Crafting a Cyprianic Rosary

By Frater S. C. F. V.

Today is a very special Day of the Sun, which also happens to be the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, a day on which we pray for and commemorate all of the Martyrs who died for their faith throughout history, including Saint Cyprian, Saint Justina, and Saint Theocistus.

On this auspicious day, I finished a new hand-made devotional rosary to Saint Cyprian of Antioch for use in prayer and work with him as well as to be worn around my neck or wrist during Solomonic grimoire work.

This very unorthodox and untraditional rosary / circlet features:

• Purple beads symbolizing Saint Cyprian, Bishophood, regalness, and the Sephirah of Yesod and the Moon, magic, and divination.
• Three small transparent crystal balls to symbolize the Trinity, Triangle of Manifestation, Supernal Triad and Scrying Crystal.
• Silver Cinquefoil roses suggesting the Divine Love of Mary, Venus, and the Fivefold Elemental Pentagram of which there are a total of 12 to allude to the 12 Apostles, 12 Tribes of Israel, and 12 Zodiac Signs as well as the gematric values of “loved” (חבב), “One” (חד), and “want / desire” (אוה).

• A red, white, and golden image of Cyprian that was custom-coloured and printed on a pure silver medallion.
• Six-pointed silver spacers symbolizing the Solomonic Hexagram, of which there are a total of 16 or 1+6=7 to allude to the 7 Planets and due to 16 being the gematric values of אודה (ode/praise), and אזוב (ezob – hyssop),

and

• A gold Crucifix that hung around my Saint Cyprian statue’s neck on his Altar for weeks, including during his recent Novena, and was charged during recent Archangelic Invocation work.

The entire rosary will be exorcised, Solomonically consecrated, sprinkled, suffumigated, anointed with Holy Oil and blessed, then charged on Cyprian’s Altar with Offerings. Finally, it will be consecrated by Mass following the method described in my cryptoconsecratio article.

From Theory to Practice: Some Intended Uses of the Cyprianic Rosary

My intended uses of this rosary are to me as diverse and integrative as my own magical history of initiation through different traditions and communities. Interestingly, the design of this rosary was not derived from the Christian tradition at all.  On the contrary, it is an homage to the Naqshbandi Sufi Order, from whom I learned both the practice of dhikr, or remembrance of the Divine, and how to make prayer beads in the Sufi style.  My Sufi brothers and sisters taught me how to make tasbih (Muslim-style prayer bead circlets) in three sections of 33 beads totaling 99 and representing the 99 Names of Allah and that is the design I maintained here.

I am planning to use this rosary / mala / tasbih circlet, for it is at once a bit of each of these in both intended use and design, in a number of ways. First, I will use it in the Muslim style, cycling through one Divine Name per bead in dhikr (remembrance) practice; I intend to use it in such ways with both the 99 Names of Allah and also with Jewish Divine Names from the Qabalah and grimoires. Whether with Jewish or Islamic names, I proceed through the three traditional dhikr stages from verbal recitations to heart and tongue recitation in harmony to the nondual absorption stage of La ilaha ill’Allah, in which there is no reality except God.

Second, I will use it for Christian style rosary practices with one bead per prayer as in the Catholic system and in the OSC Cyprianic chaplet system, even though it does not strictly resemble the standard Cyprianic chaplet.  In this use, it serves as an anchor for bhaktic devotion within the Christian mystical modality.

Third, I will use it in mantra work as taught by my Guru as a quasi-mala using the mantra I received in shaktipat diksha (energetic transmission / initiation) from my Teacher.

In this triad of devotional usages, the circlet will symbolically unite my Christian, Muslim, and bhakti yogic roots and serves as a practical nexus for all three.

Fourth, I will wear it talismanically, both apotropaically / protectively and as as a way of bringing myself into greater sympathetic harmony with Saint Cyprian in my work with him as well as with the Archangels with whom I have used the Crucifix on this rosary in the past.

Fifth, I have some ideas for how this rosary could be used as a kind of tabletop divination circlet in the style of Dr. Al Cummins’ “Circling Ways in Geomancy.”

Sixth, I will use it in candle magic and Christian “rosary magic” in the style of authors like Agostino Taumaturgo, Jean-Louis de Biasi, and Bishop Tau Michael Bertiaux.

Seventh and finally for now, when not ritually or votively employing it, I will place it around the neck of Saint Cyprian on his Altar as a rough analogy to the votive gesture of placing Hindu beaded garlands around statues in Vedic puja ceremonies as practiced by my Guru.

Hail to you Holy Saint Cyprian of Antioch, Mage, Martyr, and Mystic! ☦ Theurge, Thaumaturge, and Theophoros! ☦ Sage, Sorcerer, and Saint! ☦ Together with Saint Justina and Saint Theocistus, pray for us now and at the hour of our death, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen! ☦