Magical brooms

[NachtSorcier]

I've been curious about something for a while now.  We all know that in some traditions a broom is used to purify the sacred space before casting a Circle.  In Scott Cunningham's "Wicca," he says that because the broom is ruled by the element of Water (in his mind, at least), it can be used in love and psychic awareness spells.  What I'm curious about is in what form might someone use a magical broom for something other than purification?  In the book "Spell Crafts," he and David Harrington show how to make a broom to be used for purification, but that is the only formula they give.  According to this book, you can use it to purify the home by sweeping all around the house and directing the negative energy out of an open door.  I suppose perhaps that you might make a broom to bring, say, money, out of a pine branch and stalks of patchouli, mint, and basil and sweep into the house instead of out.  Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

I'm not really knowledge girl but i believe that the besom/broom is linked to fertility of the land, and people.

Hence a couple jumping a broom in handfastings.  I think this is where we get 'living over the broom' from.

Not really sure if this was what you meant, or indeed if I have got it quite right!  

It would be interesting to learn more about this integral part of a witch's paraphernalia.  As well as finding out about what kind of besoms people own and how/ whether they use them.

Sorry, and I hope I am not hijacking this thread?!!!

Blessings. Npf x

P.s I have a hand made twig broom, largely for decorative purposes, and a small broom for space purification, before workings.

[NachtSorcier]

That is partially what I meant.  So for instance if a couple wanted to have children they might put a broom under the bed to ensure fertility.

However, to delve deeper into the question, how would one use a broom in a love spell?  Or to increase psychic awareness?

[Blayze]

Hi there,

Brooms are used in fertility magic because they represent the joining of masculine and feminine. The shaft and the brush etc.

We also use a broom in handfastings to sweep around the couple, to remove any hurts or negative actions before they are joined / bound etc. The broom is then jumped to ensure fertility, not only in the physical but in all aspects of their lives.

Brooms are great for sweeping out the old and bringing in the new, spring cleaning rituals (around Imbolc or Ostara) are wonderful if you make a broom specifically for the ritual. We have had group rituals where the group constructs a broom together before we ritually clean out our permanent magical work space.

You can also make a broom out of healing herbs and use it to sweep over a person to remove illness, then use some other method to bring in healing. I tend to use music such as drums or bells etc for that.

Brooms can also be protective, place one behind you door (with the brush up) to discourage unwelcome visitors.

You can also ride brooms around the circle to raise energy, we have done this many times at Beltane.

Since I do a lot of work with tree magic I will also make small brooms from twigs of a certain trees to use in my rituals. I have also used brooms of Broom/Ash and Ivy when working with Ngetal.

Hope this helps
Bright blessings
Blayze