The Fates & the Graiae
The Fates also called the
Moerae or the Parcae
The goddesses of fate. Their name means "allotters".
According to who you read, their mother was Nyx, or Gaea, or Ananke, fathered
by Zeus yet in most myths they were eternal and more powerful than any
of the Gods; and they are, or are not, sisters to the Horae or to the Erinyes.
In any case, they are responsible for the beginning, the middle, and the
end of each life; they appear as old women spinning out the individual's
life like thread from a spinning wheel.
They are:
Clotho
She who draws the thread from the spindle (the
beginning).
Lachesis
She who measures the lenth of thread (the middle).
Atropos/Astropos
She who cuts the thread of life (the ending),
and appeared as a crone.
The Graiae
The Graeae (means "gray ones" or "the crones")
were the three sisters of the Gorgons. They were swan maidens who guarded
the approach to their sister's sanctuary. They were gray-haired (from birth),
and, according to some myths, had but one eye and one tooth between them.They
were very wise. Daughters of Phorcys and Ceto, they were personifications
of the white foam of the sea.
They were:
Pemphredo ("wasp") or alarm
The beautifully clothed one.
Enyo ("the shaker") horror
She who always dresses in yellow.
Deino ("the terrifier") or
dread