wyrd

The idea of Wyrd, or fate, dominated Norse religion. This religion was as frigid as the clime of its birth; even the gods themselves were mortal, and men were subject to the whim of fate. Even after the Christianization of Britain the idea of Wyrd remained a powerful influence. One Pagan maxim went: "Wyrd goeth ever as it will."

Wyrd is the web of cause-and-effect that permeates the universe. The Germanic/North European equivalent of karma. Not to be confused with the capricious, externally-controlling fate conceived by Mediterranean peoples, it can instead be compared to the Hellenic/Orphean cosmogonic concept of "Eros", the Law of Interaction of Substances. Wyrd is the natural and necessary consequences of one's own interactions with the world; each individual actively shapes his or her own wyrd, either consciously or unconsciously. There are also family, town, state and national wyrd, which are shaped by the actions of the group as a whole. Wyrd, therefore, does not control our lives according to some divine whim; it is a precise system that responds to our own actions according to orlog, the fundamental law that governs the workings of our world.

"This is my wyrd, woven from the threads of my past thoughts and actions; I myself have designed the unfolding pattern of my life."