The Night Sky
If any Trick-or-Treaters show up at your house tonight riding broomsticks, do not tell them this story. Maybe, don’t mention it to their parents either. The origin of the myth that witches fly on broomsticks is for mature audiences only.
The earliest known depiction of a witch on a broomstick was in 1451, in the margins of French poet Martin Le Franc’s sonnet, Le Champion des Dames (The Defender of Ladies)
In ancient times, women were the primary source of healthcare in their communities. The knowledge and practice of concocting remedies for healing was integral to their role as midwives and caregivers.
Knowledge of medicinal plants and healing practices was passed down through oral tradition, along maternal lines. Those who practiced healing arts were seen as possessing both medical and magical powers.
The word “pharmacy,” derives from the Greek word “pharmakeia,” which translates as “sorcery” or “witchcraft”.
With the rise of Christianity and its patriarchal precepts, pagan healing practices came under intense scrutiny. The church held that illness was spiritual by nature and that healing could occur only by means of manipulating spirits or humors. Church leaders, all men, were the sole practitioners of healing in early Christianity. Women outside the church practicing healing with herbal remedies were vilified. This clash of cultures spawned the concept of witchcraft.
The foregoing is an oversimplification of the origin of witches and witchcraft. I would love to delve deeper into the history of witchery, but it would take more time than either of us has today. I do however want to talk about broomsticks.
To understand the origin of the use of brooms as a witch’s means of transport, we first need to understand mythology surrounding brooms.
A broom was a tool used most often by women. It developed as a symbol of domesticity but also gained ground as a phallic symbol, a stiff shaft inserted into bushy bristles.
I told you the kids shouldn’t hear this.
A broom was often present at Pagan weddings and is still used as a symbol of fertility in cultures around the world.
But why do witches ride them?
Pharmacologist David Kroll writes in Forbes that alleged witches in the Middle Ages were thought to concoct their brews from such plants as deadly nightshade, henbane, mandrake, and jimsonweed, all of which produce hallucinogenic chemicals known as tropane alkaloids. Rather than ingest these mind-altering substances by eating or drinking, which would have caused intestinal distress, practitioners chose to absorb them through the skin, often in the most intimate areas of their bodies.
A 15th-century theologian Jordanes de Bergamo, wrote that “the vulgar believe, and the witches confess, that on certain days or nights, they anoint a staff and ride on it to the appointed place or anoint themselves under the arms and in other hairy places.”
In 1324, when the wealthy Irish widow Lady Alice Kyteler was tried for sorcery and heresy, investigators reported that in searching Kyteler’s house, they found “a pipe of ointment, wherewith she greased a staff, upon which she ambled and galloped through thicke and thin.”
Antoine Rose, who in 1477, when accused of witchcraft in France, confessed (under torture) that the Devil gave her flying potions. She would “smear the ointment on the stick, put it between her legs and say ‘Go, in the name of the Devil, go!’”
Hallucinogens applied topically to sensitive areas act as an antiseptic. They can reduce suffering, or the pain of childbirth, but they also induce psychedelic illusions, including levitation.
So, witches do fly on broomsticks, not literally, but …
… phantasmagorically.
Like I said, don’t mention this to the Trick-or-Treaters tonight.
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GG
There is a great early 70s album called Phantasmagoria by a British prog rock band called Curved Air. I can even lend it to you on vinyl!!!
Fun post, well done.
Russ Paton
I will check that out. Appreciate the loan of it but I would need the turntable too.