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Episode 71: Brooms in Witchcraft
632 Plays2 years ago
Welcome back Witches! We're talking about those magical brooms and their strong ties to witchcraft this week! While brooms are used by everyone, everywhere they definitely hold a special place in a witch's practice. So get in losers and let's learn about Brooms in Witchcraft.
We would be forever thankful if you left our podcast a 5-Star review. If you really loved the show and want more Get in Loser content, check out our Supercast & Buy Me a Coffee links below. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @GetinWitches, on TikTok @weredoingwitchcraft, or email us at weredoingwitchcraft@gmail.com. You can support our show through our links below.
Supercast: https://getinloserweredoingwitchcraft.supercast.com
Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/getinwitches
Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio- The Witch
References
- Silverwind, Selene. The Witch’s Journal. (2009) Fall River Press.
- Hutcheson, Corey Thomas. New World Witchery: A Trove of North American Folk Magic. (2021). Llewellyn Publications.
- Otherworldly Oracle (2019). Witch’s Broom: A History, Uses & How to Make a Besom. https://otherworldlyoracle.com/witchs-broom-besom/#:~:text=Magically%2C%20we%20use%20brooms%20to%20sweep%20away%20negative,used%20for%20house%20cleaning%20AND%20purifying%20a%20space.
- Pruitt, Sarah (2020). Why Do Witches Ride Brooms? The History Behind the Legend. History. https://www.history.com/news/why-witches-fly-on-brooms
- The Connection Between Brooms and Magic (2010). Unexplainable.net. https://www.unexplainable.net/info-theories/the-connection-between-brooms-and-magic.php
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Witchcraft
00:00:00
Speaker
Do you feel drawn to learn more about witchcraft and the occult but feel lost on where to start? Then welcome to Get In, loser. We're doing witchcraft, a podcast all about what it means to be a witch and where to get started on your journey. Join us as we navigate through various witchy topics and share what we have learned about the craft. So get in witches as we discuss brooms and all about their place in witchcraft.
00:00:40
Speaker
My ears hurt. I don't know why. Like mine get like that with the headphones sometimes too where they almost feel bruised. Yes. Yeah. Yours hurt. I don't know why. And we just started. I don't know. I know. I got one hour of sleep last night. One.
00:00:55
Speaker
One, one. Well, I couldn't fall asleep. Alexis came over last night and we had like coffee and coffee cakes. So I like didn't think about that about like, because my appointment was at seven. So I had to get up at like five 30, get ready and leave the house by like six 40 for my hair appointment. And I had coffee late. So I was up to like one 130 already. And I when I finally fell asleep,
00:01:21
Speaker
Okay. So like an hour and a half of sleep at three o'clock, I woke up to something grabbing my arm and room standing over me barking, like in the direction that like something was touching me.
90s Style & Exhaustion Tales
00:01:33
Speaker
And I was like, fucking leave me alone. Leave me alone. I'm sleeping. Leave me alone. Anthony fucking snorn through everything.
00:01:43
Speaker
I'm just like, cool. Then I couldn't go back to sleep because like my adrenaline was going and then we like had to go to the bathroom at like four. So I was like laying in bed for an hour awake trying to fall back to sleep and freaked out. Yeah, you need to go to the bathroom. You smack the shit out of me. He's like,
00:02:01
Speaker
It's like, oh my God, buddy. What? Yeah. I was like, I have to be up in like 45 minutes anyway. So I guess I'll just fucking stay up. Oh my God. Well, hopefully you can take a nap. Oh, I did. I came home from my hair appointment and well,
00:02:17
Speaker
After my hair appointment, I had to go to the farmer's market over on the belt, uh, like the expressway, the one, the far one to pick up the vouchers that we did. Like that we do a voucher program to give like underprivileged families free, like fresh fruits and produce. So I had to go pick those vouchers up because I didn't do it yesterday because I didn't feel like it. And I was like, Oh, after my hair appointment tomorrow, not realizing that I was not going to feel like doing that. Yeah. Go do that. And then I came home.
00:02:47
Speaker
I stopped at Chick-fil-A and got a breakfast sandwich because I was like, well, I've been up for like 75 hours. My body thinks it's lunchtime. Right. Yeah. Starving. So stopping at like a breakfast sandwich, came home, ate that and went right to sleep for like three hours. Oh my gosh. It was awful. And then hopefully tonight you can go to bed early or something because that's insane. Let me like start, please just stop for the day. Okay. I need one day. Yeah. Yeah. Like sometimes I'm like,
00:03:15
Speaker
like all feel something, I'll be like, oh, it's probably just like my muscle twitching or something. And you know, it's like not like a, like you can just like feel the pressure or whatever. But the fact that Rowan was like staring right where I could like feel, like I could feel something was there. He was like standing on me staring and like barking. And I was like, cool, cool, love this. Yeah, that doesn't sound like anything that I want to be a part of. If you could just go somewhere
Brooms in Witchcraft
00:03:42
Speaker
else, that'd be great.
00:03:45
Speaker
I was like, God damn, I'm tired. Just leave me alone. You have this whole big ass house and you will be right in crime. It's been a while. I would do it one more time and just be like, let them know like, yes, changes are happening in this house.
