# What's the deal with witches and broomsticks? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 9, 2003, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-witches-and-broomsticks/187148 "2003-07-09T02:30:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-witches-and-broomsticks/187148/41 "2003-08-10T04:28:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by quothz \* > \*\*. > According to the [alt.magick FAQ](http://www.faqs.org/faqs/magick/faq/), Aleister Crowley popularized a then-archaic term. After well over a hundred years of usage among the mystic-types, I’d guess that it’s fairly well-established. > > We also note that Robert Asprin used the term exclusively in _Another\_Fine\_Myth_ and its sequels, and with his notable background as an editor it’s hard to imagine him using the term lightly. If memory serves me, the topic is briefly discussed by a couple characters in the book, but it could just be my mind playing tricks after reading this thread and related materials. > \*\* I’m a little surprised that no one has brought up the fact that “magick” could be said to be the original spelling of this word. Noah Webster campaigned for spelling changes in American English; one being the removal of a terminal “k” on many words that ended in “ck”. Read eighteenth-centry British literature - Samuel Johnson’s writings, for example - and you find it replete with “romantick”, “physick”, and “almanack”. But in matters of language change, _vox populi, vox Dei_. Americans began to spell those words without the last “k”, and those became the standard spellings. If enough people began to spell “magic” as “magick”, that would become again the standard. That’s the way the linguistic ball bounces. ---
**Author:** ![E72521](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@E72521](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E72521)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-witches-and-broomsticks/187148/42 "2003-09-28T14:42:00Z")
From **Wicca: A Guide For The Solitary Practitioner** Scott Cunningham p26-27 Llewellyn Publications, St Paul MN > [@](#): > > Witches use brooms in magic and ritual. It is a tool sacred to both the Goddess and God. This is nothing new; pre-Columbian Mexico saw the worship of a type of Witch deity, Tlazelteotl, who was pictured riding naked on a broom. The Chinese worship a broom goddess who is invoked to bring clear weather in times of rain. > > Then too, probably because of its phallic shape, the broom became a powerful tool against curses and practitioners of evil magic. Laid across the threshold, the broom halted all spells sent to the house or those resident within. A broom under the pillow brought pleasant dreams and guarded the sleeper. > > Europeon Witches became identified with the broom because both were infused with magic in religious and popular thought. Witches were accused of flying on broomsticks, and this was considered proof of their alliance with “dark powers.” Such an act, if it could be performed, would indeed be supernatural and, therefore, of the Devil in their eyes, in contrast to the simple heealing and love spells that Witches actually performed. Of course the tale was invented by Witch persecutors. Some Wiccans claim that brooms were “ridden” while hopping along the ground, much as are children’s hobby-horses, to promote fertility of the fields. Then too it is believed that tales of Witches riding brooms through the air were unsophisticated explanations of astral projection. > > Today the broom is still used in Wicca. A Wicca may begin a ritual by sweeping the area (indoors or out) lightly with the magic broom. After this, the altar is set up, the tools carried out, and the ritual is ready to begin > > \ > > In early American slave weddings, as well as Gypsy nuptials, the couple often ritually jumped a broomstick to solemnize their union. Such marriages are quite common until recent times, and even today Wiccan and pagan handfastings often include a broom leap. > > There are many old spells involving brooms. In general, the broom is a purificatory and protective instrument, used to ritually cleanse the area of magic or to guard a home by laying it across the threshold, under the bed, in windowsills or on doors. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-witches-and-broomsticks/187148/43 "2003-09-28T18:05:30Z")
The “k” was removed from such words as “public” and “magic” because there is no “k” in the underlying Latin, and the change occurred on both sides of the Atlantic. As a rule, Wiccan claims about history can be dismissed out of hand. Wicca was invented in the 20th century, based on an article in the 1929 _Encyclopedia Britannica_ that the _Britannica_ has been apologizing for for over thirty years. ---
**Author:** ![E72521](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@E72521](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E72521)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-witches-and-broomsticks/187148/44 "2003-09-28T22:43:11Z")
I guess we’ll just have to take your word on that. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-witches-and-broomsticks/187148/45 "2003-09-29T00:41:28Z")
> [@](#): > > I guess we’ll just have to take your word on that. [list=1] [li]_I’m_ not a proven bullshit artist.[/li][li][http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a991029.html[/li][li]You](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a991029.html%5B/li%5D%5Bli%5DYou) can find the _Encyclopedia Britannica_ in your local library.[/li][/list=1] ---
