Wyrd is an important subject to me. This is reflected by how often I keep coming back to it onn this blog. I’ve written posts about how the concept relates to both my ethics and my magic. I’ve even written a guided meditation/visualization for connecting with the web of wyrd. It’s so important to me that a major thing that made me take notice of Spinning Wyrd by Ryan Smith at first is the fact that it has “wyrd” in the title.¹ So naturally, it only makes sense I’d have a few thoughts after reading the chapter of his book that is dedicated to discussing this important topic.

I like that Smith first demystifies wyrd by suggesting that it is just a force of the universe similar to the force of gravity. He explains the nature of wyrd in comparison to some models of fate like this:

However, Nordic wyrd is best understood as a metaphysical force comparable to gravity or magnetism that operates in consistent patterns that are shaped by the two essential forces of ørlog and hamingja.

Smith goes on to explain that these two forces represent the circumstances and implications of past actions and our personal and communal power² to create change. I think this is an important interaction to understand because it helps us to keep in mind two equally important truths:

1. We are not the victims of fate and have a say in our destinies through each action we take.
2. Our influence is not limitless and there are other factors at play that we must learn to cooperate with and/or work around.

To me, becoming a proficient and effective witch is largely a matter of understanding these two truths and the interplay between them. We learn to understand the limitations placed upon us by our circumstances and the consequences of past actions,³ then understand how we can act anew and assert our will and power to shape the future within the confines of those limitations.⁴

This is an idea that not all Heathens seem to share. Some Heathens tend to be more fatalistic about wyrd and tend to view it as being more set in stone. This is due to certain passages in the lore. Fortunately, Smith covers those and beautifully explains why he reads those passages less fatalistically⁵ in the second section of this chapter, where he discusses the Norns. I have decided to do a separate blog post on that topic, which I hope to publish on Agust 23.

Post History: I wrote the initial draft of this post on August 11, 2024. I proofread, revised, and finalized it on August 13, 2024.

Footnotes

1. Beyond that, “spinning wyrd” poetically describes how I understand magic, which I see as the act of altering the very web of wyrd and the reality that is created through it. Smith doesn’t use the word “witchcraft,” but I get the impression that he perceives his own mystical/magical practices in a similarly way, regardless of what labels he might use for those practices. ↩︎
2. Smith introduced me to the idea that individuals could pool their hamingja (which I’d summarize as being about personal power) to work toward a common goal, thereby reshaping wyrd communally. While I had gotten close to this idea, I had never arrived at it quite so eloquently or explicitly and I appreciate Smith’s help in getting me across that threshold to full revelation. ↩︎
3. Both our own actions and those of other people. ↩︎
4. We might even test those limits to determine if they actually lie where we think they do. ↩︎
5. I’ll note, however, that even Smith and I might hold different views on how set in stone certain future events are. For example, Smith clearly sees Ragnarok as unavoidable. I’m not as convinced of that conclusion. At the very least, I think some of the details — for example, whether Fenrir would oppose the Aesir in that battle — could have been avoided if the Aesir had simply made different choices. But then, I acknowledge that ‘could be different” and “will be different” are two different things. Also, I think how we interpret Ragnarok — such as whether we look at it as a Norse version of Armageddon or a metaphor for all cycles of death and renewal — changes my answer as to how avoidable or malleable the outcome is. ↩︎