House Spirits
I finally got a chance to set up a space dedicated to my house spirits on my altar.
More on my work with House Spirits below!
My History Working With House Spirits
When I was a kid, I was introduced to the concept of English/Scottish Brownies through the Spiderwick Chronicles and quickly became obsessed with trying to attract a brownie to my own home. I took one of my small miniature tea cups, filled it with half n' half and set it in a place in the house that I was sure wouldn't be seen by my parents or disturbed by my cats. I did this for quite a long time and even, as per the advice of the Spiderwick Field Guide, occasionally scattered flour on the ground as a way to try to see evidence of little brownie footprints. Brownies weren't the only Fae that I tried to make contact with when I was younger, but they were the ones that I was most persistent with. I loved the idea of a little creature making a home within my own home and living with my family and I. I never got the tangible "evidence" I was looking for as a kid, but I undoubtedly felt a presence. So, looking back, I most certainly succeed in attracting a brownie (or at least a house spirit) and it wasn't until recently that I came to the realization that I may have done so by giving the spirit offerings, even if I didn't call it that at the time. It's things like this that make me feel like I was destined to be a witch and a pagan~
Inspiration
Since I started walking a bit more of a Pagan path in my witchcraft, specifically since I started venerating the Norse gods, I have been feeling an urge to return to my work with land and house spirits. I've always felt their presence and feel that I should honor that presence. I'm not sure why it took me so long to actually start, but since coming back to my practice, I've been feeling that need to honor the land and house spirits around me even stronger than before.
**Edit as of 12/24/25: I have become aware that Jacob Toddson/The Wisdom of Odin is a creator I would no longer like to support, promote, or be affiliated with. While the video I go on to mention is not harmful on it's own, in my opinion, WoO is harmful to the Norse Pagan Community as a whole. I still wanted to include and keep my original writing in this post, but also wanted to draw attention to something that until recently, I hadn't noticed/realized. Thank you to Alikai's video on Youtube on the topic (it might have been posted years ago, but I just found it and it has changed my feelings and view on WoO as a creator and person in the Norse Pagan Community
One of the final pushes was actually from when I was going through the back-log of videos I hadn't watched from Jacob Toddson. He's one of my favorite Norse Pagan creators I found very early into my own path venerating the Norse gods. About a year ago, he made a video about house spirits and after watching it, it truly inspired me to actually take the steps to honor my own house spirits.
I do intend to do some work work with the land spirits around my home as well, but I want to do more research into the beliefs of the local indigenous tribes of the area before I do so.
Making a Space for My House Spirits
In making a space for my house spirits, I knew that I wanted to do it in a way that was reminiscent of the way I interacted with them as a child. Having lost my original miniature porcelain tea set from when I was a kid (it's probably floating around somewhere in the depths of my parents' house lol), I started looking online for anyone selling a set like the one I used to use. After a bit of searching, I found a set that was just like one of the ones I had. It even had the same pattern! So, I ordered it. In the mean time, I started making my house spirit a little home. I bought and modified a birdhouse, painting it a dark wood color and mounting some moss on the roof. Then while looking for stuff to make flower crowns for midsummer, I stumbled across a little gnome statue that felt perfect as an idol of my house spirit. Once I received the tea set, I was ready to welcome in my house spirit. I reorganized my altar, making space for him, and set everything up, complete with an offering of heavy cream. I invited the spirit to make a home and told him that I hope he feels welcome in his new space. The experience and the energy felt nice and familiar and I'm happy to have a little space on my altar for my house sprit to call home~
I plan to continue to give small offerings and light a candle for my house spirit. I want to to become an everyday practice if I can manage it and have been thinking of maybe giving him offerings in other ways besides food. Maybe little trinkets to keep in his house~