Winifred Hodge Rose
Living things and landscape entities like lakes and mountains are the meeting places, users and transformers of Earth, Sun, Moon, and other celestial energies, both physical and metaphysical. Each physical entity possesses at least one soul or spirit that involves itself in this work, along with all the energy transformations and interactions performed by its physical body. The landscape is further populated with many kinds of metaphysical beings which we can, for ease of reference, group together as “landwights.” There are also Landwights that encompass the soul of a place, whether a large region or a small homestead. These were called the genii loci by the Romans. I like to capitalize these latter Landwights to distinguish them from the smaller, free-roaming landscape wights of many kinds. I must also say that when I have communicated through the thought of the heart with many different kinds of free-roaming landwights, dwarves and other beings associated with the land, they have always referred to the Landwight of a place in a way that makes the capital letters very clear: “The Wight” or “The Landwight”, thought in a tone of respect.
All of the embodied beings, indwelling souls or spirits, and non-embodied beings interact on all levels with the great souls and bodies of the Earth, Sun, and Moon, creating together a nested set of physical-spiritual ecosystems in which we are each a small part of the greater whole. In times and places not overly dominated by high-technology humans, the majority of the interactions and energy transformations occurred within a relatively well-defined area, which was an interactive part of larger and smaller areas within and around it. These interactions and interdependencies are studied by the science of ecology, which has many branches. Here I will say a word about the branch of systems ecology and its relevance to understanding the interactions between landwights and humans.
Systems ecologists study ecosystems at different levels and look at the mass balances of matter and energy that flow into and out of an ecosystem, and particularly at the productivity of the system itself, how it uses, retains and maintains that energy and matter. A stable ecosystem will take incoming energy from the Sun, and incoming resources such as flows of surface and groundwater, wind-borne pollen, seeds and insects, migrating animals and plants, and use these inputs to build an ordered, structured system characterized by interactive layers of complexity and resilience. In the process, the ecosystem creates itself as a unique entity, nested within larger and smaller scale ecosystems with which it interacts in a relationship of mutual interdependence. Though a given ecosystem usually blends at the edges with other systems, it has a unique, distinguishable character. If it did not, it could not be identified as a particular ecosystem.
A raw, newly developing ecosystem, such as occurs after great destruction like a wildfire or a hurricane, lacks complexity and internal structure of producers (plants), consumers (animals, insects), and mediators (micro-organisms), and lacks the complex flows of energy and matter that knit together a mature, stable ecosystem. It requires more outside resources such as immigrating plant and animal species, and is fragile and easily disrupted. A mature, stable ecosystem generates much of its own biomass and biodiversity, maintaining complex internal layers and flows of energy and matter.
With this information in mind, I want to look at certain aspects of the eco-dynamics, if you will, between humans and Landwights, and look at the differences between past and present in industrialized parts of the world. A key element is the difference between the sources of energy and matter used by human settlements in the past and the present.
In less-industrialized human settlements, most of the materials, and especially most of the energy, was generated within that particular human-landscape ecosystem. Energy sources used by humans included their own strength, draft animals, locally grown wood and other fuels, local wind and water power, and the food they grew for themselves and domestic animals. Matter and energy which was no longer of use to humans remained in the system to be recycled through natural means: manure, waste, ashes, and indeed, the dead as well.
I mean no disrespect to the dead by this reference, but want to point out the importance of returning the human dead to the local land. Many, perhaps most, traditional cultures world-wide, including our own, have understood the very close connections between the human dead and the elves, landwights, even certain housewights thought to be the soul of the original founder of the homestead. Everything that existed in such settlements, including human bodies and souls, was understood to be part of a naturally recycling system, an essential process that created the hamingja, luck, fertility and well-being of the whole system. Thinking in metaphysical terms, I consider things like hamingja, maegen or megin, and luck as types of energy that contribute to the overall processes of a well-functioning Human-Landwight-Nature ecosystem. Humans profited by the smooth functioning of the system, and so did the various wights involved: wights of the house and the farmstead, and wights of the landscape. A key factor here is the local sourcing and recycling of most of the matter and energy within the system.
