Besom

Classic form of the besom

alternative form of the besom, using fibres instead of twigs

A besom is a traditionally constructed broom made of a bundle of twigs tied to a stouter pole. They are still made today and sold at gardening stores as outdoor brooms.

Construction

As a result of its construction around a central pole, the brush of the besom is rounded instead of flat. The bristles can be made of many materials including, but not limited to straw, herbs, or twigs. Traditionally the handle is of hazel wood and the head is of birch twigs. Modern construction uses bindings of wire and string (instead of the traditional split withy) and the head is secured by a steel nail instead of a wooden dowel.

Uses

Besoms are the broomsticks traditionally associated with witches.

A besom is one of the tools used in Wicca. A traditional Wiccan besom is an ash stave handle with bristles made from birch twigs. These twigs are tied on using thin pieces of willow wood. It is used to cleanse the ritual area before circle casting.

As a tool, the besom is usually thought of as masculine in nature due to its phallic shape and symbolism. However the besom's components are of both masculine and feminine orientation. The handle, an ash stave, is masculine in nature while the birch used for the bristles is thought of as feminine in nature. The besom is thought to be involved with fairies.

The besom is an important part of Wiccan handfasting ceremonies in some traditions. The couple jump over the besom during the ceremony. Alternatively, the couple may jump over a small bonfire.

Besoms and "flying"

Main article: Flying ointment

There is a theory that the origin of the idea of witches flying with their brooms is based in a ritual involving a psychoactive drug trip. The witches would prepare a flying ointment to aid them in their journey. There are many recipes for this ointment all having a base of either Atropa belladonna or Mandragora officinarum, both highly psychoactive drugs producing visions and encouraging astral projection. {{linkrot}} Some speculate the ointment was applied to the end of the Besom and administered vaginally.^{[citation needed]} Witches mounted broomsticks and would leap around the fields, hallucinating with the aid of the flying ointment, in order to "teach the crops how high to grow". The ointment would give them hallucinations, which made them believe that they flew distances.