The Stars of Fate: The Nornir
The zodiacal constellation we now know as Libra was renamed this by the Romans. The Greeks called it the Claws of the Scorpion, and it was then less about human fairness and more about karmic judgment, the weighing of the soul in the underworld after death. The three brightest stars in the Scales (or the Claws) are Zuben Eschamali, Zuben Elgenubi, and Zuben Hakrabi—all named for claws that drag you to your destiny whether you like it or not.
It was the three Nornir who stood forth for these stars of judgment and justice—and, according to more modern sources, social reform. Zuben Eschamali is Urda’s Spindle, as the eldest Norn spins the threads of life. It is associated with social reform done more professionally, as Urda is the eldest and has been doing it the longest. Zuben Hakrabi is Verdandi’s Loom, and is associated with social reform done strategically, from a distance. Zuben Elgenubi was the “bad luck” one of the stars, originally referred to as “the price too high”; it is Skuld’s Shears to cut the threads, and is modernly associated with attempting social reform from an amateur place, up close in the grassroots, for a goal that one may never see.