The four Land Wights that protect Iceland are on the country's Coat of Arms.
If one was to judge us by our actions today, they may find it hard to believe that our European ancestors had an incredibly close connection to the land. Like all tribal groups they saw themselves as a part of a greater whole. (FYI, the word holy simply means complete. Oddly enough the word unholy simply means incomplete.) They did not see themselves as rulers or dictators over the land. They knew from experience that nature could rear up and remove you from the land of the living in the blink of an eye. They had a respect for the land and the land spirit that most do not have today. If you do not respect something, you tend to not care about it.
Land Wights are the living embodiment of the might of various features of the natural world. They control the safety of the land, the fertility of the land, and so on. Our ancestors prayed to and worked with the Land Wights more than the Gods and Goddess. The Land Wights dealt with every day, life, and death issues that most effected humans. For this reason, our ancestor offered them gifts and even held blots to the Land Wights. They even invited the Land Wights to their blots.
They were very careful to not insult or frighten the Land Wights. In a book written by Kvelduff Gundarsson, Elves, Wights, and Trolls: Studies Toward the Practice of Germanic Heathenry Vol. 1, he writes several rules about dealing in a positive way with the Land Wights. Some of them are as follows,
1. Do not refuse food or favors in general. Even a gift that seems worthless may prove to be of great value.
2. If asked to do them a favor, do it wholeheartedly, even if it seems inconvenient.
3. Be careful to give warning when you light a fire outdoors, toss boiling water on the ground, relieve yourself outdoors, and so forth.
4. Do not ever lie directly to or about the Wights.
5. If you have seen the wights once, especially with any magical aids, and you should chance to see them again, do not be the first to speak. If you do, they may blind you completely or, at the very least you could lose your soul-sight.
6. Do not boast about favors or gifts you receive from them.
7. Do not, ever, mess with their mounds, or other dwelling places without permission.
8. Be careful what questions you ask them; it is easy to offend by being nosy.
9. Do not ask for gifts from them; they are often generous of their own free will, but they really dislike and will punish greedy folk.
You can work with the Land Wights to take care of an area of land that is not in the city limits. They seem to dislike cities greatly. You can invite them to your blots, offer them gifts once a week of food and or mead. Take the time while you are outside and simply thank them for taking care of the land you share with them. Always let them know before you cut the grass or start a fire in your burn pile. Basically, you can treat them like you would like to be treated and everything should work out well. It is in your best interests to try and work with them, they can make your life easy or very uncomfortable. There is a story from Scandinavia about a farmer who insulted a Land Wight. The Wight basically responded that the farmer would not do well that year. At harvest time the farmer did not have a single crop in his fields.
There are some wights that do not like humans at all. They will go out of their way to cause you trouble on your journeys. If you feel that you have stumbled across one of these there are a few basic things, you can do to ward them off.
1. Place an iron or steel knife by your head as you lie down at night to sleep.
2. If you are outside camping, fire works very well.
These are the simplest ways and the ones you will most likely be able to do at any time.
This is a basic introduction and I hope you find it informative and fun.
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