The FATES, or MOIRAE [Greek Moira is singular] are three sisters, goddesses or Titanesses, robed in white, who "sit in a cave in the far mountains."

CLOTHO [the spinner] spins the threads, each of which represents an individual human life. LACHESIS [the measurer, also called the weaver] measures the threads with her rod and weaves them into the great tapestry of life. ATROPOS [she who cannot be turned] cuts off each thread when the time has come.

They are apparently pre-existent and superior in power even to the gods themselves, for even Zeus must weigh his decisions in a golden scale and decide in favour of the weightier. In effect then, the FATES measure, decide upon, and terminate the life of every mortal. They may be the aspects of the TRIPLE GODDESS [i.e., maiden, matron, and crone], and the white robes suggest that they may be three phases of the moon goddess Artemis [also called Diana, Selena, Luna, and many other names], and they have been called The Elder Goddesses.

The names of two are still in our language, in cloth and in trope, tropic,
trophy, and atrophy.

Cf. Robert Graves, The Greek Myths, Vol. I, Ch. 10, pp. 48-49, et passim, and
Edith Hamilton, Mythology, passim.