The Norns: The Carvers of fate 

What I will say is this (I study Ancient History and Archaeology at University): when you focus on the dissemination of language rather than just religion, we know that both the Norse and the Ancient Greeks come from the same family: the Indo-Europeans. Now I am cautious to bring up the Indo-Europeans because they have been used by some...dodgy *cough* nazi *cough* scholars. But, it also can't be denied that this is fact. Anyway, my point is that there is a very good chance that the Norns and the Fates are connected the same way our Sky gods and other similarities are. We have to remember how old our religion is, it predates the Ancient Greeks for sure and even Herodotus tells us the Greeks got their gods names from the Egyptians, but he didn't say they got the gods themselves. Therefore I would argue that although we have to be careful not to lump Greek gods and Norse gods together, we do have to accept that they likely came from the same place. That's my two cents anyway. Skål.

I am glad to have found you friend. You brought light to a subject I've barely even acknowledged.

I wish I could have a beer with you and talk history. You did a great job with this man. Love it.

I couldn’t be more grateful to have found your channel. A new pagan who has had no belief in anything until I heard a call of the gods. I hope I can find like minded folk.

Good to see you did find a use for the photos. Interesting ideas on The Norns. Personally I don't want to meet them, time is something scary to mess around with. Even Odin wasn't too keen on interacting with them.

...but first, coffee. Very important step brother.

That "romantic" time in the 19th century for all things Norse was partly because these Norse texts were printed and made available to the public at that time. It's the same thing when the West discovered Sanskrit literature.

Woo! Notification squad where ya at?

I think fate is definitely something we feel strongly in this faith. Thanks for the wisdoms!

I like your warning. It's very wise. One should use discernment when getting into this stuff. As for Greek stuff, Greek and Germanic spirituality do have a common source of Proto-Indo-European. For example, in the Greek, there is dawn goddess Ēos, Germanic Ēastre in Old English, *Ōstra in Old High German. Mothers' night (Old English: Mōdraniht) is that, along with celebration of female ancestors and clan mothers "matriarchs". Also, only looking at Norse sources can only get one so far. In other Germanic cultures of the time, can help shed light into Germanic spirituality. For example, Urðr in Old English is wyrd which became weird in present English. The word wyrd is attested many times in Anglo-Saxon sources. In Old High German, it's known as wurt (destiny, accident, luck), Old Saxon, wurd (fate, death) The Bosworth-Toller Anglo-Saxon dictionary goes into great detail about Wyrd. Health and Happiness

Perhaps the association of the Norns and weaving came because the historians compared them with the Greek Fates known as the Morai and the Roman Fates. In both cases they were three women in charge of weaving the thread of human destiny. Due to the thread patterns and the interconnections found in weaving it has long been associated with life, actions, cause and effect as well as interactions with others along our lives. In many native cultures they mention spiders as masters weavers of destiny and the creature is regarded as a totem symbol of past present and future intertwined. This of course is something that came to my mind as I watched your video. Hugs from Argentina! I love your channel!

While pregnant with my son (who I just had not even a month ago), I started feeling a strong calling from the Norns. I read that scrubbing the things that need to be scrubbed was a way to present offering to them. Call it nesting or call it what happens when you buy a fixer upper, but I was scrubbing. As I got very close to the end of my pregnancy I started hearing them whispering. They sound like horse old women. They almost hiss. I would hear three different voices at different times. They bantered like sisters. One would say something and the other would speak kind of adding to what her sister said. They provided me much counsel with hard family matters and making decisions for my family. The first thing I heard after having my baby (I had a homebirth with Christian midwives) was the displeasure of my Lady with me having had a child under christ. They were quiet for awhile, but just yesterday I had such a profound experience with the Gods that reestablished my faith exponentially. Anyways, that's my experience with the Norns. I read they don't present to many, but I've given myself up to fate and I think that's why they've called on me.

Very informative. I'm writing a novella with an underlying theme (and characters) based on the Norns. This gives me so much inspiration!

This was a truly great video, and definitely one of the deepest dives into the Norns that I've seen. I only have vague recollections of hearing about them carving rather than weaving fate. I do posit that, since the idea of weaving fate is so prevalent and the typical way of talking of those who determine fate, maybe even the people who know the Norns don't actually weave (or just having a feeling they don't) still use the term? Maybe it's just me as a linguistics nerd wondering at the use of the word, but definitely something I'll be thinking about!

