Winifred Hodge Rose
Formal philosophy may sometimes look at phenomena in a rather fixed way, as ‘either / or;’ ‘if it’s this, it can’t be that.’ Determinism versus Free Will. Causality or Chaos. True or False. There are other, more ambiguous perspectives that can be taken, however, including insights gained from quantum theory in physics. I am not necessarily suggesting—or denying—that the Norns are somehow ‘quantum beings’ or operating on the quantum level as physics currently understands it. Rather, in this article I’m using a few aspects of quantum theory as analogies or metaphors to deepen our understanding of how the Norns shape orlog.
(Note that there are a good many, quite different ways that quantum physics interprets and explains the phenomena that are observed in that field of study. My discussion in this article is based, metaphorically, on only one set among a number of possible interpretations. I include one website that briefly summarizes different interpretations in the Book Hoard under ‘Quantum Theory’.)
I’m beginning with an image, a vignette, a brief tale, of the Norns and especially the one named Verðandi in Old Norse, whom I call the Gatekeeper or the Midwife of the Quantum Realm. Following that, I’ll turn to three basic aspects of quantum theory and relate them to the three Norns and their functions in shaping orlog.
Gatekeeper of the Quantum Realm
Verðandi rules the domain of Becoming: the very instant of time when a being or a deed ripens from the layers Wyrd has laid and springs forth to lay new layers and respond to Skuld’s tuggings, faint or strong, upon its thread of life. Her name means ‘Becoming / coming into being.’ Hers is the point of the needle, the edge of the knife, the imperceptible moment when something moves from ‘not-being’ into ‘becoming.’
As ‘becoming’ moves into ‘become,’ Skuld attaches strands of shild / debt / obligation to that which has become. This is a metaphor for the action of causality, of cause and effect. Skuld’s name comes from a form of the word ‘should,’ and implies that ‘given this thing / event / action / being / situation which has now come into being, this is what ‘should or must’ result from it.’
Then the deed or event or being rolls over into Urð’s domain of ‘what-is,’ what has happened, what has been accomplished and completed, entered into Being. It is tethered lightly or strongly to Skuld’s domain of ‘what should be,’ depending on many complex factors, and those tugs from Skuld’s tethering threads create the function of causality. In the meantime, the next instant of Becoming arises and moves on, into the same pattern. That very moment of Becoming is Verðandi’s domain.
I like to picture Verðandi both as a midwife into Being, and as the gatekeeper of the quantum realm. A potentiality arises in the quantum realm and is ‘called to’ or ‘attracted to’ Verðandi. This potentiality could manifest as a deed, a person, a situation, an object, a thing, event, or phenomenon of any kind. She then midwifes its birth into the domain of Time and Being as we know them. It’s as though the potentiality of a deed, a situation, a being, a moment of Time itself, is the ‘soul’ of that thing, and she calls this soul into its ‘body,’ which is its reality in this Space-Time where it is enacted into being. It is then given a wyrd—that is, it takes on its role in causality—and is embedded into the solidity of ‘what-is,’ Urð’s domain. Verðandi remains at the gateway of the quantum realm, midwifing the next births into being.
Verðandi’s foundation is in the present moment: never past, never future, never ‘perfected’ in the sense of completed and finished, always budding into the perpetual Now. Thus, she stands as the sacred gatekeeper of the quantum realm, at the imperceptible edge where Might-Be becomes What-Is.
Norns and Three Phenomena of Quantum Physics
Needless to say, if you find quantum physics to be an uninteresting or baffling subject, you may want to stop here! I like to approach a deep subject like orlog from as many different angles as I can think of, to get a more solid sense of it, but it’s understandable if you consider some of my approaches to be a bit too far out.
Here I want to discuss three basic aspects of quantum physics that I relate to the Norns, and that could have some bearing on some of the contradictions or quandaries that inevitably arise when striving to understand these mysterious beings and their even more mysterious work of laying orlog. Here are the three quantum phenomena I’m discussing, which I state briefly below and then go on to apply them to each Norn in more detail.
