In many ways a book that can be profitably paired with The Muses: Calling to Creativity & Inspiration , Irisanya Moon’s The Norns: Weavers of Fate and Magick (also in the Pagan Portals series) draws on the Norse goddesses of fate and, in a way, inspiration, as they are the figures of Norse cosmology who determine the destinies of mortals, entangled in the threads of fate, or wyrd, as the concept exists in Germanic mythology. The Greek Muses inspire on the basis of an all-knowing perspective as the daughters of Mnemosyne, or Memory, and the Norns derive their omniscience from being the divine weavers of Fate itself. The comparison here is not an exact one, but it is a fascinating poetic perspective to think of both the Muses and the Norns as divinities who influence the theatre of mortal actions.
The Norns is also a short book, and serves as a clear and concise introduction to these complex figures of Germanic and Scandinavian mythology. It provides a bibliography of source material in which the Norns appear, such as The Poetic Edda, and scholarly works that examine the Norns in the larger context of the Norse cosmology. The Norns makes for an excellent introduction to the topic, and Moon proves herself again a trusted guide in the process.
Highly recommended.
~review by Christopher Greiner
Author: Irisanya Moon
Moon Books, 2026
112 pg. Paperback $12.95
