Witches ... funny

PBP13: B = Brighid

I have always felt drawn to Ireland.  To the Irish heritage ...  and as a Pagan, I am drawn to the Celtic roots of it.   So in my year of learning ........  this is some of the great knowledge I found. 

Brighid the goddess

 Taken from HERE ....  there is also a page for Saint Brigid ... 

Brighid is arguably the most important goddess in British history yet most of what was known of her has been lost with the oral tradition that fostered her devotion. Written sources, such as “Sanas Chormaic” (Glossary of Cormac) and “Leabhar Ghabhala” (Book of Conquests), date from the 9th and 12th centuries respectively. This is long after St. Brighid established her community at Kildare so we have to be careful that we do not construct a goddess from our knowledge of the saint. The Irish Celtic scholar, An t-Athair Sean O'Quinn, rightly says, “It is an exercise in futility to try and separate the historical Christian Brighid from the Goddess since clearly the two are so interwoven.”

Brighid is the Goddess of healing, (smith)craft and poetry, useful and inspired wisdom. She is the Goddess of fire, the hearth and energy. She is the Goddess of fertility and is said to lean over every cradle. She is associated with sovereignty and protection of her isles and the sea.

Today, many places in the British Isles bear her name. As “Brigantia” she gave her name to the Celtic lands of the North of England. Rivers are also named after her including, Afon (River) Braint, the longest river on Ynys Mon (Anglesey); Brent, London; and Brue, Somerset.

Kinship

Sanas Chormaic tells us that Brighid may have been three sister goddesses. In Ireland she is called the daughter of Dagda, the Red Man of all Knowledge, who had his house at Brugh na Boinne. Dagda is the leader of the Tuatha-de-Danaan, a warrior, master of magic and skilled craftsman. He is the son of the goddess, Danu, and the partner of the Morrigan, the Great Queen and goddess of battle.

With Tuireann Brighid had three sons, Brian, Iuchar and Iucharba. With Bres the Beautiful, a miserly ruler, she had one son, Ruadan. He tried to murder Goibniu, the smith who created magical weapons that always hit their mark, but the smith killed him. It is said that Brighid's lament for Ruadan was the first keening to be heard in Ireland.

The Synod of Dublin (1670) ordered priests to make every effort to bring an end to the wailing and screams of female keeners who accompanied the dead to the graveyard. An Irish triad goes: “Fear bruine, bean chaointe na garbhmhuilleoir, ni bhf aighidh sna flaithis aon leaba go deo.” (Three persons who will get no bed in heaven, a quarrelsome man, a keening woman and a crude miller).

Fire

Brighid is a Fire Goddess and as Brighid's Cross is in the form of a solar wheel she may also be a Sun Goddess. It is believed that nineteen priestesses tended the eternal flame of Brighid at the place now known as Kildare. It has even been suggested that St. Brighid may have been a priestess of Brighid before her conversion to the Christian faith.

Brighid is particularly associated with the first stirrings of Spring as the days begin to lengthen, the snowdrops bloom, and the ewes begin to lactate. In a Scottish story Bride is taken captive by Beira, the Queen of Winter. Some say her winter prison is the mountain, Ben Nevis. Before the fire of the sun can warm the earth again Bride has to be freed. So a spell is cast borrowing three days from the heat of August. As Bride walks free light fills the earth and the land turns green again.

Brighid's fire is truly the fire of creativity. It is responsible for the kindling of the earth in early Spring, the kindling of sexual passion, the kindling of the body in healing, the kindling of the heart in poetry and song, the kindling of the mind in science and craft. Her fire is a guiding light to her people in times of trouble, darkness and despair. To see her pass the house at Samhain is a sign that those within will be safe throughout the dark days of Winter.

Fire in the hearth

Until very recently the hearth formed the centre of every home and the fire burnt all year round. It was at the hearth that the women of the house practiced the magic of cookery. It was around the hearth that wisdom was passed from one generation to the next and the old stories were recited. For the more adventurous the hearth was also a focus of divination. What do you see in the movement of the flames, what do you hear in the crackle of the logs, what marks are left in the ashes of the fire? What is Brighid saying to you?

It is said that Brighid taught the Irish people how to weave as she wove her own mantle at the loom by the hearth. It is easy to imagine the very flames themselves being woven into that wondrous cloth. Brighid's Mantle is left outside the house at Imbolc. She blesses it as she passes so it will bring healing to those wrapped in it.

The Fire in the hearth is Brighid's fire of healing, divination and protection. We are all in need of healing and are wounded in some way. We all feel the need for warmth and reassurance. To find these things around the hearth of your own home is a blessing indeed.

Brighid - Hearth Goddess of Ireland

Taken from this WEBSITE

The legends of Brighid are as old as Ireland itself.

In Irish mythological cycles, Brighid (or Brighit), whose name is derived from the Celtic brig or "exalted one", is the daughter of the Dagda, and therefore one of the Tuatha de Dannan. Her two sisters were also called Brighid, and were associated with healing and crafts. The three Brighids were typically treated as three aspects of a single deity, making her a classic Celtic triple goddess.

Patron and Protector:

Brighid was the patron of poets and bards, as well as healers and magicians. She was especially honored when it came to matters of prophecy and divination. She was honored with a sacred flame maintained by a group of priestesses, and her sanctuary at Kildare, Ireland, later became the home of the Christian variant of Brighid, St. Brigid of Kildare. Kildare is also the location of one of several sacred wells in the Celtic regions, many of which are connected to Brighid. Even today, it's not uncommon to see ribbons and other offerings tied to trees near a well as a petition to this healing goddess.

Celebrating Brighid:

There are a variety of ways to celebrate the many aspects of Brighid at Imbolc. If you're part of a group practice or a coven, why not try Honoring Brighid With a Group Ceremony? You can also incorporate prayers to Brighid into your rites and rituals for the season. Having trouble figuring out what direction you're headed? Ask Brighid for assistance and guidance with a Brighid's Crossroads Divination Ritual.

