Garden's End

My plans for the weekend had been to do some cleaning, make a dump run on Saturday, go to the last farmer's market, and then spend Sunday writing. The Saturday schedule went about as expected, and I had a lovely time walking around the market, eventually coming home with these goodies:

Purple cauliflower, the last of the corn, fresh local apples, a pot of basil, organic bacon & sausage from local farmers

I came to find a large, fun box on my doorstep. Gods only know what my mail carrier thought when she delivered it. The lovely Robert Skinner, who made a special broom for me earlier in the year The Broom sent me a box full of broom-making supplies, so Blue Moon Circle could make one of our own together. He's even going to make me a "how to" video. We'll probably bless and consecrate the supplies at Samhain, even if we don't have a chance to make the broom itself until later.

Acme Broom Company--Contains 1 Flying Broom Kit

 My plans for Sunday changed when I woke up to this:

Kale with frost. Luckily, kale is hearty, and once the day warmed, it was just fine.

That's the kale, which is one of the few things left in the garden, covered with frost. It was the second serious frost of the season (and the second morning when the temps hit below 29 degrees), but it got really nice in the afternoon, so that made it Time to Put the Garden to Sleep for the Winter. I called my stalwart pal Ellen, and we spend a sunny afternoon clearing the remaining beds of debris, planting next year's garlic, and harvesting the herbs. (Plus the less appealing chores like rolling up and putting away hoses and such.) The lovely weather and good company made the work go quickly, and there is always something satisfying about having the garden all neat and tidy. The end of the season is bittersweet, but this too is part of the Wheel of the Year.

You can't see it now, but this is where the garlic will come up next year. And there's the kale, looking fine.

The fish pond, with the filter & fountain removed. A heater will keep it from freezing over later.

Lemon balm, chocolate mint, thyme, and rosemary for drying.

Miraculously, I even managed to get 2,100 words written later in the day, but boy, was I tired.

Still, it was a very satisfying weekend, for the most part. What did you do with yours? Did you put anything away for winter? Harvest anything good?

The Witch's Broom: Magical or Mundane?

As some of you may know, I wrote a book called The Witch's Broom. Recently, as a result of that, I got a message from a lovely man named Robert Skinner, who has a business called Blue Moon Brooms. (Yes, my group is called Blue Moon Circle, so how fun is this?) He said he loved my book (yay) and very kindly offered to make me my own broom for the price of one penny plus shipping (double yay). These are some gorgeous brooms, people.

And then he asked me a very interesting question: did I want a magical broom, or a mundane one?

I actually had an easy answer, because I got two magical brooms in the last year (I bought myself one from a fabulous broom maker on Etsy, and got one as a gift from a former member of Blue Moon Circle) and my favorite handmade mundane broom had in fact kicked the bucket after twelve years of use, and I hadn’t been able to find an affordable one to replace it locally. I hated the crappy mass-made one I’d had to buy from the grocery store. It didn’t sweep well, and the handle didn’t feel right in my hands. So I told Robert that I would love to have him make me a mundane broom.

Generally speaking, for witches at least, brooms are either one or the other. A mundane broom is used for regular day-to-day housecleaning. A magical broom, on the other hand, is saved for ritual use only, and never used to actually sweep a floor. (Any sweeping done with it is usually energetic, not of physical dust or dirt.) I definitely believe that it is a good thing to have a broom that is reserved as a magical tool, if you are going to use one in rituals.

On the other hand, it suddenly occurred to me that there was no reason not to incorporate magical elements into an everyday mundane broom, especially if you were having one made for you by someone who specialized in making the magical sort too. After all, much of the power of our ritual/magical tools comes from our intent when using them, as well as the focus of our energy. So why not take advantage of that and add a little extra magical spark to the broom I was going to use every day?

Robert and I talked about this, and he carefully chose a handle that felt just right (he thinks it is maple, which is a great magical wood) and added a few special touches while he was creating it, including some beautiful feathers hanging from the top, some runes carved into the handle, and binding in the colors I asked for. When it arrived, I blessed and consecrated it to cleanse the energy of my home as it sweeps up dirt (and mounds of cat fur large enough to make another cat out of) and my new broom is now the perfect hybrid of mundane and magical.

I will still keep my purely magical brooms for ritual use only, like clearing the energy of the ritual space before casting the circle, or cleansing energy as part of the ritual itself. But my new broom will add a little magical boost to my everyday housecleaning, adding a little class and beauty to a task that otherwise can be a bit of a drag.

And what could be more magical than that? 

A Reader's Broom

No, this is not a special broom covered with books. (Although, HEY!)

One of my readers sent me a note last week, telling me that she was enjoying her copy of The Witch's Broom but...

I've been reading your wonderful book about broom lore, but I suddenly came across something that is disturbing to me. "Never carry a broom across running water." Why??? The reason I ask is because I live on a sailboat for 6 months each year and traverse the coast of Maine and the Canadian Maritimes. The water runs fast in the ocean. I was going to make myself a small besom for the boat, but then I read this broom lore in your book and now I don't know if I should?

 I wrote Sharon back and told her not to worry--all those bits of old lore are just that, old lore--many of which contradict themselves. I certainly didn't see any reason why she couldn't have a special besom for her boat. I also added that I'd love to see pictures of the broom when it was finished, and she kindly sent me pictures of the entire process, along with permission to share. Thanks, Sharon!

Here's what Sharon said about making the broom:

 I will be making my new boat besom from aged Sable Palm leaves (I live in Florida when I'm not sailing) on a piece of bittersweet vine (collected on my sister in law's 200 year old Mass farm).  I love the twist of the vine and it's a very dense, hard wood.

I just LOVE the fact that my book inspired Sharon to make her own broom (since that was one of my goals, to inspire people) and that she made it out of materials and based on a theme that suited her own particular needs. Thanks for sharing, Sharon!

Has anyone else been inspired to make a broom? If you haven't made one yet, are you planning to? If so, I'd love to see it what it is done!

In fact...maybe I should have a contest. People could send me pictures of brooms they make, and the one I like best could win something cool...what do you think?

A New Broom Sweeps Clean

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.

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*