BROOM SUPERSTITIONS Lore and OMENS

A broom dropping in front of the door means company before the day
is over.

Always pick up, for luck, a broom that is lying on the floor or
ground.

Always sweep dirt out the back door or you will sweep away your best
friend.

Bad luck will befall  you all  year, if you sweep on New Year's Day.

Burn up the rubbish when  you sweep on New Year's Day and  you will
have money throughout the new year.

Carry a broom under your arm for luck.

Carrying a broom over your shoulder will give you bad luck.

Do not sweep immediately after the departure of a guest or you will
sweep him bad luck.

Dropping a broom while sweeping is the sign of a new carpet.

Hitting someone with a broom means that he will go to jail before a
week has passed.

If a broom falls as you are passing it, you will have bad luck.

If a broom falls in fr! ont of you and you step over it before picking
it up, you will have a "bed of sickness."

If dirt is swept out a door before sunrise, you may expect bad luck.

If dirt is swept out of the house on Friday, the house will burn.

If someone comes in to see you and you pick up a broom and go to
sweeping in front of them, that is the sign they are not wanted and
you want them to go home.

If you go to someone's house and have to step over a broom, it shows
that the mistress of that household is an untidy housekeeper.

If you hand a broom through a window to someone, you may expect bad
luck.

If you hit a person with a broom just before he starts "uptown," he
will have trouble before returning.

If you let a broom fall and do not step back over it immediately,
someone dirtier than you will come.

If you must borrow a broom, take it without the owner's knowledge,
and  you will not have bad luck.
If you must sweep on New Year's Day, you can avert bad luck by not
taking up the dirt and leaving it in a pile on the floor.

If you must sweep your kitchen after sunset, you can avert bad luck
by burning the dirt.

If you step over a broom you will be arrested.

If you sweep after dark, you will bring sorrow to your  heart.

If you sweep after dark, you will sweep out the money made that day.

If you sweep in front of someone, you are sweeping them off the
earth.

If you sweep under someone while he is sitting on a chair, you are
giving him bad luck.

It causes bad luck to sweep a porch after dark.

It is a sign of good luck to have a broom drop in front of you.

It is a sign of misfortune, to lay a broom on the bed.

It is unlucky to borrow a broom.

It is unlucky to sweep dirt out a door at any time. Pick up the dirt
and carry it outdoors for luck.

It is unlucky to sweep! on Monday.

It means bad luck when a broom falls across the derail

It signifies bad luck, if you sweep under a bed on which someone is
lying.

It signifies bad luck, to carry a broom through the house from the
front door to the back door.

Keep the corners of your broom square or even for luck.

Lean a broom against a bed and you will be unlucky.

Lending a broom will cause you bad luck.

Let the broom rest with the straws up and  you will be lucky.

Letting the sweeping edge of a broom wear off at the two corners
will bring you bad luck.

Never burn up a broom; it will bring you bad luck.

Never sweep dirt out the front door; it will bring you bad luck.

Never sweep the kitchen after supper, whether daylight or dark, or
you will sweep out all your money.

Never sweep your kitchen early in the morning before sunrise, or you
will be unlucky.

Stand a broom on its handle an! d you will always be poor.

Step over a broom and you will break  your mother's back.

Stepping over a broom is a sign of slovenliness.

Stepping over a broom will bring sorrow to your heart.

Stumbling over a brook handle will bring you good luck.

Sweep after dark and you will never be rich.

Sweep dirt out of the house on Friday and it will cause you bad luck.

Sweep on the third day after Easter and you will have bugs in the
house.

Sweep the top of a bed and you will have bad luck.

Sweep under a person's feet while he is sitting in a chair and he
will not grow any more.

Sweeping after dark means you will lose a friend.

Sweeping dirt over a doorstep after six o'clock in the evening will
bring bad luck.

Sweeping on New Year's Day means that you will sweep out the money
made during the coming year.

Sweeping under chair upon which someone is sitting will make you
unlu! cky.

The child who steps over a broom will get a whipping.

The one who is hit by a broom will soon be arrested.

The person under whose feet you sweep will always be poor.

The person who is hit on the top of the head with a broom will be
arrested.

To avert bad luck after you have walked over a fallen broom, step
backwards across the broom.

To brush your boot with the broom while your are sweeping will give
you bad luck for a week.

To have good luck, place the broom on its handle in a corner.

To set a broom in the corner with the brush up shows that you are an
untidy housekeeper.

To step over a broom will start a quarrel in the house.

