THE CARE AND FEEDING OF THE WICCA BROOM

As Witches, we need to be aware of the Ancient Broom Lore that has been passed
down to us from those wonderful Crones of the past.

1- Never leave home for long periods of time without telling your broom.

2- Treat your broom as you would any other member of your family, with honor,
reverence and respect.

3- Magickal Brooms are not regular cleaning brooms and should not be used for
such mundane tasks.

4- Never leave your Magickal Broom outside your cast circle.

5- Speak with your broom as you would speak to other members of your family or coven.

6- Never leave your Magickal Broom outside in the weather unless you ask the
Broom.

7- Oil your broomstick with every turn of the wheel.

Brooms have long been known for their magickal ways, probably due to it’s shape, use in purification rites and kinship with magickal wands and staffs. The common household tool has been known to be so sacred that in many parts of the world there are Broom Deities.

Sao Ching Niang – The lady with the broom who lives in the Broom Star. When
there is too much rain and the crops are threatened, it is not uncommon in China
to see pictures of Brooms hanging on the front door or fences to bring clear and
sunny weather to the field.

As this is invoking the Great Earth Goddess herself, the Broom Star is the
fertile womb of our Great Goddess, and thus she gives us life of the fields that
are represented by the Corn Fields. Hence the broom is brought into our homes
from the womb of the Goddess.

In Mexico, the Witch Goddess Tlazoiteotl is depicted riding on a broom. This
symbolizes the coming of the night, the dark part of ourselves, the growing
darkness of the winter.

The priests in South America hve been known to burn offerings of owls and
snakes. These were offered at the dark moon. Through these offerings, the people were calling upon the Broom Witch to sweep away their transgressions.

My grandmother was a Broom Witch. Here are some of the old magickal things that can be done with a broom. On a hot summers day, I would watch her go out on the front porch and swing the broom over her head. Grandma would just tell me to be quiet, the rain was coming. And if fact she was right. A few hours later we always had rain. So Granny would call the rain with her broom by swinging it
clockwise over her head.

In turn, if it was raining too much, she would go out and talk with her broom
for a while on the front porch. She would sing “Rain, rain, go away, come again
some other day”. Then she would raise her broom and swing it over her head
counter-clockwise to stop the rain, and again, a few hours later the rain would
stop.

With some practice, I know have mastered this little broomlore spell. I find it
handy to tell the broom what I want it to do before I do it, then I say my
incantation and swing the broom.