Merry meet everyone, Today's topic is an easy one to do but its a topic that most witches today know about in some form. The biggest well know witch hunts was based in Salem back in June 1692 and didn't end until May 1693. Those times many women feared for their lives because they knew if they did something even remotely wrong in the eyes of the 'Judge' they would be put to death. This is such a big American history topic but its also a big topic for all witches because 19 poor souls were convicted as 'witches' which we still don't know if they were true witches or not but they were hanged for crimes that more than likely didn't happen. Many know about the Salem witch trails but there were many others around the world that took such a big part of the history we have today. As many of you know the witch trails and hunts started in Europe between 1300's and 1330's, theses didn't end until the late 18th century with the last well known witch being executed taking place in Switzerland in 1782. That being said the Salem witch trails occurred because of the abatement of the European witch-hunt fervour which first took part in 1580s-1590s to the 1630s-1640s. The biggest part of the witch trails took place in Europe, mainly taking place in western Germany, the Low Countries in France, Northern Italy and Switzerland. The number of trails and executions changed depending on the time and place but its well known that over 110,000 people in total were tried for witchcraft and out of these people between 40,000 to 60,000 were executed. Thats a lot of innocent people taken too soon for something they most likely didn't do. The poor souls of theses people will forever haunt our past but will also teach us what not to do in the future. Or thats my hope anyway. Theses hunts were done to find the identity of witches rather than pursuits of individuals who were already known or thought of as witches. Back then witches were considered to be followers of 'Satan' who would so call trade their souls for his help. Now we all know that Satan isn't part of witchcraft or parts of our pagan history. Satan was used by Christians to state power over our faith and power over the murders of many women, man and children. There hunters would speak about witches using demons from Satan in forms of animals that witches would call their 'Familiars'. They also said that witches back then would meet in secret in the woods and have orgies to please their 'Satan' God. Back then there was no doubt that some individuals did worship the devil and attempt to do his work in harming others, however before the witch trails no one had embodied the concept of a witch. This meant the process of identifying witches began from rumours and people spreading nasty comments about fellow neighbours. Most witches that were executed in the Salem witch trails were the result of a combination of reasons, such as the church politics, family feuds and children being hysterical about the 'bogyman' of that time which was witches. A well known family in Salem was a bit effect on the witch trails. This family of Samuel Parries, his wife and three children created the cause of many women being murdered. Now this may have started as revenge from their said slave who was called Tituba. She most likely told stories of voodoo tales to the three children that caused this uproar. Parries daughter Betty who was aged 9 at the time, his niece Abigail Williams aged 11 at the time and their friend Ann Putnam Jr aged 12 at the time began messing about with fortune telling. It was back in January 1692 that Betty and Abigail's strange behaviour was getting worse. From what was described in history as juvenile delinquency most likely caused the witch trails to start. Theses girls would have fits, scream, making odd sounds, throwing items about, contorting their bodies and complained about getting biting and pinching sensations. People more know a days in modern science has tried to explain theses strange behaviours as common illnesses we know today. But back then theses behaviours caused many witch hunts in Salem and many deaths. Because of theses behaviours Parris set out to identify the girls tormentor which made things worse when the girls blamed their slave Tituba for bewitching them. The were two other marginalized members of the community that was also blamed but theses were blamed because they didn't go to church regularly. These two women were called Sarah good and Sarah Osborn. Sarah good was a beggar and Sarah Osborn was an elderly bedridden women who had been scorned for her romantic involvement with an servant. Both of theses women protected that they were innocent. Tituba also claimed to be innocent but after being badgered she told the magistrates John Hathornbe and Jonathan Corwin what they wanted to hear. This was that she had been visited by the devil and made a deal with him. Within 3 days of vivid testimony she had described encounters with the devils animal familiars and with a tall dark man from Boston who had called upon her to sign the devils book in which she saw the names of Sarah good and Sarah Osborn along with those of seven others that she could not read. Because of this, they had the right to build upon the witch hunt and all hysteria broke lose. This became like a wild fire and other women and children started having fits, which created more hysteria. Ann Putnam Jr, her mother, her cousin and Mary Walcott and Putnam's servant mercy Lewis were among the women having the fits. Those who were identified as witches were no longer just