I did a series on prayer beads awhile back, and one of those posts discussed the use of Special Purpose Beads. I received an email from a reader recently about how she had used that information, and loved the creativity and purpose so much I got her permission – and photographs! – to share here.

This reader (who wishes to remain anonymous, so we’ll call her “Anne”) has very high anxiety levels, especially in crowds and other social situations. She thought beads sounded like something simple that would help her calm down when her anxiety peaked.

This is what she came up with:

Isn’t that pretty?

Materials

The materials were carefully chosen. Most of the beads are hematite, chosen for their grounding and stabilizing properties. She used a total of 27 hematite beads, divided into 3 sets of 9. She also used 3 amethyst beads, chosen for their…