Download The Three Witches from Macbeth=The Fates of Mythology There are

The Three Witches from Macbeth=The Fates of Mythology
There are fragments of mythology embedded in ceremonial rituals dating back to times before stories were written down. One
of the earliest known is a passage describing how an eagle found two goddesses of the underworld in a forest holding spindles
and spinning long years for the king-forerunners of the Greek= Moirai (Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos), Roman=Parcae (Nona,
Decima, Parcae), and Germanic Norns.
The Greek Fates were very important in their lore, but they had no home either with the gods or on the earth. Clotho spun the
thread of life on her spindle. Lachesis measured the thread. Atropos, Lady of the Shears, snipped the thread of life when it had
been measured out.
Their Roman counterparts were not as popular, but that has a lot to do with the fact that most Roman gods were renamed or
replaced with Greek gods as Greece grew to socially and politically dominate the region around the northern Mediterranean.
In Norse mythology, the Norns are the demi-goddesses of destiny. They control the destinies of both gods and men, as well as
the unchanging laws of the cosmos. They are represented as three sisters: Urd ("fate"), Verdandi ("necessity") and Skuld
("being"). They live at the base of the World Tree Yggdrasil in the realm of Asgard. Nothing lasts forever, and even the mighty
Yggdrasil is subject to decay. The Norns try to stop this process, or at least slow it down, by pouring mud and water from the
Well of Fate over its branches. This magical liquid stops the rotting process for the time being.
Remember what I said at the beginning about two goddesses in a forest holding spindles of “year-thread/” All those attributes
are covered in just three different cultural views. Imagine how many more connections are waiting to be found!
We all know that the best stories are the ones that are retold. Since Greek culture was dominant, Greek versions of myths
flourished while others fell into obscurity. Everything that happens has a direct effect on something else, which is part of the
reason for this discussion. Our word cloth comes from Clotho, the spinner. See? Direct effect. Cloth is a word we still use
today, over 2000 years after the naming of this deity. Conversely, the only modern reference to Lachesis, the Disposer of Lots,
is from the Homeopathic practice of ingesting small amounts of venom from the South and Central American Bushmaster snake.
Some try this very risky method to aid in cocaine addiction. The problem is much like drowning a witch, it either works or it kills
you. Since we generally shy away from Homeopathy in the U.S., we don’t hear much about the statistics of positive outcomes
for such “cures.” The most dangerous sister, Atropos, shares her name with the Greek word for deadly nightshade, a herb/weed
that grows wild, and in concentrated amounts, is just as its name suggests.
The feminine name Moira is derived from Moirai, and is defined as: not a god, but a mysterious, tremendous power, stronger
even than the gods. To scorn Fate was to bring Nemesis, the certain consequence of defying Fate.
Nemesis is usually translated as righteous anger. She was a goddess, but did not have a home among the gods. Hesiod says
only when men have finally become completely wicked, will Nemesis, her beautiful face veiled in white, leave the earth and be
welcome among the immortals.
Nemesis and Themis, mother of the Fates, shared a temple at Rhamnous. The idea was that when Themis (divine or natural
law) was ignored, then Nemesis would go into action, as goddess of retribution against those who committed hubris (arrogance)
in rejecting divine law and order.
Fate is also the base for fae. It is derived from the Latin fata "fates" (plural of fatum "fate"). The literal meaning is "that which has
been spoken" and implies a destiny which has been pronounced by the gods. Shakespeare alluded to this triple-goddess in
Macbeth where the three "weird sisters" (the Old English wyrd meant fate or destiny) predict the futures of Macbeth and
MacDuff.
After the Roman Empire converted to Christianity in 320 A.D., the old myths lost their power to inspire and terrify. The Fata were
progressively marginalized until they lost their ability to frighten and coerce and were thought of simply as a race similar to
mortals but endowed with magic - the fay.
Is it fate or free will? Was Macbeth evil because he was evil, or did the Witches plant that idea in his head, making him thus?