To sweep after dark will bring trouble to the house.

To sweep dirt out the door is a sign of a slovenly housekeeper.

Touching anyone with a broom while you are sweeping causes bad luck.

Walking over a fallen broom will cause you bad luck.
When a broom falls across the door, it indicates that you will walk
on strange ground.

When a small child takes a broom and begins to sweep, company is
coming.

When someone is hit with a broom, he should spit on the broom and
take ten steps backwards so he will neither have bad luck or be
arrested.

When you sweep after dark, you sweep away your friends and let
enemies in.

You sweep away your best friend by sweeping after dark.

You will be unlucky, if you do not pick up a fallen broom at once.

Your luck will be swept away, if you sweep your kitchen after sunset.

Broom Lore and Superstitions
written by: Lisa L. Fetcher

*Certainly, the most common superstition connected with brooms is
that they were used by witches to fly on... However, did you know
that it was in the fourteenth century that brooms were first
regarded as a vehicle for witches' transportation? This tradition
may stem from the fact that, in many of their ceremonies, witches
did dance with a stick between their legs, jumping high in the air.
Toward the end of the eighteenth century, the question of witches
flying was settled once and for all in an English law court. Lord
Mansfield declared that he knew of no law that prohibited flying
and, therefore, anyone so inclined was perfectly free to do so.
Shortly thereafter, reports of witches flying on broomsticks ceased
(except for isolated reports of East Anglian witches skimming across
church spires).

*It is said that a new broom should sweep dirt out of a house only
after it has swept something in.

*An ole English Rhyme....."Buy a broom in May, and you will sweep
your friends away."

*Also never sweep after sunset since so doing will chase away
happiness or hurt a wandering soul.

*According to Yorkshire belief, should a young girl inadvertently
step over a broom handle she will become a mother before a wife.....
(I will add here....this belief is also Appalachia and rural country
folk)

*Among the Dyak people of Indonesia brooms made out of the leaves of
a certain plant (doesn't say which plant) are sprinkled with rice
water and blood. These are used to sweep one's house, and the
sweepings are placed into a toy house made of bamboo. The toy house
is then set adrift on a river. It is believed that bad luck will be
carried out to sea with it.

*In Africa, should a man be struck by a broom, he will grab hold of
it and hit the broomstick seven times, or he will become impotent.

*In Sicily, on Midsummer's Eve, people often put a broom outside
their homes to ward off any wickedness that might come knocking.

*In Wales, among the Gypsies, an old custom of the broomstick
wedding persisted for some time. The couple solemnized their rites
before witnesses by leaping over a broom placed in a doorway,
without dislodging the broom. Should they wish to dissolve the
marriage, they simply had to reverse the process, jumping backwards
out of the house, over the broom, before the same witnesses.

*American country folk say no good can come of carrying a broom
across water, leaning a broom against the bed, or burning one. Good
luck can be had by sending a new broom and a loaf of bread into a
new home before entering it.

*Likewise, brooms laid across the doorways are believed to keep out
bad...

*And a few more traditional ones....
Never use a broom when there is a dead person in the house.
Never use a broom to sweep outside the house, unless the inside of
the house has been cleaned first. (oops!)
Never walk on a broom.
Never sweep upstairs rooms in the afternoon.
Never sweep the room of a departing guest until he has been gone for
some time, or else your sweeping will bring him back
Never bring old brooms into new houses...(remember a broom becomes
attached to houses...always leave the old one behind....)
Finally.........always sweep dustballs into the middle of a
room.....they will protect against bad luck

*One old wart cure consists of measuring a wart crosswise with a
broom straw, then burying the straw The straw, so intimately
connected with the wart, will decay, and so too should the blemish.

*Placing a broom across any doorway allows your departed friends and
family to speak to you if they so choose. As long as the broom
remains in place, they can communicate freely.

*If you feel as though you are being followed and haunted by
unfriendly ghosts, stepping over a broomstick will prevent them from
disturbing you.

 

Samhain Divination by Oats
from The Pagan Book of Halloween
by Gerina Dunwich

To find out how many children you will have, pluck a stalk of oats on
Samhain. The number of grains attached to the stalk will correspond to
the number of children. However, if the top grain is missing, this is
said to be an indication for a woman that she will loses her virginity
before her wedding day.
The art of practice of divination by oats was one time a popular Samhain
tradition in the country of Scotland. Like many other amatory fortune -
telling methods associated with the Druid's New Year, it is centuries
old.