Witches and Brooms, Gross

“That woman's been riding the same broomstick for almost a hundred years.”
― Seth Adam Smith, Rip Van Winkle and the Pumpkin Lantern

The broom of Halloween stands for different uses of wood.  For one, those thought to be witches were burned at the stake.  In medieval times, there were many diseases, there was starvation, there was war and since everything was so precarious and dangerous, someone had to be blamed for such bad luck...thus, witches.  Of course, women!  And it moved from being evil to being morally questionable, men got rid of their wives, fathers got rid of daughters, elderly women were more at risk.  Herbs were looked at suspiciously.  Women gathered herbs.  Elderly women had more wisdom about herbs.  Any using of anything to help the sick, the starved, the hurt, were seen as sorcerers.  It was medicinal ways of healing that truly came into question.  Some herbs were, like today, used socially, and this is where things get weird. 

Herbs were not just used in drink, they were turned into ointments and salves. I do not know how it came to be, but men began to put psychoactive salves and ointments on their genitals...since men would not touch other men's privates, a broomstick was used to put the ointment on.  I know, gross!  Anyways, the men got high and voila, they experienced the sensation of flying and then they began to see things.  Since witches were on their minds.. there you go...witches flew and on the broomsticks, most likely.  The stories of their hallucinations became embellished and, besides, there was a movement of torture to get women to confess.  Of course, some did and the story magnified into a belief. 

It must have been that women, seeing the high of the men, they most likely used the ointments inside themselves.... (using the broomstick, as well) and some man must have seen or some woman must have told.   So, now we have the connection of women riding a broomstick. How idiotic, and gross, it seems to us, but, to those in medieval times, and how little they knew...it became the truth.  Do we keep using the witch and broomstick symbols of Halloween that furthers the negative and dangerous view of women who choose to be and identify as witches?  It is a kerfuffle in today's overly sensitive world. But, it is still gross and I will not think of witches and brooms the same again,

Challenge:  Nonetheless, let us, one more time, do a Halloween themed page where the broom shows up.  I gave the broom little influence on the two-sided page I did.  Let u give it a go and then leave it, never forgetting that the broom represents so much more than a riding thing.

©Carol Desjarlais 10.7.19