outsiders and outcasts but rather upstanding members of the community. This began with Rebecca Nurse a mature women, and as weeks passed many of the accused proved to be the enemies of the Putnam's and Putnam family members and in-laws would end up being the accusers in dozens of cases. On May 27th 1692 after weeks of hearings accompanied by imprisonments the accused were forced to defend themselves without aid of counsel, this became damning for them because there was 'spectral evidence' against them. Their so called victims claimed to see unknown things and being attacked either biting and pinching by animals theses women would control. Many who confessed to the crimes were spared because they were believed damned by god and the ones who denied them were punished further. Bridget Bishop on June 2rd who was accused and found innocent of witchery over 12 years earlier was the first of the defendants to be convicted and she was hanged on the 10th of June. She was hanged on Gallows hill in Salem village and on July 19th five more convicted people were hanged including the two ladies Nurse and Good. Good responded before she was hanged as stating she was no more a witch as the judge was a wizard. That caused George Burroughs who was the judge at the time to be dragged out of his home and accused of being the witches ringleader. He to was convicted and hanged on August 19th. On September 22nd eight more people were convicted by hanging including Martha Corey whose husband Giles, upon being accused of witchcraft and refusing to plea his case had been subjected to the worse kind of death. He was pressed to death between heavy stones for two days until he died. Can you imagine the pain he went through for those two days. Horrified is not even the word to describe what I felt when I found this out. These trails took over like wild fire and accusations spread to individuals from other communities among them were Beverly, Malden, Gloucester, Andover, Lynn, Marblehead, Charleston and Boston. On October the 3rd Cotton Mathers father decided to use direct accusations inside of what evidence they used before. On October 29th theses accusations of witchcraft extended to include his own wife which Governor Phips had once again stepped in and ordered a halt of the trail, This was because a superior had instructed not to admit spectral evidence which meant to trail was even more rigged as before. These Trails resumed in January and February but because of the changes out of 56 people indicted only 3 were convicted and they along with everyone held in custody had been pardoned by Phips in May 1693. This was the end of the witch trails. Over this horrid period in history 19 people were hanged and 6 people had died in custody, with one being Giles Corey who was condemned to die after two days of a painful death. This subject when I was researching this and even while typing it out upset me so much. Knowing how theses women and men were treated about of fear. I bet most of theses weren't even witches but they lost their lives for nothing. This is our history and we should honour theses lives within every day that we breath. They are owed that much. I would love to hear your views on this subject matter, did this effect you in the same way it effected me? If you would like to become part of my ever growing community then join me on Facebook and Instagram under the name @Paganvibesonly and join in on the chats and posts. I love connecting with you all and I love to hear what topics you all would like to see in the future. I hope to see you all in the next blog post and please stay safe in theses strange times. Blessed be x PaganVibesOnly x
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Merry meet everyone, I am back this week with another famous witch from history. This witch is a famous vodou witch called Marie Laveau. Now many call her the American vodou queen, she was born back in the 1800's in New Orleans and its believed that she passed away in June 15th 1881 in New Orleans. Now her gifts were believed to healing the ill, extending altruistic gifts to the poor and also overseeing spiritual rites. Through out this post today we will go through what we know of this famous witch and why she is so famous. Now the reason there are two birth dates for Marie Laveau is because theres documents stating she was born in 1794 but others stating 1801. Now I will just say its more likely to be the 1800's but thats just me guessing, many have researched this and believe the same but I won't say its fact. Marie Laveau was born to an African women named Marguerite Darcentel and to Charles Laveau. Marie had been married to a man from sainte-dominque named Jacques Paris. There are reports that he disappeared and was never found which many believe he was dead. Marie from her husbands disappeared kept referring herself as the 'window Paris'. After a space of time when many believed her husband to be dead, Marie started a relationship with Jean Louis Christophe Duminy De Glapion. They then had serval children together, its been reported that serval of their children were victims of yellow fever that has plagued New Orleans due to the city's poor drainage system. Marie has been reported to be a loving wife and committed mother which was her priority of a caretaker of the household. But this also extended to her spiritual children and her community. Marie had become a hairdresser to bring in an income and gave her family stability. Marie was often exposed to personal information about her wealthy white clients through her