A Crafty Sweep

Today's entry is about building an astral broom, also known as a besom (BEE-zum), or a witch's broom. I have built two besoms in my life so far, both of them were for myself, for use as a purification tool in ritual. I'd like to share what I have learned about the craft and the lore.

The besom is used to sympathetically sweep an area that requires purification. It can also be placed alongside your body to facilitate astral projection. The contemporary scholarship of folklore about the besom is that its knob or handle was used to apply a hallucinogenic topical into the mucous membranes of the vagina to facilitate an altered state of consciousness - hence "flying" on the broom. Though this claims has lots of academic backing, it has no direct scholarship. It is nonetheless asserted by many modern pagans as fact and is becoming understood by many folklorists as history.

Another use is to ride the broom like a hobby horse during fertility rituals. Hereditary witches claim that jumping while astride the besom has been an element of spring fertility rituals since the dark ages. The idea is that you show the grain how high to grow with the height of your jump.

When building a besom, you can choose to go after the traditional woods. Traditionally the stick is made of ash, the bristles are made of birch and the binding is made of willow. You may find birch branches at a larger floral shop or garden center for use in making wreaths. I got mine from my back yard. Willow is the same wood as wicker, so you might find the binding in a store that supplies basket-weavers. Good luck on the ash. I'm told that some home improvement stores sell ash dowels, but they are turned to be smooth and don't have the natural look of a branch. I prefer my broom to have a scraggled, rustic and homemade look rather than a neat, organized, and manufactured appearance. Ultimately, your tool is only as powerful as your belief in it. So don't stress out if you can't find the specific woods.

When I make mine, I use a birch branch because that's what came down with the bristles. The best bristles are those with some sap still in them. That means the branch recently fell and hasn't dried out, or the bristles have been factory cured so they are not brittle. If you just pick up twigs from the ground, you will likely have brittle twigs that will break apart when the pressure of the binding pushes on them. For the binding, I use cotton cord or some other strong natural twine like jute or hemp. Don't be afraid to break with tradition and make it your own.

First you must trim all of your twigs from the branches. Trim the twigs at the base of every fork so you get long, straight twigs. The best way to keep them from getting all over and ensure that they all stack at the same level is to put them into a coffee can as you cut them. When you have cut enough you can apply them to your broom stick. I like to start by gathering up the bundle and tying a loose string around it to corral them together.

You will apply the bristles to the small end of the broom stick. This seems incorrect because of the liklihood that the bristles would slide off. But if you make your stick correctly and tie the bristles tightly, they will not slide off. The large end of the broom stick should be rounded into a knob. The short end of the broom stick should be trimmed so that a side-branch remains to act as a projection. Trim off the side branch, but leave a sort stump. If you are lucky, your branch will have a natural bulge in it.

Withdraw your bristle from their keeper can and surround the small end of the broom stick and the small branch stump. Don't take the temporary string off just yet and try to keep all of the cut ends at the same level. Make sure your stick goes into the center of the bundle so that there aren't parts of the stick showing through the branches. Once the stick is surrounded by twigs, tightly tie the twigs above the branch stump. Leave a couple of inches of the twig bundle above the tie. Now you can tie the bristles below the broomstick to bring them all into order. Your bristles should generally point the same direction (more or less) and have a little bulge between the bindings.

When using your broom, you should also use visualization. You can imagine that the broom bristles are giving off a white smoke that fills the space with purity, much like a huge smudge stick. Another option is to imagine the space filled with a dark smoke or dust that the broom clears away when you symbolically sweep the space. Remember that you need not actually touch the floor with your broom if you don't want. The act of using the broom, coupled with your visualization, will bring about the purity of space you desire.

Love and Hate gum

I have come to strongly dislike the seed balls from the Sweetgum tree (Liquidambar styraciflua). They get into the grass such that the mower won't lift them out. Then I step on them and they hurt!

I usually collect them after a rain because the normally reddish color they have darkens and they really stand out against the grass. This color darkens as the balls get older. Most of the time, I toss them to the side to decompose with the rest of the leaf litter.

This time, I decided to put aside my anger and collect them as a natural bead. For your collection, get the ones that fell this year. You can identify them because they will be reddish-brown, rather than dark brown, black or gray. It is a very pretty color. The newer ones also have lots of points because no one has had time to step on them yet (I promise I'm not bitter). I was able to collect a cloth grocery bag full of them in about a half hour.

I have lots of ideas for these things. I think they would look really cool on a strand with smaller wood and bone beads as a set of earrings. Painted white, they would look fun as the trim around the edge of a natural wooden Holly King.

I know it's too late for Yule, but after trimming off the stems, I painted a few of them gold and strung them on a hemp cord to make a garland. They look great when paired with other wooden beads. I think a garland of silver sweetgum balls will look great on a tree with all white lights. I will also play around with some unpainted of course.

When stringing these up, you will need an upholstery needle, preferably one with a bladed end. The center of these things were pretty woody, so I found it easier to first pierce one side and then push the ball down onto the needle by bracing the eye of the needle down against a cutting board. Use only the very tips of your fingers pushing in between the points so you don't squish flat all of the interesting points. Finally, use needle nose pliers to pull the needle through. The stem area  has the most wood so do your best to avoid it by piercing from side to side, perpendicular to the stem.

Candle Magic

This isn't a lesson on how to make candles or a list of candle spells. Rather, this entry is going to be all of the tips and tricks I've learned by working with candles. It discusses how to make working with candles a little less than a pain in the tookus. Anyone who has messed with wax at all knows how difficult it can be as a medium.

Quick Candles
Let's say you live in a dorm, which has restrictions about burning candles. Maybe you have a busy lifestyle and just don't have time to monitor an open flame. If you need to "Work" with a candle but need it to burn up somewhat quickly so that you don't get caught or can get on with your day, you DO have options. Let's face it, tea lights take forever to burn out.