Now let’s look at a modern American town, not even a bustling metropolis, but just a medium-sized generic town. How much of the materials and energy used by this town are self-generated, produced locally? And how much of what humans call waste is safely and naturally processed and reused in some way within that same system? I’m sure you know the answer as well as I do: very, very little of any of the above! I won’t take up space here, going into details which any aware person can list for themselves, but will focus on a few points related to our theme.
Our energy sources are mostly from fossil fuels: oil, coal, gas, either used directly or converted to electricity. These fuels are formed from the bodies of plants and animals that died millions of years ago, and in most cases are transported from far away before they reach our generic town. Thus the primary fuel source is far distant from the local ecosystem not only in spatial terms but in time-span as well. And not only that, but it is distant in terms of biological relatedness to the plants and animals, and the wights, of the region where our town is located. The majority of materials the town uses, including even food and in some cases water, are also imported from distant regions.
Now let’s look for a moment at what happens during transition from a natural area into a built-up area, taking a development project such as a housing or mall area as our example. When the physical manifestations, like trees, rocks, animals, streams, are interfered with, damaged or destroyed by broad-scale human activities, the destroyed entities are breathed back into the Soul of the Earth, as they were breathed out into manifestation. There, they continue to occupy an inner landscape, of which the outer, physical landscape was the manifestation.
These landscapes, inner and outer, continue to be connected, but in a much less effective, more chaotic way, once they have been destroyed or displaced from their outer location. The flows and exchanges of matter and energy, both physical and metaphysical, that had been mediated, enhanced and directed by wights at many levels are now confused and disrupted. Natural physical entities no longer dwell on Earth’s surface to be bathed from above and below by the energies of Earth, Sun and Moon, and all the physical and metaphysical ecosystem work they did no longer takes place in a material way. Instead of the building-up and maintenance of an ordered system, entropy gains a hold and causes decline or collapse of the manifold ordering powers of ecosystems and their indwelling, guiding wights.
And what replaces the ecosystem processes that the wights and the living natural beings mediated? Humans still use energy and materials, maybe more than in the previous system, but at the present time these are sourced and processed in a very different way, as I discussed above. Now, complex human systems are developed to mediate energy and material processes, such as currency systems, transportation systems, economic activities, socio-political institutions and processes. All of these have their own life, their own importance and roles, and they shape our lives as modern humans. But in this system, there is no understanding of the role of wights, no attempt to recognize and cooperate with them, and insufficient recognition and respect for the role of physical ecosystem processes, though the latter is thankfully changing.
In my perception, all of these factors have a very damaging effect on the landwights of all kinds. The destruction of physical animals, plants, landscape entities like lakes and forests, and their ecosystems is clearly a matter of primary importance, something that many people are able to recognize without any reference to landwights. But of equal importance, I believe, are two factors I’ve discussed here: the almost entirely non-local sourcing of the energy and materials that give life to the system, and the lack of interaction between humans and wights. These two factors are interrelated, because if people do not feel dependent upon their own region for food and other needs, there is little incentive to engage in practices that mutually benefit landwights and humans. There are many actions that can benefit the wights even when humans are not consciously aware of this, but they all have to do with a human recognition of our dependence upon the land and our love and respect for it. Protecting the land, as in parks and refuges, is of great importance. But here I am talking about something in addition: the active co-participation of humans and wights within a landscape to create and maintain the needs of life.
Seen in this light, the benefits of the current world-wide movement toward sustainable relocalization, now in its infancy but beginning to develop momentum, take on even more importance than is already recognized by those who espouse it. If our hypothetical town begins to use more solar and wind power, for example, that is a human-technology way of taking up the role that natural entities played in the local ecosystem that humans replaced. Some towns are trying local currencies, usable only for goods and services provided by locally-owned vendors; of no use to global giants like Walmart or Exxon-Mobil. Farmers Markets and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) initiatives provide locally grown foods, home-made items, wool, and other goods. Craft guilds are starting up again, along with the Slow Food movement, back yard Victory gardens, and many others.
