Hidden Witchery: Witch’s Ladder Necklace
One of the hardest, but possibly most fun, ways of being a Surreptitious Solitary is trying to find ways to practice out in the open without anyone knowing. I’ve been wanting to do a witch’s ladder (sometimes called pagan prayer beads, witches rosaries, etc.) for some time. If you don’t know what a Witch’s Ladder is, there are a few articles out there, but the summary is: it’s knot and nature magic mostly intended for protection.
Generally, they’re made of string of different colors corresponding with protection (or whatever you’re making the ladder for), and natural items like feathers, sea glass, shells, stones, etc. Sometimes charms or taglocks can be incorporated. If you look on Etsy there are some really pretty ones out there.
As I researched them, I wondered how I could incorporate this crafty craft into my daily life. And I kind of came to the conclusion that I don’t have to have a big rope of feathers and rocks hanging outside my door to do it: I can make something to wear that would protect me wherever I go!
I debated for some time whether to make a bracelet or necklace, but I liked how the numbers and measurements worked out on a necklace.
If you want to make one, you’ll need:
About 6 feet of beading string in an appropriately corresponding color to your needs (I went with purple for spirituality and power)
Forty beads (6mm for the sizing to come out like mine; larger or smaller will affect it; I picked hematite mostly for the look, but also to keep me grounded)
One end charm (serves as your closeure; something with dimension will work better than the flat disc I chose which likes to slip out now and then)
To make your ladder necklace, you’ll have to tie a loop in it in a place so that you have one short strand about two feet long and one long strand of the remainder. The loop will be part of your closeure. Basically, fold your string so one part hangs two feet, and the remainder hangs on the other side. Tie a simple knot in the folded string so you have a loop that’s just big enough for your end charm to slip through with little/no excess.
Find something to affix this to for knotting (I slipped the loop through some tweezers which I then clamped into my clipboard).
Now get to knotting, just like middle school friendship bracelets. As you know, remember to set your intent for the ladder into each knot. Also remember to keep the short strand stationary: use the long strand to make a basic forward knot around the short strand.
Make four knots to establish (4K)
Thread a bead (B), make four knots (4K). This is your basic pattern.
For my ladder, I established a pattern of four beads to each side of each feather charm (F). The pattern runs like so from start to finish: [4K, (B, 4K)x4, F]x9, (4K, B)x4, 4K.
In other words, with four knots between each item, string beads and feather charms in a four-one pattern with nine repeats, then end with an additional four beads.
At the end, tie on your final charm using both strands (I used a clinch knot), and trim off the excess string.
Done! Hang it up or wear it for protection. No one needs to know you’re carrying a loaded charm. 😉
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