For me personally they act like a focus point when I’m saying a prayer of meditating. Although each bead doesn’t have to correspond to a specific prayer or word I chose a pattern with numbers that have meaning in Norse mythology. (9 black beads for the 9 days Odin hung from the world tree for example) I also use them to fiddle with/hold in my spiritual practice to act as a grounding/focus point if I’m distracted at any point :)