All of these initiatives are of great importance and benefit for many reasons. Unrecognized by most, among those reasons is the re-creation of conditions where landwights and humans can beneficially interact again, both working together to facilitate the local flows of energy and matter that they mutually depend upon. Though it would be better if this were a conscious effort, it’s unrealistic to imagine that that would be the case with very many people. Even so: ecosystems function with or without conscious understanding of these functions by humans, as long as humans are not actively destroying the systems. This is because we humans are part of the system, not outside of it; the system does not depend on our conscious understanding of it.
At least, that was the case in the past. Now, with human population and standards of living moving toward the edge of the Earth’s carrying capacity, more consciousness is required of humans if there is any hope of staying in balance with this carrying capacity. In heavily populated areas, we can’t go back to everyone burning wood or producing all their food in backyard gardens. Even renewable energy sources like solar, wind and hydropower come with significant environmental and socio-economic price tags. Compromises have to be made, and can only be wisely made when we are well informed and aware of the complex systems, natural and human, that are involved. For those few humans, and I pray they become more year by year, who are aware of the integral role of the Landwights as powerful children of the Earth, such wisdom needs to include our conscious communication and participation with the wights.
There are many ways to commune and participate with the landwights, and a number of good books and articles exist on the subject. Following as many suggestions and guidelines of the relocalization effort as you can and choose to is highly recommended! There are many resources for this online. Here I will just suggest a few things that can be consciously directed toward your personal relationship with the landwights. If you have a yard or garden plot, spend time tuning in to the land and the wights before you begin any work there. It may take awhile, but try to develop a sense that you’re not alone in this endeavor! The wights may have requests for things to do or refrain from doing on your land, and may have good advice for successful growing. I don’t hear them talk, though some do, but I keep myself open to impulses, intuitions, fleeting thoughts, a sense of what would be the best thing to do here. Sometimes you may receive useful guidance in dreams or trance-working. In an apartment home, growing houseplants and treating them as lovingly and respectfully as your Harrow or altar helps to tune you to the local wights. In either case, if you can grow something edible or drinkable, even if it is just some herbs in a flower pot, that is dedicated while growing to your local landwights, and then mindfully eat it or drink it as an herbal tea with a portion set aside for the wights, this will help build your connection as well.
One of my favorite ways of building long-term communication is through the use of flower essences and other essences or waters. These are super-simple to make: simply place a few flowers from your land or a natural area near you into a bowl of spring water, place it in the sunshine for an hour or two, then drink it as a sacred drink. Some people like to place the water in moonlight rather than sunlight. Scruffy little weed flowers, dandelions, ground ivy, anything non-poisonous: often the most insignificant seeming flowers are the most powerful. Just go where you’re drawn, except you need to be sure they have not been sprayed. Since I often prefer not to actually pick the flowers, sometimes I will shake the rain or dew off living flowers into a bowl of water instead. This is good to do in protected areas where you are not supposed to pick flowers. You can also set the bowl down near a clump of flowers and leave it for awhile to absorb the energies without harming the flowers. Another approach is to use a washed stone or twig you have found to make the essence, rather than flowers.
Even simpler, but just as meaningful, is to place a bowl of prayer-water either in your yard, in some natural area where you will spend an hour or so of time, or if that is not possible, in your home among your house-plants. Prayer-water or blessing-water is made by taking a bowl, if possible one that is beautiful or especially meaningful to you, filling it with whatever water seems right to you, holding it in both hands and then slowly and deeply breathing upon it three or nine times. Before you breathe, prepare in your mind the prayers, wishes, blessings, thoughts or communications you want to breathe into the water. As you begin, speak the dedication, to whom you direct your communication, in this case to Landwights specifically or generally. Then speak your prayer once, or speak the first part of a longer prayer, and breathe upon the water. Speak again, either repeating the prayer for more power, or following with the second part of it. And again, for a total of three or nine times. Then put the bowl down in the best place you can, and stay near it or go for a walk around the area. This is to allow the Landwights time to respond by placing their responses and energies in the water. When you feel this has been done, thank the wights, pour about half the water on the ground or in the flowerpots as their share, and drink the rest. Then spend a little more time absorbing the joined thoughts and energies, yours and the wights, that were placed in the water. Writing the results in your journal is a good idea.