1) Wave function collapse. “Wave function collapse means that a measurement has forced or converted a quantum (probabilistic or potential) state into a definite measured value. In various interpretations of quantum mechanics, wave function collapse…occurs when a wave function—initially in a superposition of several eigenstates—reduces to a single eigenstate due to interaction with the external world. This interaction is called an observation and is the essence of a measurement in quantum mechanics, which connects the wave function with classical observables such as position and momentum. Collapse is one of the two processes by which quantum systems evolve in time…” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_function_collapse
Various interpretations of quantum mechanics explain this phenomenon differently. In the metaphorical context of the Norns’ work I interpret it this way: Verðandi’s sacred act of observation, taking place at the very instant of Becoming, turns a potential or a probability into an observable or experienceable phenomenon, a ‘reality’ in this space-time that we occupy. I relate this wave function collapse phenomenon, which moves something from a potential to an actual state or single eigenstate, to Verðandi’s domain of the perpetual Now.
2) Quantum entanglement. “In quantum physics, a group of particles can interact or be created together in such a way that the quantum state of each particle of the group cannot be described independently of the state of the others, including when the particles are separated by a large distance. This is known as quantum entanglement.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_quantum_mechanics
I consider that quantum entanglement is analogous to the inescapable interconnections among our deeds, actions, our relationships with others, and the resulting ethical implications, as these relate to Skuld’s domain of debt, obligation, and consequences.
3) Wave-particle duality. “Wave-particle duality is the concept in quantum mechanics that fundamental entities of the universe, like photons and electrons, exhibit particle or wave properties according to the experimental circumstances. It expresses the inability of the classical concepts such as particle or wave to fully describe the behavior of quantum objects. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, light was found to behave as a wave then later was discovered to have a particle-like behavior, whereas electrons behaved like particles in early experiments then were later discovered to have wave-like behavior. The concept of duality arose to name these seeming contradictions.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave%E2%80%93particle_duality
I relate this wave-particle duality, this ambiguous nature of ‘What-Is,’ to Urð’s domain of wyrd / orlog laid in the Well, which can take on different objective and subjective meanings, connotations, and implications depending on our angle of view.
Verðandi’s Domain: Collapsing into an Eigenstate
Starting with Verðandi as the initiator of a new being, deed, or event: I’ve called her the Gatekeeper or the Midwife of the Quantum Realm. As I see it, the quantum realm is a feature of Ginnungagap, the gap of sacred and magical potential that is perpetually spun out between the two poles of Fire / energy and Ice / entropy. All-That-Is arises from this Gap, and undergoes shaping by Powers, Deities, and cosmogonic processes.
I envision Verðandi rather literally as an observing entity standing at the gateway between that which exists only in potential form, and that which exists at the macro level in the world we know: objects, phenomena, events, deeds, decisions, choices. She ‘midwifes’ the passage of these phenomena from potential to actual, and her presence as an observer on the edge of Ginnungagap, the cusp between ‘what might be’ and ‘what is,’ is what catalyzes or enables that passage to happen. As ‘what might be’ transitions from the quantum realm into ‘what-is,’ the realm of Midgard, it collapses from a probabilistic state into an observable one.
When that observable phenomenon enters our space-time with its own ‘shape’ and properties, in quantum mechanics this is called an eigenstate, from German eigen meaning ‘one’s own, belonging to oneself.’ In quantum mechanics terms:
“Because of the uncertainty principle, statements about both the position and momentum of particles can assign only a probability that the position or momentum has some numerical value. Therefore, it is necessary to formulate clearly the difference between the state of something indeterminate, such as an electron in a probability cloud, and the state of something having a definite value. When an object can definitely be “pinned-down” in some respect, it is said to possess an eigenstate.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_quantum_mechanics
In terms relevant to this article, Verðandi’s shaping creates the eigenstate for each being, event, phenomenon, that moves from potential into actual form. When it moves from the potential to the actual state it takes on its own individuality, its own characteristics, direction, momentum: its eigenstate.
Verðandi is the one who collapses Schrödinger’s cat into aliveness or deadness by her function of observation or midwifing between the realms of ‘potentiality’ and ‘actuality.’ She is the catalyst that causes the ‘potential’ to become the ‘actual’ and to take its own shape, its eigenstate, as it does so.
