This is a very interesting discussion—thank you all, and especially JMG!
In case it’s relevant—maybe, maybe not—in the book I’m currently writing about orlog, wyrd, and the Norns, one chapter covers what I call the quantum nature of the Norns’ work. Given JMG’s suggestion that the subnatural may equate to the quantum realm, it’s an interesting thought that by working through the subnatural realm, supernatural beings, the Norns, serve as a bridge between subnatural and supernatural, in the process shaping our human lives in the middle, the natural realm.
To briefly summarize the specifics, I’ll describe each Norn’s role in turn, as I see it.
Verdandi, the Norn of “What is Becoming”, of the very instant when potential becomes actual in the Midgard realm, works in the quantum field of wave function collapse. Her act of observing each being, event, phenomenon, as it comes into manifestation in Midgard serves as a catalyst for the process of Becoming. Her act of observation causes Schrödinger’s cat to collapse from a probabilistic state into a state of deadness or aliveness when the box is opened. Her supervision of Becoming also causes each thing that comes into being to take on its own Eigenstate, its individual characteristics, of which that being’s or event’s orlog or wyrd is a part. I see Verdandi, a supernatural being, as the midwife bringing about birth from the quantum realm—perhaps the subnatural realm—into what we call the natural realm of Midgard: very much a bridging function.
The name of the Norn Skuld comes from the word ‘shall, skulu, sceal’ but not primarily in its form as an auxiliary to a future tense. Rather, the old meaning of the word most often relates to obligation, debt, consequences, or necessity. Rather than implying a future tense, it generally implied a continuous present, something that is obliged to happen or should happen on a regular basis. I see Skuld’s role as recognizing and acting upon the debts, obligations, consequences that arise because of entanglements between all of us, all our deeds, relationships, actions, events, phenomena of Nature, everything. Quantum entanglement, and all entanglement, is the necessity that she responds to. What happens to one particle happens to all other particles that are entangled with it, creating complexities that she is obliged to deal with through orlog and wyrd.
Urdh or Wyrd is the Norn of “What-Is,” of everything that has happened, which continually creates and shapes the substrate for What-is-Becoming. What-is-Becoming arises from that substrate and is shaped by it, at the same time that each thing which Becomes reshapes the substance of What-Is. The effect and impact of the past upon each of us, and upon larger groups and cultures, depends a good deal upon our understanding and interpretation of the past as we know it. As you and many have discussed, JMG, all human knowledge is necessarily subjective, and yet we have ways to approximate an objective view. The past shapes the present in both subjective and objective ways.
For example, living in a country in a state of war, living through it, and continuing with life afterwards. There are / were many objective effects of this war, and many subjective effects, all of which were interpreted and reinterpreted in different ways, from different points of view, based on differing experiences and biases. These form part of the histories of the countries involved, which then shape aspects of their cultural identities. Later revisions of history may create significant changes of interpretation and thus different perspectives on identity and history.
This all relates to Urdh’s domain of What-Is: what *really* is, here? There is the objective Past, which we can never completely comprehend, and a multiplicity of subjective Pasts which would be impossible for us to understand in its entirety, and then there is all the reinterpretation that goes on, and all of this is impactful and relevant to us as humans, to Midgard, and to the Deities involved with humans and Midgard.
The way I try to philosophically sort my way through this confusion is by understanding Urdh’s work with What-Is as an expression of the quantum phenomenon of wave-particle duality, as in ‘light is both a particle and wave.’ Whether it manifests as a particle or a wave depends on the design of the experiment one is conducting to observe it. I liken the objective past to a particle, and the subjective past to a wave. There are more-objective ways to study the past, such as archaeology or geology (which still depend on subjective interpretations, but not entirely on them), and very subjective ways of studying the past such as clairvoyant work or ancestral-spirit contact. And there are a great many ways that lie in between those extremes, like various approaches to studying history or anthropology, or one’s own family history.
The What-Is that Urdh lays in layers of orlog in the Well of Wyrd is not only the objective past but also subjective past, because what she and all the Norns focus on is *significance* rather than strict factuality. Their shaping of orlog is based on meaning: the meaning that deeds and events have for them, for us, for the Gods, for Midgard’s wyrd as a whole. The substance of her weaving is both wave and particle, subjective and objective, and takes its meaning therefrom. This both / and nature of her weaving of reality partakes of the nature of the quantum realm as does the work of her sisters.
If, as you suggest, the subnatural realm consists of or includes the quantum realm, then I see the Norns as the midwives and mediators between subnatural, supernatural, and natural realms. And not incidentally, their weavings result in layers of orlog, wyrd, fate being laid in the Well and nourishing the World-Tree: the containers of Time and Space. This involvement of orlog in turn is relevant to what you’ve written in the articles you linked to your comment above, about the consequences of paths of evil, the quantum nature of cyberspace, etc.