coloured clients who were the house servants of theses said white clients. They would often ask her for counsel. Marie would often use this information to give informed counsel to the people who sought advice about personal affairs. Marie was paid from both groups of the wealthy and politically affluent individuals for her personal advice. Sometimes this took form of a intervention, others in the form of protection against any evil energy that may overcome them. Many say the Marie was the granddaughter of a powerful priestess, with Marie having familial background in African spirituality. Its also reported that Marie was drawn to the religion after the death of her dear mother. Marie also underwent the tutelage of Dr.John Bayou who was well known as a Senegalese conjurer(Also known as root worker). Marie didn't take long to become well known within the society of Vodou in New Orleans. Many refer her to being the queen of Vodou and thats because to many in her community she was like a mother to them. She would be sought out to help and advise on marital affairs, domestic disputes, judicial issues, child birth, finances, health and good luck. Marie would counsel her practitioners within the help of supplying them with advice or protective spiritual objects such as candles, powder and objects that were mixed together to create a gris-gris. Marie would of done most of her rituals at three main sites within her city. Theses main sites were her home on St. Ann Street, Congo Square and Lake Pontchartrain. At her home Marie would speak with her clients who would meet her regarding any issues they may have been dealing with. She would often use her back garden as a space to do her ceremonies that would conjure the spirit of the great Zombi, which is a deity called Damballah Wedo who would manifest through a snake. The second big ritual space was at Congo Square, which is a public space that was set aside by the city. She would gather her followers at this place on a Sunday to dance and worship. Marie never did any big rituals here but was still considered a special place because her followers were always gathering here. The last main place was Lake Pontchartain which was the space Marie would do her big rituals. Marie would often be seen here with her said 'king' who was normally her second ranking male officiate. There are reports that you would often hear singing and drumming coming from this location when she was there and spirit possession would often occur in theses gatherings. Many white folk would try and sneak into the woods to watch and see what events were taking place. There a quite a few reports about what they saw but many white folk would put it down to drinking too much. Before Marie was the queen of vodou there were only two other women who wore the crown. The first was Sanite Dede who wore the crown for several years before she was taken over by Marie Saloppe who introduced Marie Laveau to this religion to begin with. When Marie did take over the crown she reigned unchallenged until 1850. Rosalie another Creole women attempted to challenge Marie's position. Rosalie did this by placing a huge life sized wooden doll in her yard that was said to have been imported from Africa. This doll was covered with beads and intricate carvings. Many started to respect Rosalie or feared her. Marie heard this and stole the doll to show a point. Rosalie took Marie to court over this but Marie used her persuasive powers and influence to have the doll permanently removed. There were others that had gathered mild attention during Marie's reign but never took over her. Marie's reign ended on her death bed and to this day she is still considered one of the strongest and powerful Vodou witches out there. I hope you found today's post interesting as much as I did researching this amazing women. If there is anyone you would like me to research then send the name my way through my facebook page or even through DM's on Instagram. You can find me under the name @Paganvibesonly on both platforms. I post daily about witchy aspects that are away from this blog and the community that I have been building (more on instagram than facebook as thats still new) has been helping me with blog topics since the beginning so if you wish to take part join one or both places to keep update when I do ask for help. As always I do hope you enjoy my blog posts and that I will see you all in the next one. Please stay safe everyone in these strange times. Blessed be x PaganVibesOnly x Merry meet everyone, I have been personally looking into historical witches that build up our history. We as witches should always honour those that have came before us and for that this series was born. Today I will be talking about a famous witch called Isobel Gowdie who was based in Auldearn, Scotland. Now this is close to home as I am from England which is another reason I have started this series with her. Now theres so many different stories about Isobel that you can never be too sure which is real and what is made up for the ghost stories. Many of the information in this post has been collected from quite a few different resources so I can tell you 90% of this information must be correct. Now many of you may have already heard about Isobel Gowdie because she has been mentioned in many modern witchcraft books. These books include: - The devil's mistress (1915) A novel by John Brodie-Innes. - The drowning pond (2005) A novel by Catherine Forde. - Isobel (1977) A novel by Jane Parkhurst. - Night Plague (1994) A novel by Graham Masterton. As you