Winifred Hodge Rose
“There are…three wells at the base of Yggdrasil: Urth’s Well, which is most obviously the well of the ‘past’; Mimir’s Well, which is the well of wisdom, and Hvergelmir, the well that is ‘serpent-infested’ and that ‘seethes.’ All three wells suggest fluidity, accumulation, and containment…. What their juncture uniquely signals…is a meaningful joining of ‘wisdom’ with a ‘past’…that still ‘writhes’ like a serpent and ‘seethes.’” (Bauschatz p. xix.)
Here I share some of my thoughts about the three great Wells described in Norse mythology and how each of them relates to orlog, in my understanding. Each Well is located under one of the roots of Yggdrasil, as Snorri recounts in the prose Edda (p. 17). Beside one root are found both Urð’s Well and the doomstead or assembly-place of the Æsir where they gather each day to discuss matters of the Worlds, make decisions and judgements. This positioning of the Norns’ Well in the same place where the Æsir meet implies a close connection between the decisions of the Æsir and the orlog that the Norns lay in their Well. The implication is that the speaking of the Norns and the decisions of the Gods interact with each other, together arising from orlog in the Well, and at the same time laying new layers of orlog therein.
Mimir’s Well
Mimir’s Well is considered the Well of wisdom, memory and inspiration, and lies under the root which stretches out toward the realm of the Jotnar. Clues and hints in Norse poetry tell or imply that this well contains Oðroerir, the Mead of Inspiration; that Odin drank from it to gain the wisdom of the great fimbul-galdors; that Odin’s eye and Heimdall’s hearing lie within the Well; that Mimir drinks mead from it daily, and Odin consults him for wisdom. Snorri tells us that this Well “has wisdom and intelligence contained in it and the master of this well is called Mimir. He is full of learning because he drinks of the well” (Gylfaginning in the prose Edda, p. 17). Though not entirely clear, Mimir’s name is generally regarded as meaning “the rememberer, the wise one, and is etymologically related to Latin memor” (Simek p. 216), and also to modern English ‘memory.’
Mimir’s Well is a place not only of wisdom, but also of the power of memory upon which wisdom rests. I envision Mimir’s Well as functioning in a similar way to Urð’s Well: as a container of memories—individual memories, ancestral memory, folk-memory, the collective unconscious—which are laid in layers within the Well as all of us go about living our lives, generation after generation. As ‘significant’ deeds fall into Urð’s Well and are laid there as orlog, so also ‘meaningful’ memories are laid in Mimir’s Well and ferment together into wisdom under the influence of Oðroerir, the wode-stirrer, the fermenter of inspiration. When Mimir drinks from it daily, memories and wisdom are distilled together within his great being. My thought is that Odin’s raven Muninn originated from this Well at the time that Odin was given a drink from it, after he came down from the Tree.
So, if we take this view, we can see that Urð’s Well and Mimir’s Well work in parallel ways, laying layers of orlog and of memory. The knowledge of these things leads to wisdom and to inspiration. History, poetry, tales, philosophy, culture, science and technology: all of them draw from memories, orlog, knowledge that was laid in the past. All of these aspects of culture and wisdom are woven out of that knowledge, those memories, which are fermented into wisdom and give rise to inspiration. Inspiration, expressed in a multitude of ways and actions, gives rise to new things: ideas, art, discoveries and inventions, insights, enlightenment. Thus, I believe, these two Wells of orlog / wyrd and of memory and inspiration work together as major drivers of human culture and history, wisdom and evolution, at the individual and the collective levels.
Relationship between Mimir’s and Norns’ Wells
Here’s an off-the-wall idea that strengthens the parallels between the work of Urð’s Well and Mimir’s Well. I find this speculation intriguing, though it is not well-attested in the lore. The Swedish scholar Viktor Rydberg had a lot of ideas that other scholars may not agree with from a research point of view, but which I find are enlightening and inspiring from a mythological point of view. One of those ideas goes like this, building from known myths to pure speculation:
(1) The ‘boy and girl’ that are generated under the arm of the proto-Giant Ymir are not named, but Rydberg suggests that they are really Mimir and Bestla. (Vafthrudnir’s Sayings, Poetic Edda, v. 33)
(2) We are told in Gylfaginning that Bestla is the mother of Odin-Vili-Ve, while their father is Borr (prose Edda, p. 11).
(3) Rydberg suggests, through a very convoluted argument, that the Norns are niptur, or kinswomen, of Mimir (Ch. 85, vol. 2). The word nipt could mean either sister, daughter, or daughter of one’s sister. In this view, the Norns could be daughters or nieces of Mimir, though unlikely to be sisters if the generation of Mimir and Bestla, alone, from Ymir is accepted.