Hi love! great video! happy I found you on here. There is something that Jackson Crawford mentioned before, there is a possibility is that 1 of the root words for wyrd can also be interpreted and back to a word similar to weaving but it's not definite by any means. However being a scandinavian American, and being taught the path of the völva from my grandmother who was born before 1900 and her family before her, it is norse tradition that the norns weave webs of fate and it has to do with the word wyrd. now for what it's worth, that's how I was taught. yes we know that they carved the fates but because so much time was spent weaving and spinning and the path of the völva was a female role that spent much time doing that, traditions developed in pre-Christian Scandinavia with "weaving" the fate. Just thought I'd pass that on. :)

As a child growing up in Scotland i played under the evergreen branches of Ur, the evergreen mountain ash you reference is one and the same tree. Under the tree i saw three ladies, in Scotland they are part of the realms of Sith. The tree you refer to has spread its roots around the world for 200 million years it is the common ancestor to all human beliefs anywhere its roots have touched or its red and golden apples have dropped it has touched those who seek its wisdom, good luck in your own search.

So good to hear from someone that is not a fanatic! Awesome job!

Every time you grab a book I am "watch out! The candles" 😆 Great video! I love how you contrast sources. We have little reliable information of certain aspects of norse mythology so we have to really dig to find out more, and separate the information from fantasy. Thanks for all the time and hard work you put into your videos. I really appreciate it

I found your videos on Sunday. Today I saw your video and thought, that looks interesting, maybe later. Then I put on a movie from 2009...just a romantic comedy...All about Steve...and the character mentions the Norns. I have never heard this word until today. Twice in one day, huh....

I loved this so much!!!!! This was such a gift at the perfect time. :)

In the edition of the Poetic Edda in hand (translated by Lee Hollander), there's a poem called Helgakviða Hundingsbana I in which the Norns spin the fate-thread of Helgi on the night he's born, and allotted his life and fate (verse 1-3).

Great video! Thank you for helping with this journey. I think it would be really cool if you did like an introductory video on each of the main gods, goddesses, giants, etc and the stories they’re associated with as well as how to find your patron god. Once again thank you for the great content brother!

The Norns in Old Norse Mythology by Karen Bek-Pedersen This one is a great academic book on the Norns. Jackson Crawford had 2 good videos about the Norns as well, well worth watching.

Excellent job! It is quite frustrating to see how grossly misconstrued things can get. It’s equally frustrating to think that the original sources portray an accurate description of this path across a large geographic region, when it literally would take a week or more to travel 100 miles.

Thanks for a really interesting video... very relevant for me right now. I love your open minded, questioning approach, very refreshing and a welcome change from people claiming to know everything based on texts taken without context or digging below the surface. I think all of this stuff only becomes meaningful when we root it in our life...observe and embrace its movement through our experiences and the paths we choose to walk on...then tradition becomes something living and breathing through us...the norns are present in every step of our lives, blending free will and fate as it unfolds. I guess it's for us to build a positive relationship with this. Thanks again for gifting your time and insight.

I really like this video so much that I can hardly find much research content about norns in China. The video says that there is a range of changes that norns can make, which I deeply understand. Most of the guests who came to me for "emotional repair", I found that Freya had a higher success rate than norns. This made me doubt norns' logic for a long time. Finally, I deduced that in norns' view, their "emotional repair" is meaningless from the perspective of fate, so they simply refuse to cooperate directly. Therefore, from this point of view, it is also an interesting skill to judge whether these two people will come to the end by whether norns accepts the order.

This was very useful. I've seen this a lot with the web of Wyrd and hadn't looked into it before.

As a bit of a Heathenry noob, Wyrd and Orlog are concepts I've had a difficult time grasping. I think I just need to keep reading as much as I can about them, from different authors. I think the spiritual connection to these concepts is probably there, but they are hard to put into words and understand mentally. Nice video, Jacob. You're awesome. I wish I had more people around me to discuss all this fascinating stuff with. Discussion is mind expanding and helps to shape our faith and worldview.

The Moirai in Greek mythology are almost exclusively described using textiles as a means of "fate". So maybe it's just a subconscious connection we have with fate and the idea of it being "weaved" it shows up on "the fates" of other cultures too, Still it's fascinating the fates show up in so many mythologies. Great video btw

In my personal opinion, fate and the runes are bound together in Wyrd. Orlog is the give and receive type mentality, the power behind fate. I believe the Norns are beings who are advanced in seithr as they weave the web of wyrd, and with Galdr can "carve" the runes into the bodies of the living. I talk about this subject in my video on fate if you're interested :)

My path is Hellenic (AKA Greek) Paganism. The passage you read from the book with a chapter devoted to the Norns screams Hellenic mythology through a Romanticism lens. That passage is about the Moirai, AKA the Fates. I’d bet a cask of mead that everything (or almost everything) you read in relation to weaving is about the Moirai, not the Norns. The Moirai weave fate, the Norns carve it. I absolutely adore your definition and explanation of fate/destiny. I definitely see what you mean about Urd/ancestors/past, Verthandi/seers/present, and Skuld/Valkyrie/future.