can see she has inspired many novelists and I am sure there will be more to follow to but what do we personally know about this famous witch? She is one of the few witches that has appeared in the Oxford dictionary of National Biography and was also featured prominently in the book 'The witch- cult in western Europe written by Margaret Murray. This book has been considered by many as a significant influence on the emerging new religious movement as we all know it as wicca back in the 1920s. Now we know witches have been around for many many moons going all the way back to the start of history and many paths were created to honour this. But what else do we know about dear old Isobel Gowdie? Now thats the problem with having so many novels based on this famous witch. Not much is actually known about her. We know she was married to one John Gilbert, whom had no ties to the magical path as Isobel was. Its claimed that she was brought up in Auldearn area in Scotland, this is because she mentions many nearby villages during her confession of witchcraft. Her age is still unknown to use but with us knowing she was married and the legal age for marriage back then in Scotland was 15 she must of been older than that when she was caught. I may note that during her confession she alluded to have engaged in sexual practices fifteen years earlier, which would place her somewhere between thirty and fifty years of age knowing that most marriages back then happened around the age of twenty six or seven. It will be forever unknown if she had any children as there is no records from that time and she made no reference to any children in her confessions. We know that Isobel and her husband lived in Loch Loy and it seems likely her husband worked as some sort of farm hand. Its also likely that Isobel helped her husband as she had no education but was known to have a good imagination and could express herself in such a meaningful way. The one aspect of this that stands Isobel apart from other witch trails was because of her sheer volume of her confession. Its still unknown by many what the outcome was by the confessions Isobel made and it took over two hundred years for her confessions to be published in 1833 in 'Ancient Criminal Trials in Scotland' by Robert Pitcairn. Its also known that her confessions were celebrated but the original documents that had all the information leading up and during the confession had gone missing. They only later showed up in a unmarked box two centuries later that were connected to the belongings of Isobel's landlord. Theses papers reveals that Isobel Gowdie made a series of four confessions over a six week period, most likely while she was kept underground held against her will. The first confession was made 13th of April, which meant she gave her last confession around the 14th of may depending on the weeks. Its known that she was held against her will in solitary confinement where she was most likely beaten and starved. They most likely also deprived her of sleep by chaining her up against the wall so she couldn't go to sleep. While she was imprisoned she was interrogated by the local ministers. They were known as Harry Forbes and Huge rose and they interrogated her while other watched. Her testimony was very much heavy imprinted by the questions asked as many witch trails back then were. They would ask 'when did you make a pact with the devil' and 'When did you fly to the witches sabbath' which in those times were common to be asked. I personally feel like karma will come upon the souls of those who treated any women in this way but then this hits close to home. Her confession was very much coerced as the statement will show bellow that even though she may have not been tortured by modern day standards she would of been tortured even by just keeping her in a dark room chained to a wall for 6 weeks. the statement starting "The said Isobel Gowdie appearing penitent for hir haynows sines of witchcraft and that she haid bein ower long in that service without any compulsitoris proceidit in hir confessione and concludes that it was spokin and willinglie confest' God English was bad then. That statement just shows they were covering it up. That she was tortured by illegal measures to get what they wanted out of her. It was common back then that anyone that was found out to be a witch was subjected to the horrors of sleep deprivation and even the use of the witch pricker which was known to be active in moray at that time. Knowing she was tortured to confess doesn't mean that what she was saying wasn't her own. She had such great detail in her confessions that they couldn't be just what they fed her to say. They were personal and very vivid to her that many question if she was tortured into saying her confession or was fed it. She stated that she attempted to destroy her neighbours crops by using puddock plow so that afterwards only thistles and briars would grow which was unique to her, as many others confessions stated using children's bodies within their workings. This is just one of many changes that her confession stood out from the others. That one thing that stands out for Isobel is that fact most of her magical workings were herbal remedies and blessings that helped heal people. Many like myself believe she was a magical practitioner and with her claims to have performed charms and spell workings to cure fevers and broken bones show she was classed as a wise women back then a bit like a doctor for us today. Overall it fills me with such pain reading about what this women