A witch’s broom, or besom, is a ritual tool used for purification, protection, and magical flight, traditionally made from birch twigs bound to an ash handle with willow strips. Its meaning shifts across cultures and centuries: a domestic implement repurposed for magic, a symbol of the threshold between worlds, and an icon of witchcraft itself.
How Did the Witch’s Broom Become Associated with Flight?
The earliest known image of a witch riding a broom appears in a 1451 French manuscript, Le Champion des Dames by Martin Le Franc. Two women are shown mid-flight on what look like household brooms, accompanied by text stating they use “ung baston” (a stick) for travel. This visual predates the major witch trials by fifty years and suggests the idea of magical flight was already circulating in popular imagination.
By the sixteenth century, broom flight was a standard charge in witch confessions. In 1566, the Chelmsford witch Agnes Waterhouse was accused of keeping a cat and using a broom to fly. The 1584 book The Discoverie of Witchcraft by Reginald Scot debunked such claims, arguing that “witches” were merely deluded old women. Yet the image stuck. The 1591 confessions of the North Berwick witches in Scotland include detailed accounts of flying on broomsticks to sea meetings with the devil.
Why the broom? One theory — first proposed by historian Michael Harrison and later popularized by anthropologists — is that the broom served as an applicator for flying ointment. Recipes for these ointments (datura, belladonna, hemlock) contain tropane alkaloids that cause sensations of flight. Applying them to the skin’s mucous membranes, including the vaginal area via a broom handle, would accelerate absorption. The broom became both the tool and the symbol of the experience.
A more practical origin: the broom was a domestic object in every medieval household. Accusing a woman of using her broom to fly was a way to criminalize ordinary life. The Inquisition could point to any broom as evidence of witchcraft. This tactic appears in the 1589 trial of Sidonia von Borcke in Pomerania, where witnesses claimed she flew on a stolen staff.
The broom’s association with magic predates Christianity. In ancient Rome, brooms were used in the Lupercalia festival to purify spaces. In pre-Christian Slavic customs, a broom hung on the door protected the home from evil spirits. The witch’s broom did not emerge from nowhere — it was a pre-existing folk tool that the witch trials repurposed for propaganda.
What Does the Broom Symbolize in Witchcraft?
The core symbolic function of the witch’s broom is boundary. A broom sweeps a line between clean and unclean, inside and outside, sacred and profane. In ritual, that line becomes a magical circle. The act of sweeping makes the boundary visible and tactile.
The broom also symbolizes inversion. A witch flying on a broom is an inversion of domestic order: the woman who should be sweeping the hearth is instead riding the broom out the chimney. This inversion is why the broom appears in carnival and topsy-turvy imagery. The switch from cleaning tool to flight vehicle upends the social hierarchy.
In modern witchcraft, the broom represents the union of opposites. The handle (usually ash, a masculine wood) and the bristles (usually birch, a feminine wood) are bound together. The binding itself, often willow bark or string, becomes a symbol of the joining of forces. This is not a fixed tradition but a recurring theme in self-published grimoires from the 1960s onward.
The broom also stands for domestic magic. Witchcraft was often accused of poisoning wells or spoiling crops, but it also protected homes. A broom placed under the pillow protects the sleeper. A broom tied to the bedpost wards off nightmares. These are not high ceremonial actions; they are quiet gestures, the kind a grandmother might do without naming it magic.
How Is the Witch’s Broom Used in Ritual?
The most common modern use is space cleansing. Sweep a ritual area counterclockwise to remove stagnant energy, then clockwise to draw in fresh energy. The sound of birch twigs on stone or wood is the primary sensory cue, harsh, dry, deliberate. Some practitioners sprinkle salt or cornmeal on the floor and sweep it into a dustpan, later discarding it outside the house.
A broom placed above the doorway is a protective charm. This practice appears in Appalachian folk magic and Irish tradition. The broom guards the entrance against hostile spirits and unwelcome guests. In some variants, the broom is hung with the bristles up to sweep away evil as it enters; in others, bristles down so the broom can sweep away negativity from inside.
