Wyrd

In modern Heathenry, the wyrd is the web of causality formed by the interplay of cause and effect; actions create circumstances which create outcomes, which leads to more actions, and so on. Different “threads” of cause-and-effect cross over one another, and the weave it forms the outcomes that shape our reality.

The wyrd is not really a “force” that exists in the universe. It’s more like time, in which it’s something we perceive by measuring things moving and changing.

We can weave the wyrd with intention (through the artform known as seiðr), or we can let this process happen autonomously. The Norse personified the autonomous process as forces known as the norns, women who design fate. No one, not even the gods, have authority over the norns, only the ability to learn their techniques. Those who are skilled at reading the wyrd can discern the future by identifying the pattern that’s currently being woven.