What Exactly Are the Wights in Heathenry?
If you’ve entered Heathenry recently, or even if you have been in it a while, chances are you’ve heard about Wights. Often called the landvaetr, the wights are pretty intrinsic to Heathen beliefs. But what exactly are they, and how do they fit into the Heathen belief system?
Where the Term, Wight, Comes From
Heathens (as well as other pagans and fantasy writers) have co-oped the term to describe supernatural creatures that aren’t quite gods, but are still quite powerful. I believe we probably use the word because most people are familiar with the concept of wights nowadays, but aren’t necessarily familiar with the term, landvaetr. In other words, even though landvaetr or “land spirits” are the correct words to use (when talking about land wights), for simplicity sake, we use “wights.”
What Are Wights, Exactly?
Now that you’re familiar with the concept of wights, let’s talk about what a wight encompasses in Heathenry. Wights are just what you might think: Elves, Dwarves, Trolls, and other 
supernatural denizens. These include the nisse, tomte, disir, alfar, and hulderfolk. They include the ancestors who have continued after their death to reside in our world as spirits. And they include not only the land spirits, but also the sea spirits, of which there are many. This is the broadest sense of being a wight.
My Experience with Wights (Or Lack Thereof)
Growing up, I always wanted to see Elves and Fairies. Even when I was old enough to know better, while still being a preteen, I hoped to see the hidden folk. I grew up largely in suburbia, but way back when I was a kid (yeah, you can add the old codger voice to that), there were still tracts of undeveloped land around our homes. I lived in the Eastern US where you could still cross lands that had blackberry and raspberry bushes growing wild, find ruins of old farmsteads that predated the Civil War, and other cool things. We never thought we were trespassing on someone’s property, although I’m pretty sure we did that a lot, but we found some pretty cool stuff with metal detectors and just generally exploring. I knew most of the creeks and entrances into property where people wouldn’t give you grief for crossing. Yeah, I suppose it was a different time. My mom and dad had no idea where I was going, and I wasn’t worse for the wear.
Anyway, back to wights. Despite being in a history-rich area, I never saw a single wight. The gods know, I tried. Instead, I tromped through streams, played in the mud (and got in terrible trouble for that), explored, and discovered a lot of things. Wights—not so much. Maybe they just looked at me as some kid who was mostly harmless and alone. Maybe my early skepticism banished them, I don’t know.
Do Wights Exist?
It’s my guess—and you folks can argue with me over this—that most Heathens are pretty convinced that wights aren’t corporeal creatures, but more likely spirits. Or maybe they consider wights the personification of the natural forces at work. In other words, they aren’t really singular entities. Some people feel that they are ancestors—and yes, there are good cases for this. And some people believe them to be a little below gods. Again, there is a case for that as well.
That being said, I’m clearly on the agnostic side of the fence when it comes to wights. In other words, I haven’t actually had the pleasure of meeting one. I’ve spoken to people whom I consider sane (or mostly sane) who work with wights, so there is a possibility that they do exist on some level. Despite my agnostic views, I do make offerings to them. I also can do rituals that banish bad wights. Hel’s bells, I’ve even had some interesting experiences with what can only be considered gremlins. (The type that gum up mechanical things, not the creatures you’re never supposed to get wet or feed after dark.)
What Else About Wights?
There are literally books about wights, but for the sake of expediency, I won’t go into specifics in this post. Instead, I’m planning a series of posts about wights and the other less than godly creatures in our belief system and give you my take on them. And of course, if you’ve had dealings with wights, be sure to tell me about it in the comments!
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Before I get into the supposition that the gods are with us, let me address the personal nature of the gods, themselves. There are Heathens who believe that our gods really aren’t personal deities. That the concept of a personal deity comes from Christianity and those concepts taint our modern day beliefs. 
These aforementioned gods that have very little to do with humanity are not the gods I am talking about. The gods I am talking about are the gods who have made themselves known to humans. Who still make themselves known to humans. Odin, Thor, Freyja, Freyr, Tyr, Loki, Baldr, Skadi, Ullr, Heimdallr,…the list goes on. We would not know them if we did not have contact with them. Sure, you could say that hearing thunder and calling it a god is the basis for Thor, but then, why bother to have positive connotations with a thunder god if he didn’t somehow look benevolently on humans?
are reserved and only show up at times they deem is suitable. They seldom come when you call –remember, they’re not your bitches. Even if you ask nicely, you can get complete crickets. They may have more important things to pay attention to. Like the entire universe.
benevolent intentions, you should definitely get a name or an understanding of who or what they are. They shouldn’t be passing themselves off as a god. If they are, I wouldn’t want to deal with them simply because of the dishonesty.
Being mindful and paying attention to the land opens a whole new world of experiences you never knew existed. You start noticing not only the cooler temperatures of autumn setting in, but also the increase or decrease in humidity that follows the change. Maybe you start seeing stratus clouds and high cirrus replace the fluffy cumulus. Maybe you see a shift in the bird population, the increase or decrease of certain insects, or even the shift in the quality of light you get. Instead of noticing the latest fall fashions creeping into people’s wardrobes, you notice how the squirrels are moving from tree to tree to gather food. You may see different species of birds. If you live in a place with deer, you may see a shift in their foraging.
At this point, you may be wondering how this makes you a better Heathen. Let’s think about this a bit: our gods and the landvaettir are nature entities. Even Odin, who is our creator god, deals with natural forces. (How much more natural is the creation of life?) So, we’re looking at gods who reside over nature. By paying attention to things not human made, we gain a deeper understanding in the world around us. You become a better Heathen, and you even open yourself up to the wights and gods. It may or may not be a type of magic, but I know it works.
gods without all the mumbo-jumbo. In fact, I suspect it’s the best way to get in touch with the gods. You don’t get a conversation with the gods from mumbling prayers or sacrificing goats usually. You get that from opening yourself to them and seeing who pops up. That requires paying attention to them and listening to what they have to say.
supernatural beings. The concept of the angel, that is a messenger of the gods, goes back a fairly long ways in history. The concept isn’t linked just to the Abrahamic beliefs. The word, “angel,” comes from the Greek word, 
The concept of communing with angels and archangels doesn’t seem that farfetched to me, as I’ve noted. But the concept of charging people a monthly fee for their insight sends off warning bells as being a charlatan. They claim that people won’t believe their message if they don’t charge something, but getting rich off advice given by the minions of a poor Jewish carpenter seems a bit hypocritical. Okay, a lot hypocritical.
Yes, the runes are the runes. They may or may not tap into a god’s psyche. And one could claim, I suppose, that you spent umpty umpty bucks becoming a channeler. You know how much training I had with the runes? Zilch, other than books. You know how much training I had contacting gods? Yep, zilch, nada, none. And yet, I’ve gotten some interesting contacts.
For those getting into Heathenism, and for those who have been in Heathenism some time, it’s important to recognize when someone is blowing smoke up your ass. (As an aside, this term actually comes from an attempted “cure” by blowing smoke up someone’s ass. I know, TMI.) Basically if someone is demanding lots of money for something that isn’t particularly well defined, such as prognostication, you may want to ask a lot of questions. Questions include:
