Sweeper of Spirits: The Witch’s Broom in Folk Magic

The besom, broom, or broomstick is an ordinary household tool, crafted to sweep floors, hearths, and yards in order to keep domestic spaces clean. In agrarian life, sweeping had a magical function, as clearing away dirt and debris symbolically marked the boundary between the cultivated home and the wild forces of nature. Over time, this magical function expanded. In the hands of a witch, the ordinary broom transforms from a housekeeping tool into a magical object that sacralizes space.

Between the domestic and the wild

In more recent European folklore, the broom was imagined as the vehicle by which witches could cross those boundaries between the domestic and the wild, sometimes physically, more often spiritually. Stories of witches riding on brooms to their secret nocturnal gatherings, or sabbaths, reinforced this belief.

These beliefs and stories were inspired by ancient accounts of nocturnal spirit flights, such as the ecstatic night-flying experiences associated with goddesses and female spirits. Even earlier, throughout Eurasian shamanic traditions, shamans were believed to send their spirits on journeys at night, travel to other realms, or retrieve knowledge and power from the Otherworld. These visionary flights often involved trance states and hallucinogenic substances, and sometimes the shaman was imagined to ride an animal, such as a horse, wolf, or other creature.

This conflation of the domestic broom with the nocturnal spirit flight reflects a cultural anxiety about the witch, a figure of supernatural power and thus a symbol of the insidious intrusion of chaos into the domestic sphere. Just as the broom swept away dirt and maintained order, its magical counterpart became the instrument through which disorder and wild forces could penetrate the home.

Symbol of the domestic goddess

In Ancient Roman tradition, Deverra, whose name comes from the Latin deverro, meaning “to sweep away”, was one of three deities who protected midwives and women in labor, alongside Pilumnus and Intercidona. Deverra was represented by a broom in charms against Silvanus, the god of the woods, and she also oversaw the brooms used to cleanse temples before sacrifices, worship, and other religious celebrations.

Romanian folk magic inherited much from Roman tradition, and the apotropaic function of the broom is no exception. For example, on Marina’s Day (July 17), mothers honor Marina, the protector of children’s souls, by making brooms from wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), often gifting them with flowers, corn, and chicks.

Like Deverra, Marina is associated with protection, particularly of the vulnerable, such as children. The wormwood brooms are believed to sweep away not only dirt but also misfortune and harmful spirits. They were placed near a child’s cradle or at the home’s threshold to protect against supernatural threats, including the Mother of the Forest. The broom was commonly used in charms against the Mother of the Forest, the same way it was used in charms against Silvanus. Both woodland deities were believed to cause harm and frighten children, and the broom was one of the objects that kept them from entering the household.

The broom as a household spirit

Across the Balkans, the broom was considered a living presence in the home, a protective household spirit charged with maintaining order. Therefore, it was surrounded by taboos and had to be handled with care. Breaking a broom, misusing an old one, or discarding it carelessly was thought to invite misfortune. Old brooms were stored carefully in attics or with other household objects, never left near the house or on the road, for stepping on one could bring illness. Burning a broom in the hearth was likewise forbidden, as it was believed to call upon storms, fierce winds, or other natural disasters.

The broom’s protective power was especially evident in caring for the most vulnerable. Families placed brooms near the cradle or bed of a newborn to shield the child from malevolent spirits and nightmares, particularly before baptism. The paths of newlyweds were swept clean to remove potential spells cast by witches, while the broom could even be thrown at someone suspected of casting the evil eye. As such, the broom was akin to a guardian that defended the household from unseen forces that threatened domestic harmony.

Its protective influence extended to everyday life and daily crises. During fires, brooms were held or placed in the corners around the home to contain danger. Livestock might step over a buried broom to ward off disease, and hanging a broom in a barn could protect livestock and young chickens from predators. When handling a broom, it was important to do so carefully and avoid striking or sweeping over the feet of a child or animal, as it was believed that it could stunt growth, bring misfortune, prevent marriage, or harm the creature.

The broom was also a significant tool in therapeutic and ritual magic. For instance, when a child cried incessantly at night, an old broom might be thrown out the window along with the child’s clothes, to symbolically sweep away the cause of the distress. In other rituals, the child would be “swept” from head to toe and gently struck on the threshold to transfer the harm away. During epidemics or livestock outbreaks, it was used in ceremonies intended to cleanse and defend the village. When someone died of cholera, for example, the spouse of the deceased would sweep the path of the coffin to the cemetery, ritually removing malevolent forces from the route.

Sweeper of seasons

Folklore holds that brooms made on special feast days, such as Marina’s Day (July 17), but also Arminden (May 1st), St. George’s Day (April 23rd), or St. John’s Day (June 24th), carry sacred, fertile, and protective powers. These days marked moments of transition in the folk calendar, when the boundaries between the human world and the spirit world were especially thin, and when vegetation was thought to overflow with life force.

Cutting branches and making brooms from green wood on such days meant that the broom embodied not only the strength of the tree but also the presiding divinities. Furthermore, such moments of transition were a time of renewal. Just as the old was swept clean and begun anew, so too could the broom sweep away sickness, evil, and decay, clearing space for fertility, growth, and protection. Because of this, brooms became apotropaic objects for warding off harmful spirits, witches, or disease.