The Care and Feeding of Your House-Wight

Honoring the wights of your land and especially your home are important within Northern Tradition practice, and a Vanic-focused practice at that, as it keeps one mindful of the interconnectedness of things.  Gifting the land-wights is helpful to pay respect to your environment and the guardians/keepers of its life cycles.  Gifting the house-wight is an extension of this, as it recognizes that the home is a sacred place, to eat, and rest, to spend time with family and maybe friends, and to enjoy the bounties of the Earth.  (NOTE: By "house-wight" I am referring to "house-spirit" based on the Scandinavian folklore of tomte and nisse, who were thought to take care of a farmer's home, including the children, protecting the property and people from misfortune, especially at night when everyone was sleeping.  There is some cross-over into Anglo-Saxon folklore as well.  For purposes of this article I am going to use the word "wight" primarily.)

The house-wight is seen usually as a small elderly man, bearded, dressed in farmer's clothes.  He is, however, also believed to shapeshift, and can make himself invisible at will.  He is a protective and caring spirit but he is also very easy to offend.  In the days when most people lived on farms, he would, if angered, slap the people in the home, or kill livestock, or bring ruin to the farm.  The wight does not like changes in the ways things are done, whether at the farm or in the home.  He is also extremely offended by rudeness, which includes not warning him if things are spilled or dropped on the floor.

In order to keep the wight happy, it is necessary to placate him with gifts.  In Scandinavia the tomten are usually given a bowl of porridge on Christmas Eve.  He prefers his porridge with a pat of butter on top.  If he's not given his payment he will leave the farm or house, or work mischief therein.

Origins of the farm-wights are unclear.  It is thought that in regards to the tomten they are the soul of the first inhabitant on the farm.  Some also feel that the tomten have things in common with the land-spirits, who are not the same as the dead, and the two types of beings may be related.  My personal gnosis regarding the matter is that whether of a farm or a regular house, or apartment, or even a business -- these are land-spirits who decided to inhabit a building.  Not all buildings have wights.  In Europe, most of the farms and homes do have wights that have been there for centuries.  Here in the United States, the majority of homes do not have wights "built in".  The exception to this are places such as the 13 colonies where you have some houses dating back to the 1600s and many homes are over 100 years old in any case.  Most of the older homes have wights whether they "jumped ship" with the immigrants to the New World, or were land-spirits already there who decided to "shack up" as they saw the changing times.  In places like California where settlement by Europeans is mostly less than 200 years old, there are few building-wights to be found naturally.  In my own personal case, mine came with me on the plane when I moved out here: he attached himself to me when I was a small child and living in a place in Connecticut that was over 100 years old.

If you are in a newer place that does not have a wight (e.g. an apartment in California), you can call one to you by working with the local land-spirits and leaving out offerings for one who might be interested in "cozying up".  Of course you will have to make it an attractive prospect, so having your home reasonably attractive would help.


Even with the best intentions of honoring your house-wight, sometimes advice is needed especially if your house-wight is noticeably angry.  I have found over the years that if you are "sensitive", especially as a Northern religionist, and you are aware of your house-wight and he feels ignored, he can make your life interesting.  Here are a few telltale signs that your house-wight may be displeased with you:

-- Things that you *know* you placed in a specific area, are not there anymore and turn up in completely bizarre locations days after you gave up searching for them.

-- Things break randomly, like a glass just slips out of your hands and crashes to the floor.

-- You find yourself getting into quarrels with other people who live with you, over the stupidest things.

-- There are strange and even scary noises in the middle of the night and you are not sure what is causing them.

-- Your sleep is unrestful despite nothing physical or situational that could be affecting it.


If you treat your house-wight with respect, he is an asset to a peaceful, happy, healthy existence.  He can ward property from vandalism and theft, ward people from physical danger, warn the house residents about problems (storms, fire), and contribute to a "warm, cozy" atmosphere.  Here are some tricks I've found in my own personal experience, to keep the house-wight happy:

-- Give him an offering at least once a week.  Coffee is good.  Porridge would be best, but for moderns bread with butter on it will suffice.

-- Give him shiny objects to play with.  Marbles are good, as are little semiprecious stones, bells, skeleton keys.  Those are favorites of most house-wights.

-- Candles are another good thing (keeping the house-wight "warm"), and some house-wights like various incense or herbal smells.  Some even like smoking a pipe, so giving tobacco is good if your house-wight has requested it (when in doubt, ask).

-- You will want to cleanse your home from a psychic perspective at least once every 2 weeks, whether you sprinkle salt water around the place or do an herbal smudge, or a combination of the two.  Please note that with the latter it is best to use plants that grow locally to you.  The house-wight will assist in making the place "feel" better, but he must be consciously invoked in order to help.  NOTE: Behavior that your house-wight deems offensive in this regard, such as threatening land-spirits with a hammer, will not be received with appreciation.

-- Be mindful of your tone of voice and treatment of other people who live with you.  The house-wight does not like witnessing fighting, he finds it rude.  If you must argue, take it outside.


House-wights as individual beings of course may have specific preferences regarding offerings, and behavior they find inappropriate.  But this is a generalist list and applies to most.

Having a happy house-wight is necessary for a happy home if you are working with a spiritual path that makes you at all sensitive to the spirits of place.  It is especially valuable to do this when working with the Vanir primarily, who have strong ties to the land and believe the home and hearth should be defended.

(C) 2008 Sigrun Freyskona.