Indispensable to Germanic Heathenry is the complex Law of Reciprocity (n.). All past action is woven into a great interconnected web known as wyrd (n. OE, “that which has become”, derived from IE *wert- “to turn”) and contributes to an individual’s future consequences. Although some Heathens are fatalists (n.) and believe no one can escape predestination, most are not. The three Nornir (n., sing. Norn) are powerful Goddesses and their name is often mistranslated as “Fates”, but they are usually viewed as spiritual entities that contribute to, rather than control, a person’s destiny. Many Heathens are actually fairly transcendental (adj.) in their self-empowering view that all people are the free-willed masters of their destiny, yet are realists (n.) in their understanding that all things are finite and subject to outside forces. The idea of past action laying out the state of the present circumstances and contributing to the course of the future is pivotal to understanding orlog (n., ON “primal layers/waters”). Heathens believe that no person is born a blank slate but is, at birth, the present state of one’s ancestors’ deeds. All people are born into a particular social condition, in a particular environment, with particular genetic gifts and burdens. Man is born into the deeds (or lack thereof) of his ancestors and continues to contribute to the orlog of both the individual and the collective, for good or ill. Because of the reciprocal, sewing/reaping nature of wyrd and orlog the terms are often both used by Heathens in the same way “karma” is used in popular culture (e.g. “weaving ill wyrd” could be the contextual equivalent of “building bad karma”). In truth, the concepts are not so far separated since both Hinduism and Heathenry have the same cultural roots with the proto-Indo-Europeans (n.), a prehistoric people who probably originated in the steppes of what is modern day Ukraine and eventually spread across Eurasia some 4000 years ago and settled as far southeast as the Indus Valley and as far northwest as Scandinavia. Heathens will often use wyrd in the pun, “That was wyrd”, to imply a strange event or circumstance that is simply too strange to be a coincidence. Significantly, wyrd is the linguistic grandsire of the modern English, “weird”.
Instead of begging for forgiveness and eternally forgiving, Heathens pay and expect scyld (n. OE, “debt” – sidenote: scyld can also mean “shield”) when ill deeds are done. If a Heathen is somehow injured (physically, monetarily, emotionally, etc.) by someone else, the Heathen may expect compensation for the trespass and scyld will be set by the injured party, usually with witnesses for both mediation and verification. However, if an individual repeatedly shows poor character and negatively impacts an individual or community, the injured party need not continuously give 3rd, 4th (ad nauseum) chances or expect scyld. In other words, Heathens are rarely obligated to “give chances” to others. Forgiveness is not completely absent in Heathenry but it is generally an intimate, personal experience and not obligatory. There are some acts (particular crimes against children, for example) that are considered unforgivable (adj.) by most Heathens. The term unforgiven (adj., v., n.) should not be confused with unforgivable. “Unforgiven” will sometimes be adopted by a Heathen to signify their distinction from the supplicating, monotheistic religions that claim to provide both perpetual forgiveness and eternal bliss.
The term wergild (n. OE “man-price”) is linked to scyld but is usually used in more extreme circumstances; the terms are, however, sometimes used interchangeably.
"Wyrd and Orlog." Wednesbury Shire of White Marsh Theod. White Marsh Theod, 2011. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. <http://www.englatheod.org/wyrd.htm>.
The White Marsh Theod is a published group within the Theodist branch of Heathenry and provides credible articles concerning the modern practice of the ancient Anglo-Saxon folkway. As the above title implies, it was
particularly helpful in this post concerning the concepts of wyrd and orlog.
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