If we add to this the idea that Bestla is Mimir’s sister, and that there are instances of brother-sister matings in old Germanic and other mythologies, we could conclude that the Norns could be both daughters and nieces of Mimir through his sister Bestla.
This is wildly speculative from a scholarly viewpoint, but from a mythological and cosmogonic perspective I find it attractive and meaningful. It provides a nice mythological structure: three brothers—Odin, Vili and Ve—shape the Space of Midgard by sacrificing and reshaping Ymir, while three sisters, the Norns, shape events in Time through their work with orlog. Together, they are shapers of Time and Space. They also all give gifts that shape our human-ness. Ond, oðr, lö / la, læti, litr are given to Ask and Embla by Odin and his brothers / comrades, turning the trees or logs into humans, while the shaping of orlog, of our fate of human-ness and all that fate implies, comes from the Norns. (Völuspa vs. 17-21 in the Poetic Edda.)
These sets of three beings are, in this view, half-siblings, with powers different than, but equal to, each other. Bestla is the mother of all of them; Mimir is the father of the Norns and the maternal uncle of Odin, Vili and Ve. There are additional clues in the lore, besides these speculations, indicating that Mimir and Odin are likely uncle and nephew through their relationships with Bestla, but I must emphasize that their relationships to the Norns are highly speculative.
This mythological viewpoint can further strengthen an understanding of the connections between the Wells of Mimir and the Norns. The work of the Well of orlog and wyrd is based upon—engendered by—the work of the Well of memory and inspiration, from father to daughters, in this view. I find this idea very meaningful, myself, and choose to include it in my understanding of Heathen mythology even though it is not well supported in the lore.
Quantum Analogies Operating in Mimir’s Well
Here I’ll refer to three aspects of quantum physics which can serve as analogies for understanding some of what is happening in Mimir’s Well. (For more in-depth discussion of how these quantum phenomena, viewed as analogies, operate within the domains of the Norns, see my article “The Quantum Nature of the Norns’ Work.)
Individual memories are particles, and they conglomerate together as quantum entanglement. We can’t separate memories into individual bits, unconnected with their larger contexts in time and space. They come as packages of entangled particles. If our understanding of one memory, or piece of a memory, changes, this will affect the memory-bits that are entangled with that piece. If we suddenly bring into conscious awareness a memory that was previously unconscious, that changes the impact of many other memories we have.
The phenomenon of PTSD is one example of this entanglement: a cue or trigger occurs either in the outside world or in the memory, and it sets off a cascade of other highly debilitating memories that are associated with it. PTSD is very difficult to treat because of this memory-entanglement where so many cues cause the PTSD reaction instead of being seen in a different, harmless context.
Many forms of psychotherapy, and some forms of spiritual work too, focus on both remembering and reinterpreting one’s memories so this memory-entanglement phenomenon can work positively and supportively rather than causing suffering and disability. We can see this as laying new layers of orlog to help address the effects of previous events.
This kind of work can apply to memories from one’s current life, and to past lives and collective memories as well. This brings in something that I view as analogous to wave-particle duality. Our individual memories and current lifetime can be seen as particles. These particles are embedded within waves of larger contexts and events and are moved around and shaped by these turbulent waves: collective events of history and culture, of our families going back in time as well as larger collectives and the collective unconscious.
When we make a choice or decision, take an action, interpret things in a certain way, shape our memories: how much of that comes from our own individuality—our own ‘particle’—versus all the influences that work on this particle from the complex ‘waves’ of culture, society, history around us? It’s not always easy to discern what is a ‘particle’ and what is a ‘wave’ within the Wells of Mimir and the Norns!
So, we can see analogies to quantum entanglement and wave-particle behavior in the contents of Mimir’s Well. There’s a third quantum theory analogy operating here. In quantum theory the eigenstate refers to what happens when something collapses out of a cloud of probabilities / possibilities into a phenomenon with its own observable characteristics—an actualized rather than a probabilistic state. The word comes from German eigen, meaning ‘one’s own,’ and refers to an actualized phenomenon that possesses its own definable nature, which has condensed out of a cloud of vague possibilities.
This is exactly what happens during inspiration! We sort of swim through a cloud of possibilities as we brainstorm—possibilities like the form a piece of art or a poem or song might take, or seeking a discovery of some kind, or the solution to a problem that’s bugging us—and as we brainstorm, inspiration happens. Out of these clouds of vague possibilities, inspiration causes an Eigenstate to coalesce into being—the thing we’re looking for: art, song, solution, discovery, new idea, whatever, that our inspiration has shaped and our actions solidify for us.
