WORD OF THE DAY.

The Word of the Day comes from "BEFORE YOU KNEW MY NAME" by Jacqueline Bublitz.

MOIRAI

The Moira are three goddesses of destiny from Greek Mythology. Also know as "The Fates", they controlled the life and destiny of everybody.

For mortals their life was their destiny, and took the form of a thread spun from a spindle. It was Clotho who spun the thread. Lachesis would then determine the length of the thread and therefore the length of the mortal's life. Atropos was the cutter of the thread. Using her shears she would determine the manner of each mortal's death.

Essentially these three goddesses by controlling the length of a mortal's life and the way in which they died, controlled destiny and fate. It was believed that the job of the Moira was decreed by the universe itself and answered to no god, even Zeus himself.

It is an interesting point that Stephen King in his novel "INSOMNIA" bases his antagonists on the Moirai. Atropos in particular is a very nasty piece of work. I read the novel years ago when it was first published and enjoyed it very much.

Here is a synopsis -

Since his wife died, Ralph Roberts has been having trouble sleeping. Each night he awakens a little earlier until he's barely sleeping at all. During his late night vigils and walks, he observes some strange things going on in Derry, Maine. He sees colored ribbons streaming from people's heads. He witnesses two strange little men wandering the city under cover of night. He begins to suspect that these visions are something more than hallucinations brought about by sleep deprivation. Ralph and his friend, widow Lois Chasse, become enmeshed in events of cosmic significance.