Fate

Ancient Germanic lore had a number of ways to describe and explain the concepts of fate. The first was the three norns - Urdhr, Verdhandhi and Skuld. These sister are the weavers of fate, the three hags who sit in the roots of the World Tree, spinning and unspinning the fates of all. Each represents a time: Urdhr is the past, Verdhandi is the present and Skuld is the future. In old Germanic lore, fate is not a set thing, but, "...is being transformed constantly by ongoing action." Thorsson (1999) continues: "[fate] itself is a complex idea. The word (in Old Norse) literally means 'primal layers', or 'primal laws' and really indicates action that has been laid down in the past... both the past actions we have dealt out...in the previous existences of our essential selves, and that which others...have dealt out to us over the same span of time."

Interestingly, in Greek mythology, there were also three sisters known as the fates. Clotho was the sister who was responsible for the birth, death and lives of men (humans). Like the norns, the Greek sisters used thread to weave the fates of humans.

The norns are also known as the Wyrd Sisters, Wyrd meaning 'life unfolding'. Stories abound of parents taking their children to the 'norns' to have their fates read. According to Bates (2002), "Through the centuries, stories about the three sisters persisted. In England, they are mentioned by the medieval poet Chaucer, and famously a few centuries later by William Shakespeare in his play Macbeth."

For the ancient Germanic and Scandanavian vitki, the purpose of runecasting was to try to get a picture of what had been spun by the Wyrd Sisters. Once a person's 'fate' is made visible by the runes, it can be read and analysed - not necessairly changed, but perhaps better understood.