**Author:** ![E72521](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@E72521](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E72521)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-witches-and-broomsticks/187148/46 "2003-09-29T04:43:56Z")
The point isn’t whether Wicca is a neo-religion. Even if it is, so what? Does that automatically refute the author’s perspective on the history of the broomstick? Apparently so, and since I’m a Deist and not Wiccan, I have no real investment in this or any need to defend it. I will consider myself enlightened on the subject but still skeptical about the authenticity of the idea of rubbing hallucinogenic oils on a broomstick and using it as a dildo to get high in ancient times. My intention was to offer another explanation by someone that up until tonight, I had no reason to doubt. Thanks for the link. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-witches-and-broomsticks/187148/47 "2003-09-29T14:29:34Z")
> [@](#): > > The point isn’t whether Wicca is a neo-religion. Indeed, that isn’t the point. The point is that, ever since Margaret Murray, Wiccan “history” has been made up of stuff that people pulled out of their asses. There are a _few_ Wiccans who have done honest historic research, but, in general, anything said by a Wiccan about “old-time witches” is probably sheer fantasy, and should never be trusted without solid documentation to back it up. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-witches-and-broomsticks/187148/48 "2003-09-29T14:30:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by E72521 \* > **The point isn’t whether Wicca is a neo-religion. Even if it is, so what? Does that automatically refute the author’s perspective on the history of the broomstick? Apparently so…** But you seem to have missed what is most striking about that author’s perspective. Re-read what Cunningham says. > [@](#): > > **European Witches became identified with the broom because both were infused with magic in religious and popular thought. Witches were accused of flying on broomsticks, and this was considered proof of their alliance with “dark powers.” Such an act, if it could be performed, would indeed be supernatural and, therefore, of the Devil in their eyes, in contrast to the simple healing and love spells that Witches actually performed. Of course the tale was invented by Witch persecutors. Some Wiccans claim that brooms were “ridden” while hopping along the ground, much as are children’s hobby-horses, to promote fertility of the fields. Then too it is believed that tales of Witches riding brooms through the air were unsophisticated explanations of astral projection.** [emphasis added] As a comment on the supposed witches/broomsticks link, this actually has much to be said for it. Cunningham does seem to appreciate that the evidence is all very shaky (although he may also be trying to hedge his bets). The basic problem is that all anyone really knows is that anti-witchcraft writers began to link witches to broomsticks from the late fifteenth century onwards and that a handful of later courtroom testimonies in witchcraft cases also mention broomsticks. And that’s it. Everything else is just guessing. That’s why **John W.**'s point is so important. Wiccans cannot claim any greater authority in answering such questions because there is now little doubt that any oral traditions they have don’t date back any further than the twentieth century. They are therefore not in any better position than anyone else to know whether historical witches used broomsticks and, if so, what for. They’re just guessing too. ---
**Author:** ![Seyeklopz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@Seyeklopz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seyeklopz)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-witches-and-broomsticks/187148/49 "2003-10-08T07:02:33Z")
I saw a show on PBS a few years ago that attributed the salem witch trials occurance to a hallucinagenic mold that grows on wheat. They discovered this phenomenon recently in the same area. Then, after discovering the local weather had been the same during the trials, concluded that the people at the time had “visions” likely brought on by the LSD-similar chemical in the mold. Sorry that I don’t have specifics here, someone please help ☹ ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-witches-and-broomsticks/187148/50 "2003-10-08T14:12:46Z")
I find the ergot theory quite plausible. The Salem episode was isolated, and took place long after the heyday of English witchhunts; and within a year the judges were apologizing and saying they didn’t know what had come over them. It won’t do as an explanation for the witch-mania of the Renaissance (or for the world-wide, age-old superstitions about witches in general), but it may well account for Salem. ---
**Author:** ![t0mas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/91b2a8/32.png) [@t0mas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t0mas)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-witches-and-broomsticks/187148/51 "2003-10-09T07:02:02Z")
Evil? Broomsticks? Someone once said that if the devil really existed, and if he were to take a tour of our world and saw the things people do to each other, he’d hand in his trident and go off to some corner of the universe and sulk. It’s really kind of funny how people do REALLY screwed up stuff and blame it on the devil. The truth is, Lucifer himself could never think up a truly sick idea that we humans haven’t… and you know what? We have things like electricity, power tools, automatic rifles, surgical implements and handcuffs… ---
