In the early tide of an Australian, Winters Samhuinn, I put together a simple garden charm of Lavender leaved and Elder wand into that of a besom... A nice straight specimen of elder branch intended as wand or stang concealed between bushels of winter trimmed Lavender. Elder for transition, protection, purification and banishing. The Lavender for psychic ability, sight, love of magick and ancestors, happiness and healing, including of the Moon garden bed it will reside on. The witches tree ‘Elder’ acts as portal and veil, which is at its peak at Samhuinn and Bealtainne. Portal for us Wyrd weavers who have the ancestral links to what is Teuton/Germanic ‘Witch/Wic/Volva’ and the spirits/beings and ancestors we work with. One such I am drawn to with Elder is Frau Holle within the Gottess sphere when it comes specifically to the Elder. I may add here the stereotype of witch being woman is false and man being witch doesn’t strip him of his masculinity. The Besom also works in symbolism to that of Thors hammer which is also a feminine/masculine charm symbol, capable of clearing, banishing, creative, lightening and powerful change. Modern pop culture or what I should call the propaganda machine in which meanings of things are destroyed, has much to answer for. The amount of appropriation of the Anglo craft ‘Witchcraft’ into against Anglo men/culture, against Anglos period or a total disrespect of what is sacred woman and sacred man – is poisonous to Anglos and Celts of blood seeking connection to the old ways and kin. The amount of kin turned against us real witches who are of Anglo or Teuton decent and actually practice old craft, is staggering. In Anglo-Saxon England, broom making was a specialty of the 'Besom squires,' who were usually men and woodworkers who had a skillfull knack, to craft forestry into tools and symbols, not unlike the rushes that are woven into Solar or Bridey crosses every year in the Gael/Celt tradition. But regardless of whom one is in the ethnically European family, the tradition of crafting a Besom (Broom) oneself for Charm and or Magickal purposes can actually be a start into reconnecting to the magick who is Gottess and of the old folk. A Besom is actually a union of male (the wand) and female (Brush) to enable magick to physically manifest within this Midguard realm. To Follow;
The lavender Brush sits aside my Winter Crone at Samhuinn... Some European Besom folklore,
Besoms are associated with unions including the European tradition of Handfasting, including the ritual of ‘jumping the broom’ at Handfastings. They’re also symbolic of Hearth and Home, which includes cleansing, protection, transition/regeneration, and banishment from the physical use, to the metaphysical in symbolism. In the European household, Besoms were a symbol of the woman’s role and power in the home. Something I still do to this day is use a magickal broom charm to signal visitors I know if I’m home or not. If I’m home the broom bristles face down, and up if I’m not. The tradition comes from the woman of the household signalling she is home by leaning her broom outside the front door or to push the handle of the broom up the chimney, when not in residence. Besoms are also linked to the Sidhe within Gaelic/Celt customs, including legends such as the legend of the forest witch. Going into the woods to ask the residing Sidhe for assistance in finding the perfect branch or stick for a Besom. Sometimes the Lord of the Forest, Green man or Frey would answer themselves, thus the engraving of their symbols/faces upon the wood gift ensued. Pagan and magickal use is often symbolic of virility/fertility. Stemming even from ancient fertility rites practiced by our European ancestors, with the local women, who would gather around newly planted crops, with besoms between their legs, circling the crops and hoping around like they were riding hobby horses. Hobby horses actually have origins in such pagan activities. In this ritual the crops would grow as high the woman could hop. From afar this very much could be one of the associations or old beliefs in witches flying on their brooms. Originally the riding Besoms were actually riding staffs or sticks or wands. Unfortunately there are those who promoted degradation of such innocent rituals as something more degrading or sexualized outside of the unity of man/woman symbolism. This hasn’t been helped by movie propaganda or the invasion and forced conversion into the Abrahamic religious cults upon the European or Western nations. In order to push the folk into the ‘New’ religions and away from their ancestral links, wherever such kin based customs were found, they were then degraded, especially to be as evil or such. The other factor is real witches do not need hallucinogenic to have sight, we already have sight, and having full conscious thought keeps us anchored in reality, being able to distinguish from actual accounts or imaginations. In 1948, negative magickal lore was associated with the witch and ‘Her’ broom by the Catholic Church