Jumping the broom is a marriage ritual with roots in Romani and Slavic traditions, later adopted in African American weddings during slavery. The couple jumps over a broom lying on the ground, symbolizing their crossing a threshold together. In a Wiccan handfasting, the broom is often held by the couple or placed as an obstacle, jumping it seals the bond. The broom then becomes a household tool and a memory of the commitment.
In circle casting, some witches use the broom instead of an athame or wand. They trace the circle’s perimeter with the broom’s bristles, sweeping the boundary into existence. This method is slower and more sensory than a blade, the broom drags and whispers, marking the circle as a physical groove in the earth or floor.
A dried broom can be buried or burned as a disposal method after ritual use. If the broom is used for a banishing spell, burning it releases the intention. The smoke carries the smell of birch and ash, acrid but cleansing.
How Does the Broom Compare to Other Ritual Tools?
The witch’s broom occupies a unique place among ritual tools. The athame cuts, the wand directs, and the broom sweeps. Each defines a boundary, but the broom does so by clearing, not severing. It is the gentlest boundary maker, appropriate for purification rather than defense.
The broom also differs in material origin. An athame is made of iron or steel, a wand of wood or crystal. A broom is a composite: organic materials bound by hand. It takes longer to make and to learn to use. Its rhythm is slower, its touch less precise.
In modern witchcraft, the broom is sometimes called the witch’s staff, a term that emphasizes its role as a grounding tool. A witch who cannot afford a staff may use a broom. This connection is old: the word “broomstick” originally referred to the handle, not the whole tool, and a witch might take just the handle to use as a walking staff for magical travel.
What Are the Most Common Misconceptions?
“Witches ride brooms on Halloween.” The association with Samhain comes from the broom’s role in flying to sabbats. But the flight was never a literal ride, it was the visionary experience of flying ointment. The broom was an aid, not a vehicle.
“A witch’s broom must be made of specific woods.” No single tradition prescribes woods. Birch, ash, willow, hazel, and oak are common, but any natural broom can be consecrated. The materials matter less than the maker’s intention.
“The broom is evil or satanic.” The broom is a domestic tool. Its use in witchcraft is about purification and protection, not summoning or cursing. The satanic association came from witch-hunters who equated any folk practice with devil worship.
“Jumping the broom is exclusively African American.” The practice has European (Romani, Slavic, Welsh) roots as well. Enslaved African Americans adapted it because they were denied legal marriage. It became a symbol of resilience, but it is not a purely African tradition.
“A witch’s broom is only for flying.” This is the most persistent misunderstanding. For most practitioners, the broom is for sweeping, not flying. Flight is a metaphor for spiritual travel, not a mode of transportation.
FAQ
Why do witches fly on brooms in folklore?
The image stems from medieval accusations and the use of flying ointments containing hallucinogenic herbs. Broom handles were used to apply these ointments, linking the tool to the sensation of flight.
What is a besom?
A besom is a specific type of broom with a round, bushy brush of birch twigs bound to a long handle, traditionally with a split hazel or willow binding. It is the classic witch’s broom.
How do you consecrate a witch’s broom?
Cleanse the broom with salt water or incense smoke (frankincense or rosemary work well). State its purpose aloud: “This broom sweeps clean, protects this space, and carries my intent.” Store it bristles up or down depending on tradition.
Closing
The witch’s broom is not a Halloween prop. It is a threshold tool, a purifier, and a symbol of the boundary between worlds, whether that boundary is the physical doorway or the edge of a circle. For the practitioner, it offers a tactile way to mark sacred space. For the historian, it reveals how domestic life became dangerous in the witch-hunt era. For the curious, it invites a closer look at a tool that has swept both floors and folklore.
Explore more tools of the craft in our guide to witchcraft tools, learn the full meaning of the besom in our glossary, or return to the witchcraft hub for further reading.