Where can I find that journal though?

It all makes me wonder... How attached are we to this "fate"? Because if the Nornes have a figure much more related to carving runes (which ends up reminding me a little of the passage 144 of Havamal) than to being weavers of destiny, if we know how to interpret, how to deal, how to take advantage of what was written to us, then we understand where our power and our "freedom" are! Great video, my friend! Let us all continue to seek wisdom!

The Norns as swan maidens or mermaids? Fascinating... Oh wait! watch til the end eh? I suppose the Norns sit by the well, which makes them ancestral spirits connected with water, memory and ancestry. So the swan is a common theme, especially as you say if one was a Valkyrie. There is a reference to the orlogpaettir.. the golden thread of fate, and of course the Seidr practitioners who worked magic with spinning and with chords, so I think maybe there is a connection to spinning beyond the romantic revival. But possibly all these things had a common source in Indo european religion.

I know this is a year later however.....i found a brief passage about the Norns in the Encyclopedia of Magic & Witchcraft by Susan Greenwood that reads"Yggdrasill, a mighty ash tree, stands at the axis of three levels and has branches that spread out over the whole world and reach up to heaven. It's roots spread under three levels: one is linked to Asgard and is guarded by three Norns, or Goddesses of Destiny" that's it no additional details given other than a brief description of the concept of "Wyrd". Thank you for sharing some additional information with all of us😃

I love seeing how you get to all of your info and questions as you go. Thank you for letting us see the process. I think it helps with connecting my thoughts to keep thinking. Also have you heard of Eric Wordweaver? He has videos called The Ravens Call. His thoughts on the norns reminds me of yours.

My first comment to you and I know its an old video but I felt I had to say something. I'd probably put myself in "norse paganism curious" at this point. So much of it fits my feelings but I dont feel, almost out of respect, that I'm quite ready to accept the gods. However everything you said about the Norns here I really felt. I've always been very fatalistic in terms of having a path (i know how you fealt when you talked about noticing fate and it reassuring you that you are on your intended path), and yet have for a long time had an undeniable feeling that I somehow changed path along the way which didn't fit with my contemporary understanding of the Norns, until now. Your interpretation to me, just feels so so right.

However, that being said, in the beginning of Helgakviđa Hundingsbana 1 in the Poetic Edda, at the birth of the hero Helgi, the norns use ørlogþættir, (golden threads) and move them around & stuff to mark Helgi's fate...so they use threads as well as carvings. :)))

Thank you brother! Skal

It seems like the Norns are a later development of ancient belief in different female ancestral land-spirits, connected to the broader animism. This can be seen in the mention of "swan-maidens", the "carving" rather than "weaving". The faith evolved along with the tribes, so there were multiple layers of understanding added upon earlier ones. Birds were often seen as allegories of the soul's journey into the Otherworld, as part of the cycle of death and rebirth. So the Irish had the Morrigana who chose certain slain warriors off the battlefield, and the Celtiberians would leave warriors to be taken by the vultures rather than cremated or buried like everyone else. Odin/Wodan's two ravens meaning "memory" and "thought" could also relate to how a warrior and hero would want to be remembered after death, i.e. after their reincarnation. The Norns' relation to these earlier Valkyries could relate in various ways to the Disir, to various ancestral seeresses and shamanic women who underwent these astral journeys and helped certain men to achieve the same.

The Moiras from greek miths are the one that make threads of destiny. So the Norns mentioning carving wood makes more sense, its like we born with a rune for our essense or our fate, like some people find their "personality" tarot card by counting number of their birth data

Asgard/sky (maybe atmosphere, maybe stars, maybe both) 'debts to be collected from choices' ('choice' is a cognate word with 'Cost'): Skuld Midgard/'what do you do with the time you have?', weather: Vaerthandi Hel/mound people, ancestors | disir: Urdr Such a cool idea! Also curious, if Skuld the norn is also Skuld the valkeryie, and the association with Odin, whether or not the other two norns may be on the 'teams' of his brothers. Lodur - Urd (based on some theories that he is Heimdallr's progenitor, and has to do with brightness/Delling, who lives underground), Hoenir - Vaerthandi? Probably stretching way too much. But a fun exercise. Could also argue that Heonir is more infernal or 'cthonic' if going off of Vanir traits. Villi -Vaerthandi, Ve - Urdr?

