How Praying the Rosary Is Changing My Life

October is traditionally the month of the Rosary, with the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary celebrated on 7 October. This year, that devotion has become part of my daily life. However, the longing began before I understood where it would lead.

Back in August, while going deeper into ceremonial magick, I had an unexpected thought: perhaps the only magickal tool I really needed was the Rosary.

That was the language in which the thought first reached me. Since then, actually praying has changed my understanding of what I was longing for. I wanted a daily practice that would bring me into a closer relationship with God.

Now, after around six weeks of daily Rosary prayer, I can see how much has shifted. Prayer, Scripture and Marian devotion have become central to my life. Eventually, those changes began reshaping Angelorum too.

How Ceremonial Magick Brought Me Towards Simplicity

My exploration of ceremonial magic played an unexpected part in bringing me back to the Rosary. The deeper I went into ritual, the more I realised that what I truly longed for wasn’t greater spiritual knowledge or personal power. I wanted transformation, sanctification and friendship with God. I wanted whatever gifts I had to become useful in relieving suffering and serving others.

Ultimately, I didn’t need another shelf of books about spiritual practice or more elaborate rituals. I needed to pray.

The Rosary offered familiar prayers, beads for my hands and mysteries for my attention. There was rhythm, repetition and somewhere to begin each day. More importantly, there was relationship: contemplating Christ’s life in the company of his Mother.

I remain grateful for the studies that brought me here. They helped me recognise what I was seeking. However, I am increasingly content with a simpler daily practice of Scripture and prayer.

The Seven Sorrows and a Flood of Tears

In September, the month of Our Lady of Sorrows, I began praying the Seven Sorrows chaplet. The first time, I cried for about half an hour. Truly immersing myself in the suffering of Christ and His Mother reached somewhere that all my thinking and studying had not quite reached.

Gradually, I recognised my longing to belong more fully to Mary. And belonging to her meant being led towards Christ.

The Seven Sorrows chaplet and the Rosary became part of a daily rhythm. Alongside them came a growing desire for Scripture, worship and participation in Church life. The prayers were becoming something I returned to, including on days when my feelings were less dramatic.

Those first tears matter because that was the watershed moment when my heart finally softened to the tenderness of God who is Love. Nevertheless, tears are not a requirement or a measure of successful prayer. Quieter, more distracted days belong within the practice too.

How Prayer Began Changing Angelorum

The recent changes to Angelorum grew out of this prayer life. As Christ became more central, I began asking how my work could reflect that relationship more faithfully.

Eventually, I closed my Tarot reading services. Prayer, Scripture, Marian devotion and the rhythm of the Christian year are becoming the heart of what I share.

The decks with symbolism that still feels meaningful to my walk with God are staying put. However, Tarot has a quieter place now, within a life increasingly shaped by surrender to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

I shared more about this change in Come to Me, All You Who Are Weary. There is weariness in the story, but also relief: I am finding somewhere to bring the questions and struggles I once felt I had to solve or conquer by myself.

I understand these changes as part of a wider movement of grace, through prayer, reading, worship and encounters with other believers. The Rosary has become a steady companion within that movement.

What Is the Rosary?

The Rosary is a Christian devotional prayer that combines repeated prayers with meditation on mysteries from the lives of Jesus and Mary. Its Marian character leads our attention towards Christ.

The beads help us keep our place. Meanwhile, the mysteries give us something to contemplate: the Annunciation, Christ’s birth, his suffering, his Resurrection and other moments in the Christian story.

Usually, praying a Rosary means praying five decades. Each decade contains ten Hail Marys, preceded by an Our Father and followed by a Glory Be. A different mystery accompanies each decade.

Here, a mystery is an event of faith that we meditate on and return to prayerfully. Understanding can deepen over time, through Scripture, reflection and the ordinary experience of living.

You can read the USCCB introduction to the Rosary for more on its Christ-centred character.

How to Pray the Rosary

If you are beginning, keep a guide beside you. Looking up the words and losing your place are perfectly ordinary parts of learning.

The usual sequence is:

• Begin with the Sign of the Cross. Holding the crucifix, pray the Apostles’ Creed. (No need to have this memorised to effectively pray a Rosary; I only memorised it myself last week.)
• Pray the opening prayers. Say an Our Father on the first bead, a Hail Mary on each of the next three beads, then a Glory Be.
• Announce the first mystery. Pause to consider it, then pray an Our Father. (Here you can also dedicate the decade for intercessory prayer.)
• Pray ten Hail Marys. Move through the ten beads while contemplating the mystery. Finish with a Glory Be. Many people add the Fatima prayer.
• Continue through five mysteries. Repeat the decade pattern for each one.
• Finish with the customary closing prayers. I like to finish with the Hail, Holy Queen and the prayer to St Michael the Archangel, followed by the final Sign of the Cross.

