THE HISTORY OF THE BESOM / BROOM

THE HISTORY OF THE BESOM / BROOM

THE BROOM

The broom stick was an important fixture in ancient homes. Most homes were made of wood, straw and dirt floors. The only way to keep a home clean was to sweep out the old.

One of the earliest forms of the broom is known as the Besom Broom. They were made of twigs tied to a handle. The bristles can be made of various materials such as straw, herbs, or twigs. The shaft is round to represent the branch of a tree. This associates the broom with the Tree of Life which was an important symbol in ancient pagan Europe.

These brooms were often found just inside a dwelling hanging with bristles up to ward off evil spirits, negative energies and to protect the home and all who dwell within it. It could also be found hanging over a door with the bristles facing in the direction of opening of the door.

The brooms relation to sweeping away negative energies and use for protection makes it a wonderful tool for magical practices and rituals.

THE WITCHES BROOM

The traditional Witch's Broom is made of an ash handle and bristles from birch twigs. The twigs are tied onto the handle with thin pieces of willow wood. There have been a few written accounts of early Witch's decorating their brooms with flowers of the season tied on with some type of decorative string or later using coloured ribbon. A practice that is continued today by modern Witches.

Early Celtic pagans associated the broom with Faeries, possibly because of its relation to the wood and a common belief in forest sprites. Some stories tell of a Witch entering a forest and asking the Faeries to lead her way to the perfect tree where she can collect a staff for a broom. The idea is to enlist the help of the magical folk and ensure the enchantment of the broom once it has been fashioned.

The Witch's broom is one of the few tools that are seen as a balance of Divine forces. It is both part of masculine energies (the phallic handle) and female energies (the bristles). Because of this, the broom was and still is commonly used in Hand fasting rituals (marriage ceremonies). It is also used as a gate or door before a ritual space. A witch draws a magical circle, enters the circle and then places the broom over the doorway to keep out unwanted energies or people as an example.

While being used for clearing an area for ritual work was the earliest use for a broom, it became an important tool for Witch's during The Burning Times of Europe. During this era Witches would use a broom to hide one of their most important tools, the wand. It is also a tradition that brooms have been used by some as receptacles to harbour a particular spirit temporarily. This could be done to remove an unwanted spirit from one area and then release it far away in another place. Or it could be used to utilize the energy of a spirit for a specific spell when the broom is used as a wand.

A few ancient brooms have been discovered to have hidden compartments in the handle. These small hidden places held combinations of herbs, oils, feathers and a variety of other things thought to be part of a ritualistic spell. The hidden concoctions added to the energy of the intent that the broom was to be used for.