This inspiration is an expression of wode or oðr, which is inspired by Oðroerir, the wode-stirring mead that resides in Mimir’s Well and is Odin’s gift to poets, scholars and wise-folk. Snorri says that those who drink of Oðroerir become skalds (poets), or become froðamaðr: wise, scholarly, knowledgeable persons (Skaldskarpamal p. 62 in the prose Edda). In this quantum analogy I would call the Eigenstate a manifestation of wode / oðr working upon a cloud of memories and possibilities lying within Mimir’s Well, catalyzing the formation of a new idea that is then manifested into observable reality through us as living beings.
Hvergelmir and the World-Mill
Here are my thoughts about the nature of Hvergelmir and its role in the operation of the cosmos and of orlog. These ideas are based on old lore about the beginning of the Worlds, but move on from there into ideas influenced by modern understandings.
The cosmic polarities of Fire and Ice, energy and entropy, spin out between them a force-field which is mythically represented as Ginnungagap, the space where manifestation arises. In the center of that gap, the push-pull activity of Fire and Ice creates a maelstrom of energy called Hvergelmir, the Roaring Cauldron of cosmogenesis. Out of this cosmic Well flow the Elivagar, rivers of turbulent energy that eddy and curl around areas of empty space to create fields of potential where the Worlds can come into being as Eigenstates, manifesting out of potentiality into actuality through the shapings of the Great Powers.
Another image that is widespread in Indo-European and other mythologies is the World-Mill, an image that captures the turning wheel of the heavens and the changing seasons from the perspective of Earth. (See deSantillana’s Hamlet’s Mill: An Essay on Myth and the Frame of Time.) The sea is called ‘Hamlet’s Mill’ (Amlode’s mill) in a passage from Skaldskarpamal (prose Edda, p. 92), and maelstroms / huge whirlpools in the ocean are attributed to the presence of a giant mill on the bottom of the sea. A legend about Amlode / Hamlet tells that he pretended to be insane and called sand-banks “meal (flour) from the mill of the storms,” perhaps a reference, again, to the sea as ‘Hamlet’s Mill.’ (Saxo Grammaticus, Book Three.)
Here the imagery reflects the ocean’s churning, grinding power. As this giant mill under the sea turns, it creates the tides and the movements of the heavenly bodies around the earth. It also grinds up stone into sand and clay.
Viktor Rydberg in his Teutonic Mythology, chapter 80 (vol. 2) discusses this grinding action of the World-Mill, in particular as it relates to Ymir and other giants. The idea is that when giants (who are rock-beings) die, they are placed in the World-Mill and ground up into sand and clay, then cast up onto the shores of Midgard to form the soil of earth. Hence the kenning for sand as the ‘meal from the mill of storms.’ The famous line from the fairy-tale ‘Jack the Giant-Killer’ echoes this myth, where the giant threatens to ‘grind Jack’s bones to make his bread.’
A more recent branch of Heathenry, Urglaawe, is based on Deitsch (‘Pennsylvania Dutch’) traditions and folklore. The Mill plays an important role for them in the form of Holle’s Mill, the mill of the Goddess Frau Holle, which ‘processes’ people’s souls for rebirth, as Hamlet’s Mill ‘processes’ giants for recycling. (Schreiwer p. 46.)
When we put all this imagery together—Hvergelmir, the World-Mill, Hamlet’s Mill, Holle’s Mill, the mill at the bottom of the sea churning out sand and storms—we have a consolidated image of a cosmic process out of which new things arise (cosmogenesis), but which also breaks down and processes what is old and worn out into different forms for recycling. The roaring turbulence of Hvergelmir lies at the root of this process, powered by Fire and Ice, churning out a perpetual process of cosmogenesis. In its upper layers we can envision the World-Mill, powered by Hvergelmir’s energy, which turns the Worlds and recycles the materials of those worlds.
Entropic Inversion and Orlog
In different terms, I envision this as a process of entropic inversion. The second law of thermodynamics describes entropy as an inevitable or necessary process where ordered systems gradually become disordered, losing the energy needed to maintain their ordered structure, and eventually break down altogether. When I describe this as a ‘necessary’ process I’m linking up with Skuld’s domain here. But for her, I believe, this ‘necessity’ works both ways.