Brighid's Many Forms:

In Britain, Brighid's counterpart was Brigantia, a warlike figure of the Brigantes tribe near Yorkshire, England. She is similar to the Greek goddess Athena and the Roman Minerva. Later, as Christianity moved into the Celtic lands, St. Brigid was the daughter of a Pictish slave who was baptised by St. Patrick, and founded a community of nuns at Kildare.

In addition to her position as a goddess of magic, Brighid was known to watch over women in childbirth, and thus evolved into a goddess of hearth and home. Today, many Pagans and Wiccans honor her on February 2, which has become known as Imbolc or Candlemas.

Crafts to Honor Brighid:

In many Pagan traditions today, Brighid is celebrated with crafts that honor her role as the protector of the hearth. You can make a Brighid corn doll, as well as a Bride's Bed for her to sleep in. Perhaps the best known decoration is the Brighid's Cross, whose arms represent the place where a crossroads comes together, the space between light and dark.

Brighid and Imbolc:

Like many Pagan holidays, Imbolc has a Celtic connection, although it wasn’t celebrated in non-Gaelic Celtic societies. The early Celts celebrated a purification festival by honoring Brighid. In some parts of the Scottish Highlands, Brighid was viewed as a sister of Cailleach Bheur, a woman with mystical powers who was older than the land itself. In modern Wicca and Paganism, Brighid is sometimes viewed as the maiden aspect of the maiden/mother/crone cycle, although it might be more accurate for her to be the mother, given her connection with home and childbirth.

St. Brigid's Well - Kildare, Ireland 

Brighid

 Shared from this SITE ....

The Goddess Brighid

Brighid is the Irish Goddess of Fire, both the Sun-fire in the sky and the fire in the hearth. She is the fire inside all of us, the part of us that burns with desire for Life. From of old, she was honoured as the Triple Goddess, the fire of poetic inspiration, the fire of creative work - traditionally smithcraft, and the fire of healing. A perpetual fire was kept burning at her sanctuary. It was extinguished at the time of the Reformation of Henry VIII, but since Candlemas of 1993 it burns again. In addition, I also honour the shadow that is cast by that fire, because all things in Nature have their counterpoint for balance.

Brighid was such a popular Goddess, that the coming of Christianity could not wipe out her worship. Opportunistic as ever, the Church adopted her and transformed her into St Brigit. To me, Brighid the Goddess and Brigit the saint are one and the same. From the stories and poetry she inspired before and after the coming of Christianity, we can learn about who she is, and how she can be significant to our world today.

One story tells of the birth of Brighid. She was born at sunrise and her mother was standing in the doorway, with one foot inside and one foot outside the house. Immediately, her head was surrounded by fire.

This story tells us two things about Brighid. Firstly, of course, it clearly associates her with the Sun. But the strange place of her birth also indicates that she is a Goddess of the threshold, of the gates between this world and the Otherworld. This makes her a patroness of shamanic journeys, which take place at the Centre of the Wheel. She is the natural protectress of shamans, since in the Celtic tradition poets, smiths and healers were all shamans.

At the Centre, Brighid is also the Lady of the Mantle. A story is told of how Brighid asked the local lord for land to found her abbey at Kildare. At first the lord refused, but Brighid said that she asked for no more land than her mantle could cover. The lord was obviously not a generous man, but he did think that he could spare as much land as a lady's mantle can be stretched over. So he consented, and Brighid returned to Kildare where she spread her mantle on the Earth. When she tried to stretch it as far as it would go, it kept stretching, until it comfortably covered enough land for her community to live off.

Brighid's mantle covers and protects the land. The Goddess also lovingly wraps her mantle around each person who asks for her protection. The threads on her Mantle are the filaments of relationship that connect all things in a great Web of Life. Brighid's mantle and the Web are one. Shamans journey along those threads into the world of Spirit. They bring back knowledge and healing for this world.

Brighid's fire at the Centre of the Wheel is also the fire, the life spark, within each of us. It is our duty as human beings to find out what each of us burns for, what lights our fire, so to speak. We are all unique expressions of Spirit, and we are alive in order to let Spirit express itself as fully as possible through us. We are called to tend the flame within, to let it grow, so that it will burn for all to see.

Brighid is also Bride, or St Bride in Scotland. She is the young maiden of Spring, the Eastern Quarter of the Wheel. She appears at the first signs of new growth. She is the Inspirer of poets and other crafts of the word. Her festival is Candlemas.

In Summer, the Southern Quarter of the Wheel, Brighid is the creative maker, protectress of all creative endeavours. She supports and inspires my doll making and collage making. She also has a thing or two to do with the creation of this web site. But she is also the British warrior Goddess Brigantia, defender of the hearth and the creative process. She will go out and fight for what has to come into being.

When Autumn comes, and the Western Quarter, we are reminded of St Brigit, patroness of a thousand healing wells. She supports all the healing crafts, be it herb craft, spell craft, or plain witchcraft. Hers are the powers that will heal the Earth and all the ailing souls within it.

In Winter, the Northern Quarter, I honour the shadow that is cast by Brighid's fire. The still time stretches from Hallowmas to Candlemas. The light is at its greatest ebb. The shadows are long and the nights are cold. In this time the Cailleach reigns, the ancient Earth Goddess who is one spirit with Bride.

   I was also curious about the history of Brighid's Cross ....  I found the flollowing  HERE

The cross has long been a symbol of Brighid, the Irish goddess who presides over hearth and home. In some legends, the girl who became St. Bridget wove the first of these crosses as she explained Christianity to her father, a Pictish chieftain. In other stories, the cross is not a cross at all, but a wheel of fire, which explains why it's a bit off-center in appearance. In parts of Ireland, Brighid is known as a goddess of the crossroads, and this symbol represents the place where two worlds meet, and the year is at a crossroads between light and dark.

