The Web of Wyrd (matrix of fate) is a fairly modern symbol, but the concepts it reflects reach back deep into the ancient Germanic corpus.

It consists of three sets of three lines, totalling the number nine. Three and nine are central numbers in historic Germanic paganism. The Nine Herbs Charm (Nigon Wyrta Galdor) is an excellent example.

Wyrd (urðr) can be translated as something akin to fate or personal destiny. Though it is also personified as a deity: Urðr (anglicized as Urd), one of the Norns in Norse mythology. The word also appears in the name of the well where the Norns meet, Urðarbrunnr.

Wyrd’s well (Urðarbrunnr) has an important place in North Germanic cosmology, as it is closely connected to the cosmic central sacred tree, Yggdrasil, as described in the eddic poem Vǫluspá:

I know an ash stands,
it’s called Yggdrasill;
a glorious and immense tree,
wet with white and shining mud;
from there dew falls to the dales,
forever standing green over Wyrd’s Well (Urðarbrunnr). (Hopkins translation, 2020)

The idea of groups of supernatural female figures weaving or spinning as a means of producing wyrd occurs multiple times in the Old Norse corpus. A couple of examples are:

In the eddic poem Helgakviða Hundingsbana I, norns visit the infant Helgi and spin his wyrd from, for lack of a better translation, wyrd-threads (Old Norse plural nominative ørlǫgþáttir, accusative ørlǫgþáttu—semantically, a compound one might render as ‘web of wyrd’).

In the Old Norse poem Darraðarljóð, found in Njáls saga, valkyries are described chanting and weaving the wyrd of those who will die in battle.

Understanding of some or all of the above ‘wyrd-weaving’ attestations may have inspired the development, diffusion, and popularity of this symbol.

To me, it contains the symbology of all of the runes and all of the past, present, and future possibilities they represent. It serves as a reminder that all timelines are inextricably interconnected. Our past determines our future, but our present determines our past, so the future is changeable.

This concept applies well to the objects I create. The objects represent stories of the past, present and future in constant shift. The past of the materials, the creative energies in the present during their coming into being, and the future with their new owner; which in turn become the past of the object being created, the present story with the recipient, and the future story dependant on the recipients present actions – and so on…