The broom has long been associated with magick due to its symbolic shape. Though considered primarily a female icon due to its domestic use, it is also a fertility symbol for both sexes –the shaft and the brush denoting the union of both sexes. For this reason, brooms were long used in handfasting rituals (the broom leap). According to Yorkshire belief (and Appalachia and rural country folk), if a young girl inadvertently stepped over a broom handle, she would be a mother before a wife. Gypsies in Wales kept the old custom of the broomstick wedding for some time. The couple would leap over a broom placed diagonally in a doorway without dislodging it. If they wished to dissolve the marriage, one or both would simply reversed the process, jumping backward over the broom, before the same witnesses.
This common household tool is so sacred, in some parts of the world there are broom deities. In China, the broom is a sign of the goddess Sao Ch’ing Niang or Sao Ch’ing Niang-Niang. She is known as the “Lady with the Broom,” and she lives on the Broom Star where she presides over good weather. If rain continues for too long, farmers cut out paper images of brooms and paste them on their doors and fences to bring clear weather and sunshine. In pre-Colombian Mexico, the Aztecs worshiped Tiazolteotl who was usually depicted carrying or riding a broom. In her rites, priests burned black incense and laid brooms made from rushes across the fire. She was invoked to sweep away her worshipers’ transgressions.
The broom is an ancient tool of magick and ritual that is still used by witches today. The traditional Witch's Broom is made of ash, birch (broom or heather), and willow, but it can be made of just about any wood available. The most common superstition connected with brooms, that they were used by witches to fly, did not appear until the fourteenth century. Toward the end of the eighteenth century, the question of witches flying was settled once and for all in an English law court. Lord Mansfield declared that he knew of no law that prohibited flying and, therefore, anyone so inclined was perfectly free to do so. Shortly thereafter, reports of witches flying on broomsticks ceased.
Although not employed for flying purposes, the broom does have many uses. It is often used for protection. 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 main door. Take two needles and make an equal-armed cross with them. Place the cross into a broom, and stand it behind a door for protection. When standing a broom, place the bristles up, handle to the floor. This not only insures that the bristles last longer, it is good luck. In Sicily, on Midsummer's Eve, people often put a broom outside their homes to ward off any wickedness that might come knocking. Likewise, brooms laid across the doorways are believed to keep out evil. 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. If you feel as though you are being followed and haunted by unfriendly ghosts, stepping over a broomstick will prevent them from disturbing you.
Placing a small broom beneath the pillows will keep evil far from your slumbers. If nightmares are a problem, hang a broom on the bedroom door and place garlic beneath your pillow, or put the broom under your bed. You should sleep peacefully. If you have reason to fear for your safety while you sleep, lay a broom beneath your bed and sprinkle a circle of salt around it (while inside the circle’s perimeter). You should be safe until morning, at which time, feel free to sweep up the salt with the broom.
The broom is also and most commonly used for physically and magickally cleaning an area that will be used for sacred space, hence the term "making a clean sweep." The broom does not have to touch the ground to sweep away the psychic clutter that often collects in well-used places. The broom, or parts of it, could be used in healing. One old wart cure instructed the afflicted one to measure a wart crosswise with a broom straw. Then bury the straw. The straw would decay, and so should the blemish. This is a spell with many variations. The most common is using two halves of a potato.
Many broom superstitions exist in a variety of cultures. In China, the brooms should only be for cleaning the house, shop etc. They believe a spirit inhabits the broom; thus explaining why it should not be used for games or playing, etc. When gambling, the spirit in the broom is sometimes invoked by ‘threatening’ it until luck in gambling ensues. The broom should also not be used for cleaning the household gods or altar, as this is disrespectful. These objects are usually cleaned with a cloth or a special small brush. For three days from New Year’s Day during the Spring Festival, Chinese custom prohibits the use of the broom as it is thought that it will sweep away the good luck the New Year brings.
