![]() Around the borders is a passage from the Völuspá, rendered in characters of runic style, that describes the Tree and Norns. ![]() She is touching the runes that the fateful Maidens have inscribed on the Tree. ![]() The third figure standing next to the tree is Skuld, shown as a maiden holding a staff topped by a raven. She is modeled after numerous Frankish depictions of Mother Earth that survived in the margins of Christian texts. In the center, under the Tree, sits Verthandi, nourishing a serpent at her breast. ![]() Here the eldest Norn, Ur∂r, is shown as a Spinner of Fate, sitting beside the Ur∂rbrunnr, the primal Well of Being that is named after her. From this great ash tree fall vitalizing dews that moisten the soil underneath and nurture swarms of bees. In the painting, the sacred Well of Life flows out of the Earth beneath a Mystery Tree, whose roots reach into the underworld, its branches into the heavens. These primordial Three Maidens lay down the laws of Nature and shape the destiny of all beings, carving runes into the Tree. They mark on the wood, they ordain laws, they allot lives for human children, speaking their fates.” It is sung by a seeress, who tells of the all-knowing Fates who dwell under a great Tree beside an ever-living Well: “Urd is one called, Ver∂andi the next, and Skuld, the third. The Völuspá (“Sibyl’s Prophecy”) is the oldest poem in the Icelandic Edda. ![]() Pen, acrylics, and pastels, by Max Dashu, 1980-84 ![]()
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