The Magickal Broom
Witches ride brooms...because nature abhors a vacuum! ~ Amethyst
Brooms are ancient tools of magick. European folklore is filled with tales of brooms and their ritual uses. Though often associated with witches, brooms can be found in virtually every household in every country in the world. Every day, millions of these bristled tools are used in quite ordinary ways. Why, then, do they possess such a mystic aura?
This is revealed by a look at the broom's function. Brooms are used to sweep. Sweeping cleans; it purifies. Brooms have long been associated with purification and protection.
In the past they have been made of windle straw, bean stalks, bullrush, thorn branches, mullein stalks or ragweed (mugwort or wormwood); but the most traditional witch's besom is a brush of birch bound by willow to a shaft of ash. The broom is a symbol of domesticity as well as sexuality. Standing vertically in its normal position, the broom is a phallic symbol, but inverted, it represents a woman's pubic area and the line between her thighs.
Most of us are familiar with the flat Shaker-type brooms; which are the most common in North America today. Round brooms, while attractive, aren't as effective in performing their simple mission, so flat brooms have all but overtaken their round counterparts. Round brooms are made of natural materials: a wooden handle, broomcorn (for the sweeping end), a nail, and wire.
Magickally, round brooms are emblematic of the moon and its energies, as well as of women, water, and the earth itself.
In Ireland, the besom was sometimes called a "Faery's horse." Today, "jumping the broom" has become a traditional part of Wiccan handfastings, symbolizing the transition from the maiden phase of life to the mother. Among descendents of the Old Europeans there was a lovely custom: the bride prior to her church wedding was given a wreath-like crown made of eggs. Then old folk songs were sung to her by the elder women of her clan. In more recent times, the songs would tell of the trials and tribulations of being a woman; but there can be little doubt that in earlier times, the songs revealed the wonders of "women's mysteries," and undoubtedly much ancient magick. Then when the songs had all been sung, the crown of eggs was removed from the bride's head and she was handed that sacred symbol of womanhood, the broom. To those not of the Craft, it might be seen as a symbol of drudgery, but for those to whom the ancient mysteries had truly been revealed, it is one of the most potent magickal symbols of all.
The kitchen witch will normally have two brooms on hand, one for the everyday chore of sweeping floors and one for magickal use. If possible, use only brooms made of natural materials, whether flat or round in shape, and forgo the plastic and synthetic fibres. I have a flat corn broom with a wooden handle for everyday sweeping and a round magickal broom.
Broom Goddesses
In China, the broom goddess is Sao Ch'ing Niang, or Sao Ch'ing Niang-Niang. Known as the Lady with the Broom, she lives on the broom star, Sao Chou, and presides over good weather. When rain continues too long, threatening crops, farmers cut out paper images of brooms and paste them on their doors or fences to bring clear weather and sunshine. These images invoke the Lady with the Broom to sweep away the foul weather.
In pre-Columbian Mexico, the Aztecs worshipped the witch-goddess Tlazolteotl, who was usually depicted carrying or riding a broom. In her rites, priests burned black incense and laid brooms made from rushes (symbolizing the goddess) across the fire. Owls, snakes, and the moon were also sacred to Tlazolteotl. The goddess was invoked to sweep away the worshippers' transgressions.
In Rome, Devera was a goddess who ruled over brooms used to purify temples in preparation for various worship services, sacrifices, and celebrations.
Broom Folklore
If a broom falls from your hands while you sweep, make a wish before retrieving it.
To bring rain, stand outside and swing a broom over your head in the air.
To safeguard your home against lightening strikes, cross a broom and a spade outside the main entrance to the house.
Placing a broom across any doorway allows your departed friends and family to speak to you if they so choose. As long as the broom remains in place, they can communicate freely.
To protect babies and children while they sleep, place a small broom underneath their pillows.
If nightmares are a problem, let a broom sweep them away. Hang one on the bedroom door to help you sleep peacefully.
Two brooms crossed and hung on a wall or nailed to a door guard the house, as does a broom placed on the ground before the door. The brooms are believed to disperse negative energies before they can bother you. You can also protect your home by taking two needles, making and equal-armed cross with them, and placing the cross inside broom. Then stand the broom behind a door.
Never move a broom from one house to another; it will bring the bad luck and dirt of your last residence into your new home. (This doesn't pertain to decorative brooms or those reserved solely for magickal use, only those actually used to sweep floors.) If, for some reason, you must move an ordinary broom, put it into the new house through an open window and the ill luck will be deterred.
Broom Magick
To Bless a New Broom
Before using your new broom for normal household sweeping, carve or write on its handle (the words running from the tip to the bristles on one side): "I sweep in money and luck." On the other side (with the words running away from the bristles) carve or write: "I sweep out evil and poverty." Visualize as you clean the floors, and you'll do just that.
Consecrating Your New Broom
Whether you make your besom in the traditional way, or purchase one that appeals to you, it is traditional to name your broom as you would a horse. Then when you have chosen a name, anoint it with oil as you would a candle and consecrate it with the following words:
Besom of birch and willow tied,
[or besom of straw with cord tied]
Be my companion and my guide.
On ashen shaft by moonlight pale
My spirit rides the windy gale
To magickal realms beyond both space and time.
To magickal lands my soul will sail.
In the company of the crone I'll ride
This besom of birch with willow tied
[or besom of straw with cord tied].
So do I consecrate this magickal tree.
As I will it, so mote it be!
For Protection While Sleeping
Lay a broom beneath the bed. Anoint the headboard or bedposts with a protective essential oil, such as sandalwood, rose geranium, rosemary, or frankincense. Then sprinkle a circle of salt around the bed (while you are inside the circle's perimeter), and you shall be guarded against all ill until morning. Sweep up the salt with the broom when you rise.
To Safeguard Your Bed
If you must be away from home for some time and want to return home to a safe, clean bed, tuck your magickal broom into it, laying the bristles on the pillow. Nothing will disturb a bed so guarded.
To End Tiresome Visits
If you have someone that stays too long and interferes with your life, try one of the following spells. None of them will harm visitors; they merely impel them to leave.
Place a broom upside down behind the door. If the guests still refuse to leave, stick a fork into the bristles of the inverted broom. Failing this, go into a room adjoining that which the guests are in, place the broom so that its handle points toward the offending visitors and intone the following:
Get thee hence beyond my door
For I am weary to the core.
Of course, you could just try the surest spell of all--ask them directly to leave!
To Purify Your Home
Before dawn, take a branch from any tree. Thank the tree for its gift and leave a coin or semiprecious stone at its base in payment. Tobacco is another traditional offering among Native Americans.
Next, obtain several brightly coloured flowers on long stalks. Tie these flowers to the branch to fashion a sort of broom, then sweep the floor in every room of the house, visualizing the flowers of the broom absorbing negativity as you work. Then, still before sunrise, leave the broom at a crossroads. Traditionally in the southwest United States and Mexico, this ritual is repeated at the first of each month.