There are many times when using a broom is not advisable. It should never be used when there is a dead person in the house. You should never sweep outside the house, unless the inside of the house has been cleaned first. It is also said you should never sweep upstairs rooms in the afternoon. It is sometimes said that sweeping the room of a departing guest immediately after he has gone will bring him back, but I have also read the exact opposite; if you sweep directly after an unwanted guest has gone, he will never return. Because these traditions oppose one another, you might try simply placing a broom upside down behind his door to make him go away. It is unlucky to buy a broom in the month of August, but it can be downright dangerous in May. Two variations of an old English Rhyme say that if you:
If you buy a broom in May,
you will sweep your friends away.
and
If you sweep the house with broom in May
You will sweep the head of house away.There are many other beliefs involving the broom. The broom should never touch the head for this is very bad luck. Beating a person with a broom will bring bad luck to that person for years, though the curse can be lifted by rubbing the part of the body hit several times. In Africa, should a man be struck by a broom, he will grab hold of it and hit the broomstick seven times or he will become impotent. The broom is also sometimes used in temple rituals. The person’s entire body is swept with the broom in front of the deities, and the broom is then beaten. This is done to remove bad luck.
It is said that a new broom should sweep dirt out of a house only after it has swept something in, and dirt should never be swept out onto the porch. Generally when sweeping, everything should be swept into the fireplace if you have one or to the center of the room to be gathered in a dustpan. Also never sweep after sunset. Doing so will chase away happiness or hurt any wandering souls. To ensure that your regular sweeping brings you only good, carve "I sweep in money and luck" on the handle (the words running from bristles). On the other side (running in the opposite directing) carve "I sweep out evil and poverty." American country folk believe no good comes of carrying a broom across water or burning one. Leaning it against a bed will bring bad luck to the bed. Never bring old brooms into new houses, as it will have become attached to the old home and bring only bad luck, but good luck comes from sending a new broom and a loaf of bread into a new home before entering it.
The broom is also a prophetic tool. If you drop a broom, you will soon have company. It was believed that if someone swept over your feet while they were sweeping the floor, you would never get married. If a broom falls over of its own accord, you may never remarry. This belief may stem from the old broom marriage custom. If a broom drops across a doorway, you’ll soon go on a journey. However, make sure to pick it up quickly, and don’t step over it.
Brooms were also used in weather magic. In Hamburg, when sailors had had enough of toiling against a contrary wind, they would throw an old broom before any vessel traveling in the opposite direction to reverse the wind. To bring rain, stand outside and swing a broom in the air over your head, but to ward off lightening put a broom on your porch to act as a lightening rod. Electricity and lightening are thought to be attracted to brooms. Another way to safeguard your home against lightning is to cross a spade and a broom outside the main entrance.
If you would like a besom of your own, they are fairly easy to find in craft stores, country markets, or folk art fairs, but you can also make one yourself. This is a good idea if you wish to use it in place of a wand or other ritual tool.
To make a besom you will need:
A four foot dowel one inch in diameter (or an ash branch of equal thickness)
ball of twine (or supple willow branches)
scissors
straw (birch, broom, or heather)Take your straw (or other herb you have chosen for the bristles) and allow them to soak overnight in warm, lightly salted water. The water softens the straws to make them pliable. When you are ready to make your besom, remove the straws from the water and allow them to dry a bit (but not so much that they lose the suppleness you will need to turn them into your besom).
Find a work area where you can lay out the length of your dowel and begin lining the straws alongside the dowel. Starting about three inches from the bottom, lay the straws, moving backward along the length of the dowel. Begin binding these to the dowel with the twine. You will need to tie them very securely as you go. Add as many layers of straw as you wish, depending on how full you would like your besom to be.
When the straw is secure, bend the top straws down over the twine ties. When they are all gently pulled over, tie off the straws again a few inches below the original tie. Leave the besom overnight to allow the straw to dry.
The dowel part of the besom can be stained, painted, or decorated with pagan symbols, your craft name, or any other embellishments you choose.