The Rime-Cord
The Frostian Prayer-Beads
The Rime-Cord is the knotted prayer-cord of Frostian devotion — a circle of cold beads (often of clear ice-glass, bone, or blue stone) told through the fingers as an aid to the unceasing prayer of the Hours. It is, in small, the Frostmark Cord made a tool of prayer, and is especially loved by contemplatives and the laity.
Form and Use
The cord is told in sixes (after the Sixfold Star and the six virtues): on each bead the Stilling-prayer is breathed — “Be still, and be kept” — drawing the heart down into stillness with the breath, “until the cord prays itself.” Longer cords carry meditations on the Stillings and the Whitening. The Rime-Cord is the chief instrument of the prayer of stillness for those in the world.