Skuld’s Domain: Quantum Entanglement
Moving on to Skuld: quantum entanglement deals with particles whose attributes have been entrained together, such as their direction of spin. No matter how far these particles are later separated from each other, changing the attributes of one results in a like change in the others. At the level where Skuld works, here is how I see this entanglement operating. We enact a deed or make a choice, and that has consequences down the line in our life and most likely in the lives of others as well. The more closely ‘entangled’ we are with others, the more our deeds and choices affect them as well as us. This is not something we can escape from or opt out of: it is inextricably entangled with our reality.
“Any measurement of a particle’s properties results in an apparent and irreversible wave function collapse of that particle and changes the original quantum state. With entangled particles, such measurements affect the entangled system as a whole.” (my italics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_entanglement
We can apply this understanding metaphorically in this way: the ‘measurement of a particle’s properties’ is equivalent to solidly fixing something in physical space or in mental or emotional space. When something is measured scientifically it is fixed, recorded, solidified, as shown in the following description:
“Before a photon [a quantum particle] actually “shows up” on a detection screen it can be described only with a set of probabilities for where it might show up. When it does appear, for instance in the CCD of an electronic camera, the time and space where it interacted with the device are known within very tight limits. However, the photon has disappeared in the process of being captured (measured), and its quantum wave function has disappeared with it. In its place, some macroscopic physical change in the detection screen has appeared, e.g., an exposed spot in a sheet of photographic film, or a change in electric potential in some cell of a CCD.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_quantum_mechanics
The location / existence of the quantum particle has been fixed in place through measurement / observation, but that process has caused a great change, a wave-function collapse, to happen to the particle, which then affects all the other particles it is entangled with. In subjective human terms, once a ‘potential’—an impulse, a thought, an intention, a creation of our imagination—has been fixed in place by being spoken of, acted upon, or expressed in other ways, it has follow-on effects on everything / everyone that is ‘entangled’ with the speaker or actor. It has ‘collapsed,’ like a particle’s probabilistic wave-function, from an unexpressed potential into a deed enacted in space and time. Because we are all, in many and varied ways, entangled with many other beings, phenomena, and events, what we say and do has effects upon them—perhaps tiny, meaningless effects, or perhaps larger, significant effects. And their words and deeds have effects upon us.
These effects are, to use another metaphor, equivalent to what I see as threads, strands, strings, ropes, cables, that Skuld attaches to the tapestry of our lives: our words and deeds, our choices and decisions. Bauschatz notes that:
“Skuld seems to make reference to actions felt as somehow obliged or known to occur; that is, the necessity of their ‘becoming’ is so strongly felt or clearly known that they present themselves as available to be incorporated into the realms of Verthandi and Urth” (p. 14). “All occurrences (of skulu -> Skuld) express constraint, obligation, necessary continual action” (p. 13).
Using the analogy of weaving a complex tapestry, we can envision that a thin thread of shild / debt / obligation / consequence, attached to a particular orlog-thread in our tapestry of life, equates to some very minor pull on our wyrd-threads in that direction, one which we can overcome or change if we choose. A strong rope or cable, a powerful attachment of shild to our orlog, will be difficult or impossible to overcome: it approaches the force of ‘necessity.’ It will pull us strongly in the direction that Skuld has designated in response to the complexity of orlog that we have laid and that has been laid for us. In my view, shild / debt / obligation can range from being simply a slight tug in the direction of our orlog, to stronger influences pulling us in a specific direction, to the strongest of influences: necessity.
We can see the effects of our deeds on others and the world around us as ‘entanglement in Space,’ but I suggest that entanglement in Time is just as potent, and connects with our own orlog. We can view our past self and the deeds and choices of that past self as one particle, and our present self as the other particle with which it is entangled. What our past self did is affecting the state of our present self, and the same can be said about the deeds of our present self affecting the state of our future self.
These ‘Selves in Time’ can be considered entangled particles, and it’s an interesting philosophical question as to whether the effects of the quantum entanglement can work backwards in Time as well as forwards, when it comes to orlog. That’s what we try to do with wergild or restitution, as one example: somehow mitigate, rebalance, repay by our present deeds for what happened to the other entangled particles—other persons in the past, or our own past self—as a consequence of our choices or deeds in the past. And we can try to work forward in time: making good choices, undertaking worthy deeds now, to lay desirable layers in the Well for our future self and for other persons and events that we affect by our actions.
