The Threads that Bind Us: Mending the Weave

About a year ago, I embarked on a drum journey to visit the Norns, the three Giant sisters of Norse cosmology: Urdr, Verdandi, and Skuld. The reason for my journey was simple: I needed to identify the gaps in my family’s fabric so I could help bring healing by mending our weave and weft, the fabric that makes us a family, both past and present. 

It became apparent as I watched the next generation grow and function as adults that they are carrying on many of the same patterns that my generation has graciously embraced by those who raised us. I’ve spent the last two years doing intensive ancestral healing work so that the next generation and those that follow can use new patterns and the toxic, dysfunctional ones can be laid to rest. 

I approached the eldest Norn sister, Urdr, and conversed with her about why I had come. She smiled and reached into her well. Reaching for a nearly invisible microfilament of light. She pulled and spun the light into thread. Handing me a spindle full of light thread, she said, “As much as you need but not more. She tilted her head towards her sister Verdandi.

As Verdandi took the thread, it solidified into a variegated golden yarn. She pointed for me to turn around. Behind I could see my ancestors. Some recent, many unknown. They kept going back, hundreds of people, thousands of people. In between some, there would be shadows or gaps consisting of several people. Handing me the thread, Verdandi instructed me to tie the end around my waist tightly and to give the ball of thread to my mother, who would then start passing it down the line. I watched as the thread moved until it reached a place that was either blank or in shadow. I sang until the thread mended the space and handed itself off to the next ancestor. We continued, my ancestors and I, to reweave the broken threads, to mend the gaps in our weave. 

Towards the end of the journey, two female ancestors took the end of the woven fabric and wrapped it around my shoulders. I could feel everyone’s embrace, support, and security. 

In Norse cosmology, this is called Ørlog. This is my thread in the Web of Wyrd that I weave through the choices I make. The Norns weave, spin, and create a huge web called the Web of Wyrd. These are the threads of fate that I have no control over. Ørlog is the thread(s) that I use and choose to weave inside my “neighborhood” in the Web of Wyrd with the Norns. I cannot reweave the past. I can only start in the present moment and weave or mend forward.

Shortly after this journey, I found myself in a yarn store, and there was a thread that reminded me of the variegated golden thread I had started to re-weave into my family fabric. As I would weave, the colors would change. I felt an urge and a sense of guidance to take this yarn and knit an ancestor's cloak. 

Throughout our time with Covid-19, I have knit with my ancestors, making this cloak. I have recently finished with it and wore it for the first time during the Wild Hunt in October. Daily throughout the year, I remember my ancestors but they are so present in my activities during November. It has been fitting to be surrounded by my ancestors during this month of honoring them. 

What are you choosing to do with your thread? What are you weaving into your life these days?