With the völva women using weaving imagery in magic (their wands resembling distaffs, etc.) perhaps that has also played a roll in the Norns imagery with spinning thread?

I really loved the video and the ideas you presented. Could you do a research/video/storytime thing on valkyries and the saga of sigfred and brunhild? Skol to you

According to your video description. We took the same path to north pagansim. Not long after I discovered the stories and beliefs of this religion, Gods or Spirits revealed themselves to me. I think I'm meant to follow this path. But it's not just me, many people might have been called. The world is changing once again...

Yeah, the Golden Apples were pretty much a dead giveaway for the Greek Fates, and the most famous example of the apples were when Hercules had to steal one of those apples from the Garden of the Hesperides (which also held the dragon Ladon).

Saga of Burnt Njal :"On Good Friday that event happened in Caithness that a man whose name was Daurrud went out. He saw folk riding twelve together to a bower, and there they were all lost to his sight. He went to that bower and looked in through a window slit that was in it, and saw that there were women inside, and they had set up a loom. Men's heads were the weights, but men's entrails were the warp and wed, a sword was the shuttle, and the reels were arrows." They chant the Spear-Lay, which is thought to be older than the saga "We weave, we weave the web of the spear" Beowulf : "Ac him dryhten forgeaf wîg-spêda gewiofu" But the Lord was weaving a victory on his war-loom (Heaney trans.) "me thaet wyrd gewaef" Wyrd wove me that destiny. "gewaef"= wove "gewif"= fortune, see how interrelated these words and concepts are? "Metod" the measurer, is also related to Wyrd, perhaps the name of the middle sister (one spins, one measures, one cuts"). So, the Web of Wyrd is firmly rooted in the Anglo-Saxon sources, which of course is centuries older than the Icelandic stuff. Besides Njal, you missed one other source for the Norns.

I was under the impression it wasn’t just the Aesir who had Norns. The Venir, giants, elves, everyone had there own Norns. Doesn’t this have something to do with every mythology having fates. Doesn’t a Norn who is also a Valkyrie fit in with the Druids having multiple roles (I’m under the impression of there being similarities between Norse and Celtic mythology).

Notification squad also whats up jacob how are you?

The misinformation about the Norns is similar to how a lot of people believe that the sun energy is exclusively masculine, and the moon exclusively feminine in their energy. That is actually born out of the Victorian romanticism period, revived mostly from Greek mythology and teachings. It's so weird how people get to the turn of the 20th century for their research and then just... stop. What paganisn is based on, whether it's Asatru or otherwise, has roots that go way far beyond that, why not keep looking?

I had 3 red hens I referred to as the 3 norns sisters

I agree with the other books as soon as you read sin I thought of Christian influence and yeah other info on the norns is slim which makes them more intereging

They are very elusive it seems but thanks for the thoughts

Nidhoggr is also at the Tree of Yggdrasil.

Also I honestly doubt Norse mythology was codified and set in stone, I think there was concepts almost all Norse believed but other parts would be down to region etc. So I don't think you should worry if you interpretation isn't for everyone as I imagine many Norsemen had their own interpretations. Ironically considering neo pagans want to dissociate themselves from Christian concepts they cling onto the idea of having a book with all the answers.

Valknut... Possibly representing our past, present and future as inscribed by the Norns?

Fate is Inixolorable

Thanks for honest hard worked out heavy lifting theories that tear apart lies from imagery focused on only highlighting filtered aspects that generates affects in proportion to elemental effects bifurcating Individual differences between total truths and material myths.

Have you read Max Dashu’s Witches and Pagans? All about the Norns

As with a lot of things norse related, wikipedia gives an astoundingly good overview of all the source material on the norns. Helgakviða Hundingsbana I 2-3 references weaving. (taken from wikipedia) 2. 'Twas night in the dwelling, and Norns there came, Who shaped the life of the lofty one; They bade him most famed of fighters all And best of princes ever to be. - 3. Mightily wove they the web of fate, While Bralund's towns were trembling all; And there the golden threads they wove, And in the moon's hall fast they made them.

Have you seen the extended European version of Ragnar in the cage on the convoy talking to the blind man/seer? It's one of the best dialogues in the whole show, bummer they axed it from the US version. There's a lot of extra extended scenes like that, some you can find here on the gootube.