The entanglements resulting from our actions, deeds, decisions—and our efforts to understand, acknowledge, and affect their impacts—lie within Skuld’s domain. All of this complexity is based upon ‘entanglement’ as the operational requirement for the work of Skuld. If there were no entanglement, no necessary connection, between ourselves, our actions, and all the other beings and their actions upon the Tree, no shild / debt / obligation would arise from our actions. The concept of skuld / shild / debt / consequences rests upon and depends upon entanglement or inescapable interactions among beings and their deeds. Entanglement is not optional; it is a fact of life, and Skuld oversees the playing-out of this phenomenon.
Urð’s Domain: Wave-Particle Duality
To repeat from an earlier quotation: “The concept of wave–particle duality says that neither the classical concept of ‘particle’ nor of ‘wave’ can fully describe the behavior of quantum-scale objects, either photons or matter.”
Now we come to Urð, who rules the domain of What-Is, what has been completed, established, put into place; what lies within the Well. We might think of this as unchanging: what happened, happened—there is no changing it. This is true, of course. Yet there’s another factor at play when it comes to ‘the Past’ and human perceptions of and reactions to that Past. As individuals, families, cultures, nations, we base some of our self-image, our understanding of the context of our lives, and our reactions to other people, on the past experiences of ourselves and of the groups we belong to. Our interpretations and our subjective sense of what happened in the past may have a large impact on our current decisions, actions, and attitudes.
Literature, films, historical analysis, psychoanalysis—many explorations have been made along the lines of: “what if this is not really what happened? Was there another side to this historical account that we’re not told about? What if this influential person in history was actually different than what has been told about them? What if the story told in history is incomplete or even false? What if these events in my family history were greatly misinterpreted? What if I experienced a trauma that I don’t remember, or ‘remember’ a trauma that never happened the way I thought it did?” And so forth. Exploring and answering such questions, at the personal or the cultural or societal level, can bring about many reactions and changes in understanding and attitudes. And with those changes, the personal or cultural orlog may shift direction, making subtle changes in its structure.
What Wyrd or Urð has already laid down does not cease to exist. Yet what is laid down on top of those layers, the next layers that come, may reflect changed circumstances that Verðandi and Skuld have brought about, which in turn can affect our perception of and experience of ‘the past’ that we have access to. For humans, the Past that is real to us, subjectively, has as much power as the objective Past that lies within Urð’s domain. Skuld may make us aware of a debt, obligation, consequences arising from the past that we were previously unaware of, and that changes things for us even though ‘the past’ was not changed. Verðandi may sensitize us to a fuller awareness of what is now coming into being, which may open our eyes to a wider view in Time and Space. Our perception of the past has been changed, and that affects us in many of the same ways that orlog, the objective past, does. Our view changes, our perception and attitudes change, and with it our actions and reactions.
Here’s an example: some terrible experience that many people lived through, like a war. The objective event was what it was: fighting, destruction, many actions by many people, much suffering. Yet, the impacts on each person, and what they did with the rest of their lives after the war, may differ considerably. Some might recover and make the best of their circumstances, others might not. Winners and losers will have different attitudes and interpretations of what happened. History is famously written by the winners, but the viewpoints, experiences and events relating to the losers might later resurface and change many people’s interpretations of what happened and why it happened.
Thus, we lay new layers of orlog—these new, varying interpretations of the past—on top of the older layers. The resulting orlog then incorporates the effects of our changed attitudes and actions. This in effect changes the past, in the sense that the new layers we’ve laid are the result of, and influence our understanding of, the older layers. This is difficult to explain and picture! It involves shifting perceptions, subjectively shifting foundations, which are in turn part of the objective layers that Urð lays down. This is why I liken it to the quantum phenomenon of wave-particle duality.
Objective past, actual events, laid down by Urð into the layers of orlog, can be thought of as ‘particles’ in this analogy. Subjective past as events experienced and interpreted by humans can be thought of as ‘waves.’ Depending on the ‘experimental design, or method of observation,’ on the ways we try to observe, perceive and understand the past, we may see something more like ‘particles’ or more like ‘waves’ as we plumb the mysteries of What-Is. Both objective and subjective perceptions are real to us, both have meaning, and shape our understanding and our actions.
