Jumping the broom in a modern Wiccan marriage ceremony relates to the same custom as performed by the gypsies. Midwives of ancient Rome used special brooms to sweep the threshold of the house after childbirth24 to cut the ties between the world of the living and the realm of the dead, as it was believed that the child had entered from the world of the dead and the pathway should not be made easy for a quick return. As a part of the Athenian festival, the souls of the dead visited the houses of the living and were received hospitably, but then driven out by a thorough sweeping of the house with a broom.
In ancient Mexico, a broom festival called Ochpaniztli was dedicated to the old Earth Goddess Teteo-innan (Tlazolteotl), who swept away disease and harm.25 In her rites, priests burned black incense and laid brooms made from rushes across the fires.26 Her totem was the snake and the owl.
In Chinese folk belief, the Goddess of Fine Weather—“the girl who sweeps the weather clear”—named Sao Ch’ing Niang lives on the Broom Star, Sao Chou. During great rains, little girls cut a human figure representing the goddess out of paper and hang the figure near a gate with a request that the goddess bring clear weather and sunshine.27 She is also called upon in times of great drought and invoked at the New Year for fine weather.
It wasn’t until the various Inquisitions that Witches became associated with brooms, which may have occurred from the European Pagan custom of riding a broom like a hobbyhorse over freshly turned fields to promote the fertility of land, sweeping away death (last year’s old crops) and preparing the way for rebirth. The broom-ends were thought to have their own life-force, and were capable of warding bad weather away from the crops. A popular name for medieval Witches was “broom Amazons.”28
In Italian Witchcraft, the Witches’ broom is made from three woods: an ash handle, a birch twig for the brush, and willow for the binding string. These three parts are symbolic of the triple aspect of the Goddess. Ash represents one’s ability to work with four elements, the birch draws spirits to one’s service, and the willow is connected to Dark Goddess energy.29 In other lore, magickal brooms contained six different woods—birch, broom, hawthorn, hazel, rowan, and willow.30
It is highly possible that the broom is the oldest of magickal tools. In modern Craft practice, a large broom, used for sweeping, cleanses the area before the circle is cast, yet this practice dates back to 1336 b.c. when Egyptian priests swept the ritual area with brooms, then sprinkled the ground with blessed water.31 A small, hand-held broom may be used to sprinkle those who enter the circle with holy water as a rite of purification. Sometimes, a broom is lain across the edge of the circle to serve as a temporary closure. Crossing brooms at quarters, and then symbolically uncrossing them, has been used to allow quarter energies into the cast circle area, while nailing crossed brooms to your front door or on a wall in the home are said to guard the house and disperse any negative energies.32
Early American magickal practitioners, especially women, used the broom for quite another purpose—as a form of communication. Without answering machines or phones at their disposal, a broom positioned in a particular way outside of the house apprised friends and neighbors of one’s whereabouts. A broom leaning close to the front door with bristles up meant “I’ve gone visiting.” With the bristles down, “I’m home.” A broom lying down meant “I’m busy, please call another time.” If the broom sat bristles up over a window, then the lady of the house was not home, but would be back shortly, and visitors were welcome to come in and wait. Messages meant for everyone were tied onto the broom with various colored ribbons. These messages indicated if someone was sick, in labor, had a baby, got married, or needed some type of assistance. With the advent of the telephone, broom communication was no longer needed and faded out of existence; however, Crafters trained thirty years ago still use this type of communication among themselves.
Brooms can be handmade or store-bought, depending upon the choice of the magickal individual; however, brooms with metal handles are not recommended for magick. As you’ve seen by the history, brooms are used to banish unwanted energies, send the dead back to the Summerland (see Part 1, under Rites of Passage), and work weather magick. Amazing, isn’t it, what powerful enchantment lies in a simple household tool!
Banishing Negativity
from Your Home
Supplies: One skein of red yarn (the color of life); one small onion; one broom; holy water (see Part 4, under Elements).
Instructions: Wrap the yarn around the onion. You don’t have to use all the yarn, but enough so that the onion is thoroughly covered and, when used, will not unravel.
At dawn, stand outside facing the sun. Close your eyes and feel the warm rays on your face. Take three deep breaths and find that still point, discussed in Grounding and Centering (Part 3, under Breathing). Hold the broom and the onion ball toward the sun, and say:
Blessings upon me, O Spirit. Instill my work with joy and harmony. Let thy golden rays
fill every facet of my being. May I dance in the love of the divine.
Begin on the top floor of the house. Scoot the ball of yarn along the floor with the broom, covering as much of the floor in the first room as possible. Repeat the following as you push the ball around with the broom:
Love, harmony, joy, and peace. Therefore I say unto you, anything you pray for and ask,
believe that you will receive it, and it will be done. Love, harmony, joy, and peace.
As you leave the room, sprinkle a bit of holy water at the threshold. Continue to the next room. Go through the entire house in this manner. The onion and the yarn are picking up negativity as you go along. Make sure that the last room you sweep contains an outside exit. After you finish this room, open the door, and say:
I am surrounded by the forces of divine
creation—love, harmony, joy, and peace.
There is no room for evil here.
Hit the ball of yarn outside. As you watch it leave the house and fly through the air, repeat: “Love, harmony, joy, and peace.” Sprinkle holy water at the threshold of the exit. Push the ball out to the gutter. Pick it up with a piece of plastic (do not touch the ball), then dispose of it and the plastic off your property. Sprinkle the broom brush with holy water to cleanse.
If you live in an apartment, where there are lots of halls and stairs before you reach the outside, guide the ball along the hall and down the stairs, then outside to the gutter. If for some reason you can’t do this, then be sure to at least push the ball out into a public hallway before you pick it up with the plastic. As the onion rots in the trash, so will the negativity dissipate, so don’t bring the ball back inside the house, trailer, or apartment.