Our ancestors are the foundation of our luck, our orlæg. Their actions during life contributed to the conditions of our lives and from their stories we learn how to act (and not act). A Heathen worldview places emphasis on respecting the examples of those who came before us. Because of this, we engage in the gifting cycle with our ancestors in much the same way that we worship the gods. Many of us have altars to our ancestors and give offerings and pray to them for guidance, support, and protection. We recognize, however, that not all blood ancestors are worth our respect, and conversely that not every ancestor was a blood relation. Adoption, of children and adults, has been common in Germanic cultures for millenia, and we know that some of our strongest bonds are with the people we choose. We honor those who deserve our veneration.  

The English word “wight” (Old Norse: “vættr”) literally means a “being,” though we use the word to refer to the beings that we cannot see; the souls of nature and objects. We believe that all things have a soul and that our relationships with those wights are important to the health and well-being of our world. Heathens often categorize wights into two major categories: House Wights (Old Norse “husvættir”, Old English “cofgodas”) and Land Wights (Old Norse “landvættir”, Old English “wihta”).