I’m suggesting that at least from a human perspective, the Past / What-Is / Urð’s domain can take on the ambiguous ‘both / and’ shape of quantum phenomena like light as both a wave and a particle. We think of the Past as fixed, but again from a human perspective and experience, reinterpretation of past events, new knowledge about past events, learning about past events from other people’s perspectives, and so forth, really can change our present state of awareness and affect the actions we might take based on that new awareness. These reinterpretations themselves become new layers of orlog laid in the Well, and they affect future actions. Likewise, different people who all experienced the same event in their past may shape very different trajectories leading from that past event to their present—and different—states of being. Subjectively, ‘the past’ was a different thing to each of them, even when factually they experienced the same concrete event.
This seems to me to resonate with the ambiguous nature of quantum reality as we currently understand it. Both objective ‘particles’ and subjective ‘waves’ of history and the past are contained within Urð’s domain. Based on a quantum physics analogy, our approach to understanding the past—our ‘experimental design’ or method of observation—affects whether we perceive ‘waves’ or ‘particles.’ Archaeology and paleontology lean more toward the objective, for example, but are still influenced by interpretive theories. Examining the personal letters and diaries of people who experienced a significant historical event, like a revolution, from different sides and perspectives offers a more subjective viewpoint that nevertheless sheds light on important aspects of history which can be obtained no other way. Even more subjective, though deeply meaningful, are methods like meditation and spaeworking or trance-working to understand aspects of our personal past, transpersonal past, ancestral past, or Heathen religious mysteries which are ‘lost’ to objective methods of study. There are many different ‘experimental designs’ or methods of observation that we might use to explore the past and the workings of orlog: both the mundane past and the more spiritual and esoteric aspects of it; and both objective and subjective aspects of all these layers of orlog.
In the reality of human experience and in the pursuit of wisdom rather than physics, I would say this: we perceive both—subjective and objective layers of orlog—laid together inextricably in the Well, however we approach our examination. For humans, at least, this ‘wave-particle duality’ of subjectivity plus objectivity inevitably shapes the layers that are laid there by our human actions, and shapes our understanding of the resulting orlog. We can never be 100% objective and factual in our attempts to understand the past; there are too many unknowns, and our own cultural and personal contexts inevitably introduce subjective interpretations. And therein lies its meaning, its significance, for us.
We can’t force orlog to appear to us as purely objective ‘particles,’ not waves, or vice versa. For us as humans, we are always dealing with ‘both / and’ views of the past: both objective and subjective views influencing each other. Personally, I think this is a good thing, because both viewpoints, subjective and objective, are essential for developing an understanding of orlog that leads to true wisdom. Wisdom incorporates not only factual, objective truth, but the deep meaningfulness that arises from subjective experience as well.
This exposition of objective / subjective experience of the past as particle / wave duality is only one example of how paradoxical understandings lie within the Well. There are many other ways we can apply the analogy of dual-manifestation to understand the domain of the Norns. Wyrd herself is like the quantum phenomenon of light being both a wave and a particle. In my article Comparing and Contrasting Wyrd and Orlog, I noted the ambiguity of the ancient references: Wyrd sometimes appears as a personal being, other times as an impersonal phenomenon or process. Wyrd herself, in my perception, seems to have no issue with sometimes appearing as a person, other times as an impersonal phenomenon: both a particle and a wave. It seems as though she is presenting us with an existential riddle, like a koan, challenging us to plunge more deeply in our efforts to understand who and what she / it is.
As for how Wyrd, the Norns, and the Deities themselves understand orlog: this is a mystery for us to pursue in our relations with them and by learning from them. Perhaps they stand outside the wave-particle dualities of subjectivity / objectivity and of personal being-ness / impersonal phenomena. They may have a completely different view of how things work, something other than what we understand as ‘objective / subjective,’ ‘personal / non-personal.’ I find this an intriguing idea to pursue with them!
Book-Hoard
Bauschatz, Paul C. The Well and the Tree: World and Time in Early Germanic Culture. The University of Massachusetts Press, 1982.
Interpretations of Quantum Theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpretations_of_quantum_mechanics