As always, many thanks to you and the commentariat for these discussions!
no subject
In case it’s relevant—maybe, maybe not—in the book I’m currently writing about orlog, wyrd, and the Norns, one chapter covers what I call the quantum nature of the Norns’ work. Given JMG’s suggestion that the subnatural may equate to the quantum realm, it’s an interesting thought that by working through the subnatural realm, supernatural beings, the Norns, serve as a bridge between subnatural and supernatural, in the process shaping our human lives in the middle, the natural realm.
To briefly summarize the specifics, I’ll describe each Norn’s role in turn, as I see it.
Verdandi, the Norn of “What is Becoming”, of the very instant when potential becomes actual in the Midgard realm, works in the quantum field of wave function collapse. Her act of observing each being, event, phenomenon, as it comes into manifestation in Midgard serves as a catalyst for the process of Becoming. Her act of observation causes Schrödinger’s cat to collapse from a probabilistic state into a state of deadness or aliveness when the box is opened. Her supervision of Becoming also causes each thing that comes into being to take on its own Eigenstate, its individual characteristics, of which that being’s or event’s orlog or wyrd is a part. I see Verdandi, a supernatural being, as the midwife bringing about birth from the quantum realm—perhaps the subnatural realm—into what we call the natural realm of Midgard: very much a bridging function.
The name of the Norn Skuld comes from the word ‘shall, skulu, sceal’ but not primarily in its form as an auxiliary to a future tense. Rather, the old meaning of the word most often relates to obligation, debt, consequences, or necessity. Rather than implying a future tense, it generally implied a continuous present, something that is obliged to happen or should happen on a regular basis. I see Skuld’s role as recognizing and acting upon the debts, obligations, consequences that arise because of entanglements between all of us, all our deeds, relationships, actions, events, phenomena of Nature, everything. Quantum entanglement, and all entanglement, is the necessity that she responds to. What happens to one particle happens to all other particles that are entangled with it, creating complexities that she is obliged to deal with through orlog and wyrd.
Urdh or Wyrd is the Norn of “What-Is,” of everything that has happened, which continually creates and shapes the substrate for What-is-Becoming. What-is-Becoming arises from that substrate and is shaped by it, at the same time that each thing which Becomes reshapes the substance of What-Is. The effect and impact of the past upon each of us, and upon larger groups and cultures, depends a good deal upon our understanding and interpretation of the past as we know it. As you and many have discussed, JMG, all human knowledge is necessarily subjective, and yet we have ways to approximate an objective view. The past shapes the present in both subjective and objective ways.
For example, living in a country in a state of war, living through it, and continuing with life afterwards. There are / were many objective effects of this war, and many subjective effects, all of which were interpreted and reinterpreted in different ways, from different points of view, based on differing experiences and biases. These form part of the histories of the countries involved, which then shape aspects of their cultural identities. Later revisions of history may create significant changes of interpretation and thus different perspectives on identity and history.
This all relates to Urdh’s domain of What-Is: what *really* is, here? There is the objective Past, which we can never completely comprehend, and a multiplicity of subjective Pasts which would be impossible for us to understand in its entirety, and then there is all the reinterpretation that goes on, and all of this is impactful and relevant to us as humans, to Midgard, and to the Deities involved with humans and Midgard.
The way I try to philosophically sort my way through this confusion is by understanding Urdh’s work with What-Is as an expression of the quantum phenomenon of wave-particle duality, as in ‘light is both a particle and wave.’ Whether it manifests as a particle or a wave depends on the design of the experiment one is conducting to observe it. I liken the objective past to a particle, and the subjective past to a wave. There are more-objective ways to study the past, such as archaeology or geology (which still depend on subjective interpretations, but not entirely on them), and very subjective ways of studying the past such as clairvoyant work or ancestral-spirit contact. And there are a great many ways that lie in between those extremes, like various approaches to studying history or anthropology, or one’s own family history.
The What-Is that Urdh lays in layers of orlog in the Well of Wyrd is not only the objective past but also subjective past, because what she and all the Norns focus on is *significance* rather than strict factuality. Their shaping of orlog is based on meaning: the meaning that deeds and events have for them, for us, for the Gods, for Midgard’s wyrd as a whole. The substance of her weaving is both wave and particle, subjective and objective, and takes its meaning therefrom. This both / and nature of her weaving of reality partakes of the nature of the quantum realm as does the work of her sisters.
If, as you suggest, the subnatural realm consists of or includes the quantum realm, then I see the Norns as the midwives and mediators between subnatural, supernatural, and natural realms. And not incidentally, their weavings result in layers of orlog, wyrd, fate being laid in the Well and nourishing the World-Tree: the containers of Time and Space. This involvement of orlog in turn is relevant to what you’ve written in the articles you linked to your comment above, about the consequences of paths of evil, the quantum nature of cyberspace, etc.
As always, many thanks to you and the commentariat for these discussions!
Winifred Hodge Rose