Mythologic Geekery: The Fates
The next most popular gods for the Mythologic Geekery poll were the Fates. And they are very, very fun. Because with them we are so, so certain that they come from the Proto-Indo-European mythology. Because they show up all over the place and they show up with the same two images again and again: A water/mirror association and the yarn/spinning association. And almost always they are the maiden, the mother and the crone - a combination that is almost inescapable within Indo-European mythologies. More than that: Where we do not have the trio fates, we have a single fate goddess, who can show up either as the maiden, the mother or the crone. Prime example of this is Morrighan in the celtic mythology.
Now, there are some other variations, of course. In the old Lithuanian mythology they were not three, but seven.
But in general the are super interesting, because compared to almost any other deity within the Indo-European myths, they show up with such similar associations. Again, this maiden, mother, crone thing shows up again and again in association with fate. They are always female. And they pretty much always have an association with clothing and yarn, with a secondary association with water, that shows up mostly in those cultures that did a lot of sea faring.
The entire maiden, mother, crone thing comes probably from two things: Women were associated not only with birthing new life (aka starting a new fate), but also with midwifery. As well as the trio always showing the three different stages of life.
The water association is also fairly clear. Because water has been used in scrying (which might both be a "see what is far away" and "what is in the future") since time immemoriam. So, them being associated with water makes a ton of sense, too.
Now, the entire yarn and weaving aspect is more interesting. Because this is very specific to the Proto-Indo-European stuff and might actually tell us something about the Proto-Indo-European culture.
Because within a ton of Proto-Indo-European stuff the same imagery shows up again and again: The tapestry of life. Life and reality somehow being captured within a woven tapestry. Which might tell us, indeed, that weaving was quite important to the Proto-Indo-Europeans, and might have even been considered an artform.
Hence, the fates are weaving this tapestry of life.
Which might remind me: I find it kinda sad that the weaving aspect has gotten lost in a lot of modern depictions of them, with them being reduced to spinsters.
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