went through and what she must of endured thought theses 6 weeks or longer of torture. No women or fellow witch should of gone through this. No matter the time in history should anyone be attacked for being who they are and yet history shows time and time again that it happens. Lets hope we all learn from the past and move forward respecting everyone but we know thats for many is just a fairy-tale. I hope you learned something from today's post and that I will see you all in the next one. As always you can keep up to date on all things magical on instagram and facebook under the name @paganvibesonly. I hope to see you all in the next post and please everyone stay safe in theses strange times. Blessed be x PaganVibesOnly x Merry meet everyone, As witches we all know what crystal balls are used for and why we use them but do we really know the history behind them? I took a deep dive into the history of crystal balls to find all the information I will be sharing with you all today! I found this really interesting and I actually learn more about crystal balls then I knew which is always a bonus when creating theses posts. Now most pop culture use crystal balls for fortune telling which can annoy some witches because crystal balls are such a special divination tool that many witches have the skill in using. If you don't know what crystal balls are used for and you have just started out on your path then crystal balls are used as a tool for scrying. You basically focus your intention into the crystal ball and through your third eye you will see the answers you seek. Personally I haven't successfully learnt this skill because it can take years for someone to really learn this skill and down side is I will most likely be one of those. That being said you could have the natural talent in getting the answers you wish quite quickly with little to no practice and if that sounds like you then I am well jealous! Now scrying isn't just for crystal balls you can use any reflective surface like a mirror or a bowl of water but that being said today's post is all about crystal balls so I will stick to that topic for now. This kind of practice has been around for as long as witches and druids have been around. These skills have always made appearances in the mystical and religious traditions of many different ancient civilisations. Now the most note worthy people who use these skills were the Druids which were well known for being well educated, highly respected citizens that lived between the British Isles and France during the Iron age. Now Druids were always sought out for their skills with medicine but that was not the only skills druids were known for. They loved collecting knowledge of the world which came in all different forms back then such as poetry, law and of course religious rituals. The great downside for druids was Christianity, when that religion came to be they nearly wiped out all of the druids and their knowledge stating it was workings of the devil which we all know were lies to build that religion up. Now even with that happening druids knowledge has survived through the years and one notable account of this is in the Romans. When Julius Caesar was about, he spoke highly about their religious practices. Another Roman was Pliny the Elder who actually devoted one chapter of his book 'The natural history' to the druids of the Gallic provinces. The following chapter in his book he describes and dismisses many forms of magic which included the uses with water and with balls which we can see today as early accounts of scrying. Now we are unknown if he was using druid magic or other forms to come up with theses terms because there were many branches of magic about like there is still today. While Christianity was taking over and dominating the Western Europe throughout the middle ages, the form of scrying become a divisive practice. Christians were split in half about this magical practice because many thought it was divine intervention what they saw in theses tools like the crystal ball but others believed it was the work of the devil and was pure evil workings. Another great book to note about this subject was written back in the fifth century called 'The city of god' written by St.Augustine which denounced scrying and claiming all magical practices as 'deceptive rites of demons who masquerade under the names of angels'. This effected a lot of practices because people then started to believe it was devil workings. A great note in the history of crystal balls and scrying as a whole is that many unlikely scholars actually defended the practice and this is later found out in the book Mark pendergrast explains in 'Mirror Mirror: A history of the human love affair with reflection'. He proves that back in the Renaissance age a increasing popularity of translated workings from the Arabic mentioned scrying in a scientific way. One important text that was translated was called Picatrix and in his workings out considered mysticism as a branch of science. That meant the practice of scrying was elevated to something noble and even rational. Many welcomed these ideas from the doom and gloom the Christianity was spreading around at that time. Because of this scrying became popular between scientists who were regarded as the educated elite. Another great way to prove this is in the museum of the history of science which boasts a 17th century crystal ball in its collection with the explanation "The literature of magic itself recalls a time when natural and supernatural knowledge shared a common