I'm working on Odin's wife today, her name is Frigg, and Friday is named after her. Somewhat weird, the old Gods haven't left yet; Wednesday is Odin's day, and Thursday is Thor's day.
I may work on this painting a bit more, Skuld the redheaded one needs more detail in her face, and I need to take a thread from the old blind Norn called Urd and weave it through the picture. Verdandi holds the scissors that will cut your thread at death. The Norns are the weavers of fate.
I think I met a Norn in a dream I had years ago (25 years). She was a very tall warrior-like woman in a long flowing dress with straight blond hair, high cheekbones, a strong jawline, and blue eyes. She was standing in front of me, pointing at my face. I thought that wasn't polite until I saw a spider dangling from a silk strand at the end of her pointing finger. She wasn't scary, just fierce. She didn't say a word to me, and I have always wondered what that dream meant.
22 x 30 Inches, coldpress 300lb paper, watercolor and gouache
The Voluspa, or Norns, are mysterious beings who don't seem to come from any of the recognized kinds of beings who live in the realm of Viking mythology and religion. They seem to be in a category of their own. There are three main Norns, Urd, which means the past or what we call fate. Verdandi, what is presently coming into being or the present. The third is Skuld, what shall be, which is the future.
Most of Northern Europe worshiped the All-Father Woden in old English and Saxon, Woudan in old Dutch. In Old High German, Wuotan is from Proto-germanic Wodanaz, which means lord of frenzy or leader of the possessed. Odin the All-Father and his world was a religion for most of Northern Europe. Odin worship from the Roman invasions 2 BCE through the great Migration of the 4th and 6th centuries CE, and the Viking age 8th and 11th centuries CE. (Wiki)
The three Norns live in a hall (long wooden one-room Viking house) by a well of life-giving water at the Yggdrasil tree roots, at the center of the Vikings Gods universe has Nine realms within its limbs, trunk, and roots. There are several other wells at the roots of the Yggdrasil tree. The Norns use Uroarbruner, well Of fate, to water their tree, which turns its roots white because of its purity.
The Norns bequeath the Gods, humans all beings their fate at birth. Although one may be born fated, humans and other beings could change their future by their current life choices. The Norns remind me of the three Fates in Greek mythology, which makes sense to me. Females are the portal to the earth realm. A human can't come to earth without a female womb. I am sure this made many Gods and lesser demi-Gods jealous, but that's another story.
Yggr's Horse
I know an ash tree sprinkled,
it's called Yggr's horse,
a high tree, holy,
it stands forever over the green
by the well of Fate, by the well of Fate
The ash tree of Yggr's horse,
it's the tallest of trees,
it endures more
trouble than humans know.
By the well of Fate,
a stag often bites,
and on the side, it decays.
By the well of Fate,
Níðhöggr1 diminishes (from) below.
With the white mud,
thence come the dew-falls
that fall into the valley,
it stands forever over the green.
By the well of Fate, by the well of Fate.
By the well of Fate, by the well of Fate.
More worms/serpents lie,
under the ash tree of Yggr's horse,
than any stupid
ape would think.
By the well of Fate
By the well of Fate
I assume that Góinn
and Móinn, Ófnir
and Sváfnir forever should
blunten twigs of the tree.
By the well of Fate,
a stag often bites,
and on the side it decays.
By the well of Fate.
Níðhöggr diminishes (from) below.
With the white mud
thence come the dew-falls
that fall into the valley,
it stands forever over the green
by the well of Fate, by the well of Fate,
by the well of Fate, by the well of Fate.
I know an ash tree sprinkled,
by the well of Fate.
A high tree, holy,
by the well of Fate
By the well of Fate
By the well of Fate
By the well of Fate
By the well of Fate
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