Goddess Rosary
In devotion to and solidarity with Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, Mother of All Life. May we know we are held by your love always, and have the grace to become your love in the world.
Rosary beads: It is helpful to have a rosary, but not necessary. Your 10 fingers work too! Or, you could use japa mala beads, or any other string of beads. An actual rosary helps because of the sequence and groupings of beads– this helps you keep track of the prayers. Here’s a picture of a simple rosary. There’s a cross, or beginning medallion of any shape or size, then the starting sequence: one bead, then three beads, then one more bead. Then, there’s a large circle of beads: 5 single beads, followed by 10 conjoined beads, for a total of 55 beads around the whole circle. Each grouping of 10 beads is considered a “decade.” Including the beginning sequence of beads, the rosary has 60 beads, plus the cross or medallion.
Order of Prayers
We begin at the crucifix or whatever medal dangles from the end of your rosary, the shorter string of beads attached to the large circle.
We cross ourselves, head to heart/womb, across the shoulders (offering/uniting our curiosity, creativity and compassion with that of the Divine Mother)
As we cross ourselves we say:
In the name of the Mother, Christ and all the Incarnate Ones, and the Holy Spirit Sophia. (or however it works for you to name this trinity of Divinity)
We might whisper or speak an impromptu prayer of offering. Something like, “Divine Mother, we bring to you in love the prayers and the desires of our hearts. We know you are with us, listening and loving us.”
In this Goddess rosary, still touching the cross or beginning symbol or medallion, we begin with the Memorare. (words for each prayer are in the next section)
We move to the first bead and say…
Our Mother…
Then we touch in sequence each of the three beads close to one another, saying at each one a Hail Mary for the increase of Faith, Hope, and Love…
Hail Mary … (x3)
We move to the last bead in this short sequence of opening beads…
Glory Be…
We move our fingers to the medal or bead uniting the circle of rosary beads.
Name the 1st Mystery
You might take some time here to meditate, contemplate, pray or reflect on the meaning of this mystery…
Then we pray the first decade (1 Our Mother, 10 Hail Marys and 1 Glory Be) by gently moving our fingers from bead to bead with the repetition of each prayer. The sometimes bigger or more spaced out beads are for the Our Mothers. The 10 beads close together are for the Hail Marys, one Hail Mary per bead.
Our Mother…
10 Hail Marys…
Glory Be…
Name, pray into, reflect on 2nd Mystery…
Pray the prayers of the 2nd Decade as you move your fingers from bead to bead…
Our Mother…
10 Hail Marys…
Glory Be….
Name & reflect on 3rd Mystery and continue on in this way through all 5 Mysteries, or all 15, depending on how much you want to pray…. :)
After last Glory Be, Close the rosary with the prayer, “Hail Holy Queen.”
Finish with the sign of the cross, “In the name of the Mother, Christ incarnate in all of us, and the Holy Spirit Sophia, Amen.”
Words of the Prayers
I have changed the words of the prayers to what resonates with me at this moment in time. For me, this is always changing. What feels resonant is different for each of us, depending on our experiences so far and the revelations of Sophia in our particular life. PLEASE– find the words that resonate with you! Give yourself full permission to say what feels right, and allow it to change as you change.
Sign of the Cross
With each naming of an aspect of the Trinity of Divinity, touch the forehead, the heart / belly/ womb, left shoulder then right shoulder, saying:
In the name of the:
- Mother/Father/ Creator, etc.
- Son/Daughter/Sacred Child/ Christ/ Incarnate One/ Created, etc.
- Holy Spirit/Sophia, etc.
Memorare
Remember Oh Most Sovereign Mother
that never was it known
that anyone who fled to thy protection,
implored thy help
or sought thy intercession
was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence,
I fly unto you,
Oh sovereign of sovereigns,
my Mother.
To you do I come, before you I stand,
forgetting and sorrowful.
Oh Mother of Love Incarnate,
despise not my petitions
but in your mercy,
hear and answer me,
Amen.
Our Mother
Our Mother, who is in heaven… (option to add here: and in us, around us, with us, etc.)
Blessed Be your name.
Your kin-dom / Queendom come, your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from all evil. Amen.
Hail Mary
Hail Mary, full of Grace, Love is with you.
Blessed are you in all of creation (or among women, all people, etc.)
And blessed is the fruit of our womb… Jesus (or name a fruit of the womb, like love, peace, joy, etc.)
Holy Mary, Mother Goddess
Pray for us … (option to leave this as is or add: still alive/ who struggle/ who suffer)
Now and at the hour of our death, Amen.
Glory Be
Glory Be to the Mother/ Father/ Creator, etc.
To the Son/ Daughter/ Sacred Child/ Christ/ all the Incarnate Ones, etc.
