Understanding Wyrd
by Galina Krasskova
Ideologically and ethically, nothing is more important to Northern Tradition consciousness than wyrd. Wyrd encompasses the sum total of one’s individual actions and choices, as well as whatever destiny may have been predetermined by the Nornir for that individual. In many ways, wyrd may be likened to Fate, but it is far more interactive. Essentially, wyrd is causality and consequence. It is the sum total of every action a person has ever taken interacting with that of their ancestors and their communities at large, as well as whatever destiny may have been predetermined by the Nornir for that individual. Wyrd is a web of choices that constantly shifts and changes - one's own choices, the choices of others, the choices of one's community, and even the choices of one's ancestors impacting each person's current evolution and awareness.
Even the Gods must bow to the power of Their own wyrd. In our cosmology, they are not omnipotent; They are bound just like mankind by its power and pattern. Wyrd is not static; rather it is ever shifting and changing in direct response to the actions a person decides to take. One’s personal wyrd is called orlog, and a person’s relationship with his or her wyrd and hamingja is absolutely reciprocal. Usually, wyrd is seen as a vast web with multiple layers connecting everyone and everything. Wyrd was such a fundamental force in pre-Christian Northern European thought that belief in its power persisted even after Christianization. Wyrd is particularly fascinating when explored in the context of theodicy. To Northern Tradition thought, good and evil are not created by the Gods; rather they are the direct result of wyrd, which is, in turn, the direct result of one’s personal choices.
Wyrd can actually be inherited from one’s ancestors and passed on to one’s descendants, for good or for ill. It is both luck and obligation. A person has some ability to better his or her personal wyrd through right and honorable action; conversely, wyrd can be worsened through the opposite: unlawful or dishonorable action, breaking one’s word, showing disrespect for the Gods or ancestors. Luck flows directly from one’s wyrd and is considered part of the soul-matrix. One’s soul-luck, comprised of ancestral luck and one’s own personal power, is called hamingja.
Wyrd is ordered by three mighty women, the Nornir (Fates). The eldest is Urd, who governs the laying of the threads of wyrd in the well of memory. The middle is Verdandi, whose name means becoming, and the youngest is Skuld, whose name means obligation. She is occasionally said to be one of the Valkyries as well, because it is Her hand that cuts a person’s thread and determines the extent of their “obligation”. (Some modern Heathens believe that Frigga actually spins the threads of wyrd that are then parceled out by Urda, but this is not attested to in primary sources and is not a universal belief.)
In the Voluspa, it is clearly states that the Nornir craft and decree the laws of mankind. They "set or mark fate" and speak orlog. The very etymology of the root word that underlies but Urda and orlog, ur, marks it as something primordial and ancient, something of essential import, fundamental to all that is. In the setting of orlog, the Nornir lay the foundational bricks in the road of spiritual evolution. They create a place where the echoes of the past meet echoes of the future. All that was, is, and shall ever be is contained within the waters of Urdabrunnr. More importantly, since our own fate is laid down in this place, it is the nexus of connection to our ancestral path, the connection of our deeds and choices to those who came before and will come after. It is possible to see the workings of wyrd as the waters of a well: cast a stone, ripples form. If five people each cast a stone at the exact same time, those ripples overlap. The fish swimming below the surface create eddies that may also affect the smooth surface of the pond. Even the wind may affect the water. The more immediate someone's involvement with an individual may be, the more of an effect it has on that individual's wyrd. The pool of water represents the world, and the concentric rings indicate the distance and influence of every person one meets.
Urda and the Well are the embodiment of memory, which nourishes mankind as the Well nourishes the roots of the Tree, and restores to us an awareness not only of the foundations of our world, but of the proper order of things. All the awareness and knowledge of our ancestors is contained in the Well, and this has the power to connect us, as nothing else can, to the Dead upon whose shoulders we stand. But just as actions have consequences, so do choices have cost: that which will become. As memory and order are contained within the sphere of Urda, so the price of knowledge, decision, and sacrifice are contained within the realm of Skuld. An analysis of the name Skuld reveals that it deontes necessary action - even constraint and obligation. Therefore, it could be said that memory and action carry with them obligation.
Wyrd and orlog are not abstract concepts, but are contained in the very fiber of our bodies, minds, and spirits - encoded in our metaphysical DNA, just as our height and our hair color are encoded in our physical DNA. As such, evolution is the sphere of Verdandi. All three names of the Nornir bear connotations of evolution of time as a repetitive and circular process. In other words, time flows in on itself and from itself, bound by the fabric of memory. It is not in any way linear; it is only our perceptions that make it seem so. The Nornir are thus "out of time", not bound by the constraints of that evolution. As the water of the Well provides nutrition and healing to the Tree - literally to the structure and support of our world - it may be surmised that memory provides nourishment to our spirits. We are defined by what we remember, and it is the constantly shifting, interrelating layers of memory that nourish our spirits.