Done over time, these kinds of activities will strengthen the communication and bonds between you and the wights, and strengthen your respective souls as well. The use of prayer-water is also excellent for communing with deities and ancestors, of course. You can make blessing-water the same way, to use for blessing and healing people, places, wights, animals and other beings. If you wish, you can add some mead, herbal tea, or other sacred brew to the water, but the water itself is important: it is a child of the Earth, energized by the Sun and Moon, as are the wights, and it should play the major role here. It is not a passive medium, but an active participant in the communion, a bearer and enhancer of the sacred energies.
I’d like to close by sharing two of my own experiences of the landwights, gained through spaeworking (trance-working). One is a description of The Landwight (definitely capitalized!) of our own homestead, Wynnwood. Though it seems like a “he” to me, I have never yet seen him in any anthropomorphic or animal-like form. Instead I see him as an energy shape, formed like a giant spindle wound with yarn that reaches half below the ground and half up into the air. Below the ground, a long strand of yarn energy reaches down toward the core of the Earth, the wight’s navel-cord to Mother Earth. At the top of the spindle another long cord reaches up in the atmosphere, with a tuft of fine filaments at the end that wave and move constantly. I see this tuft as the organ that connects the Wynnwood Wight with the Sun, Moon, and other celestial bodies. The periphery of the spindle encompasses our land and a little beyond it, and the yarn and spindle are in constant motion. Sometimes this energy will billow and writhe just under the surface of the ground, creating in spae-sight something like a giant animal shrugging its shaggy coat which is the surface of our land with its trees, shrubs, small pond and all the life on it.
I perceive this Wight as a very powerful being, containing within himself me, my husband, our dogs (including the burials of elderly dogs of our extended families), house and blacksmith workshop, our pond and well, trees, birds and many wild animals (we live in the countryside), as well as the lesser landwights associated with all these. He feels like an exuberant, whole, self-aware and self-rejoicing being, and seems more this way than when we moved in more than twenty years ago. Perhaps that is because my own perception has grown more clear over time, or perhaps he has been strengthened and more clearly defined by our blots and other interactions with him. I am guessing some of both. We are talking about a little postage-stamp of ground here, one and a half acres. If the Wynnwood Wight is so powerful to my perception, what are the Wights of mountains, watersheds, lakes and other larger regions like? Very impressive, that’s all I can say!
The second vision of landwights also filled me with delight. I saw myself at sunset, walking a small maze I had made, and as I did so many small landwights, about knee-high, rose up through the ground and joined me. They were too full of energy to walk the maze for long, though, and soon we were racing together over the vast prairie landscape. As we ran and generated energy, they grew until our sizes were reversed, with me being knee-high to these wights the size of small giants. Exuberantly they thundered criss-cross in random patterns across the land, faster and wilder; outpaced, I had to draw back and just watch. Buildings, towns, roads, were faint shadows in their wake, while the native tall-grass prairie grew higher and thicker all around them. All the twilit night they dashed about in my vision. Then as the sun rose I saw in the shadows of the land vast herds of bison moving slowly, and flocks of birds rising high in the sky.
The whole experience reminded me of folktales about the trains of Frau Holda and the other German Goddesses, the Wild Hunt, the ride of the Valkyries, and other energetic troopings of wights that bring life and fertility to the land. My experiences and perceptions of the Landwights lead me to believe that the native landscapes and beings of our world continue to live within the womb of the Soul of the Earth, even after massive damage on the physical plane. The Landwights have access to both worlds, the seen and the unseen, and have the ability to knit them together energetically. This can only work to the benefit of all beings. But we need to be their partners in this work. We, too, are children of the Earth, Sun and Moon, living within their great, living souls, and we need to play our own vital role as part of this great physical-spiritual ecosystem.
This article was first published in Idunna: A Journal of Northern Tradition, #95, Spring 2013.