A Brighid's Cross can be purchased in many Irish craft shopes or at festivals, but it's actually pretty easy to make your own. You can incorporate the creation of your Brighid's Cross into your Imbolc rituals, use it as a meditative exercise, or just put one together with your kids as a fun craft activity.

To make your Brighid's Cross, you'll need straw, reeds, or construction paper -- if you're using plant material like straw or reeds, you'll want to soak it overnight so it's pliable when you go to make your Cross. Your end result will be about the length of one piece of your material -- in other words, a bundle of 12" reeds will yield a Brighid's Cross just slightly longer than 12".

** Note: for a super-easy, kid-friendly edition of this project, use pipe cleaners.  

How to make Brighid's Cross ... 

Brighid's Mantle - History and Lore

Information gotten from HERE ... 

Brighid is the Celtic goddess who is the keeper of the hearth, the deity who watches over nursing mothers and pregnant women, and who is the overseer of all things domestic. She is also connected to healing and wisdom. One commonly found symbol of Brighid is her green mantle, or cloak. In Gaelic, the mantle is known as the "brat Bhride."

Although her origins are that of a Pagan goddess, at one point she became associated with Christianity and St. Brighid of Kildare. The legend has it that Brighid was the daughter of a Pictish chieftain who went to Ireland to learn from St. Patrick. In one story, the girl who later became St. Brighid went to the King of Leinster, and petitioned him for land so she could build an abbey. The King, who still held to the old Pagan practices of Ireland, told her he'd be happy to give her as much land as she could cover with her cloak. Naturally, her cloak grew and grew until it covered as much property as Brighid needed, and she got her abbey. Thanks to her roles as both a Pagan goddess and a Christian saint, Brighid is often seen as being of both worlds; a bridge between the old ways and the new.

In Celtic Pagan stories, Brighid's mantle carries with it blessings and powers of healing. Many people believe that if you place a piece of cloth out upon your hearth at Imbolc, Brighid will bless it in the night. Use the same cloth as your mantle each year, and it will gain strength and power each time Brighid passes by. The mantle can be used to comfort and heal a sick person, and to provide protection for women in labor. A newborn baby can be wrapped in the mantle to help them sleep through the night without fussing.

To make a Brighid's mantle of your own, find a piece of green cloth long enough to comfortably wrap around your shoulders. Leave it on your doorstep on the night of Imbolc, and Brighid will bless it for you. In the morning, wrap yourself in her healing energy.

Remember the Past ....

I thought that these were amazing and wanted to share them....   

12 Zodiac Posters

Keep Calm ....

Addiction Alchemy Medicine Wheel

I saw this on facebook and thought it was interesting .... and worth sharing ...

The Medicine Wheel is a map of the cosmology of All That Is, both physical and spiritual, seen and unseen, above and below.  We move in the wheel by orienting ourselves in time and space, as symbolized by the equal armed cross, through the powers and protection of the cardinal directions: East, South,West, North, Center, Up and Down.

Although the Medicine Wheel is a man-made structure, it is deeply connected to the universal powers contained in the entire cosmos, including the earth, the earth's magnetic field, the elements, the solar system, as well as our own bodies. Because the Medicine Wheel is created with conscious intention, it activates the ability of humans to acknowledge, honor and co-create with Great Spirit.

The Medicine Wheel, through its correspondences and associations gives us greater knowledge, awareness and insight into the interconnectivity of all things, including our own nature, and all our relations. It can help us bring ourselves, and our world into a state of wholeness by providing the keys and context to help us decode spiritual messages in our everyday environment, as well as dreams, visions and synchronicities. This allows us to come to better understand and connect with all the parts of ourselves. As we learn more about ourselves we come to know more about being human. We integrate our whole Self, our GodSelf and reach the center of our own being.

When you step into a Medicine Wheel you are honoring the Great Mystery. Ask a question and go to a stone or a place in the wheel and meditate, reflect, become still and watchful. Pay great attention to anything that shows up in the physical, such as birds, insects, plants and animals, as well as the weather and time of day. They are messengers.

When you are complete leave the circle and check the Legend to see what energies you were working with. Conversely, you can choose from the Legend a stone on the Medicine Wheel and then work with it consciously. Later you may want to journal.

As you step out of the wheel and go back into the "real" world you'll want to continue to "track" for spiritual messages and relate them back to the wheel. This will begin to reveal profound insights to you,and you will become more connected to everything. New ways and modes of being will unfold in your life as the wisdom of the Great Mystery is integrated into your being. In Native American tradition this is called, The Good Red Road Home, but can also be thought of as the walk up the Tree of Life or the Middle Path or Pillar.

The Medicine Wheel is a sacred stone temple. Please use care and reverence when working with the Medicine Wheel. The reverence that you use in the wheel is a reflection of the respect that you have for yourself and all life. Become the Tracker!

 Aho!

Source: Rev. Renee Bledsoe

She Who Weaves the Web

www.AddictionAlchemy.com

Traditional Healing Herbs

You can buy this print HERE ....

Wolf Prayer

Spirit of the Wolf,

You who wanders the wild lands,

You who stalks in silent shadows,

You who runs and leaps

between the moss-covered trees,

lend me your primal strength,

and the wisdom of your glowing eyes.

Teach me to relentlessly track my desires.

And to stand in defense of those I love.

Show me the hidden paths and the moonlit fields.

Fierce Spirit,

Walk with me in my solitude

Howl with me in my joy

and

Guard me as I move through this world.

You can buy this  .... from Wiccan Learnings

written by Travis Bowman, design created by Eliot Alexander

Turtle Prayer

Teaching virtues such as patience, stability, and wisdom, the Turtle spirit is a wonderful spirit to call upon for guidance, protection, and understanding.