I want to know what the intro and outro music is! Anyone know? Have I missed it listed somewhere?

So before I watched this Video, I watched your video about Germania. In it, the Narrator gives the Norse Gods, Roman names. It seems to me that this is likely a similar situation

I have no evidence with this but what I feel is that the Norns carve the fates into wood. It seems more like a Norse thing to do if that makes sense. While the fates of the Greek beliefs are more about weaving and the single thread that is connected to us and can be severed by the fates at any moment on a whim basically. So, I'd say the sources of the carving of fates in wood, possibly Yggdrasil is accurate. In my belief and honest opinion anyway.

I enjoy your channel and appreciate the thorough examinations of available evidence. I know mythologies get pretty hairy once you step into that jungle of meddling hands. However, it wasn't wood. Bark...weaving.....words have more than one meaning. Nets...fences. weaving is related to patterns. Bark....wolves bark. See you on the moon my friend.

try the book 'Norns in Old Norse Mythology' by Karen Bek-Pedersen, beautifully written and most of it acurate, however, some may be a bit speculative.

DÍsir, VERÐandi. Just a friendly factoid: every word in Old Norse has emphasis on the first syllable :) I know pronunciation isn´t that important. But this is an easy rule to follow

Had to erase a whole page cause of that lol

Do they carve each and every name into the woid of the tree of life then patch it up with clay? They repair tge damage each of us do to keep the universe intact? And did Odins runes come from the tree of life therefore he paid with an eye to pay a debt? But see more than he can with two eyes. 😊 just a theory The weaving or the web is the path taken. Great channel btw

Where did you get that art work TGIF

Didn’t the Saxons refer to the Norns as the Spinners?

Just to point out, what you are doing is reading, not research. Research is defined as the creation of new knowledge and/or the use of existing knowledge in a new and creative way so as to generate new concepts, methodologies and understandings. This could include synthesis and analysis of previous research to the extent that it leads to new and creative outcomes.

Etymology is a curse?

Hey Jacob another decent book involving Norn's Norse Mythology The Gods, heroes monsters, and legends of Viking culture.

To me the Norns are just metaphor for some awareness of karma.

The Greeks speak story that mirror what you say

Creator Sustainer and Destroyer. Exist in every ancient tradition. In Hinduism they are Lakshmi Saraswati and Kali - Rajas Sattva and Tamas. Different energies that are the Substratum of the Universe. They are Freya Frigga and Hella. They are 3 parts of the Mother Goddess ... Nerthus. Go by many different names. Hail Great Mother! They represent Matter ... Mother. Complementary consciousness aspects are Odin Thor and Loki ... Brahma Vishnu and Rudra. Original deities of our common ancestors ... Creator Sustainer and Destroyer, Consciousness and Matter. They weave fate ... They are the Universe. Information scanty because it was common knowledge. And, beyond the mythology, they are a reality. Valkyrie and Norns are same. Thought of differently in different tribes over many generations. Lots of confusion and lost information.

So you mentioned the fates and the witches from Macbeth but none of the other triple godesses such as the Greek seasons, graces, Diane or Hecate? No allegory to the neopagan triple goddess of the maiden, mother and crone? I think the triple goddess that is so heavily associated with the turning of time is a trope deeply embedded in a lot of religions and off shoots of them. I think your work is good as we can see that you are learning and can learn along with you but remember. Every retelling changes the tale. I find this is the main problem any old religion has.

But Snorri Sturlsson was Christian?

93 or 95 seems to be when I will end this life... I dislike knowing that I will have that choice to make one day...

Tales of Norse Mythology is not a good source for factual historical mythos. The norns are said to carve runes into staves, determining man's faith. Norns are often mixed with the greek Moirai who weave men's faith. Norns probably had a connection to Valkyrjur, perhaps an overlap, perhaps not. Most academics know this. The web of wyrd or whatever is another misconception spread around in heathen communities. Its the same with how people think runes/bindrunes have magical abilities, when theyre literally just letters, some times used to spell out curses, like Odin mentions in Håvamål when he discover the runes. He uses them to spell out curses. Historically there is nothing that suggests bindrunes/runes were used to invoke magical abilities. And I doubt men would use it that way, as only Odin and a few others know the curses from Håvamål.

For me: 3:00

possibly the three different norns predict the lifes of different kinds of life as in human,animal,and plants. interesting concept to read into especially with how hard it is to find trust worthy knowledge.

If you can't find information don't use your imagination.

American sarcasm is weird

Get your apples of “idunn” out of my norse paganism christianity, and you stay out of it too greece😤😤😤