00:04:02
Speaker
You need to calm the fuck down though. Honestly, I was just like, I'm fucking, I'm tired. I'm tired of this grandpa. That's too good to man. That's what it feels like. Yeah. Just like, come on. I just need a good night's sleep. Just one. Yeah. So I'm not even asking for that much. Like one out of seven is, I feel like we're doing good.
00:04:28
Speaker
Yeah, and I'm already like this whole week I've been like in a permanently exhausted pigeon because the bed at my grandparents house in the spare room is probably also from like 1927.
00:04:39
Speaker
It's the most comfortable thing on the planet and the mattress is like this and it's a full size bed. So it's me and Anthony in this tiny bed and the dogs kept jumping up there and it's already dipped in the middle. We've offered to replace it and they went and bought a mattress topper for it instead. So now it's just a fluffy mess. So we were like all week, we're like, oh, I'm fucking tired. It's been a week.
00:05:10
Speaker
The only thing that's going to make her better at this point is if I can get a good night's sleep. My hair is sticking straight out. It feels like it's so short. But it's like it's the headphones make it. It looks like I'm a child right now. It's cute though. It's a good length. It's cute when it's fixed. Yeah, it's I need to fix it. Yeah, it was cute yesterday. It's just poking me in the eyes because I'm not used to having bangs again.
00:05:34
Speaker
I love the bangs on you though. I almost was like bangs, but then I was like, no, that's pushing it because it can either be really good or it can be like, you know, the little lads. I can rock it, but I just don't need that right now. Yeah. Yeah. So we both got new haircuts. We did. We're like. Feeling fresh. Different people now. Like my whole personality is now short hair.
00:06:02
Speaker
My personality is like 70s shag. I told her, I was like, she was like, what kind of haircut do you want? And I was like, I want to look like I walked out of the 70s. And she was like, okay, bangs are no bangs. And I was like,
00:06:16
Speaker
bangs. And she was like, length. And I was like, keep it. And she's like, all right. Do you follow? I'm going to send you this guy on TikTok. I follow him. He's like a hair stylist in London. Okay. Does like people fly to him from fucking like Kansas. He just had someone fly from Kansas.
00:06:33
Speaker
just to get her haircut. And like he specializes in like 70s rocker or like, you know, like made me look like Farrah Fawcett make me look like, um, like, you know, I walked out of the eighties or, you know, just like that. And they'll be like, like someone came in and was like, I want to look like Stevie Nicks. And he did her haircut like, uh, because you guys are going back to Germany, you can schedule an appointment too.
00:06:57
Speaker
and go see him. But yeah, so I used one of his inspo pictures, like someone went in and was like, I want a 90s Bob. And so I used that and then another one. And I was like, blend this together. I want that. And so Yeah, we've been rewatching friends were like on the last season. And today we're like watching an episode. And I was like, man, our clothes were so cute in the 90s. Like they really were
00:07:23
Speaker
Men's not so much. They were like oversized suits and not cute shit. It was like weird color block situations. Yeah, men's clothes. And I'm like, women's clothes were so fucking cute in the 90s. But also everyone looked like they were coped out because everyone was so real skinny. Yes, that is true. I remember like, because my, my siblings were all like way older than me. And my sister graduated high school in like 96, I think is when she graduated.
00:07:51
Speaker
And I just remember she always had the cutest outfits, like she would have like a body suit and then like a skort. And I'm like, I just so cute. Like the little baggy but not baggy like cargo pants that we all wore in the 90s. Can we bring those back? Exactly.
00:08:10
Speaker
cute. You know what I also like lacy tops and like, yes, like sheer tops and stuff. Yeah, with the like the the flowy sleeve. I'm sure it's like that. And I just thought like,
00:08:23
Speaker
I was the coolest kid ever because I had like a flowy sleeve on my shirt. And then like corduroy and velvet, like the textures. Ugh, I miss 90s clothes. We need to bring them back. Like a vest or whatever, like a button-up vest as a shirt. I'm like, this is so cute. We really did have the best clothes in the 90s and I even missed like girl's clothes.
Magical Uses of Brooms
00:08:48
Speaker
early Y2K, I remember I had these pants and I think they were from Gap and they were like not, it was like the Y2K's version of parachute pants, but they had little cinches where you can make them tighter and stuff. Those pants were the most comfortable things I ever owned.
00:09:06
Speaker
I know the one that slipped off in the shorts. Do you remember those? Yes. Those were so comfy. Like, I need that back. We need to bring it back. We need to make it a thing. Also, like a lot of the clothes back then were almost, they were pretty like goth-y.
00:09:22
Speaker
witchy vampire kind of vibe. And they were so fucking cute. They were. Yeah. Bring it back. Bring it back. We need it. I wish I would have saved all of my clothes. Not that I could fit into them because I was a child in the 90s, but like at least like I could pass them down to my kids and be like, look, look how stylish I was. These are cute.
00:09:41
Speaker
I just came from Walmart. No, I'm just kidding. Honestly, though, we did not. Do you remember? What was it? The Delias? Do you remember the Delias analog? Yes. I would go through and circle everything. I'd be like, wow, I want all of this for school. I never got any of it. No. I would go through the catalogs. I came across this girl on, I think it was on TikTok or Instagram, but her entire page is she will flip through old catalogs.