Great Turtle spirit,

I invite you into my life.

I seek your lessons of tremendous patience.

I seek your lessons of stability.

I seek your lessons of the shore.

Lead me along that place

Where water touches earth,

The space between movement and stillness.

Remind me that I carry all I need

With me at all times.

Awaken my senses

So that I am prepared for

Opportunities as they arrive.

Help me trust that all happens

When and how it should.

Shield me from harm, and share your primal wisdom.

Please,

help me remember that my home is with me

wherever I go.

Mother Turtle,

I call to you.

You can buy this ... from New Age Discounts

written by Travis Bowman, design created by Eliot Alexander

Smudging Prayer

May your hands be cleansed,

That they create beautiful things.

May your feet be cleansed,

That they might take you

Where you most need to be.

May your heart be cleansed,

That you might hear

Its message clearly

May your throat be cleansed,

That you might speak rightly

When words are needed.

May your eyes be cleansed,

That you might see the signs

And wonders of this world.

May this person and space be

Washed clean by the smoke of

These fragrant plants,

And may that same smoke

Carry our prayers, spiraling,

To the heavens.

You can buy this ... from Wiccan Learnings
written by Travis Bowman, design created by Eliot Alexander

Fox Prayer

The fox can be found throughout mythology as a shape shifter, a messenger, a trickster and a creature of guile that inhabits the fringes of the world.  For those who can identify their own life with the fox, the Fox Spirit can offer comfort and aid in finding a nitch in the world while seeking to achieve goals and going through life lessons. 

The Fox Spirit can be called for seeking aid in all things…

I call on Fox.

Shapeshifter and trickster,

Edge-Walker and Messenger,

Help me blend with my surroundings

And adapt to the changing landscapes.

Show me the hidden paths between the worlds.

Teach me the ways of invisibility and camouflage.

Gift me your keen senses

That I might see more of what is around me

And use it to accomplish my goals.

I call on you, Fox,

To bring magic and discernment into my life.

Lead me at your steady gait to those places

Where I might do the greatest good.

Let us walk the borders between day and night

And follow the scent of divine mischief.

Fox, I call on you.

You can buy this ... from Wiccan Learnings
written by Travis Bowman, design created by Eliot Alexander

Butterfly Prayer

A wonderful prayer for those going through times of change and are seeking to learn from it's ability to transform, enjoy whimsical flight, and it's fragile state.

Lord of change,
I call on you to change me.
May the blazing colors of your
Fragile wings remind me
Of the beauty found in impermanence,
Of the connections shared by all things,
Of flight and the importance of wind.
Show me the path to what comes next,
You who has touched death in your metamorphosis
And emerged as something new.
Flutter into my life,
Winged spirit,
And teach me
To recognize change as it arrives,
To welcome it more and fear it less,
To trust that you will protect and guide me
Through the darkness of chrysalis,
Into the brightness of Butterfly,
I call on you.

You can buy this ... from Wiccan Learnings
written by Travis Bowman, design created by Eliot Alexander

Pagan Blog Project: Besom Broom

ESOM  

ROOM

Week 3 of the Pagan Blog Project 2013 ...  I love to research the history and lore from what our tools or traditions come from.  I love to find the history that is the basis of our current traditions and beliefs.   I found a great site that had a good history of the broom.  I found a site that had a WEALTH of history and lore, how to feed and care for your broom and a few things for your book of Shadows.  I have included the links, of course.  Pictures found via Google...

The History Of The Broom

Shared from HERE

  The Broom

The broom stick was an important fixture in ancient homes through out Europe. Most homes were made of wood, straw and dirt floors. The only way to keep a home clean was to sweep out the old.

This concept is even documented in the Bible.

In Isaiah 14:23 (KJV translation) I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts.

In Luke 15:8 "The Parable of the Lost Coin": "Or 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?"

One of the earliest forms of the broom is known as the Besom Broom. They were made of twigs tied to a handle. The bristles can be made of various materials such as straw, herbs, or twigs. The shaft is round to represent the branch of a tree. This associates the broom with the Tree of Life which was an important symbol in ancient pagan Europe. Traditionally a Besom broom is made from hazel wood and the bristles are birch twigs.

These brooms were often found just inside a dwelling hanging with bristles up to ward off evil spirits, negative energies and to protect the home and all who dwell within it. It could also be found hanging over a door with the bristles facing in the direction of opening of the door.

They were relatively inefficient as a cleaning implement and needed constant repair or recreation. Today Besom Brooms are still crafted and sold at garden centers as an outdoor broom. You can also find decorated and scented versions (ie: cinnamon besom brooms) in craft stores for indoor decorations.

The brooms relation to sweeping away negative energies and use for protection makes it a wonderful tool for magikal practices and rituals. Consequently it wasn't a big leap for European pagans to use the broom as a tool.

 The Witches Broom

The traditional Witch's Broom is made of an ash handle and bristles from birch twigs. The twigs are tied onto the handle with thin pieces of willow wood. There have been a few written accounts of early Witch's decorating their brooms with flowers of the season tied on with some type of decorative string or later using colored ribbon. A practice that is continued today by modern Witches.

Early Celtic pagans associated the broom with Faeries, possibly because of it's relation to the wood and a common belief in forest sprites. Some stories tell of a Witch entering a forest and asking the Faeries to lead her way to the perfect tree where she can collect a staff for a broom. The idea is to enlist the help of the magikal folk and ensure the enchantment of the broom once it has been fashioned.

The Witch's broom is one of the few tools that is seen as a balance of Divine forces. It is both part of masculine energies (the phallic handle) and female energies (the bristles). Because of this, the broom was and still is commonly used in Handfasting rituals (marriage ceremonies). It is also used as a gate or door before a ritual space. A witch would draw a magikal circle, enter the circle and then place the broom over the doorway to keep out unwanted energies or people as an example.

