Prayer Beads and the Franz Bardon Tradition

 

These days, you often see the phrase "Franz Bardon tradition" thrown around a lot. I remember the first few times I heard this phrase, I was very uncomfortable with it. This is because the word "tradition" gave me the impression of something fixed and rigid. However, these days I am a bit more comfortable with that word, since I realize that traditions can and should evolve. On this note, I think the incorporation of prayer beads (or prayer ropes, same idea) into our tradition can really help it evolve and reach the next level of its development. The Saint Benedict Medal only appears in Christianity, the mezuzah only appears in Judaism, and the Gohonzon only appears in Japanese Buddhism, but some version of prayer beads appears in most spiritual traditions. Christians have their chaplets, Muslims have their misbahas, Hindus and Buddhists have their malas, etc. The fact that prayer beads appear in most spiritual traditions tells us two things. 

1. Prayer beads are universal.

2. Prayer beads have a lot of spiritual value. 

As Bardonists, we should develop the ability to recognize when something is universal and spiritually valuable. Bardon was only able to write IIH because he had this ability. If he hadn't had this ability, IIH would be full of non-universal or worthless exercises. For many of us, it would be a chest filled with garbage instead of pearls.

Prayer beads often come in formats based on numbers significant in a particular tradition. For example, malas have 108 beads because the number 108 is significant in Hinduism and Buddhism. The number four appears a lot in the Franz Bardon tradition. There are four elements, four pillars of Solomon's Temple, four aspects/dimensions of divinity, etc. Also, several of the exercises William Mistele gives in his essays involve four steps. The number five also appears a lot in our tradition. There are five senses, five elements if you count akasha, five sephiroth featured in TMO, etc.

Since the number four appears a lot in our tradition, it is easy to come up with applications for Anglican prayer beads, since Anglican prayer beads are divided into four sections called "weeks." One thing you can do is assign the four weeks to the four elements. On the beads of the first week, you can say a short prayer asking God to help you purify the fire element in your astra-mental body. On the beads of the second week, you can say a short prayer asking God to help you purify the air element in your astra-mental body. And so on. Another thing you can do is assign the four weeks to the four pillars. On the beads of the first week, you can say a short prayer asking God to help you acquire knowledge. On the beads of the second week, you can say a short prayer asking God to help you develop courage. And so on. 

Since the number five also appears a lot in our tradition, it is also easy to come up with rosary applications, since rosary beads are divided into five sections called "decades." One thing you can do is assign the five decades to the five elements including akasha. This is what I did when I came up with the Bardonian Rosary. Another thing you can do is assign the five decades to the five senses. On the beads of the first decade, you can say a short prayer asking God to help you master the visual plastic imagination. On the beads of the second decade, you can say a short prayer asking God to help you master the auditory plastic imagination. And so on. The number ten also appears a lot in the Franz Bardon tradition (ten steps of IIH, ten "rules" in this essay, etc.). Each decade has ten beads, so this opens up more possibilities for rosary applications.  

The Franciscan Crown rosary has seven decades and the Longworth Lutheran rosary has six weeks. Since the numbers seven and six aren't featured as often in the Franz Bardon tradition, it is more difficult to find Bardonian applications for these two prayer bead formats. That said, I can think of at least two applications for the Franciscan Crown rosary that are specifically Bardonian, and I will share one of them in a future post. Of course the seven classical planets feature a lot in Western esotericism, so there are plenty of general Western esoteric applications for the Franciscan Crown rosary.

In addition to the numbers four and five, the number three appears in a major way in the Franz Bardon tradition. The structure of IIH is built around the fact that each person possesses three bodies. Misbahas are often divided into three sections each containing 33 beads. On the beads of the first section, you can say a short prayer asking God to help you keep your physical body healthy so you can more effectively serve God. On the beads of the second section, you can say a short prayer asking God to help you balance and purify your astral body. On the beads of the third section, you can say a short prayer asking God to help you balance and purify your mental body. 

Anglican prayer beads, rosaries, and misbahas are all constructed using a pre-existing prayer bead format. If you are interested in incorporating prayer beads into your magical training but don't like any of these pre-existing formats, you can design your own formats. Numerous magicians and aspiring magicians have done this in the past and are continuing to do this. If you are interested in doing this, you might gain some good ideas from this book and this book. Sam Block, a practitioner of traditional Hermetic magic, has written several posts about prayer beads on her blog. An archive of those posts can be found here.

In my next post, I will share a practice, based on William Mistele's teachings about Saturn, that is really useful for those working through IIH. This practice is a real game-changer and it involves using Anglican prayer beads.