00:10:08
Speaker
And I remember I completely forgot about this. I must have blocked it out. But my mom, when I'd go visit her in the summer, she would always get the JCPenney, the thick ass catalogs. And I would go through and manifest my life. I'd be like, and I'm going to marry that guy. And this is what's going to be what our living room looks like. And this is what our kids are going to look like. And this is my couch. And this is my wall. And this is my fan set.
00:10:35
Speaker
And I'm just like, oh my God, I completely forgot about that. Yeah. Well, now that we went on a 90s nostalgia tangent, what are we talking about today? Barooms. Barooms. I love this topic. I mean, it's a simple topic when you're just thinking about it, but then researching it, there's so much.
00:10:59
Speaker
There's so much. And like, I feel like sometimes with some of the topics, you have to kind of like go into depth on like, what is this thing? Like describe it in case somebody doesn't know like what it is we're talking about. Everyone knows what a broom is. Everyone uses a broom in just a regular life.
00:11:18
Speaker
So now we're going to talk about how you can use it magically. Yes. So I found this quote in New World Witchery, which we have read for our book club. So if you are part of the book club and you read along with us, you might remember it. But Corey Thomas Hutchison wrote New World Witchery, and he says, there's a deep materiality to witchcraft. And so the objects witches make are imbued with power
00:11:44
Speaker
a power that passes to all who connect with them. One of the most readily apparent examples is the humble broom. Whether the broom is used for sealing a marriage or sweeping luck around the room, it functions as both a mundane tool and a magical one.
00:11:59
Speaker
And I loved that. I felt like that was such a cute little quote to include and open up our talk on brooms. Yeah, I love that quote. I mean, that's perfect. It really is like that just I mean, it's a great way to open up this conversation.
00:12:14
Speaker
Yeah. So when we talk about brooms, especially when we talk about brooms within witchcraft, the image of a witch flying on the broom has been used by the media since its inception. And brooms have been tied to witches for as long as people have been accusing women and occasionally men. There are a few men in that
00:12:33
Speaker
accusation realm in like historical witchcraft. So the reality is that witches do not use brooms to fly, and that's really important to point out. And witches know this, right? Like we know we're not out here flying around on broomsticks, but for whatever reason, when you talk about witches, when you see like Halloween decor or in movies, there's always a broom involved and they're always flying around on it.
00:12:55
Speaker
right? Yeah. And there's even like really early depictions of it. Like when I was researching this, I found two that were like, this is the earliest depiction. So who knows? I feel like, you know, obviously the first one I based on the date would be the early depictions. I'm not sure what the second one is talking about, but I included them both. But so there's a mural and a cathedral in Schleswig, Germany.
00:13:19
Speaker
And it dates back to the 13th century, but it's a picture of the goddess Frigga on a broom. So when you go to Germany, check that out for me. Where is this town? I need to go look. It's going to be like 12 acres away because Germany is not that small.
00:13:38
Speaker
But it's also not that big. Yeah, we can go together. It's fine. You can go on with it. We'll take a trip. Yeah, exactly. And then by the time I get there, we'll be able to say it correctly. And then also, I found this online as well. It said two witches were pictured in Le Champillon des Domes. It's an illustrated manuscript.
00:14:04
Speaker
by this French poet, Martine Lafranc. And this was in 1451. And so some people claim this was like the earliest depictions of witches on brooms. So I mean, I don't know, like there's, there's two, but there's probably way more out there that just haven't been documented. I feel like we run into that a lot with a lot of our research. And I guess maybe it's just like,
00:14:28
Speaker
somebody doesn't know about the other one and they're like, this is the oldest one. And you're like, no, but I'll tell people about it.
Broom Superstitions & Lore
00:14:35
Speaker
Exactly. It's like, wow, actually this, this other website has this documented too and it's in a cathedral. So I don't know, but yeah.
00:14:43
Speaker
So as we've talked about multiple times on the podcast, and as most of us, even if you aren't familiar with witchcraft, you know about the witch trials and everything. But in the dark ages, many women were accused of witchcraft, and it just so happened that many women also used a broom as a household tool on a daily basis. And so because of that,
00:15:05
Speaker
and just having a broom kind of became a symbol of witchcraft in itself. But during witch hunts, documents exist where those who were accused of witchcraft confessed to using brooms to fly to their Sabbaths. And one of the earliest examples of this is there was a French male, his name was Guillem Edelen,
00:15:24
Speaker
He was an accused witch in the 15th century and he confessed to flying on a broom. But the only problem is, I mean, the only reason why he was accused of being a witch in the first place is because he publicly criticized the church's warnings about witchcraft. And so he had this confession under torture, of course. And he eventually
00:15:48
Speaker
before I mean like sometime after this he recanted but obviously like it didn't matter at this point because he had already confessed and I heard that he was just imprisoned the rest of his life so I mean which is still terrible because it's like at that point it's like I would have much rather just die and get it over as opposed to because you know they're not they're not being treated well
00:16:09
Speaker
Exactly. He's probably like, in a fucking, uh, um, Oubliette or something like that for the rest of his life. Like, who knows? Yeah. And then there was this infamous Scottish witch, Isabelle Gowdy. And I'm sure I'm saying that wrong. I forgot to look up how to actually pronounce her last name, but
00:16:28
Speaker
We're just going to say, Gaudy, I'm sorry if we have any Scottish listeners. She confessed to using a broomstick to place it in her bed to trick her husband when she was out at night. So supposedly she would do that to go and meet up with all of her witch friends and I just love that.