with church inquisitor who said that believing witches could fly on sticks was to be part of their official beliefs. By 1580 the still negatively coated belief morphed into witches, flying on Besoms. The demonologists during the Renaissance then said the devil presented witches with brooms, along with flying ointment, to make them move through the air, another reason why I’m quick to discredit the whole hallucinogenic coated sticks as nonsense and a religious slander thrown our way. It was in this time also these puritans also started saying the Devil gave us witches, an animal familiar or smaller demon to ride around on it the brooms with us. Very strange since we do not believe in the Devil and the Devil or Satan, is a purely Semitic construct. They too slandered the witches who were men by referring to them as sorcerers and not the witches they were. Sort of double insult, taking away the right for men to be witches and making the witch term a further derogative in its association implied that only women could be, due to women being unholy and men shouldn’t want any magickal ability ‘associated’ uniquely to them or to the Gottess. So called Sorcerers were also depicted as riding Besoms or Brooms, as well as pitchforks. It was thought that witches flew on their brooms to sabbats, to meet up and cause mischief, calling up storms or cast spells on their others. The funny thing is there is some credence to the weather changing, at least within my mother’s druidic line of Castle Adders. We were thought to be able to change direction of wind and to call the storms, something I still feel and have had experience in. How? I’m not sure, but lean towards the connection to nature spirits acting as magnet to my emotional state/energy. Bit like when I walk past cars and set off their alarms. My construction, simple; I often refer to branches, sticks and twigs as spirit sticks for they contain spirits and can be used to transport spirits from one place to another. I have a tradition of collecting some 'Fallen' branches and sticks on the eve of Samhuinn to bring them inside along with the spirits/elementals within them for shelter from the harsh winter. I always have boxes and pots full of various branches and sticks in which I craft from throughout the seasons and year. Sometimes I just use them naked in vase arrangements or as dowels for banners and tapestry’s I have made. Obviously, Besoms are one of the crafts I make from these and this Besom, depicted in this post. As mentioned earlier it is simply a straight specimen form the Elder along with late fall harvested Lavender branches and their leaves still intact. The purpose of this Besom is to charm my Moon garden with the properties of both Lavender and Elder, along with the Besom symbolism at Samhuinns Winter. Besoms for Charm purposes only, are obviously not meant to be physically used to sweep the floor in order to clean mundanely. And in that, one has creative licence to use whatever wood/wand and bristles one likes or that is drawn too. They can also be charmed and consecrated themselves with oils, ribbons, dollies, flowers, scrolls and so forth. But this one alas is pretty basic. I used;
Directions; I simply wrapped the bushels Lavender around an end of the Elder wand, wrapping and securing with rounds of twine, before securing the twine. Another consideration of construction is the timing of including day and or month of the year for another layer of intention. Options; Bit like outfits, one Besom never feels quite enough and it is most likely one ends up with a collection to mark times of the year and ceremony/ritual and spell, or all year purpose (Well I have, anyway). Such variety with additional odds and sods ornamentation include;
In German tradition On the north German moor, or heide, within the bay hall house, one can keep the flett (Lowlands of Northern German term translated, as; fireplace surround swept clean). The local broom squire on the heide could find all the materials he needed for making sturdy, stiff-bristled besoms for the hearth from miles and miles of Besenheide (broom heather, the purple flowered Calluna vulgaris). V comes from the Greek verb meaning ‘to sweep’. Heide also came to mean ‘Pagan’ along with Heather and Moor. Etymology (Sourced Etimology.com) Besom (n.) Old English besma "bundle of twigs" (used as a broom or a flail), from West Germanic *besman- (source also of Old Frisian besma "rod, birch," Old Saxon besmo, Old High German besmo "broom, besom," German Besen, Dutch bezem), which is of unknown origin, possibly from a non-IE substrate language. Broom (n.) Old English brom, popular name for several types of shrubs common throughout Europe (used medicinally and for fuel) and characterized by long, slender branches and many yellow flowers, from Proto-Germanic *bræmaz "thorny bush" (source also of Dutch braam, German Brombeere "blackberry"), from PIE *bh(e)rem- "to project; a point." As "twigs of broom tied together to a handle to make a tool for sweeping," mid-14c. Traditionally, both the flowers and sweeping with broom twigs were considered unlucky in May (Suffolk, Sussex, Wiltshire, etc.). Broomstick (n.) Also broom-stick, "stick or handle of a broom," 1680s, from broom (n.) + stick (n.). Earlier was broom-staff (1610s). Broom-handle is from 1817. The witch's flying broomstick originally was one among many such objects (pitchfork, trough, bowl), but the broomstick became fixed as the popular tool of supernatural flight via engravings from a famous Lancashire witch trial of 1612. Broomstick marriage, in reference to an informal wedding ceremony in which the parties jump over a broomstick, is attested from 1774. Guidelines of Use;