It seems clear to me that the shapings of all three Norns together are directed toward an underlying order, and an increase of complexity, that supports biological life and social systems, even when individual events may be disruptive. While we are gestating in the womb, the physical and spiritual elements that make up our being are gathered together and intricately ordered and coordinated. This is ‘uphill’ work from a physics point of view, requiring large inputs of energy on both physical and spiritual levels. As I see it, our Aldr soul plays an important role in this process as one who nourishes us with life-force to support this ordering process. As we age and decline, our energy diminishes and eventually at death all the life-energy is gone and the body decomposes. The time of aldr-lag, of ealdor-legu, arrives, when our Aldr is laid down in death. This is entropy at work, and the same process occurs within ecosystems and social systems.
The Norns are in charge of both ends of this process of weaving energy into functioning systems, and the necessary breakdown of those systems caused by entropy—the ‘orlog-while’ of each system or being. They choose life for us and set the terms of our death. They, along with the wisdom and memory of Mimir’s Well, shape the rise and fall of societies and cultures through layers of orlog. The waves of energy and entropy ebb and flow, and along with them, all the phenomena of life in Midgard. Underlying this process are the actions of Hvergelmir and the World-Mill, the genesis and the breaking down of that which was generated, in a perpetual ebb and flow.
When I use the term ‘entropic inversion,’ what I mean is this ebb and flow, this building up and breaking down, but then the reversal of that flow into building up again—flowing out in an ongoing process of renewal. When anything comes into being, energy at some level is required to create and maintain it. When that energy is dispersed it breaks down and loses its ordered nature. In physics, that’s the end of the story. In myth and on the spiritual levels, it’s not. While Ice, as entropy, imposes stillness, stability, stagnation, Fire perpetually generates more energy—energy that is uncontrolled, unshaped, unstable. Where they meet in the middle in Hvergelmir, this roaring cauldron contains both potentials—energy and entropy, force and form, flux and stability, creation and destruction: all mixed together in potential form.
How does this apply to orlog and its manifestation in the Worlds? I think this link comes through the ‘necessity’ of the Norns and Wyrd, and it works in a circular way. First, there is a necessary movement toward life and order, followed by the necessity of disorder and dissolution, but then there is again the movement toward genesis and renewal. These flows shape the Worlds of life, then move toward Ragnarok and their breakdown. And after the breakdown and a time of quiescence, the Earth arises again, green and fertile, out of the waters of the sea….and out of the World-Mill and Hvergelmir underlying those waters.
The seeds of decline and dissolution are laid at the beginning of anything that is coming into being. But the cosmic processes of generation and regeneration lie even deeper than that, inverting the action of entropy and dissolution. All that becomes, dissolves, but also forms the raw material for new beginnings.
We can make conscious use of this process, on an individual spiritual level, when we wish to transform harmful layers of orlog in our lives into more life-supporting layers, and lay new threads on the loom of wyrd that is our life. This work is energized by love for self and others, by trust and faith in Heathen works and ways, and by work with the Holy Ones. It uses as its raw material the wisdom and inspiration from Mimir’s Well and the orlog that lies in Urð’s Well. But it also depends profoundly on work with Hvergelmir and the World-Mill: being willing to let go, to accept loss and sacrifice, to repay our shild, to pay whatever price must be paid, to allow to die that which must die: the full acceptance of necessity. All is cast into that great, churning cauldron of inversion and transformation, with no way of knowing what may then be cast up again by the World-Mill onto the shores of our inner being, to be gathered up and laid as new layers of orlog in our life.
I have created a ritual that is based on this work of the three Wells, which you can use to structure such a process of transformation if you wish. It’s available on this website, called “Threads of Wyrd and Shild: A Ninefold Rite of Life-Renewal.” This article on The Work of the Three Wells provides the theoretical basis for that ritual.
Note: This article is included in my book Orlog Yesterday and Today: The Shapings of the Norns, which provides more context for the discussion here.
Book-Hoard
Bauschatz, Paul C. The Well and the Tree: World and Time in Early Germanic Culture. The University of Massachusetts Press, 1982.
de Santillana, Giorgio, and Hertha von Dechend. Hamlet’s Mill: An Essay on Myth and the Frame of Time. Gambit, 1969.
Larrington, Carolyne, transl. The Poetic Edda, revised edition. Oxford University Press, 2014.
Rydberg, Viktor, transl. Rasmus B. Anderson. Teutonic Mythology vol. II. New York: Norrona Society, 1906.
Saxo Grammaticus. The Danish History. Translated by Oliver Elton, Project Gutenberg, 2004, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Saxo+Grammaticus+The+Danish+History
Schreiwer, Robert, and Ammerili Eckhart. A Dictionary of Urglaawe Terminology. Urglaawe, 2012.
Simek, Rudolf. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1993.
Sturluson, Snorri, transl. Anthony Faulkes. Edda. Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1995.