00:16:49
Speaker
But also like how skinny would she have had to have been for him to like roll over and it's just a broom handle and he's like, oh, this is my life. This is my life. Let me just scooch closer and snuggle with you. She's got some hairy toes going on down there.
00:17:08
Speaker
So just like kind of going back to what she said with like women being accused of witchcraft for like using broom, they used brooms, you know, so it was like tied to that. We've discussed flying ointment several times on the podcast. For anyone that's like a new listener, flying ointment was basically a salve that contained both psychedelic and poisonous herbs.
00:17:26
Speaker
that would cause people to either A, hallucinate either themselves or others flying, or B, it would just make them feel as if they were flying. And this coupled with the fact that it was usually applied vaginally with a stick or even just placed on a broom handle that was straddled is where the term writing the broom came in. And so this is kind of where that like idea of like,
00:17:49
Speaker
flying on brooms comes from and then there was the fact that like during a session of writing the broom like quote unquote right writing the broom those participating would often be seen like because you know they're like put the ointment on it and they're straddling these brooms right and they're like hallucinating and having the fucking time of their lives so they're like dancing around outside with this broom between their legs so like
00:18:11
Speaker
All of this gave off this idea to these Puritan Christian people that these were witches flying on broomsticks through the forest. It's really sad that people were just trying to live their best life in shitty times, but also
00:18:27
Speaker
really funny to picture this, right? Like they're like, I'm about to go fucking get high in the woods with my broom and they're just running around with this broom between their legs. It's a hilarious picture and then it's also really sad when you think about what happens and like why they were doing these things. While broomsticks are what like most people would think of when discussing a witch in flight, it's also not the first and only tool that was associated with witches flying.
00:18:52
Speaker
So some others include like rakes, pitchforks, cooking spoons, spindles, their cauldrons, and even a mortar and pestle, which is my favorite. And that comes from I believe it was like the story of Baba Yaga is that she flew around in a mortar and pestle.
00:19:07
Speaker
so funny to me. She's just like, take it around. And it also makes me think of like, hocus pocus, where they're like flying on the vacuum. And then like, and I think one of them flew on a Roomba, I think at one point, which all of it is so funny to me. That is funny. That must be like the new one, right? Yeah. Did I see the new one? I feel like I did. Maybe I fell asleep during that part.
00:19:31
Speaker
We did actually at night, like everyone came over. Sophie came out from Texas and stayed with us. That's really cute. It was fun.
Broom Care & Rituals
00:19:39
Speaker
It was fun. But yeah, so like, while obviously the biggest one is that witches fly on brooms, there were other things first.
00:19:47
Speaker
brooms just stuck. And there's a whole history of why the broom is tied to witchcraft. So like I said, for those that were part of our supercast and they followed along with our witchy book club, you might recall from New World Witchery that historically, a witch was believed to use her broom to fly for three reasons. The first would be that she needs to travel to a sabbat to meet with other witches, spirits, or devils. The second is that she's stealing goods from her neighbors.
00:20:16
Speaker
which get a life people. And the third is that she's seeking justice or vengeance by flying out into the night to menace or harass others that have wronged or harmed her in some way. Brooms are also often called bezams when used in witchcraft, though the terms can be used interchangeably as well. Yeah, so kind of getting into more like the magical uses of the broom,
00:20:41
Speaker
The main purpose of a broom is to purify. Whether you use it magically or in your mundane space, honestly, you're doing the same thing. You're cleansing that area. Magically, we use brooms to sweep away negative energy in our homes or sacred spaces. You can even see this with the tiny altar bezums to purify your altar. It's really the same thing.
00:21:07
Speaker
And as far as the sacred space, this could be a person, object, your altar, your home, anything that you classify as a sacred space.
00:21:15
Speaker
Some traditions require that a separate broom be used for magical cleansing and purification versus just actual sweeping away dirt and debris in your home. But magically, a broom can also take the place of a wand to bring prosperity and peace into the home, which I really like that idea. That is cute. When you use your broom magically, you can use it to sweep out negative energy like Sam was saying.
00:21:37
Speaker
And this can be something as simple as sweeping negative energy from corners during a house blessing or cleansing before casting a magic circle prior to performing a ritual or a spell. And it can even be used to pull negative energy from a person during a cleansing ritual.
00:21:53
Speaker
According to folklore, a broom that is hung over or near a doorway with the bristles pointing up will protect the home from negative energy. And then there's a practice called jumping the broom, which I think we've actually talked about on the podcast before. I can't remember. I know we've discussed wanting to talk about it. I feel like we did talk about it, though.
00:22:13
Speaker
I think we did, but I mean, we always need a refresher. So let's talk about it again. So just in case, jumping the broom is basically a custom that originated from both Wales and Africa.
