Reflecting on a source story*:The Well of Wyrd^…

Please note - this post grew much longer than I expected and some of the details are for my learning that I want to also share…feel free to simply enjoy the story / share your thoughts on its meaning.

"…And then I learned my first source Story: The Well of Wyrd. That’s right, Wyrd…as in W-y-r-d. It from the Norse - Nordic/Anglo-Saxon… 

…The Well of Wyrd is a well that sits beneath a Tree - The World Tree, the Tree of Life, Yggdrasil.

…Though I haven’t yet worked out which way it grows - from above, or from below…maybe both?…

…The Tree’s roots feed and are nourished by the Well, and in time, the Tree of Life grows and bears Fruit…

…Each night dew forms, and settles on the Tree of Life and its Fruit.

And every morning, the dew drips gently from the branches, from the Fruit, into the well

…- And so the Well feeds and nourishes the Tree and its branches, which in turn grows and bears fruit, which in turn feeds and nourishes the Well…"

^ Special thanks to Sara Kovari who through conversation and friendship and her fabulous joyful self gifted this story to me - like with all stories, please feel free to share/pass it on…I highly recommend telling it aloud as it is written for that…feel free to retell in any way that please you…

*Source Story: I made this concept up, ’source story’ though it may be a term before me (?) - for me it describes stories that live close to the source: of life, knowledge…whoever hears these stories seems to innately understand them, even before the explanation..for me the dreams and morning thoughts I have after speaking and thinking about this story are very powerful…and it has taught me a lot about life time and the universe…which helps in my life as well as my storytelling…this is a BIG story - like many I tell they start out deceptively short and seem to have endless meanings and breadth and depth and height…you can see by the list of references below I have a long way to go to understand this story more deeply and thus tell it more…

How I collected this story? Sara and I were having a conversation about the word ‘wierd’ - she had learned it had once meant ‘fate’. I was intrigued and began looking into it and discovered this story - I used the wikipedia version as a starter piece and my own telling style to rework the parable…I am still looking for the stories source in greater length -  feel free to share resources you know.

What do I think it means: To me the parable tells of past-present-future-past…cycle/spiral - Infinite Choice AND Infinite Plan - choice and plan, free will and determinism co-exist/co-habit. In a way I have coceived of life and change this way and find it freeing, and now feel even more clear about it the concept.  

Implications -  we can all change the world/our lives for the better: "to Change the Future, Change the Present, as you then Create a New Past/Change the Past…which in turn Changes your Future" — Natalie Shell - (see here for example)

That is our human gift: we can speak our worlds into being…we can choose what seeds and fruit we want to sow grow and reap…and if we want to change our future we only need to work with the present, in our life/day-day lives,  to change it - the present which becomes our immediate past, which helps to grow and new future …we always have a choice, even if how we are going to respond to what is going on around us…to change how we are coming into situations…’what can I change in myself…’ This doesn’t mean the world doesn’t act on us, too and yet it does mean that we are forever free to choose…

Everything is interconnected.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Backstoryies:

- Of small seeds and drops…oaks and waterfalls grow:

Recently am re-learning and re-confirming the importance of something I learned and often share with clients - "just start" - the easiest way to achieve a future outcome is to start it…no matter how small…like cleaning your home: start with just one corner (I heard this example from someone else) - concept is ancient and yet an awfully powerful impactful ’small thing’ and simple and managable and practical. After a lot of little acts you may well have your clean house and much much more! Another way of thinking about it for me is how many thoughts and ideas grow from this story for me personally, and for others who hear it…it seems very alive…

- The First Idea: Source Story-Fabric-Book-Multimedia Project

With thanks to a conversation with Cathryn, I imagine growing/collecting and telling a collection of source stories - in addition to their telling the idea is for my friend, collaborator and fabulous artist and textile designer, Sarah Borenstein, (she of my blog header fame;)), to translate/turn these stories/words into fabric…I imagine there will be 12 panels…which we will them photograph and sew/stitch up into a book…and who knows what else will grow out of it. Interestingly, I had asked Sarah to do this before realising / learning that it is three weaving sisters that tend [to] the well…and hold a thread for everyone’s life…

- The Second Idea: Story-Dialogue

With thanks to Paul, we are going to pilot some phone/skype dialogues that start with my telling source story and move from there…he is generously allowing me to grow my abilities as a teller…and I am very interested in playing with telephone/skype/VOIP/invisible shared space with human voice as well as face-face dialogue…it is a different context / "sphere of the between" (most eloquently put by Martin Buber) to play in!

Everything is inter-connected.

Image via Christopher D Sessums blog (thanks Christopher)

I am particularly taken with this image and it also satisties an intuition I have about which way the Tree of Life and Well of Wyrd work - ie does it hang from heavan or does it grow from below…in this image I see it reconciled…the sky/sky sphere becomes the well…lots of reflections…as above, so below, goes the alchemy phrase that has been playing in my head…as inside so outside is something I am playing with: a universe inside us, and the one we are in (outside of us…).

Some sources and related concepts to chase: for curiousity/story understanding/deepening 

Well of Urd

The Norns / The Norms & Moirae

Spindle & Drop Spindle

Yggdrasil - also the Tree that Odin nailed himself to, and subsequently discovered gifts including the Runes (alphabet); the well is where he lost an eye to discover/be gifted poetry

World Tree

Sleeping Beauty (though this seems to be too faery tale - need to find the original basis)

What is Wyrd - A. Æ. Hunt-Anschütz

Bauschatz, Paul. 1982. The Well and the Tree: World and Time in Early Germanic Culture. The University of Massachusetts Press.

The Universe as Alive

The Tree of Life - Sephirot

Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

Spider Woman/Grandmother - Navajo

PS I don’t recommend using only wikipedia as your resource and yet I also use it a lot and recommend it highly as a good initial source/starting point…and this post is a start…

End Note:  Realised this is an important story to tell with human voice and will endeavour to record the audio too…a little video may be relevant as I noticed as I was trying to write my spoken word that I have particular hand movements that seem to make sense…

This entry was posted on Friday, December 1st, 2006 at 11:12 am and is filed under action, change, conversation, dialogue, digital storytelling, fun, knowledge & wisdom, responsibility - personal, stories, technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.