![]() Fifteenth-century records of Jordanes de Bergamo in his Quaestio de Strigis confirms the investigation statement of Lady Kyteler: In this account, there is no mention of actual flight, but this ritual does correspond to early accounts of pagan fertility rites as mentioned above. "In rifeling the closet of the ladie, they found a pipe of oyntment, wherewith she grease a staffe, upon which she ambled and galloped through thick and thin." According to Mann in his book Murder, Magic, and Medicine, the interrogation records stated: ![]() The earliest clue of this application comes from the investigation of Lady Alice Kyteler in 1324. This meant the user could avoid feeling ill and become high faster. Somewhere along the way, people figured out that the hallucinogenic compounds found in these plants, particularly hyoscine also known as scopolamine, could be absorbed through the sweat glands via the armpit or the mucous membranes found in the rectum or vagina. Drinking such a brew could make the drinker extremely ill if it didn't kill them first. During the Middle Ages, these plants were commonly used to make brews, ointments, and "witches' salves," according to Johann Weyer in his Praestigiis Daemonum written in 1563. Tropane alkaloids are hallucinogenic chemicals found in a number of popular toxic plants, including belladonna, henbane, and Mandrake. The use of hallucinogenic plants, later popularized by Shakespeare, completes this epic tale. When you combine Edelin's confession with early pagan rights, the picture begins to become clearer, but this is only part of the story. "At these magical assemblies, the witches never dailed to dance' and in their dance they sing these words, 'Har, hard, divell divell, dance here dance here, plaie here plaie here, Sabbath, Sabbath.' And whiles they sing and dance, ever one hath a broom in her hand, and holdeth it up aloft." In his 1584 book, The Discoverie of Witchcraft, Reginal Scot describes these rituals: But the story doesn't end there.Įarly accounts of pagan fertility rituals suggested phallic objects such as poles, pitchforks, and brooms were riden through the fields while the rider jumped up and down in an attempt to coax the crops to grow faster and taller. This is the first known reference to witches riding on brooms. After being tortured, he confessed to signing a compact with the Devil and attending the Sabbath "mounted on a balai," or broom. The first known reference of witches riding on brooms was confessed by a suspected male witch in 1453 by the name of Guillaume Edelin of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. But that doesn't explain why the broom became a symbol of flight. Due to its use as a cleaning implement, the broom quickly became associated with the cleansing of negative energies and was later used in handfasting ceremonies to represent new beginnings. They were not very useful for cleaning and needed constant repair, so instead they were often placed by the door, bristles up, to ward of evil spirits and negative energies. One of the earliest known ritual besoms was believed to be made from Hazelwood and birch twigs, both trees sacred to the pagans. The broom represented the epitome of female domesticity and was the perfect object of rebellion for women stuck in an extremely patriarchal world, but we'll get to that in a moment. It was usually made of wood and straw and used, of course, to sweep the floors. So where did it all begin?Ĭommonly referred to in witchcraft as a besom, the broomstick was an important fixture in homes throughout Europe and other parts of the world. My favorite is probably the scene from Hocus Pocus where the sisters fly away on other cleaning tools, including a vacuum. ![]() ![]() It's so iconic that almost every book or movie with witches features a broom. Why is it the broom is such an iconic figure in witchcraft? When I say the word witch, that is inevitably the first image to pop into someone's mind. A real house-haunting, broom-riding, cauldron-stirring witch." -Samantha, from Bewitched
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