Crafting a Magical Broom
00:22:26
Speaker
And it has been continued in some Wiccan and pagan weddings today. And basically, following a ceremony, like a wedding ceremony, the newly married couple would either jump or step over the broom to bless their fertility and their union.
00:22:40
Speaker
and then the broom would typically be decorated with flowers and ribbons and then hung in the home like in a prominent place after the wedding. This is one of my favorites and I want to try it because you know me and my social battery it runs out perfectly. There's this
00:22:55
Speaker
I don't know like where it comes from. I couldn't find like where this came from, but it is a practice that it comes up on my TikTok for you page. I've seen it like all over the place and I just haven't had a chance to try it. But basically it said that if you have people visiting your home and you want them to leave, you just flip your broom upside down and then they'll basically just soon be on their way. And some say that the broom has to be placed like in the corner behind a door for this to work. But again, I don't know.
00:23:21
Speaker
I don't know that there's a specific way that it has to be done. I think it just needs to be flipped upside down. And this is also outside of just being everywhere that I've seen it on TikTok. It's on Instagram. I've seen it in so many places, but it's also in New World witchery. I feel like you need to do that for science. I know. Next time people are over, I'm just going to be like, oof.
00:23:43
Speaker
Just flip it over and see what happens. We hardly have people around our house because my husband is antisocial. The only people that come over are the people that I really want to come over. That's kind of where we're at too. We do brunch almost every Sunday with Alexis and Jen.
00:24:07
Speaker
If we do, if Anthony has people over, it's usually like James, who I like. He's super chill, so it's not like super draining. But I definitely want to try it next time there's people over that I'm just like, I'm done. Yeah, I am ready to go to bed. You've out saved your 9 o'clock. Welcome. Please go home. I have a fantasy world to go read about. Please leave. Also related back to like the magical uses of the broom.
00:24:35
Speaker
The broom has been linked to fertility, and it's often looked at as a phallic symbol. And I saw this, and I guess, according to some people, it can be used as both a male and a female symbol. So, Judica Iles has documented in her books that essentially the stick is male, which is then inserted into twigs or plant matter that represents the female, and I mean, it makes sense.
00:25:04
Speaker
I was wondering like the female part, but no, that makes a lot of sense. Yeah. So it can definitely be looked at as both a male and female symbol. And the slang term for dildo like centuries ago was a broomstick. Did not know that. Writing the broom. I mean,
00:25:22
Speaker
and they were literally straddling it running through the forest. Exactly. And that's the slang for intercourse back then, like writing the broomstick was also like to have sex. So I thought that was pretty interesting. And it's like full circle in this whole topic.
00:25:39
Speaker
It really is, yeah. I know we've talked about the Maypole and Mayday and how that's been linked to fertility, but in England, the broomstick would sit on top of the Maypole to be danced around on Mayday to ensure fertility.
00:25:55
Speaker
pagan fertility rituals were completed by rural farmers. So basically they would leap and dance the stride poles, pitchforks, and brooms, and the light of the moon to encourage their crops to grow. And I love that. Well, and I'm wondering, like, obviously this
00:26:12
Speaker
It makes sense too with the jumping the broom, it was used to like bring luck in their fertility and their marriage moving forward. So it's again, we're just like full circle with this whole topic. Yeah. I love when it all comes together. Me too.
Closing & Teasers
00:26:30
Speaker
So outside of that, just talking about some lore and superstition surrounding brooms, ancient Roman rites involving brooms offered protection to laboring mothers and newborn children, which I thought was interesting. That's really interesting, right?
00:26:46
Speaker
I also, I saw this quote from Scott Cunningham from his The Magical Household book. It says, you should never sweep on a Monday, else you sweep all your money away. Also, never sweep at night, lest you disturb the spirits who walk the floors while a home's habitants sleep. And that is interesting because I often will sweep and mop at night whenever my kids are asleep. So maybe we should stop doing that. I know.
00:27:15
Speaker
I have some really funny lore and superstitions on the at night part. We've actually talked about this before.
00:27:26
Speaker
I don't remember her name, but we used to share this lady on TikTok back and forth, and she does the spooky superstitions while she's doing her self-care routines. And she talks about that, not sleeping at night, because it has something to do with letting demons in or something like that. I don't remember, because both of us were like, ugh, sleep at night. I do my best cleaning that time. Exactly. No one's there to bother me.
00:27:52
Speaker
Yeah. Laying a broom across a doorway is believed to prevent a witch from entering. Which, why would it? Why would it, if the broom is one of our tools? Exactly. I don't believe that one. Maybe, like instead of a witch, it could be like someone you don't want to come in who is not affiliated with magical ways. I'm going to try that. No, I'm just kidding. I'm going to put it upside down in my doorway. You shall not pass.
00:28:24
Speaker
Also, another quote that I got from Scott Cunningham, he says that when you get a new broom, sweep something positive into your home. I've never done that before and I never even like thought to do something like that. So I am absolutely going to be implementing that.