One option is to use mini-tapers (right). These are sold in magick supply stores and online for about half of a buck each. Mini-taper holders are also available. I have tested them and found that every 7/8 inch of candle burns for about one hour, which means this thing will take about 4.5 hours to burn away. For me, that's still a long time. If you go to the Jewish section of your local food market, you may find Shabbat candles. These are about the same size as mini-tapers, but come in boxes of 72 for only about $8.00! The box says they will burn for about 3 hours. Usually, the box contains only white candles, which is the universal color for all purposes, but you can sometimes find interesting swirled designs. These are kosher, meaning they have already seen a spiritual ceremony, so make sure to cleans them before use.

The rule is that one should never do Work on a broken candle. I would agree with this, but wonder if the candle can be cut down before any working. This must be done before you even have need of a candle, because the moment you say, "I need to make this red candle shorter for my love spell," you have just put energy into both halves of the candle for love. So one day, when you are not doing any Work at all, that is the time to make up some short spell candles. Lay a candle on a cutting board and roll the candle under the edge of a sharp knife or a razor blade. Use gentle pressure until the candle is well scored and then gradually more pressure until you slice through the wick. Since one side will not have any wick exposed, you can carve a little wax off of one end, much like sharpening a pencil or whittling wood. You can now store these for later consecration with whatever purpose they may need.

If you feel off about cutting up a taper before magick, another option is the birthday candle. They are perfect for candle Work on a budget and on a tight schedule.  The standard birthday candle comes in lots of colors and burns away in a few minutes. Joke stores even sell black birthday candles (see below), which are great for baneful Work in a pinch. Be warned that birthday candles do not have a "balanced" wick, which means they may drip more than most candles, especially if the air in your room is not completely still. Check the party-sections of discount stores and you may find two sizes.

While in Wal-Mart, I found so-called "giant" birthday candles (the red candle above). In one package, I got several each of red, yellow, green and blue candles! A test showed that these burn about 8 minutes per inch so the entire candle, which is just short of 5 inches, was consumed in about 35 minutes! No one manufactures holders that are small enough to hold them. One option is to push the candle into a mound of sand (moist sand holds better). I used a bit of Sculpey and baked up a decorative holder for giant birthday candles on one side and three standard birthday candles on the other. I made the pentagram by pressing in a metal ruler and the triquetra by pressing in the cap of a pill bottle. Make the holes by pressing your candle into the clay and then giving a slight twist before extracting.

Clearing a Candle Jar or Holder
Everyone has had candle wax jammed into the crevices of a holder or jar, preventing another candle from seating correctly. It is also important to remove all traces of wax from your past magickal working to prevent contamination of the next one. If your holder is glass or metal, try putting it into the freezer for a few hours. This will make the wax brittle. Remove the holder from the freezer and allow it to naturally warm for about 15 minutes. The remaining wax should more easily separate from the holder or jar. If the opening of the jar is too small, pierce the wax puddle with the tip of a knife to break it into smaller pieces.

If the cold technique doesn't work for you, try the hot one. Arrange your holder up-side-down or tilted over on a foil tray in an oven set to 200 degrees. Allow the holder or jar to get hot and the wax to melt completely. Using hand protection (I use a jar opening grip-disk), wipe out the wax using a paper towel. If your jar is very deep, you can use a stick. The best stick is a paint-stir, but I also use bamboo kitchen skewers.

As a rule, I will not attempt to clean and reuse a jar that was labelled for a specific purpose or Patron unless I intend to fill it for exactly the same purpose again. (In the picture you can see a jar in the oven printed for "Peaceful Home.") In that case, specific colors, oils or herbs might be used in the making. Often my new jar candle has even more power than when I bought it!

Wax on Cloth
When wax gets onto cloth or fiber, it presents the most irritating of all conditions. Fiber works just like the candle's wick, meaning that it draws the wax along, distributing it everywhere. If your wax is very hot when you spill it, wicking is sure to happen and the fibers will get saturated before hardening. Once wax is in a fiber, it is impossible to get all of it out. No matter what you try, you can lessen it, but never remove it completely. Nonpolar solvents will dissolve wax to different degrees, but I have not tested each so I don't know how well they work. Nonpolar solvents are alcohols, kerosene, gasoline, acetone, lighter fluid, naphthalene and the like. One such solvent on the market is "Goo-Gone." I have found this actually to be be a rather expensive though small bottle of lighter fluid. Be aware that solvents may hurt your fibers, especially if they are synthetic.

The best method I've found is to chill the wax to make it brittle with an ice-pack or "canned air," then scrape away as much as possible. Once most of it is gone, sandwich the spill between two layers of paper towels and press hard on the area with a dry iron set on a low setting. This will melt the residual wax and move much of it into the towels. An oily-looking spot will remain, which may be good enough for you. If you want to try to remove the oily mark, you can try solvents at this point. Using solvents on cloth is difficult to check because you have to wash out the solvent and let the cloth dry before you can see how much it worked. It is a very tedious process.

Wax on Carpets
Most carpet spills are from up high, which allows the droplets of falling wax to cool a little and develop a skin on their way to the floor, preventing the drops from doing a lot of wicking. If your wax spill wicks into the carpet, your only option will be to chill the wax with an ice-pack or compressed air until hard and then cut away the crust by carefully separating the carpet fibers by scraping with a razor blade.

The best bet is to avoid trying to wipe up the wax until you can chill it. If you find that most of the wax did not wick into the carpet, you are lucky and you can just cut off the very tops of the effected fibers by moving a sharp razor blade parallel with the floor.

Good luck, you're going to need it.