it down, seeing it on the page, folding it and enclosing it in a packet becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. The secrecy is inspired by the West African tradition that when something is just beyond the known it is more sacred, more powerful. No one who sees the exhibit knows what the aspirations are but each one is special because it has been dealt with in a special way. The exhibit contains over 1,100 packets and has traveled to Australia and will travel to Scotland, Ghana, and India this year. The UTS community is invited to make a Beaded Blessing that is based on an image from the Psalms. If you wish to be part of the exhibit send a prayer packet to:
- Create two packets (preferably identical) – one to send in and one to keep for you. Size range is from one square inch to about 5 square inches.
- Each packet must have at least one bead on the outer surface. The exhibit is wall dependent so the reverse side need not be beaded.
- Each packet contains an aspiration, prayer, wish, hope, dream or blessing.
- Packets must be stitched shut and will never be opened.
- All packets are displayed anonymously with an alphabetical list of all contributors at the end of the exhibit.
- Fill out a form with the Psalm number and image used (all other information is optional)
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