00:28:45
Speaker
Yeah. Sweeping under a person's feet is considered bad luck. And it stems from an old wives' tale that if you swept under a person's feet that they would not marry. Ooh. How many times have you been like sitting like on a stool or on the couch and like Mike or like a parent is sweeping and you just lift your feet so that they can. Right. Yeah. When you get like, just we both, like we mentioned before we got our hair cut, like sitting in that stool, they sweep underneath you and they like.
00:29:16
Speaker
We're lucky we're not school spirit. They thought we're married. Yeah. Because we could have, I mean, we could be single for the rest of our lives. Right? Old cat women. Yeah. And then so old English traditions say to lay salt down on the floor and then sweep it up to sweep away evil spirits. I've heard that before. Breaking a broom handle means that you'll soon break someone's heart. No.
00:29:45
Speaker
I never, I don't think I've ever broke a broom handle, but I mean, obviously people have. Yeah. I thought you were meant to say, I've never broken a broom handle, but I have broken someone's heart. I mean, have you seen me? No. Just kidding. I can't even like give it a go. That's hilarious.
00:30:12
Speaker
Okay and then something that I have seen before and I love this is to keep your broom bristles pointed up and next to the front door like outside to welcome good fortune into your home and I've actually like I'd read about this a while ago and I remember
00:30:29
Speaker
at our last base, we would always walk the neighborhood. And there was some lady who lived on the street from us who she had an old school witch's broom 24 seven propped up outside her front door like that. And I always wanted to catch her outside to be like, are you rich? Are you rich? Like, yeah, did we just become best friends? But I never actually saw her out of her home and it made me so sad. But putting that broom upside down kept you out.
00:30:58
Speaker
for real and good fortune and it makes people not come here. Yeah, I need to do that. Honestly, I need to go get me a cute old witchy looking broom to put outside or
00:31:12
Speaker
because you have advice on how to make your own later on in the episode. I do. I don't have any cool twigs. I don't either. Where I live, I feel like there's, I mean, I'm not going to be go searching anyway, because I don't want to get bit by a fucking coffee snake. But also, it's like, I don't know where I'd find the materials, so I don't know. We have probably five or six houses down. Someone has a willow tree in their front yard. I wonder how weird it would be if I was like, sniffing off something.
00:31:43
Speaker
Do it. Take a little one here, a little one there. Go, knock on the door, and be like, hey, can I steal some of your willow branches, please? Because we're an arts and crafts project. Yeah, I swear I'm not a witch. No, I'm just kidding. Next I have that. This is what we were talking about earlier. Sweeping after dark is thought to bring sorrow in love and romance, though others believe that sweeping at night would mean that you would expect a gentleman
00:32:14
Speaker
So unmarried women would also wet the bristles of their broom and sweep at night, like sprinkling water around the house to invite love into their lives. Nice. That is precious. I also read that like if they were to take that broom and like jump over it nine times, it would bring a spouse to them within one year. So I guess that is a lot of jumping.
00:32:45
Speaker
If an engaged woman dropped a broom, she'd be able to predict her romantic future based on the way that the broom fell. So a handle pointing north means that she or her fiance would break their engagement. And a handle pointing south meant that she would marry him and live a happy life. But what if you're like,
00:33:07
Speaker
Not very good with directions. My room fell waste. What would you even do? I don't know. We're just going to try it again. I'm going to push it towards the south. Which way is south again, honey? Okay. Exactly. Let's figure this out before I do it. Or if you're not happy with them, which way is north?
00:33:32
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I'm just gonna, all right, this over there. So I also was reading that if you lay a broom under a bed, it would help with protection. And I guess like in ancient Roman times, there was like even some
00:33:49
Speaker
documentations of people taking tiny brooms and putting them under their baby's pillows. I'm like, that's cute, but also like, you're a witch. You're going to get burned alive. I also read that if you hang a cinnamon broom above your door during the autumn,
00:34:08
Speaker
it sweeps away bad luck and welcomes prosperity into your home. And it also smells delicious. So there you go. I keep one year round above my door. I love it. And I noticed because we took Freya over to Julia's, I noticed in her new apartment, she has one above her door too. So where do you like, do you like, um, redo, like, does the cinnamon stay on it all year or like? No, it usually fades pretty quickly, sadly. Man, that stinks.
00:34:37
Speaker
I know. I bet you could probably buy a spray to put on it. Yeah, that's what I was about to say. I wonder if you could just do your own cinnamon spray and then infuse it in there or something. I should look into that because I bet you could just do it in vodka. Maybe cinnamon sticks in vodka for six-ish weeks or something to get the smell in there, but I don't know. That would be pretty cool. That's how you do a tincture.
00:35:01
Speaker
a little bit of vodka, a little bit of herb, and you let it sit for a while. So I wonder if that would work with cinnamon because you don't want it to be like water because that could like mold. Or maybe do a water alcohol mix. I don't know. I need to look this up now. Now I'm intrigued. Now my brain is going. Yeah, we've got to do it because I would like to do that. I used to do cinnamon brooms whenever I was younger and obviously we'd only be able to find them during the fall and the winter.
00:35:30
Speaker
where we live now, I would probably have to either make or order a broom and then do my own infusion for cinnamon because where am I going to find cinnamon broom here? Yeah. I guess, yeah. Here, it's like in America, you can get it anywhere. Low sells them in the fall.
