[[time]] # *Nornir* ⁽ᴼˡᵈ ᴺᵒʳˢᵉ⁾ [[r-rusu2008]] [[bek2007]] [[winterbourne2004]] [[bauschatz1982]] The norns are higher than Odin, the norns carve runes in Yggdrasil ( the runes represent fate ) and Odin feels envy because of this. This is why he hangs himself on Yggdrasil what gives him insight in the secrets of the runes. However he still can only see the runes ( precognition , ... ) he can not carve them in Yggdrasil, only the norns are capable of carving the runes and so have a strong influence also on Odin's fate. # #tbc Torrents of Fate: Urd and her Sisters Besides their most important function, the Norns also tend Yggdrasil’s Ash, laving it with the holy waters from Urd’s well. Elaborating on a passage in Völuspá 19 (which he quotes), Snorri explains: Enn er þat sagt, at nornir þær, er byggja við Urðarbrunn, taka hvern dag vatn í brunninum ok með aurinn þann, er liggr um brunninn, ok ausa upp yfir askinn, til þess at eigi skuli limar hans tréna eða fúna. En þat vatn er svá heilagt, at allir hlutir, þeir er þar koma í brunninn, verða svá hvítir sem hinna sú, er skjall heitir, er innan liggr við eggskurn, svá sem hér segir: It is further said that these Norns who dwell by the Well of Urdr take water of the well every day, and with it that clay which lies about the well, and sprinkle it over the Ash, to the end that its limbs shall not wither nor rot; for that water is so holy that all things which come there into the well become as white as the film which lies within the egg-shell,--as is here said: Ask veit ek ausinn, heitir Yggdrasill, hárr baðmr, heilagr, hvíta auri; þaðan koma döggvar, er í dali falla; stendr hann æ yfir grænn Urðarbrunni. I know an Ash standing called Yggdrasill(s) A high tree sprinkled with snow-white loam; Thence come the dews in the dale that fall-- It stands ever green above Urdr's Well. The poem Fjölsvinnsmál gives us additional insights into the nature of the world-tree. There the young hero Svipdag approaches the gates of Asgard, asking Fjölviður (Odin, cp. Grímnismál 47) about what he sees there: 19. Segðu mér það, Fjölsviður, er eg þig fregna mun og eg vilja vita: hvað það barr heitir, er breiðast um lönd öll limar? Now tell me, Fjolsvith, what I will ask you and what I wish to know: what is the name of the tree, whose branches extend through all the lands? 20. Mímameiður hann heitir, en það fáir vita, af hverjum rótum rennur; við það hann fellur, er fæstan varir; fellir-at hann eldur né járn. 20. Mimameidur is its name, and few are they who know from what roots it grows; by what it will fall, few know; neither fire nor iron can fell it. Stanza 22 is cryptic, but suggests that the fruits of this tree were seen as forming the embryos of human beings, the seeds of life. They are transported into the wombs of women, and there placed upon a "fire" inside the belly. Út af hans aldni skal á eld bera fyr kelisjúkar konur; utar hverfa þess þær innar skýli; sá er hann með mönnum mjötuður. Its fruit is taken and laid upon a fire for women in labour; out then will come that which they carry inside; thus it metes out fate among men. The womb carries the unborn child (innar skýli) until the time comes for it to be born (utar hverfa). In light of such an interpretation, it becomes obvious why the tree “metes out fate among men.” Human beings are literally born from it, grown upon its branches as fruit. As weavers of fate, the norns were probably thought to oversee this process. The notion of apples becoming embryos has been preserved in Chapter 2 of Völsungasaga. Unable to have a child, King Rerir and his pray to the gods for a child. Frigg hears their prayer and gives one of Odin's valkyries an apple to bring it to the king. In the guise of a crow, she drops the apple into the king's lap, while he is sitting atop a grave-mound. After eating of the apple, his wife becomes pregnant. Mimameidur means “Mimir’s Tree.” There can be little doubt that Mimameidur is Yggdrasill, the World-Tree, itself. This identification is supported by the use of a similar formulation in Hávamál 138 to describe a vindga meiði, “windy tree” that Odin hung himself on: Veit ek, at ek hekk vindga meiði á nætr allar níu, geiri undaðr ok gefinn Óðni, sjalfr sjalfum mér, á þeim meiði, er manngi veit hvers af rótum renn I know that I hung on that windy tree, Spear-wounded, nine full nights, Given to Odin, me to myself, On