Besoms aren’t my thing. I have a broomstick at the front door in the porch to sweep away anything bad from the house, as part of my home warding system (if a bad spirit comes along, I can bop him on the head with it, , just kidding, I’d probably invite him in for tea and cake and see if we could work something out )
I do have a proper besom inside my hallway, propped up by the front door. I did think about hanging it over the door, as that would probably be better, but no! That’s because my home attracts spiders , lots and lots and lots of them, and they’re my spirit animal (their choice, not mine ).
My besom is their favourite house so when I try to use it, a big black hairy spider jumps out and protests.
As a result of this continuel battle between whom the besom actually belongs to, I’ve surrendered to the spiders (at the end of the day, I’m more scared of them, than they are of me, of this I’m sure).
So I have one besom, in the corner of the hall by the front door, where the spiders live.
Weekly Challenge Entry
When I first began my witchy journey, I went to a local thrift shop to look for some candle holders. I found some beautiful ones and also found a shadow box that must have belonged to a witch because it has the four elements in it. I walked around the entire store, but there was an area in the front that kept calling me and I kept going back to it knowing that there was something there that I was missing. The 3rd time I went back I saw it. A beautiful handmade besom propped up against a shelf. I don’t know how I missed it the first few times. It still had the tag on it from the maker and originally it was only $16.00, so I know it must be really old. The handle is made from a crepe myrtle tree. When I left the thrift store, I was a very happy witch! I have a collection of besoms now.
If you want a besom, but aren’t very crafty (like me) you can buy a cinnamon broom and decorate it. They are cheap and in stores this time of year. They also smell wonderful!
I still may try to make my own mini besom from materials I find at work tomorrow but since I can’t be sure that I’ll find what I need, I did realize that I actually have a mini-mini besom.
I chose to cleanse and bless my little guy for this challenge.
As besoms dont form Part of my practice, I decided this week to do a bit of research and asked myself were brooms/besoms used in Ancient Egypt? (No surprise there!) In all honesty, I expected the answer to be no and my research to be cut short. That wasn’t the case. I turns out that they were used both practically and magically (although they didn’t necessarily resemble what we would class as a broom/besom today)
Plant leaf brooms were used for the practical purpose of sweeping the home as the Egyptians were very big on hygiene as a clean home would be more welcoming to the deities.
A broom/brush made of palm leaves was used in a ceremony called “removing the foot”. At the end of a ritual in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the priests back out of the sanctuary and would use the brush to remove their footprints, leaving the ground even and pristine.
Brushes made from ostrich feathers were used to symbolically cleanse the statues in the inner sanctuary of a temple. These feathers were especially important as they symbolised Ma’at, the Goddess of truth, justice and cosmic order. By using these feathers to cleanse the statues, the priests were aiming to remove impurity and restore balance. Wafting ostrich brushes/fans was also seen as a way of removing impurity from the area.
Small brushes would also have been used to write the sacred papyrus texts that were placed in the coffins of the deceased, ensuring safe passage to the afterlife.
I actually found this quite interesting even if it takes a bit ofna different angle on the broom/besom theme.
A year or two ago, I bought a large broom that smells like cinnamon for my besom and a smaller broom for my altar.
I used to use the larger broom to cleanse my sacred space on the new moon. But both of them have lost their scent and are starting to shed badly.
I think it’s time to take them apart and throw them in the woods.
I tried to find a cinnamon broom this year to put on the back of my door, but no one around here had one, and the ones from Amazon are like twenty-five dollars! I used to be able to get them for less than five bucks and the grocery store. No longer and that’s sad.
I’ve never been overly fond of the traditional besom for ritual use. They are, in my opinion, perfect for over the door though.
Smaller ones are great for so many places. I saw where someone had, on a small tree, hung several mini ones among some Witch’s Bells.
Given the space I currently have, physical sweeping doesn’t really work for me. Given that, I use mine for “I sweep away” type spells and symbolic cleaning before a larger ritual.
I stumbled across a children’s costume accessory that really spoke to me. I think I paid $4 for it from Halloween clearance. It’s a black handle with tulle wrapped asymmetrically on the end and stands maybe 3 feet tall. It hangs on the wall at a level that it appears to be standing and adds amazing energy to my space.
, just kidding, I’d probably invite him in for tea and cake and see if we could work something out 
)
).
