There’s an old saying: A new broom sweeps clean. This refers not only to the fact that brooms wear out (especially the old style besoms made of twigs), but also that it is a good idea to replace your brooms every once in a while, since they get worn out energetically as well. Folk lore tells us that you should never move an old broom to a new house, lest you carry old troubles from one place to another. So it makes a certain amount of sense that even if you don’t get a new place, you might want to consider periodically getting a new broom. [Hint: Samhain is a great time of year to get a new broom, since it is the start of the new year...]
Recently, I got three.
No, I don’t have a huge house (it is actually pretty small). The three brooms all have different purposes, and two I hadn’t had to begin with. And one was a gift from a witchy friend.
The first broom I got was a strictly ornamental magickal broom that hangs on the living room wall and adds beautiful and great energy to the room. When I finished writing my latest book, The Witch's Broom , I decided to reward myself by getting my first “just for pretty” broom. Luckily, I found a fabulous woman on Etsy who made special order witchy brooms at a shop called Way of the Cauldron, and she created a special one just for me, complete with a dangling quartz crystal, a Bast charm, and some other goodies. It is really magickal feeling, and I love knowing it was made especially for me. (Thanks, Julie!)
In the way the universe works sometimes, right after I ordered my new ornamental broom, my friend Bobbie gave me a fabulous hand-crafted broom for ceremonial use. (I actually came home on the day I picked up my new car, and found it leaning against my door—two new vehicles in one day!). It was a little ironic that I wrote an entire book on using broomsticks in magickal work, and didn’t actually own one that I used for that purpose. (We’d always used someone else’s when we needed a broom for ritual.) I’d told her I wanted to get one, so this lovely broom showed up as a belated birthday gift!
On a more practical level, the lovely handmade broom I used for everyday housecleaning was wearing out, with more broken bristles than whole ones. And since I’ve been doing a major fall clearing and cleansing to prepare for the winter, I figured that made it a good time to get a new household broom as well. I couldn’t find an affordable nice broom, although I’ll keep looking, so for now I just got a regular one from the grocery store. I plan to bless and consecrate it before its first use, however, and apply a little protection oil just to give it an added boost when it cleans.
So that’s the story of my three new brooms—each one different, but each one special. Do you have a new broom, or an old one that means something special to you? If not, maybe you’d better go get one!
Oh, and HAPPY SAMHAIN! *runs off cackling*