European and Teutonic Ancestral Gottesses linked to this charm Outside of Union of Male/female, Got/Gottess and Thor/Thors Hammer, basically all European Winter Crone and shape shifting Gottesses can be linked to this Samhuinn Garden Charm Besom or Besoms period. These include Hecate, Morrigan/any of the Morrigui, Brigit, Freya/Frigg, Hel, Baba Yaga, Cailleach. Actually many gottesses are depicted as flying through the air— sometimes on besoms, staffs, distaffs (a spinning tool), or on the backs of animals including horses or birds. Think of Freya’s original witches or volvas, the Valkyries. Here’s an overall on some of these in respective European, cultural traditions; Northern European Holda The winter and nature Gottess, Holda travels with a pack of hounds, at the head of a gathering of children and other dead souls in the Wild Hunt, all mounted on besoms, especially at Samhuinn/Winter finding/Mothers night/Yule. She is also known as Frau Holle, Hulda, Snow Queen, and Mother Holle. Frau Holle as I like to call her can control snow and fog, and when she shakes out her feather bed, it causes the snow to fall down onto mudguard. Witches joining her night train can say they are ‘Holle or Holda riding, such as the German tradition as late as nineteenth century. There are tales of her sightings being the front of a beautiful woman to then show her back as the Elder tree. For me, in my practice the Elder with always be Frau Holle tree, maybe impart because of this. Within the Elder I feel her there and she often tends to the sleeping animals in my home just as she is said to the household children in tradition, rocking their cradles to help them sleep safely, a fairy Gotmother as such. This Besom I have made actually sits in the Moon garden which has three Frau Holle trees. Russian/Slavic Baba Yaga A witch/Crone Gottess with power over the elements, with her magickal besom used to sweep the path behind her as she flew through the air in her enchanted mortar and pestle. As she flew, she was often accompanied by crows, ravens, and or owls. Baba’s Besom is also used in spellwork which includes sweeping away the traces that she has been there, she guard’s doorways, portals, and is powerful, wise and sometimes harsh. Unfortunately she like the rest of the Gottesses also had smear campaigns against her due to simple minds and or invading Christ viruses. Gaelic/Celt Birghid In an Irish threshold rite honoring Brigid at a time of renewal ‘Imbolc’ in County Wexford as late as the nineteenth century, the man of the house would go out after sunset on the eve of Brigid’s Day to gather rushes whilst a feast was prepared inside, after the spring clean had taken place. When the feast was ready, he’d take the rushes that were bundled on a sunwise (clockwise/doesil) circuit around the house, stopping at the door to usher in Bridey and call on the household to welcome her in. After the ritual was complete, he’d bring in the rushes to place of under table, as he and the family feasted. After which solar or Bridey crosses were made from the rushes to hang within each room and by hearth for blessings until next Imbolc. Some of these very same rushes can be used in adapting this practice to make specific besoms or in Bridey representation into Samhuinn charm Besoms. Bride as she is also known as is a shape shifter herself and can be one moment maiden, next mother, and next crone and not in that particular order Using the Celt sunwise circuit around the home thrice times, represents the crossing of liminal space that the threshold represents, in offering hospitality to a got/tesses, with use of rushes representing the guest. It’s is important to note such practices were appropriated to be Christian as much of our race/cultural based traditions were in both rewriting of our history and in conversion away from kin to foreign beings/energies/peoples. By Druid & Witch of the old ways, And Priestess of the Morrigan, Ravenmor Fox Thank-you, don’t forget to save and share. Some more related post links are below; Don’t miss a vlog post on youtube by signing up to the channel. Vlogs from all of the sister sights are posted there; © Bohemefit Originally published June 27th 2020-06-27 #2020 #Winter #Samhuinn #MoonGarden #Besom #Broom #MagickCharm #Lavender #Crafting #Landscaping #GardenCharms #Twine
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