*This article is an excerpt from "Habitrot and The Wood Maiden: Spinning Goddesses and Imagery in European Tradition ," European Fairy Tales Series​ Vol VII.

​We have discussed the role of the Fates in European folk tradition and briefly mentioned that they are typically depicted as three female spinners. However, as it has been discussed in previous volumes of this series, definitions can be somewhat blurry, and representations of figures tend to bleed into one another. 

There is certainly an association with spinning and weaving with the conception of fate and destiny. In fact, the concept of our fate, called Wyrd in the Anglo-Saxon tradition, is conceptualized as a great web made up of strands that are spun by the three spinners (the Fates, called the Norns in Germanic tradition). Wyrd can be seen as a cosmic tapestry of your life that exists in the spiritual plane.

Since starting the European Fairy Tales Series, I've been struck with just how much of the ancient native European worldview is embedded within our folk and fairy tale tradition.  There are several ways that this appears, but one important theme found in a majority of fairy tales is the concept of fate and destiny.