While being used for clearing an area for ritual work was the earliest use for a broom, it became an important tool for Witch's during The Burning Times of Europe. During this era Witches would use a broom to hide one of their most important tools, the wand. It is also a tradition that brooms have been used by some as receptacles to harbor a particular spirit temporarily. This could be done to remove an unwanted spirit from one area and then release it far away in another place. Or it could be used to utilize the energy of a spirit for a specific spell when the broom is used as a wand.

A few ancient brooms have been discovered to have hidden compartments in the handle. These small hidden places held combinations of herbs, oils, feathers and a variety of other things thought to be part of a ritualistic spell. The hidden concoctions added to the energy of the intent that the broom was to be used for.

 The Flying Broom

This early association of broom to tree also associates it with the element of air and therefore has power over spirits. Thus it's common use as a tool for flying. In both historical and modern images a female witch can be found on a broom silhouetted by the full moon behind her.

Although most associate being a witch with women, it's a label that applies to both sexes. The first 'official' record that documents the claim of flying on a broom stick was recorded in 1453. The claim was made in a confession by a male witch named Guillaume Edelin.

There have been earlier documents recanting stories of Witches flying on a variety of sticks. Such as decorated walking sticks, limbs from a tree complete with it's leaves, or just a stick alone. These stories include details of magikal flying ointments being applied to these tools in order to give them flight.

In both ancient Witchcraft and Shamanistic practices the use of these ointments was most probably what gave the impression of Witch flight. Ointments and potions for flying were most likely a variety of hallucinogenics that assisted a Witch in visualizing a flight upon the broom. This is not uncommon for early spiritual journeys. Using peyote and other hallucinogenics is well documented and utilized by Native American cultures for spiritual travels.

These special 'trips' were controlled methods to quickly reach a state of altered awareness. From there a Witch could astral project with the image of flying on a broom to anywhere within their known Universe. The use by witches of flying ointments was first described, according to known sources, by Johannes Hartlieb in 1456. It was also described by the Spanish theologist Alfonso Tostado in Super Genesis Commentaria (Venetia, 1507), whose commentary tended to accredit the thesis of the reality of the Witches' Sabbath.

Today using these types of potions and ointments are not recommended or encouraged. Flying journeys instead are suggested through deep meditation and astral projection. These methods are not just safer, but they also provide the practitioner with more control and the ability to remember more of the journey itself.

I found a WEALTH of information HERE .....

THE CARE AND FEEDING OF THE WITCH 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.

THE CARE AND FEEDING 

OF A MAGICKAL BROOM

When you first get your broom, always greet it by rubbing your hand over the entire staff of the broom.

Learn the body of your broom, inspect it's divets and curves. Use anointing oil to open and activate your broom.

A good oil is made from rosemary, thyme, myrrh and lavender in base oil. Make this oil by the full moon and then open your broom on the first day of the new moon.

When getting a new broom, it's always good to talk with it awhile. I usually carry mine along with me in my car, and I sleep with it by my bed.

Talk with your broom, it's amazing how much these magickal tools have to say to us and how lonely they become when cast to the side.

After your broom has been chosen and spoken to, then start using it to call in your circle. I point the broom in the direction that I'm casting and use this to focalize the energy.

Once the circle is cast, then I lay the broom across the east to guard the entrance until my magickal work is done. I also sprinkle salt in the east over the broom to strengthen the seal, especially if I find myself doing some intense spell casting.

Once I'm done with casting my magickal work, I thank my broom and lift it from east and dismiss the quarters. A broom can also be used to cast a circle in a hurry, much the same way a staff can be used. If I know I need immediate protection, I point my broom to east and cast a circle with my broom pointed to the earth, moving in a clockwise direction. This really works if you are in a hurry and need to have some sacred space like NOW.

I also oil my broom handle with my anointing oil 4 times a year during each turn of the wheel. This helps recharge the broom and helps you reconnect with it. It likes to be stroked and caressed. Your broom is a sensuous creature and likes to be part of the Divine Feminine.

BROOM SPELLS

The "Come to Me" Broom Spell

On a warm night (or turn the heater up), put on some Goddess clothing (loose and feminine), put on some soothing music that makes you want to dance.

Now take your broom as if it were your beloved and dance with the broom until you are flying into the arms of your beloved. Whisper this four times to yourself....

        By night's light we shine bright

        By sun light we are right

        By days end we are together by sacred rite.

Now cast your circle by laying your broom in each quarter.

Lay the broom in the east and jump clockwise over it. Lay the broom in the south and jump clockwise

over it. Lay the broom in the west and jump clockwise over it. Then lay it in the north and jump over it. Once you have completed your circle, your beloved  will come to you within 24 hours. Use this spell to mend fights, or if you don't have a mate, use this to call a mate to you.

SWEEPING SPELLS AND LORE

If you feel your life is in chaos, take a look around at your front porch and front walkway. If the front walk is cluttered with leaves and dirt, then sweep your walkway and front porch clean with your magickal broom and envision that your life is in order and that all that comes to your will be clean and cleared.

When you move from one house to another, it's always good to change your workaday broom. Either burn your old one, or make sure that it is buried with honor. Always bring a new broom into the new house, but sweep some dirt from the outside in before you sweep the dirt from the inside out.  This is to bring in good luck from the beginning and not push your luck out the door.

Always hang a broom by the front door for protection. Brooms will keep the bad things out and the good things in. I have a broom at every door of my home. I keep it in the corner. Always stand a broom on end with the brush facing up. This helps the wear and tear on the brush  and it's also said to bring love from the earth through the broomstick and given up to the heavens through the brush.

If your broom falls from your hand while you are sweeping or doing other work, make a wish before you pick it up. It's also said that if a broom falls from it's kept place, company is coming and it's not good news.