00:35:51
Speaker
jelly. That's where I get mine because it's like right next, you know, like right down the street, like a two minute drive. And I'm out lows. And I'm like, thank you for all the cinnamon broods. Yeah, I'm gonna take because we get the little tiny ones, we put the little tiny ones on our doors, like to our office and bedroom and stuff. Oh, we keep the big one above the front door. That's cute. I love it. And it smells amazing for like a month. And then I'm like, Oh, yeah. But
00:36:19
Speaker
The next one I have is when you move, it's believed that you should not bring your old broom with you. Like some believe that you should break your old broom and burn it before leaving the house. And it's also believed that a new broom should be one of the first things that you bring into a new home. And this makes me a little sad and I'm just going to like pretend I don't know this because we have a really cool broom.
00:36:41
Speaker
Oh no. Yeah we got this broom at Aldi and it's like specifically meant for pet hair because you know we have lots of animals and they all shed ridiculously and this broom like gets everything and I've never seen like a broom like it again like they had it for all of a month and I never saw it again.
00:37:00
Speaker
I'm like, look, I'll clean it. I'll make it a whole new broom. I have to take it. This is one of the biggest things that I'm super, superstitious about. I feel like Michael Scott, where I'm like, I'm not superstitious, but I'm a little stitious. I'm a little stitious. This is something I'm very superstitious about. I've always been, ever since growing up, that was the one thing, you do not bring an old broom into the new home. Really? You bring sweet old problems into your new life.
00:37:28
Speaker
And that is the first thing I bring into a new home. I've never heard this and we really just kept a broom, you know, like we just pack it and bring it. I've never, never had issues. Yeah. I always like, yeah, I definitely, that is the biggest thing. Like I always, that is the last thing I throw away. Um, when we move.
00:37:50
Speaker
And the first thing I buy and bring into a new home is a new broom. Look, I'm just going to cleanse this room really good. And I'll throw away my regular broom. Yeah. Because this sounds like it's not like a broom broom. It's like silicone almost. Like the little bristly things. Yeah. Like this long. Like, literally, I've never seen a broom like this.
00:38:13
Speaker
it was like we were at Aldi's it said it was amazing for pet hair and some lady was like raving about it. So we were like, we'll try it because it was only like 12 bucks. Yeah, this is the best thing I ever bought. Like dogs and cats that shed. Oh my god, it makes like sweeping so much easier. I don't have to sweep 47 times to get all the hair. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
00:38:36
Speaker
I, the only like time that we've ever brought a broom with us is we have an outdoor broom that stays outside. I will not let the house that I'm just like, you can keep that one because it's like a, like a Filipino style, like Asian, which we can get here. Um, but like he brings that with him. Um, and I'm like, it's not coming in my house though.
00:38:56
Speaker
Yeah, I think I'm going to push one. Look, I'm going to really clean it, especially since it's little silicone thingies. I'm going to pastel soap it. I'll smudge it or clean it, smoke cleanse it, whatever you want to call it. This broom is going to be pristine and ready to go in the new house. Yes, there you go. And you can charge it up when you get there in the moonlight, put it in the moonlight, put it in the sunlight.
00:39:23
Speaker
There you go. I think that would be the way to do it. We're going to just over all our bases so that I can keep this amazing broom. Yes. I'm very attached to this broom, okay? It is in the journey. Yeah.
00:39:37
Speaker
So now that we've kind of talked about a lot of the superstitions and the lore and like what rooms are used for, let's talk about how to use a broom in your magical home. So if you're wanting to cleanse negative energy out of your home, it's best if you start at the back door and sweep each room moving in a counterclockwise fashion. So counterclockwise is removing things.
00:39:59
Speaker
from your life from room to room. So basically how you would do this if you lived in a two story home, like so how I do it is I start upstairs in the like farthest room and I sweep and then bring it all downstairs and then do it again.
00:40:14
Speaker
Essentially, how you would want to end it is you would want to end your sweeping at the back door where you started in the first place and sweep any dirt or debris out of the back door or dump your dustpan out of the back door. You don't want to dump or sweep any dirt out of your front door as this supposedly invites negative energy back into your home.
00:40:38
Speaker
Okay. So just as an FYI to those people who are wanting to, cleanse your negative energy out of your home. If you're wanting to cleanse with a bezum, and so this would be like your magical broom that you do not use for dirt or debris, you would essentially do the same ritual, but instead of touching the bristles of the broom to your floor, you sweep slightly above the floor, moving it in the same counterclockwise circular method, the same exact way that you would do if you were sweeping
00:41:07
Speaker
negative energy out of your home with your actual broom that you use to cleanse your home. So with all of that, I am just going to talk about making a broom if you feel like being crafty and making a broom on your own.
00:41:22
Speaker
I actually found this in one of the books that I was given by my witchy neighbor. It's called The Witches Journal. It's by Celine Silverwind. It has a lot of information for being not a lot of words. This book has a lot of imagery in it and little square synapses all through it. It's a really cool book, but they have an entire thing on how to make your own broom.
