Dramaturge: Witches

Witches / Norns/ 

From a time long-gone/FORGOTTEN. …WHEN Soothsaying (prophesizing) and magic were pre-eminent gifts of WOMEN …

-The Norse goddesses/giantess of DESTINY. ………spinning –twisting-threading-stretching –fastening..The GOLDEN thread of fate

“Mightily wove they
the web of fate,
While Bralund's towns
were trembling all;
And there the golden
threads they wove,
And in the moon's hall
fast they made them.” …..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norns

Spinners-weavers of FATE  - thy sacred number is 3three, seven, nine, thirteen, …WOMEN who SHAPE what is going to be …….to point out, to show and to DETERMINE. In song, in gesture, prophesizing, telling stories of the human race…thy names are past -that which became or happened- PRESENT that which is happening- AND FUTURE that which should become, or that needs to occur… AND at thee center of the universe YGGDRASIL… NEAR the gods that is where the MOUNTAIN ASH tree is found and that is where…thee beautiful maidens come forth from a hall…

Mountain ash = a tree with occult virtues a tree of power; a staff made from its wood will fend of sorcery: WOTAN the Nordic god carried such a staff….

What of the ORIGIN OF NORNS !
Who are the Norns
who are helpful in need,
And the babe from the mother bring?

. "Of many births
the Norns must be                                                                    
Nor one in race they were;
Some to gods, others
to elves are kin,
And Dvalin's daughters some."  #

***the ones that come to the child belong to the gods”
# belong to the dwarfs


“ Thence come the maidens
mighty in wisdom,
Three from the dwelling
down 'neath the tree;

Urth* is one named,       

Verthandi** the next,--
On the wood they scored,--

and Skuld*** the third.    
Laws they made there,
and life allotted
To the sons of men,
and set their fates”

*       URD = became =oldest norn
**    Verdandi = becoming/happening
***  Skuld=is to be/will happen =youngest norn


GOOD norns of good family give a good life, but those people whose destiny is not good, BAD norns cause that”…. GOOD and BAD life/destiny is a division that is present in the gods world as well….  fate is a two-sided sword, which side you are born on GIVES you the NORN that can fulfill the destiny…

Good to good- bad to bad-…

Birth and death is HANGING BY A THREAD…. AND the midwife/NORN cuts the cord that binds the child to its place of origin our MOTHER … and death and love cuts us loose by whatever else we are bound… it is at one’s birth that life is decided…

…..DORNROESCHEN (Little Brier-Rose) Brother GRIMM … GERMAN FAIRYTALES…
In past times there were a king and a queen, who said every day, "Oh, if only we had a child!" but they never received one.

Then it happened one day while the queen was sitting in her bath, that a frog crept out of the water onto the ground and said to her, "Your wish shall be fulfilled, and before a year passes you will bring a daughter into the world."

What the frog said did happen, and the queen gave birth to a girl who was so beautiful that the king could not contain himself for joy, and he ordered a great celebration. He invited not only his relatives, friends, and acquaintances, but also the wise women so that they would be kindly disposed toward the child. There were thirteen of them in his kingdom, but because he had only twelve golden plates from which they were to eat, one of them had to remain at home.

The feast was celebrated with great splendor, and at its conclusion the wise women presented the child with their magic gifts. The one gave her virtue, the second one beauty, the third one wealth, and so on with everything that one could wish for on earth.

The eleventh one had just pronounced her blessing when the thirteenth one suddenly walked in. She wanted to avenge herself for not having been invited, and without greeting anyone or even looking at them she cried out with a loud voice, "In the princess's fifteenth year she shall prick herself with a spindle and fall over dead." And without saying another word she turned around and left the hall.

Everyone was horrified, and the twelfth wise woman, who had not yet offered her wish, stepped foreward. Because she was unable to undo the wicked wish, but only to soften it, she said, "It shall not be her death. The princess will only fall into a hundred-year deep sleep." ………..

Judgment/verdict…a life lived out ……….URD comes when death is near….

Source:
Teutonic Mythology Part II, Part IV, Part I.
By Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm, Jacob Grimm
TRABSLATED J.S. STALLYBRASS

Norse mythology: a guide to the Gods, heroes, rituals, and beliefs
By John Lindow
Published by Oxford University Press US, 2002
ISBN 0195153820, 9780195153828
365 pages

Northern Mythology: Comprising the Principal Popular Traditions and Superstitions of Scandinavia, North Germany, and the Netherlands
By Benjamin Thorpe
Compiled by Benjamin Thorpe
Published by E. Lumley, 1851