To the Holy Spirit/ Sophia / Wisdom, etc.
As it was in the beginning,
Is now,
And ever shall be,
World without end,
Life without end,
Love never ends.
Amen.
Hail Holy Queen
Hail Holy Queen,
Mother of Mercy
Hail, our Life, our Sweetness and our Hope
To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve
To you do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping
In this valley of tears
Turn then, most gracious advocate,
Thine eyes of mercy towards us
And after this, our exile,
Show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus
O Clement, O Loving, O Sweet Sovereign Mary
Pray for us, Holy Mother Goddess, that we may
Know our worthiness in the promises of Christ.
Amen.
Mysteries of the Rosary
Joyful
The Annunciation
The Visitation
The Nativity
The Presentation
The Finding
Sorrowful
The Agony in the Garden
The Scourging at the Pillar
The Crowning with Thorns
The Way of the Cross
The Crucifixion
Glorious
The Resurrection
The Ascension
The Descent of Sophia
The Assumption of Mary
The Coronation
The Fifteen Mysteries:
Short Paraphrased Summaries
(from The Way of the Rose: The Radical Path of the Divine Feminine Hidden in the Rosary, by Clark Strand and Perdita Finn, pgs. 250-253)
The Joyful Mysteries
1. The Annunciation
The Angel Gabriel appears to Mary and announces that, if she is willing, she may bring forth a child without a husband. In medieval art, Mary is often depicted illuminated by a shaft of sunlight, wearing over her red dress a robe of the deepest blue—the color of the ocean.
2. The Visitation
Now with child, Mary visits the home of her cousin Elizabeth who, despite her advanced age, is also miraculously with child. The young woman and the old woman celebrate together the rising life force within them and its power to transform the world.
3. The Nativity
Mary gives birth in a cave used as a stable. In the darkness of the night, surrounded only by the animals, she brings her child into the world and lays him in a manger.
4. The Presentation
Mary presents her child to the greater community. On her way into the Temple, she encounters two ancient seers who recognize her as the Mother of God, but predict that a sword shall pierce her heart.
5. The Finding at the Temple
Mary loses her twelve-year-old son in Jerusalem. For three days she searches for him and eventually finds him discussing scripture with the elders in the Temple. Rather than leave him with these men, she brings him home to be with her.
The Sorrowful Mysteries
1. The Agony in the Garden
Jesus remains awake in the garden at night. The disciples have fallen asleep, unaware of the coming danger. Alone, he experiences the full weight of all the many sorrows to come.
2. The Scourging at the Pillar
Just as the land is furrowed by ploughs and the beasts are beaten into submission, the body of Mary’s child is scourged. In the name of Empire, Jesus is flogged by soldiers who are following the orders of their commanders.
3. The Crowning with Thorns
In the central mystery of the rosary, Jesus is mocked by those still fearful of the power he represents. He is given a red robe and a reed for a scepter—each an ancient symbol of the goddess. On his head is placed not a wreath of roses but a crown of thorns.
4. The Carrying of the Cross
A crowd gathers as Jesus is marched to his execution. No one intervenes. After Jesus stumbles and falls, a random onlooker who has come for the spectacle is forced by the soldiers to assume responsibility for carrying the cross.
5. The Crucifixion
The tree that once stood at the center of devotion to the Mother has been stripped of life and made an instrument of execution instead. When Jesus is dead, he is lowered into Mary’s arms.
The Glorious Mysteries
1. The Resurrection
Following an ancient pattern whereby a slain god is resurrected by a mother or a lover, Mary Magdalene observes a sacred vigil at Jesus’s tomb. On the third day, he appears to her at last. When she tells the other disciples, they refuse to believe her.
2. The Ascension
After his resurrection Jesus appears unexpectedly to various other disciples. On the fortieth day he disappears into a cloud, surrendering to the ceaseless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth that includes all life on Earth.
3. The Descent of the Holy Spirit
The disciples pray together with Mary for nine days after the Ascension. Finally, a mighty wind fills the room and the Holy Spirit descends upon them. The Hebrew word for spirit is ruach, which is feminine. In art, the Holy Spirit is often depicted as a dove—another sign of the Goddess.
4. The Assumption
Legend has it that Mary never dies but simply falls asleep and is “assumed” into heaven, her body and her spirit undivided. The body of the Great Mother is the body of the Earth and the body of the Heavens, the body of all that is.
5. The Coronation
In the final mystery of the rosary, Our Lady is crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth. Medieval statues of the Coronation showed Mary in the fullness of her power and glory, and yet mysteriously reborn and young again, holding the infant Christ. Life is a journey that circles back to where it started. This is where the rosary ends, and where it begins again.