00:41:48
Speaker
And I'll try to remember my best to post this on our socials for you guys because I'm about to like spit out a lot of information that might not make sense if you're not like reading it. If you're like me, I need to read things like this to be able to do it. So we'll put it on our socials for you guys. But basically, she says that broom handles can be made from a variety of branches, but the most common are birch, hazel, ash, and oak.
00:42:15
Speaker
So I was reading like whenever I was looking up, you know, just the lore about the brooms and stuff, I just wanted to throw this in here. They mentioned, cause I was like, you know, why is it that they want you to use certain types of wood? So ash is used because it is a symbol of strength. Willow is often used, you know, to bind the like plant matter or twigs or whatever to the stick.
00:42:39
Speaker
is connected to the moon. And so it's connected to moon magic and the goddess Hecate. And then oak is used because it's supposed to also symbolize strength and fertility. And I thought those were really interesting explanations on why we use some of these. Why these particular ones. Yeah. But then I was reading this and it made me kind of sad because I love Rowan from
00:43:03
Speaker
Every time I'm like, Rowan? Oh my gosh, I want to use Rowan for everything. Supposedly, it is bad luck to make a witch's broom out of Rowan or Elder. And I don't know why specifically for Rowan, but for Elder, they say Elder is home to spirits like goddesses and fairies, and cutting one down without permission invites misfortune. And so I don't know how you would, I guess.
00:43:28
Speaker
I don't know how you would get permission from the fairies or the spirits and stuff to be able to cut down elders. I guess if you find a piece of elder, maybe you can use that, but usually not to cut one.
00:43:43
Speaker
Well, and then outside of the broom handles, bristles, these are commonly made from straw, wheat, twigs from trees like the willow, and then lavender, mugwort, and even thyme, which I was like, oh man, could you imagine a lavender broom, or a mugwort broom, or a linen thyme. A mixture of the thyme, and the mugwort, and the lavender together. Every time you use it in this side of it just wafting,
00:44:12
Speaker
that sounds amazing right now i'm like now i need a lavender room yeah you have to do it
00:44:20
Speaker
Yeah and so with that in mind like to make a broom basically what you would do is soak your bristles in water overnight and then let them dry for a few hours just making sure that they're not waterlogged. Arrange a layer of bristles around the base of the branch and tie it tightly with twine or like Sam was saying earlier you could use like a willow branch to do that because they're super flexible and bendy.
00:44:44
Speaker
You would add another layer, building outward until the bristles reach the desired fullness and shape. Add a final layer, and this is why I'm going to post this on our socials because this is going to get really confusing. It took me like 10 times reading it for my brain to wrap around what I was like.
00:45:01
Speaker
reading. So you're going to add a final layer with six inches of bristles covering the broom handle. Then you're going to wrap the twine securely around the top layer, three inches from the base of the handle. Fold the bristles over the twine to hide the twine and then tie a length of twine tightly near the top of the bundle
00:45:21
Speaker
tie a second length about two inches down. And then you can also decorate the handle or the top of the bristles, the bristle bundle with crystals, you can paint it, you can do carvings, like whatever you want to do, tie some flowers on it, like literally you could, the possibilities are endless here, like really just like make it your own and like
00:45:42
Speaker
make it however you want it to look or whatever correspondences you want to add to it, you can do anything here. But because I feel like that's a very confusing explanation, I want to make sure that I get it put out for you guys so you can read it because I feel like reading it makes it a little bit easier. Yeah. And then just having the visual stuff too.
00:46:02
Speaker
Yeah, I love that though. Like, I feel like you can easily make this like a girls night. So if you have a few friends or something like you guys can all pitch in on like, different materials for the brooms and then you can make your own brooms. Yeah, it's beautiful. I know. Why are we so far away? I know we need to be on the same continent.
00:46:25
Speaker
And then here's what we can do whenever I come visit you because I feel like you would have a lot more access to things like that in Germany than I have here in Japan. We can make them while I'm there and then we can ship it APO to APO to myself or it can be my carry-on item. There we go. Don't mind me in my room. It fits under the seat.
00:46:51
Speaker
Yeah, this is my check package and it is my like, you know how people are like, oh yeah, this is like they have like service dogs is my service broom. So just do that. It's fine. Or we could APO to APO it. Yeah, probably. Or you can put it in like a snowboard bag. Like it's a snowboard. There we go and check it.
00:47:21
Speaker
There we go. We're going to do it. Yes, but that's Brooms. Yeah, Brooms and Brooms 101. Thank you for coming to class.
00:47:45
Speaker
That's it for this episode of Get In Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft. You can find our source material for this episode linked in the show notes. If you love this episode, we'd be forever thankful if you leave us a five-star review on wherever you listen to your podcasts. If you really love the show and want more Get In Loser content, check out our Supercast link provided in the show notes or search the Supercast website for Get In Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft.
00:48:08
Speaker
There, you can purchase a membership to our podcast and obtain exclusives, like getting the Swiss Early, shoutouts on the show, access to our Ask Me Anything forum, our monthly newsletter, a promo code for merchandise, and more. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at Get In Witches, or email us at weirdoingwitchcraft at gmail.com. Check us out next week, where we learn all about cannabis magic. Until then, Blessed Be Witches!