When you pick up your broom after something like this happens, sweep the energy out the

door and bid it adue not to return again.

If you or your kin are having recurrent nightmares or night hauntings, sweep the room clockwise while stating that all that lies between here and the other world be gone and back whence you came.

Hither, hither, hither gone.

Hither, hither, hither gone

Hither, hither, thither gone

So Mote It Be.

Now stand the broom outside the bedroom door and place a piece of garlic under  the bed.

HANDFASTING AND 

MARRIAGE BROOM LORE

As a Priestess and Wiccan Minister, I perform several.  Handfasting  Rites per year. One of the main things I encourage Wiccan engaged couples to do is to find a broom together. This is the symbol of hearth and home.

Once the broom has been found, then it is anointed as I stated above, then some of the broom brush is

pulled from the stem. That brush is then woven together and placed upon the wedding altar. The broom is present during our counseling sessions and then the wife-to-be is usually the keeper of the broom until the wedding. This represents that she is the keeper of the home and keeps peace and harmony while the man goes out to work. It also means that she is the keeper of the Magickal power of

the home. As it seems in these modern times that this is wrong to have such sexed roles, this is celtic lore from more than 600 years ago.

The night before the wedding, the couple will dress the broom by weaving 3 strand of colored ribbon around the handle. What this represents is the inter-twining of their lives and they themselves are no longer individuals but are part of each other. The broom is then placed either standing by the altar or placed lying under the altar during the ceremony as the vows are said, the promises made, that hands fasted. They are pronounced husband and wife and the broom is then put before them as the final test of love. The couple either steps, or in old tradition, jumps, over the broom. This is the final end of the ceremony. Then it is recommended that the couple takes the broom home and makes love with the broom under the bed. This seals the marriage.

Your broom can be your best friend and your magickal ally. Treat your broom with honor, reverence and respect and you will have a life-long  companion and ritual tool.

And then there is this.......

The Broomstick

The traditional companion of the witches was the enchanted broomstick, used for their wild and unholy flights through the night and probably to some distant Witches' Sabbat. This is one of the first images you get to see as a child and this was doubtlessly believed by the prominent rulers of Europe. The number of actual confessions of witches doing so is remarkably small. Usually confessions state that they went to the Sabbat on foot or on horseback.

Legends of witches flying on brooms goes back as far as the beginning of the Common Era. The earliest known confession of a Witch flying on a broom was in 1453, when Guillaume Edelin of St. Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, stated that he had done so. In 1563, Martin Tulouff of Guernsey said to have seen his aged mother straddle a broomstick and whisk up the chimney and out of the house on it, saying "Go in the name of the Devil and Lucifer over rocks and thorns". In 1598 Claudine Boban and her mother, witches of the province of Franche-Comt, in eastern France, also spoke of flying up the chimney of a stick. The belief of flying off though the chimney became firmly embedded in popular tradition, although only a few people ever mentioned doing so. It has been suggested that this idea was connected with the old custom of pushing a broom up the chimney to indicate the absence of the housewife. The Germanic Goddess Holda or Holle is also connected with the chimney.

Other indications that lead to the popular belief that witches actually flew on broomsticks can be found in an old custom of dancing with a broom between the legs, leaping high in the air. In Reginald Scot's book, The Discoverie of Witchcraft, published in 1584, we find a similar description:  "At these magical assemblies, the witches never failed to dance; and in their dance they sing these words, 'Har, har, 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." Scot quoted these descriptions of Witch rites from a French demonologist, Jean Bodin, who made observations of a kind of jumping dance, riding on staffs. These customs might have contributed to the popular picture of broomstick-riding witches through the air.

In 1665, from the confession of Julian Cox, one of the Somerset coven, mentioned "that one evening she walks out about a Mile from her own House and there came riding towards her three persons upon three Broom-staves, born up about a years and a half from the ground. Two of them she formerly knew, which was a Witch and a Wizard".

History

Some authors claim that the oldest known source of witches flying on broomsticks is a manuscript called Le Champion des Dames by Martin Lefranc, 1440. This might be one of the oldest images representing a hag on a broomstick, but it is certainly not the first. A wall painting from the 12th century in Schlesswig Cathedral (Germany) shows the Norse deity Frigg riding her staff.

If we really dig a bit deeper into history, we'll find that from the Roman world there are reports that mention witches flying on broomsticks as well as having used ointments, as early as the first century. They were called Straigae (Barnowl) and the Lamiae from Greek culture had similar characteristics. Later in Roman history, the goddess Diana was the leader of the Wild Hunt:

"It is also not to be omitted that some wicked women, perverted by the Devil, seduced by illusions and phantasm of demons, believe and profess themselves in the hours of the night to ride upon certain beasts with Diana, the goddess of pagans, and an innumerable multitude of women, and in the silence of the dead of the night to traverse great spaces of earth, and to obey her commands as of their mistress, and to be summoned to her service on certain nights". (See: Canon Episcopi).

Similar beliefs existed in many parts of Europe. From Norse mythology, we know that the army of women, lead by Odin (Wodan), called the Valkyries, was said to ride through the skies on horses, collecting the souls of the dead. In continental Germanic areas, the goddess Holda or Holle was also said to lead the Wild Hunt and is connected to chimneys and witchcraft. Berchta or Perchta, another Germanic goddess, which can be identified with Holda, has similar characteristics.

Again in Celtic Traditions, the Horned God Cernunnos, and/or Herne the Hunter was leader of the Wild Hunt and the Scottish Witch Goddess Nicneven was also said to fly through the night with her followers. Eastern Europe sources also have a wealth of folklore about witches flying through the air. So flying through the air, evidently, was a deeply rooted mythological theme, associated with the free roaming of the spirit, the separation of soul and body.

Symbolism

The broomstick is a female and male symbol, "the rod which penetrated the bush". Its symbolism and interpretation is therefore purely sexual.

