A witch’s broom leans in the corner of a cottage in a 1650 woodcut, bristles up. A different broom, the same year, is found buried under a threshold in Suffolk, bristles down. Same object. Opposite meanings. The relationship between broom and broomstick in magic is not a single tradition but a fork in the road: the broom as a domestic tool charged with protective intent, and the broomstick as a vehicle for spirit flight, each carrying its own history, symbolism, and practice. One sweeps away harm. The other carries the witch beyond the body.
Where Do the Two Meanings Come From?
The word “broom” comes from the Old English brom, the name of the flowering shrub whose stiff twigs were bound into the first sweeping tools. The “broomstick” is simply the handle. But the split in meaning has older roots than the English language.
In the folk magic of the British Isles, the broom was a threshold guardian long before anyone wrote about flying witches. The earliest documented practice appears in the 13th century Ancrene Wisse, a guide for anchoresses, which warns against hiding objects in the thatch of the house. The broom was one of them. By the 16th century, English court records describe brooms placed across doorways to trap evil spirits. The bristles, when turned upward, were said to catch malevolent forces before they could enter. Turned downward, they swept them out.
The flying broomstick enters the record later, and from a different source. The first explicit European reference comes from the 1453 trial of Guillaume Edeline, a French monk who confessed to riding a broom to the sabbat. The confession was extracted under torture, but the image stuck. By the time of the Malleus Maleficarum (1487), the broomstick flight had become a standard accusation. The witch anointed herself with flying ointment, straddled the stick, and was carried through the air.
That history explains why the two meanings coexist uneasily. One is protective, domestic, rooted in the hearth. The other is ecstatic, transgressive, rooted in the trial records of the witch hunts.
What the Broom Actually Did in Folk Practice
The protective broom was not a prop. It was a working tool with a specific job.
In the Scottish Highlands, the beòil-teine (the fire-broom) was used to sweep the hearth after the evening fire was banked. The motion was deliberate: inward strokes drew luck into the house, outward strokes expelled bad fortune. The broom was never left leaning against the wall after dark. It was laid flat on the floor, bristles toward the door, so that no spirit could use it as a ladder to climb into the house.
In Wales, the ysgub (the besom) was placed under the marriage bed on the wedding night. The bristles pointed toward the headboard. The intention was fertility and protection for the couple. In Cornwall, a broom was buried under the doorstep of a new house, bristles up, to catch any ill-wishing that crossed the threshold. The broom was replaced every year at Candlemas.
The bristles themselves carried the power. Birch twigs were preferred in the north of England for their association with purification. Heather was used in Scotland for its connection to the fairy folk. Willow, because it bends without breaking, was chosen for besoms meant to last through a lifetime of use.
And if you have been saying the bristles point up for protection and down for sweeping out, you are in good company. That is the consensus among folklorists, though regional variations exist. The key detail is intention. The broom was not magical because of its shape. It was magical because it was used, daily, at the boundary between inside and outside.
How the Broomstick Became a Vehicle
The flying broomstick is the more famous image, but it is the younger tradition.
The earliest accounts of witches riding objects describe not brooms but distaffs, pitchforks, and stools. The 13th century De Nugis Curialium by Walter Map tells of a woman who rode a distaff through the air. The broomstick became the standard vehicle only in the 15th century, and the reason may be practical. The broom was the one object every household owned that was long enough to straddle and light enough to carry.
The flying ointment was the real technology. Recipes from the 16th and 17th centuries contain nightshade, henbane, mandrake, and hemlock. These plants contain tropane alkaloids that cause delirium, a sensation of flight, and the feeling of being lifted or falling. Applied to the skin, especially the mucous membranes of the thighs and genitals, the ointment produced a powerful psychoactive effect. The broomstick was the applicator. The witch anointed the stick, straddled it, and the drug entered the body through the skin of the inner thigh.
The experience was real. The flight was not.
This is where the two traditions collide. The protective broom belonged to the housewife. The flying broomstick belonged to the accused. One was a tool of daily magic. The other was a symbol of the witch hunt, a confession extracted under duress, a story told by the persecutors that the persecuted eventually came to believe.
The Symbolism of the Broom in Modern Practice
Contemporary witchcraft has reconciled the two meanings, but not without tension.
In Wicca and related traditions, the broom (the besom) is used to cleanse a ritual space before work. The practitioner sweeps the area in a clockwise direction, physically and energetically clearing the floor. The broom is then placed at the edge of the circle, often bristles up, to mark the boundary. The symbolism is the same as the threshold broom: it separates the sacred from the ordinary.
But the broomstick flight has also been reclaimed. Some traditions use the broom as a vehicle in trance work. The practitioner sits astride the broom, closes the eyes, and uses rhythmic rocking or breathing to enter an altered state. The broom becomes a literal vehicle for the spirit. The flying ointment is sometimes used, though more often it is the movement and intention that carry the practitioner.
The broom is also used in handfasting ceremonies. The couple jumps over the broom together, a practice that predates the Christian wedding. The broom represents the threshold of the new home. Jumping over it is an act of commitment, a crossing into a shared life.
The two meanings are not contradictory. They are complementary. The broom sweeps away what does not belong. The broomstick carries the witch where she needs to go. One is about clearing. The other is about moving.
Common Misconceptions About the Broom in Magic
The most persistent error is that the broom is a phallic symbol. This interpretation was popularized by 19th century folklorists who saw sexual symbolism everywhere. The broomstick as a phallus, the bristles as female hair, the act of riding as a sexual act. The evidence does not support it. The broom was a household tool. Its magic came from its daily use, not from its shape.
A second misconception is that the broom must be made of specific woods to work. Birch, ash, willow, and hazel are traditional, but the broom’s power comes from use, not from the species of the handle. A broom made from store-bought dowels and synthetic bristles can be charged and used effectively. The material matters less than the intention.
A third error is that the broom should never be used for mundane sweeping. This is a modern invention. In the historical record, the same broom that swept the hearth was used to mark the ritual circle. The distinction between sacred and profane was not in the object but in the act. The broom was not two tools. It was one tool used two ways.
FAQ
Should I keep my broom bristles up or down? Bristles up for protection and storage, bristles down for sweeping. The direction matters only when you are actively using the broom for magical work.
Can I use a store-bought broom for magic? Yes. Clean it physically, then consecrate it with intention. The broom’s power comes from its use, not its origin.
Is the flying broomstick real? The physical flight is not real. The trance state induced by flying ointment is real, and the broomstick was the tool used to apply it.
What is the difference between a besom and a broom? The words are interchangeable in modern practice. Historically, a besom was specifically a broom made of birch twigs bound around a handle.
The broom is not a prop. It is a tool that has been used for centuries at the boundary between inside and outside, between the ordinary and the sacred, between the body and the spirit. One handle. Two traditions. Both still work.
For more on the tools of the craft, see our guide to witchcraft tools. The broom’s role in threshold magic connects to the broader symbolism of boundaries and protection. And for a deeper look at how the broom is used in ritual, read our guide on cleansing and consecration practices.