language. Sixteenth-Century records of seances at which spirits were conjured typically went under the title of books of experiments". The crystal ball still was banished by the church and was continued to be called devil workings but within the scientific world it was still in a relatively good standing. That being said the crystal ball made its way to the royal English court and was introduced by John Dee, who was an alchemist and mathematician with a great interest in the magical. He was a close adviser to Queen Elizabeth 1st. She also relied on Dee's counsel in the scheduling of important events and matter of astrology. Dee also had a partner whom the Queen respected called Edward Kelley. It has been reported that Kelley was a much more successful medium and some believe he was duping Dee all along. Many accounts show that Dee held regular scrying sessions along with Kelley that would consisted of them staring into an obsidian mirror for hours in hopes to communicate with the angles to gain otherworldly wisdom that could help Queen Elizabeth 1st. There has been other crystal ball gazers in the political world other than Dee and Kelley. A few centuries later Jeane Dixon was also considered a crystal gazer and even collected fame for her political predictions. Dixon was best known for predicting the assassination of John F. Kennedy, though the legitimacy of her predictions is doubted by many who don't believe. Many skeptics nicknamed the term 'the Jeane Dixon effect' to describe the phenomenon of psychics being remembered favourably despite how inaccurate many predictions were. Now the classic pop culture references of the crystal ball being used by people wearing turbans can be blamed on the Romani people which many refer them as Gypsies. Now this hits close to home for myself because I actually have Romani gypsies in my family bloodline and they were magical workers. I personally believe its why I am drawn to the magical and why my mother and Nan was too. This reference to fortune telling was because Romani Gypsies would travel to different villages and towns to read the crystal balls to earn money for food and supplies for themselves. Since then many people have dressed up as such when trying to sell fortune readings and today's day and age many are fake or using the history to gain quick cash. Now that is the history of crystal balls and why the pop culture has used it in many different cases. I hope you found today's post really interesting because I sure did while researching this topic. As always you can follow me on instagram @paganvibesonly. I post daily about aspects of my life that wouldn't normally come on my blog. If you just wanted to keep updated or even have a quick chat then you can catch me there when I am away from the blog. I hope to see you all in the next post and as always please stay safe we are living is strange times at the moment. Blessed be x PaganVibesOnly x Merry meet everyone, Today I will be talking to you all about the history of the witches cauldron. Now I have spent way to much time on this post because the cauldron has been a symbol through out history and not just for witches which made things a little harder for me than normal. That being said it was well worth the digging around because I found out some really interesting things about the cauldron I personally didn't know so that is always a bonus. So you all know that a cauldron is a well known tool for any witch, its as well known as the besom. Now we all know that the cauldron is defined as a large metal pot that can have a lid and a handle, that is normally used for cooking over an open fire. The cauldron has been used since time began it seems, well into the ancient times because thats the only way they could cook their meals. The word cauldron is from the old Norse and Germanic words meaning a hot place. Back when there was no such thing as electric many households had a large cauldron to cook their meals over the fire and keeping themselves warm. There was also a mention that some households that had money had big enough cauldrons to have baths in too. Many see the cauldron as a symbol of protection and life because of this reason. Without a cauldron back then you would of died from the cold or from hunger or both. The cauldron was always seen by a women mixing their food using a wooden stick and thats why cauldrons are associated with women's magic or more commonly known as witches magic. Women back in those days spent most of the day mixing in this cauldron to make the meals because it wasn't easy to create meals and the fire only heated the mixture slowly. Now the cauldron symbolises many different aspects of witchcraft. Most people will commonly symbolise the cauldron as the divine feminine because it is viewed as the womb of magic. This could be because the cauldron creates to provide for others such as cooking back in the old days. There are others that believe the cauldron is the womb of the earth and is connected to the goddesses. Theres also speaks that the cauldron is known for transformation and alchemy which again can be connected back to when food and remedies were placed and mixed inside the cauldron. Many witches know the cauldron is connected to all elements of the earth. The pot and food that goes inside is the earth, the brews created inside is the water, the fire that heats the cauldron up and then the steam that comes from the mixture cooking is air. The cauldron also has three legs that represent the Celtic sacred number three. This could mean the three main lunar phases, the