RITUAL USE

There are hints of its use as an artificial penis or dildo. In a curious old book, A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon and Cant, by Albert BarrSre and Charles Godfrey Leland (1897-1899), we are told that the slang term in those days for a dildo or artificial penis was "a broom-handle", and the female genitals were known vulgarly as "the broom". To "have a brush" was to have sexual intercourse. Noteworthy is the evidence from Witch trials mentioning the "cold hard member of the Devil himself". In 1662, Isabel Gowdie, accused of witchcraft, made a confession which could suggest that some sort of artificial phallus of horn or leather may have been used:

"His members are exceeding great and long; no man's members are so long and big as they are….(he is) a meikle, black, rough man, very cold, and I found his nature as cold within me as spring-well water…He is abler for us that way than any man can be, only he is heavy like a malt-sack, a huge nature, very cold, as ice.

Besom Chant

Besom, besom long and lithe

made from ash and willow withe

Tied with thongs of willow bark

in running stream at moonset dark.

With a pentagram indighted

as the ritual fire is lighted

Sweep ye circle, deosil,

Sweep out evil, sweep out ill,

Make the round of the ground

Where we do the Lady's will.

Besom, besom, Lady's broom

Sweep out darkness, sweep out doom

Rid ye Lady's hallowed ground

Of demons, imps and Hell's red hound;

Then set ye down on Her green earth

By running stream or Mistress' hearth,

'Till called once more on Sabbath night

To cleans once more the dancing site.

The Broomstick Or Besom

The broomstick has come to be the traditional companion to the witch, and the enchanted steed for her wild and unholy night-flights through the air. Even Walt Disney paid tribute to its legendary magical character, in his film "Fantasia", when he drew Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer's Apprentice, with a bewitched broomstick that did its work only too well.

However, the broomstick was only one of the means witches were supposed to use for the purpose of flight. Its frequent occurrence in folklore points to the fact that it possessed some special significance.

This significance is in fact a phallic one. In Yorkshire folk-belief, it was unlucky for an unmarried girl to step over a broomstick, because it meant that she would be a mother before she was a wife. Is Sussex, the May-Pole, which was itself a phallic symbol, used to be topped with a large birch broom. A 'besom' is a dialect term for a shameless, immoral female.

'To marry over the broomstick'. 'jump the besom', was an old-time form of irregular marriage, in which both parties jumped over a broomstick, to signify that they were joined in common-law union. At gypsy wedding ceremonies, the bride and groom jump backwards and forwards over a broomstick; further evidence of the broom's connection with sex and fertility.

In a curious and interesting old book, "A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon, and Chant", by Albert Barrere and Charles Godfrey Leland (London, 1899 and 1897, also Gale Research,  Detroit, 1889), we are told that a slang term in those days for a 'dildo' or artificial penis was 'a broom handle'; and the female genitals were known vulgarly as 'the broom'. To 'have a brush' was to have sexual intercourse. This throws considerable light on the real significance of the broomstick in witch rituals, and in old folk-dances, in which it often plays a part.

The original household broom was a bunch of the actual broom plant,"Planta genista", tied round a stick. "Broom! Green broom!" was old street cry, used by vendors of broom-bunches for this purpose. The "Planta genista" was the badge of the "Plantagenet" family, who derived their name from it. They were rumored to favor the Old Religion.

At one time of the year, the broom plant was unlucky. The old saying goes: "If you sweep he house with blossomed broom in May, you will sweep the head of the house away." This could perhaps have some connection with old sacrificial rites at the commencement of summer.

Sometimes the broomstick was regarded as having power to repel witches; perhaps with the idea of turning their own magic against them. At any rate, a broomstick placed across the threshold of a house was supposed to keep witches out.

A broomstick could also be a luck symbol. When alterations were being made to an old house at Blandford in Dorset in 1930, a broomstick was found walled up in the structure. It was recognized as having been put there for luck, and it was allowed to remain in its hiding-place.

These additional meanings of the broomstick are in accord with its phallic significance. Things which are sex symbols are life symbols, and hence luck bringers and protectors against the Evil Eye.

In Reginald Scot's "Discoverie of Witchcraft" (London, 1584, and edited by Hugh Ross Williamson, Centaur, Southern Illinois University Press, 1964), he says of the witches' Sabbats:" At these magicall assemblies, the witches never faile to danse; and in their danse they sing these words, Har, har, divell divell, danse here danse here, plaoe here plaie here, Sabbath, sabbath. And whiles they sing and danse, everie one hath a broom in hir hand, and holdeth it up aloft." He was quoting from the descriptions of witch rites given by a French demonologist, Jean Bodin. It appears from the other old description that witches also performed a kind of jumping dance, riding on staffs; and if broomsticks were used for this purpose, too, it is easy to see how this dance, combined with the witches' experience of wild visions and dreams of flying while in a stage of magical trance, gave rise to the popular picture of broomstick-rising witches in flight through the air.

When broomsticks or besoms began to be made of more durable materials than the broom plant, the usual combination of woods for them was birch twigs for the brush, and ashen stake for the handle, and osier willow for the binding. However, in the Wyre Forest area of Worcestershire, the traditional woods are oak twigs for the sprays, which is the makers' term for the broom part; hazel for the staff; and birch for the binding. All of these trees are full of magical meanings of their own, and feature in the old Druidic tree alphabets of Ancient Britain. The ash is a sacred and magical tree; the oak is the king of the woods; the hazel is the tree of wisdom; the willow is a tree of moon-magic; and the birch is a symbol of purification.

More Broomlore

There are many beliefs based on the Broom as it made its genesis from medicine staff to symbol of Rebirth. The wedding broom represents a joining of souls working together as they jump over the Broom into their new life together. When a bride and groom moved into a new house, a new broom was be used to sweep a little dust into the door. Then this swept dust was placed onto the hearthstone to retain blessings.