The USCCB step-by-step guide and prayers of the Rosary provide the words. There are also many YouTube channels you can watch to learn, including whole Rosaries in Latin if you feel so inclined. I find it can help to pray in a foreign tongue to stay focused.

If five decades feel overwhelming, begin with one. You can become familiar with the prayers gradually.

Which Mysteries Do I Pray?

There are four sets of five mysteries. A widely used weekly pattern assigns them as follows:

• Joyful: Monday and Saturday. The Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Presentation and Finding of Jesus in the Temple.
• Sorrowful: Tuesday and Friday. The Agony in the Garden, Scourging, Crowning with Thorns, Carrying of the Cross and Crucifixion.
• Glorious: Wednesday and Sunday. The Resurrection, Ascension, Descent of the Holy Spirit, Assumption of Mary and Coronation of Mary.
• Luminous: Thursday. Christ’s Baptism, the Wedding at Cana, Proclamation of the Kingdom, Transfiguration and Institution of the Eucharist.

This pattern is a helpful rhythm rather than a test. Seasonal customs and personal circumstances can influence which mysteries people choose. The Luminous mysteries are relatively new. Some old-school Catholics choose not to include them but pray all three sets of the traditional mysteries every day. The traditional fifteen decades contain 150 Hail Marys, corresponding symbolically to the 150 Psalms. This is why the Rosary became known as Mary’s Psalter.

What If My Mind Wanders?

My attention is not suddenly perfect because I have a Rosary in my hands. Nor do I think becoming good at prayer means never getting distracted.

Instead, I can notice that I have wandered and return. Perhaps I return to the name of Jesus in the Hail Mary, or to one detail of the mystery.

For example, during the Visitation, I might consider Mary going to be with Elizabeth. Then I can ask how I might offer companionship to someone else.

It is also okay to have a prayer guide open. You do not need to memorise everything before beginning, or hold every word and image in your attention simultaneously.

Some days the familiar rhythm helps me settle. On other days, I simply keep returning as best I can.

What Is the Difference Between a Rosary and a Chaplet?

These words can refer both to prayers and to the beads used to pray them. A chaplet is a broader term for a structured devotional prayer, often counted on beads. Different chaplets have their own prayers, themes and arrangements.

When people say the Rosary, they usually mean the familiar Marian devotion with five decades and its sets of mysteries.

However, the names overlap. The Seven Sorrows devotion is called both a chaplet and a rosary. A chaplet is not necessarily a shorter version of the usual Rosary.

Nor can we identify the devotion from the beads alone. For example, the Divine Mercy Chaplet uses ordinary Rosary beads but has its own sequence of prayers.

A Brief Introduction to the Seven Sorrows Rosary

Also known as the Servite Rosary or Seven Sorrows chaplet, this devotion contemplates seven sorrows in Mary’s life. Its main pattern is an Our Father and seven Hail Marys for each sorrow, with introductory and concluding prayers that vary by form.

The seven sorrows are:

• The prophecy of Simeon.
• The flight into Egypt.
• The loss of the child Jesus in Jerusalem.
• Mary meeting Jesus on the way to Calvary.
• The Crucifixion and death of Jesus.
• Jesus being taken down from the Cross and received by Mary.
• The burial of Jesus.

For a fuller prayer guide, Holy Cross Family Ministries provides a Seven Sorrows booklet.

For me, this devotion opened a way to bring suffering into prayer with Mary. Her presence at the Cross continues to speak to my desire to serve: to remain with people, pray and offer whatever care I can.

Mary and the Interior Life

One book I have found wonderful is Mary and the Interior Life by Fr Jeremiah Myriam Shryock, CFR.

I read it a chapter at a time before bed. It became comforting evening reading, something I could receive slowly rather than rush through.

I would recommend it to anyone curious about Marian spirituality. For this article, it belongs alongside the lived practice: reading a little, praying, and allowing time for what I receive to become part of ordinary life.

That is also how I want to approach this whole journey. I am learning to live with God, one day at a time.

Rosary Books to Consider

For readers wanting a practical companion, Praying the Rosary Like Never Before: Encounter the Wonder of Heaven and Earth by Edward Sri is worth considering.

It addresses questions about the prayers and mysteries, alongside finding time and dealing with distractions. It also includes biblical meditations.

Another book that has caught my attention is The Power of the Rosary by Gabriel Castillo. I’ve watched several of Gabriel’s YouTube videos and found his passion for Our Lady truly inspiring. His book explores the biblical foundations, history and spiritual significance of the Rosary, drawing on Scripture, the saints and Catholic tradition.

A Simple Place to Begin

If you are curious about the Rosary, you can start gently. Learn the Hail Mary, choose one mystery and spend a few minutes with it. Let the practice become familiar before adding more.

You can also bring questions. Marian devotion was part of my own winding journey, and I am still learning what it means to let daily Rosary prayer shape my life.

Back in August, I could not have predicted that a longing for a string of beads would eventually lead me to change my life and the direction of Angelorum.