**Author:** ![carolynpurcell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@carolynpurcell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carolynpurcell)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-witches-and-broomsticks/187148/52 "2003-10-09T14:17:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John W. Kennedy \* > \*\*I find the ergot theory quite plausible. The Salem episode was isolated, and took place long after the heyday of English witchhunts; and within a year the judges were apologizing and saying they didn’t know what had come over them. It won’t do as an explanation for the witch-mania of the Renaissance (or for the world-wide, age-old superstitions about witches in general), but it may well account for Salem. \*\* I don’t find it plausible at all. How does it explain the jury’s behavior, or the judge’s behavior in sending the jury back for the right verdict? How does it explain the kids taking up their wailing at exactly the moments when it looked like a witch might go free? Ergot would have to be an intelligent drug to explain all of this. In my opinion, we prefer these “drug” explanations because it is easier to believe that the witches truly did go to sabbat with the devil if only in their minds, or that the accusers truly did believe what they were saying, than it is to believe that humans can be capable of such acts. But we know very well that people _are_ capable of such acts. Even today, in the United States, we have public officials calling for death penalties for marijuana use (and sometimes even managing to institute it in a backhanded way). We don’t yet have forests of burning drug users outside of our city gates, but we do have unreliable tests that we trust implicitly; we have created a “justice” system that benefits from guilty verdicts; we have created a justice system that in many cases no longer needs a guilty verdict to confiscate an accused person’s property; and because “it is an indicium of witchcraft to defend witches,” we have even begun harassing lawyers that defend drug users, and confiscating _their_ fees as well. We don’t need ergot to explain an irrational justice system, nor do we need it to explain unreasoning hysteria. Jerry ---
**Author:** ![pufnstuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c67d28/32.png) [@pufnstuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pufnstuff)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-witches-and-broomsticks/187148/53 "2003-10-09T16:10:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FriarTed \* > > ## Originally posted by RiverRunner quote: > > ## . . . when the Bible says to, in short, dispose of those who practice Witchcraft it was actually an alteration by the Spanish Inquisition, where the original text states that all those who act in a hostile manner towards loyal Christians are to be properly informed of their act of blasphemy and therein have their souls saved. > > \*\*Exodus 22:18 “mkasheepaah lo’ tchayeh” in Hebrew/“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” > > \*\* Not to impune your fine scholarly analysis of the Hebrew language, but you’ve sort of missed RiverRunner’s main error. The passage in question does not refer to Christianity at all, since it appears in the Law of Moses. (Exodus 22:18, to be precise), and as such has nothing to do with “acting in a hostile manner towards loyal Christians” It also ought to be noted that the Dead Sea scrolls, comprising, among other works, every book of the Hebrew Bible except for Esther, predate Christianity, and the words as translated by Hebrew scholars remain the same: “You shall not allow a sorceress to live” ---
**Author:** ![BioHazard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3bc359/32.png) [@BioHazard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BioHazard)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-witches-and-broomsticks/187148/54 "2003-10-14T04:00:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FriarTed \* > \*\*Exodus 22:18 “mkasheepaah lo’ tchayeh” in Hebrew/“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” > \*\* This is REALLY weird, theres a song on Paul Oakenfold’s album “TrancePort” call GameMaster (I think) that has that quote several times. I’ve always thought the song was about wicca but now I’m not sure. Anyone else here ever heard that song? ---
**Author:** ![BioHazard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3bc359/32.png) [@BioHazard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BioHazard)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-witches-and-broomsticks/187148/55 "2003-10-14T04:11:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by carolynpurcell \* > \*\*I don’t find it plausible at all. How does it explain the jury’s behavior, or the judge’s behavior in sending the jury back for the right verdict? How does it explain the kids taking up their wailing at exactly the moments when it looked like a witch might go free? Ergot would have to be an intelligent drug to explain all of this. > > Jerry \*\* True but, IIRC low amounts of any hallucinagenic/psychedelic drugs over time causes strong paranoia. ---
**Author:** ![BioHazard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3bc359/32.png) [@BioHazard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BioHazard)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-witches-and-broomsticks/187148/56 "2003-10-14T05:10:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BioHazard \* > \*\*This is REALLY weird, theres a song on Paul Oakenfold’s album “TrancePort” call GameMaster (I think) that has that quote several times. I’ve always thought the song was about wicca but now I’m not sure. > > Anyone else here ever heard that song? \*\* Im wrong about Game Master but i’m pretty sure it was on the TrancePort CD… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-witches-and-broomsticks/187148.md?page=2)