To Sweep...Or Not To Sweep?

Today, I'm going to start right off with a little history lesson. The first known reference to witches flying on broomsticks dates to 1453, confessed by the male witch Guillaume Edelin. The concept of a 'flying ointment' used by witches appears at about the same time, recorded in 1456. The use of a broom - or a likeness thereof - has been around for longer than many would like to think. In fact, there's even a reference to sweeping in the Bible. In the book of Luke, chapter 15, verse 8, during the 'Parable Of The Lost Coin' tale, it reads: "Suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?" Thus, brooms have been around for a very long time. Suffice to say, and many thanks to the folks during the Inquisitions era, brooms have pretty much been associated with two things. Sweeping floors, and witches. It is what's generally NOT known, that is the true importance, at least when it comes to brooms, and their uses by people who follow alternative beliefs.

    Here is what is not known, at least by the general population. Brooms are symbolic to people of alternative beliefs, AND they are also cleaning devices. OK, so what does the broom symbolize? Cleaning. Yes, I know, and I can hear the entire lot of you saying 'Duh' in your minds. None the less, dirt, dust, soil and sediment is not what I meant by 'cleaning'. See, to people of alternative beliefs, cleaning is another term used for the word 'cleansing'. Brooms are used to 'sweep away negativity'. Sometimes you might find them hung above a door way, or set next to a door way, for the same reasons someone might hang a horse shoe over their door, or on a particular wall in their homes, and/or husbandry barns/stalls. Good luck. That's honestly and truly all it is. I promise you there are no witches, any place on this entire planet, who use brooms as transportation....at all. It just does not happen. It's not possible, without the help of some machinery strapped onto the broom that will make it fly. Even then, the broom will likely burn into a cinder before it ever got off the ground. But what of the 'confession' back in 1453? Considering the fact that back then, when someone was accused of 'witchcraft', or of 'being a witch', they were often arrested, tortured into a 'confession' and then killed. Confession or not, they were killed. Many, however, honestly believed that if they told their accusers what they wanted to hear, that they would be allowed to live. This belief was based on the fact that the accusers would say things like "If you confess, you will be spared". To a common person back then (given the language structuring at the time), that meant "I will set you free". To the accuser, however, that meant "May God have mercy on your soul upon death and spare you from the fires of Hell".

If you're being tortured, in the manner that those people were, you would say anything to avoid further torture, even if you knew you were going to die. It was THAT horrid. Imagine being on a medieval stretching rack, having your limbs pulled from their sockets, muscle and flesh torn from the bones...and you're being asked to confess that you were seen flying around on a broom? Yup, I'll guarantee that you'd admit to it, just to stop the agonizing pain. Keep in mind, that these were people who would strap each limb to a rope, with the other end of the rope attached to war horses, pointing in 4 different directions...and with the crack of a whip, those horses would run full force, literally ripping all the limbs from your body. In Hollywood, they show that as an 'instant death'. In truth? You'd die, but you'd have to bleed to death first. You'd feel all of that pain, all of that anguish and all of that force. All this, over a broom? Sadly, the answer is yes.

   So now that we've gotten the most gruesome portion out of the way, and the history lesson out of the way, the question remains: What does a witch actually use a broom for? Again, the answer is 'cleaning'. Very literally. They clean everything. Think of it as more of a spiritual kind of OCD. Cleaning the mind, home, soul. Cleaning the negativity, sadness and hate. Cleaning the cob webs, dust and dirt. Cleaning everything that broom can reach. Physically speaking, a witch's house is probably the least negative place you will ever enter in your life. This also holds true for almost every person that follows an alternative belief system. A broom over a door way symbolizes that the home is a 'negativity free zone' for all who enter. It is also an indicator that anyone who enters that home, and brings negativity with them, will be swept right back out the door from which they entered. An old 'cardinal rule' for those of alternative beliefs is: "Harm none". A modern addition to that is: "Harm none, but take no shit". Believe me, people who follow an alternative life style, on any level, take plenty of unnecessary shit. The last thing these people want is to have to deal with that inside their own homes.

Typically, we see homes that have 1 or 2 brooms, maybe 3. We all know that there are many different types of brooms, to tackle many different types of sweeping chores. Hand brooms, full sized brooms, electric brooms, mid-range brooms, different widths and materials....the broom is quite a broad ranged cleaning item! These are mostly purchased in stores, or at farmer's markets where the seller makes brooms for a living. For people of alternative paths, the broom they use for cleansing is not the same as the one they use for house hold chores. Why? Because the broom they use for cleansing is one they have made themselves, rather than one that has been purchased in a store, or at a market. The home made brooms take a bit of time to create, and are considered very special due to the time and energy that has been placed in the creation of the broom. A person might spend weeks, or even months, creating one singular broom. If the person grows the plants themselves, it will take months. If the person goes out into the forest and harvests the materials from already matured plants, then it will take weeks. They may use twine, rope or even ribbon to hold their brooms together. They may dye the broom pieces into different colors (and, by the way, colors are also symbolic to alternative path people). They may even make several different sized brooms, to fit near, or over, different sizes areas of the home. I've even seen a few people hang a broom over their head boards of their beds, to help keep sleeping time negative free. For me, that's a bit extreme, but I have seen it done.

    Now then, even though most people of these belief systems have a good sense of humor, it's not the best idea to try and make jokes about the brooms. You likely won't get the response you were hoping for, and will probably find yourself being swept right out with the dirt. For those of us, such as myself, who can understand this sense of humor, it's tolerable. We can come right back with an equally sarcastic, or joking, response and not even think twice about it. We live by the creed: "We understand it, so you don't have to". For us, it would be lovely if people really did understand this, but we're used to the enormous misunderstanding that surrounds our very life style to begin with. Therefore, we don't let something like a little flying broom joke bother us too much. So, for the record: There are no real flying brooms. There are no witches flying off into the darkness of night on a broom stick. There are no enchanted brooms that just magically sweep the house for them and there are no brooms that are going to voluntarily attack you on their own accord just for walking into a person's home. Not going to happen - ever. Oh, and did you know that hand made brooms actually work better, and sometimes last longer, than mass produced brooms? Right, that's why when you go to some farmer's markets, you will see home made brooms. If you see these...buy one. It will be the best broom you ever owned in your life. Even if you're not prone to flying it home from the market.