Adapted Versions of the Rosary (Jesus, ritual, virgin, tradition)

[spiritually inclined]

Does anyone know of non-theistic adaptations of the rosary (or any variations for that matter)?

James

[James the Persian]

I know of an Orthodox adaptation of it and, of course, we have our much, much older practice of saying the Jesus Prayer whilst using a prayer rope (which is similar to a Roman Catholic rosary), but neither of those is nontheistic. You might want to look into a Buddhist mala - that's certainly not theistic, but nor is it the rosary. I have to say, though, that it sounds (correct me if I'm wrong) as though you're just referring to prayer beads/ropes of some kind as the rosary, and that's certainly what a mala is.

James

[Littledragon]

I have seen a version of one made by a chaote.. I will try to find it again. It had eight sets of beads and ended in a chaos star where the cross would be on a christian rosary. The eight sets of beads is to represent the eight rays of the chaos star.

Sweet water and light laughter
Littledragon

[Azakel]

Originally Posted by Littledragon

I have seen a version of one made by a chaote.. I will try to find it again. It had eight sets of beads and ended in a chaos star where the cross would be on a christian rosary. The eight sets of beads is to represent the eight rays of the chaos star.

Sweet water and light laughter
Littledragon

I believe you mean this one right,

[spiritually inclined]

Interesting...so what is the chaos star, and what is recited on these beads?

[Azakel]

Originally Posted by spiritually inclined

Interesting...so what is the chaos star, and what is recited on these beads?

Not sure what's recited but I can tell you the Chaos Star is. The Chaos Star was first a symbol use by Michael Moorcock in his Eternal Champion stories. The Symbol of Chaos comprises eight arrows in a radial pattern (in contrast, the symbol of Law is a single upright arrow.). It is also called the Arms of Chaos, the Arrows of Chaos, the Chaos Star or the Symbol of Eight. Moorcock conceived this symbol while writing the first Elric of Melniboné stories in the early 1960s. It was subsequently adopted into the pop-cultural mainstream, turning up in such diverse places as role-playing games and modern occult traditions.

Origins

Moorcock says —
The origin of the Chaos Symbol was me doodling sitting at the kitchen table and wondering what to tell Jim Cawthorn the arms of Chaos looked like. I drew a straightforward geographical quadrant (which often has arrows, too!) – N, S, E, W – and then added another four directions and that was that – eight arrows representing all possibilities, one arrow representing the single, certain road of Law. I have since been told to my face that it is an "ancient symbol of Chaos" and if it is then it confirms a lot of theories about the race mind. … As far as I know the symbol, drawn by Jim Cawthorn, first appeared on an Elric cover of Science Fantasy in 1962, then later appeared in his first comic version of Stormbringer done by Savoy.

[Random]

Originally Posted by spiritually inclined

Does anyone know of non-theistic adaptations of the rosary (or any variations for that matter)?

James

Technically speaking, the Blessed Virgin Mary is not a deity, so you can say the rosary to your hearts content.

[athanasius]

If they are adapted from the origninal purpose are they really considered the rosary? I think not.

[athanasius]

Originally Posted by Random

Technically speaking, the Blessed Virgin Mary is not a deity, so you can say the rosary to your hearts content.

Very well said.

[Azakel]

Originally Posted by athanasius

If they are adapted from the origninal purpose are they really considered the rosary? I think not.

Well a Rosary is really just Buddhist prayer bead with something on the end right? I roses by any other name I say, doesn't really matter what you call them the idea is the same.