three stages of life/death/rebirth cycle or the triple goddess. There has been uses of the cauldron throughout history and through out myths too so if you would like to look into the history of the cauldron yourself then be prepared that you will be jumping down a rabbit hole of information. I wanted to cover the witches side of the cauldron but like I said theres so many references to the cauldron through the times that you could find more information if you wish to jump into that hole. As always you can follow me on instagram @paganvibesonly and I post daily or near daily as I can with what I am doing within my life away from the blog. I also post new products I am trying and if you wish to contact me and ask me a question you can catch me there to. Don't forget to check out the other posts I have created and that I will be with you in the next post. Please stay safe everyone :) Blessed be x PaganVibesOnly x Merry meet everyone, With this month being a very special month for witches I thought I would dip back into history and research why besoms are such powerful tools for us witches today. That being said not all witches use theses amazing tools anymore because there not as common as they use to be. I for one am collecting materials to create my own one or even nudge my fellow witchy friend to help me make my own besom. Now when you look back into the history when besoms were around you could tell then had to create something to remove all the bad waste that was falling of their homes. Bare in mind their homes back in those days were created from wood, straw and old dirt. That is why the besom was created to clean out the old so their homes didn't smell as much as they did. One of the oldest besoms were created by any old material that could create the bristles. This could be old straw, herbs and twigs that were lying around and they would collect all theses together to create the main part of the broom. Many believe that the reason the bristles were circular was to represent the tree of life which many pagans back in those days believed was a important symbol. Many besoms were found hanging just in the door way of the home which was considered to ward off evil spirits, negative forces and to protect the home and whom ever lived inside. Now the traditional witches besom is normally made with a ash handle and bristles from birch twigs and thats because they were very common in those days. With modern day being harder to find these types of trees because we now have roads and buildings where back in those days trees covered the land. They also would tie the twigs of the besom together with a thin piece of willow wood and many would decorate their besoms with flowers of the season which I would consider would help cover the smell that was about in that time. What I found really interesting was many Celtic pagans connected the besom to faeries which I would of through was because of the relation to the wood used to create the besoms. Many believed the forests had sprites that protected the lands. Many believed that you would have to ask permission to collect wood aspects for the besom before making it because the sprites would cause havoc otherwise. There are other stories that a witch would ask for help from the sprites to lead her to the perfect tree to create her besom from and this was because it would then be considered enchanted with nature once created. I found that the besom is connected to both masculine and feminine energies, that being said the handle being phallic would be the masculine and the bristles being feminine. This means that the besom is in perfect balance itself which is not normally the case for witchcraft items. One of the things that you normally use the besom for is for hand-fasting rituals which if you didn't know what that is, its a witchy way of getting married. I personally love the idea of a hand-fasting with my partner when the time comes alongside the normal marriage ceremony just to please my witchy side. When I was younger my mother had her besom and when we would use the spirit board in the garden she would walk around with the besom casing the circle of protection, we would then have the besom over the doorway of the circle to keep out unwanted energies when we wanting to communicate with the other side. I have this strong memory of this because it was the first time I actually saw my mother use her besom. Anyway while theses besoms were used to clear out unwanted muck in old homes and clearing the area of ritual work, it is also important to remember that this was an important tool for witches during the burning times of Europe. That was because during this time period witches would use a broom to hide one of their most important tools which was their wand. They would hide it in the middle of the broom in plain sight so no one would think anything different. There is also a tradition that besoms have been used to harbour a particular spirit temporarily but I am unsure how true this one can be. There is so much history for us witches to remember that sometimes all you have to do is jump into the rabbit hole of history. I hope you enjoyed today's post and that you continue to look into our history this month. As always you can keep updated on all things witchy related on my instagram @paganvibesonly and if you need a chat or have a question message me and ill get back to you as soon as I can. I hope to see you all in the next post and as always keep safe everyone. Blessed be x PaganVibesOnly x |
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