Here is some of the folklore surrounding the Broom:

1) Never step over a broom laying on the floor, if you do & are unmarried you will stay that way.

2) When moving into a new home, a loaf of bread & a new broom should be sent in first for good luck.

3) It is bad luck to take a broom across water.

4) Never lean a broom against a bed.

5) To keep a ghost out, lean a broom against the door jam.

6) To drop a broom means company is coming.

7) To give away a used broom is bad luck.

8) A broom should never be used to sweep dust out of the front door, because it sweeps the luck out with it.

9) Never sweep a house at night. It is an insult to the faeries & the spirits of the dead.

10) A broom standing outside the front door says that the lady of the house is away & the men of the house are at liberty to entertain guests.

Evan MORE Broom Lore......

BROOM LORE:

A broom dropping in front of the door means company before the day is over.

Always pick up, for luck, a broom that is lying on the floor or ground.

Always sweep dirt out the back door or you will sweep away your best friend.

Bad luck will befall  you all  year, if you sweep on New Year's Day.

Burn up the rubbish when  you sweep on New Year's Day and  you will have money throughout the new year.

Carry a broom under your arm for luck.

Carrying a broom over your shoulder will give you bad luck.

Do not sweep immediately after the departure of a guest or you will sweep him bad luck.

Dropping a broom while sweeping is the sign of a new carpet.

Hitting someone with a broom means that he will go to jail before a week has passed.

If a broom falls as you are passing it, you will have bad luck.

If a broom falls in front of you and you step over it before picking it up, you will have a "bed of sickness."

If dirt is swept out a door before sunrise, you may expect bad luck.

If dirt is swept out of the house on Friday, the house will burn.

If someone comes in to see you and you pick up a broom and go to sweeping in front of them, that is the sign they are not wanted and you want them to go home.

If you go to someone's house and have to step over a broom, it shows that the mistress of that household is an untidy housekeeper.

If you hand a broom through a window to someone, you may expect bad luck.

If you hit a person with a broom just before he starts "uptown," he will have trouble before returning.

If you let a broom fall and do not step back over it immediately, someone dirtier than you will come.

If you must borrow a broom, take it without the owner's knowledge, and  you will not have bad luck.

If you must sweep on New Year's Day, you can avert bad luck by not taking up the dirt and leaving it in a pile on the floor.

If you must sweep your kitchen after sunset, you can avert bad luck by burning the dirt.

If you step over a broom you will be arrested.

If you sweep after dark/ You will bring sorrow to your  heart.

If you sweep after dark, you will sweep out the money made that day.

If you sweep in front of someone, you are sweeping them off the earth.

If you sweep under someone while he is sitting on a chair, you are giving him bad luck.

It causes bad luck to sweep a porch after dark.

It is a sign of good luck to have a broom drop in front of you.

It is a sign of misfortune, to lay a broom on the bed.

It is unlucky to borrow a broom.

It is unlucky to sweep dirt out a door at any time. Pick up the dirt and carry it outdoors for luck.

It is unlucky to sweep on Monday.

It means bad luck when a broom falls across the derail

It signifies bad luck, if you sweep under a bed on which someone is lying.

It signifies bad luck, to carry a broom through the house from the front door to the back door.

Keep the corners of your broom square or even for luck.

Lean a broom against a bed and you will be unlucky.

Lending a broom will cause you bad luck.

Let the broom rest with the straws up and  you will be lucky.

Letting the sweeping edge of a broom wear off at the two corners will bring you bad luck.

Never burn up a broom; it will bring you bad luck.

Never sweep dirt out the front door; it will bring you bad luck.

Never sweep the kitchen after supper, whether daylight or dark, or you will sweep out all your money.

Never sweep your kitchen early in the morning before sunrise, or you will be unlucky.

Stand a broom on its handle and you will always be poor.

Step over a broom and you will break  your mother's back.

Stepping over a broom is a sign of slovenliness.

Stepping over a broom will bring sorrow to your heart.

Stumbling over a brook handle will bring you good luck.

Sweep after dark and you will never be rich.

Sweep dirt out of the house on Friday and it will cause you bad luck.

Sweep on the third day after Easter and you will have bugs in the house.

Sweep the top of a bed and you will have bad luck.

Sweep under a person's feet while he is sitting in a chair and he will not grow any more.

Sweeping after dark means you will lose a friend.

Sweeping dirt over a doorstep after six o'clock in the evening will bring bad luck.

Sweeping on New Year's Day means that you will sweep out the money made during the coming year.

Sweeping under chair upon which someone is sitting will make you unlucky.

The child who steps over a broom will get a whipping.

The one who is hit by a broom will soon be arrested.

The person under whose feet you sweep will always be poor.

The person who is hit on the top of the head with a broom will be arrested.

To avert bad luck after you have walked over a fallen broom, step backwards across the broom.

To brush your boot with the broom while your are sweeping will give you bad luck for a week.

To have good luck, place the broom on its handle in a corner.

To set a broom in the corner with the brush up shows that you are an untidy housekeeper.

To step over a broom will start a quarrel in the house.

To sweep after dark will bring trouble to the house.

To sweep dirt out the door is a sign of a slovenly housekeeper.

Touching anyone with a broom while you are sweeping causes bad luck.

Walking over a fallen broom will cause you bad luck.

When a broom falls across the door, it indicates that you will walk on strange ground.

When a small child takes a broom and begins to sweep, company is coming.

When someone is hit with a broom, he should spit on the broom and take ten steps backwards so he will neither have bad luck or be arrested.

When you sweep after dark, you sweep away your friends and let enemies in.

You sweep away your best friend by sweeping after dark.

You will be unlucky, if you do not pick up a fallen broom at once.

Your luck will be swept away, if you sweep your kitchen after sunset.

I also found this SITE with some history and lore on it ...  and a few chants ...