that tree which no man knows From what roots it grows Of Yggdrasill, Snorri says in Gylfaginning 14: "Its branches spread out over all the world and extend across the sky. Three of the tree's roots support it and extend very, very far." The same tree is also known as askur Yggdrasils, Læraður, mjötviður, and hárbaðmur. The tree can be called Mímir’s Tree because he is the guardian of the well beneath the tree's central root. As giants, and two of the oldest beings in the universe, no one, not even the gods, challenges his and Urd’s ownership of these sacred springs. To keep the Tree healthy, Urd and her sisters sprinkle the root in their well with hvíta auri ("white mud"). In Fjölsvinnsmál 28, the phrase ‘Eir Aurglasis’ is best understood as a kenning for the pale giantess Sinmara (named in sts. 24, 26, and 30). Eir is the goddess of healing, the physician of the gods, according to Gylfaginning 35. As such, her name was frequently used as a base in synonyms for women in skaldic kennings. Sinmara is thus the woman, or perhaps even the 'healer' or 'physician' of Aurglasir. Since Urd and her sisters lave the tree with mud from her well, keeping the World-Tree healthy, Sinmara appears to be another name for Urd. Aurglasir is used as another name for the World-Tree. In stanza 24 the name Veður-glasir is used for that part of the Tree visible above-ground, the part exposed to the winds. Vedurglasir is “the wind-tree’, a similar sentiment to that expressed in Hávamál 138 Aur, however, means "mud, soil, clay", thus Aurglasir must be the portion of Yggdrassil hidden below-ground, the lower half of the Tree, where the roots and wells that feed them are found. All the occurrences of the word “aur” in the Eddic poems can be explained by the meaning "mud, wet clay, wet soil, loam". It signifies the richness of muddy soil as a source of growth and fertility. The primeval giant Ymir was known as Aurgelmir among the giants (Vafþrúðnismál 29, cp. Gylfaginning 5). The soil of the earth was made from his flesh, and was fertile because he sucked the milk of the primeval cow Audhumla. In Völuspá 19 we also find aur- intimately connected with the World-Tree. Here the tree is ausinn hvíta auri, “drenched with white mud.” Aur- is more accurately understood as "muddy water, water blended with mud", an interpretation supported by Snorri's account in Gylfaginning 16. This mythological aur- was obviously no ordinary brown mud, but a mud of pristine, white purity, which seems to have suffused the World-Tree with life. The source of this hvíta auri, snow-white clay, appears to be Urd’s well, as “these Norns who dwell by the Well of Urd take water of the well every day, and with it that clay which lies about the well, and sprinkle it over the Ash, to the end that its limbs shall not wither nor rot” (at nornir þær, er byggja við Urðarbrunn, taka hvern dag vatn í brunninum ok með aurinn þann, er liggr um brunninn, ok ausa upp yfir askinn, til þess at eigi skuli limar hans tréna eða fúna.) Everything it comes in contact with turns as white as the inner lining of an eggshell. In confirmation of this, Gylfaginning 16 further informs us that snow-white birds swim in its waters: “Two fowls are fed in Urd's Well: they are called Swans, and from those fowls has come the race of birds which is so called." We cannot be sure why Snorri chose the term skjall (the membrane of an egg) to clarify the image, but it should be noted that this membrane is semi-transparent. The same word was used of a translucent membrane, stretched over a frame, and used as a window (instead of glass). Snorri may have meant to imply that the Tree itself is transparent, effectively explaining why, even though it spreads over all lands, it remains invisible to the naked eye. According to medieval legend, shooting stars foretold the birth of a child. As the fruit of the world-tree, unborn souls that occasionally fell to earth as meteors (shooting stars). This opens the very real possibility that the stars were seen as the golden apples growing in the uppermost branches of the tree, visible as the twinkling stars at night. Glittering as it was, the uppermost part of the World-Tree was probably considered to be the most beautiful and precious part of the tree. Artist: Donna Jo Napoli ## Other 3 control mother's fertility and child's birth and destiny → Bede's "Mothers" Mōdraniht Moirai