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How did witches come to ride brooms?

Posted: 2003-11-01 01:12am
by BlkbrryTheGreat
I found this enormously entertaining, regardless of whether its true or not.

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/WITCHES/witches.html
How Did Witches Come To Ride Brooms?
A Gallery of Historical Illustrations.

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The popular icon of a witch is an ugly old woman riding across the sky on her magic broomstick and wearing a pointed hat. But as with all mythologies there is an element of truth behind the image. Witches did ride brooms, after a fashion, the brooms were magic, in a way, and the pointed hat was the mildest of the punishments inflicted on them for their activities!

During the time leading up to the witchcraft trials in Europe, the staple bread was made with rye. In a small town where the bread was fresh baked this was just fine, but as Europe began to urbanize and the bread took more time to get from bakery to grocer, the rye bread began to host a mold called "ergot.

Ergot, in high doses, can be lethal, a fact that led to the rise in popularity of wheat bread, which is resistant to ergot mold.

In smaller doses, ergot is a powerful hallucinogenic drug. And because the enjoyment of such things is not confined to this age alone, it became quite popular among those who were inclined towards herbalism and folk cures. It's mentioned in Shakespeare's plays, and turns up in virtually every contemporary writing of the witchcraft age. In particular, it is the inevitable central ingredient in the ointment that witches rubbed their broomsticks with.

You see, when eaten, there was the risk of death, but when absorbed through the thin tissues of the female genitals, the hallucinogenic effects were more pronounced with less ill-effects. The modern image of a witch riding a broomstick was inspired by the sight of a woman rubbing herself on the drug coated smooth stick of her broom, writhing in the throes of hallucinations, and no doubt, some intense orgasms as well. To her unsophisticated neighbors, such a sight would have been terrifying. The lack of an equivalent mechanism for men is one reason why "witchcraft" was seen as a predominantly female phenomenon. The addition of clothing to the witch is a modern embellishment to protect 'Family Values'."

In any event, what follows is a brief expansion on witches, brooms, and ergot, illustrated by woodcuts from the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries.

Posted: 2003-11-01 01:14am
by Howedar
And once again strange human behavior eventually boils down to sex.

Posted: 2003-11-01 01:18am
by BlkbrryTheGreat
Howedar wrote:And once again strange human behavior eventually boils down to sex.
Sex and Drugs actually....

Posted: 2003-11-01 01:23am
by HemlockGrey
Play some rockin' Mozart, and the unholy trinity is complete.

Posted: 2003-11-01 01:24am
by BlkbrryTheGreat
If this idea of witch really has its ruits in the medeval era then you would be about 500 years off my friend.

Posted: 2003-11-01 01:25am
by BlkbrryTheGreat
Err I meant Roots.... anyway, I think thats definative evidence that its time for me to get some sleep. Happy Halloween All!

Posted: 2003-11-01 01:46am
by Patrick Degan
Because pitchforks and scythes were too uncomfortable?

Posted: 2003-11-01 01:49am
by Darth Wong
And that, my friends, is why there are no more witches. In the 20th century, the creative engine of human technology has bequeathed the mighty VIBRATOR to the females of the species, thus ending forever the phenomenon of witchcraft through the time-honoured technological mechanism of obsolescence.

Posted: 2003-11-01 03:19am
by Peregrin Toker
Darth Wong wrote:And that, my friends, is why there are no more witches. In the 20th century, the creative engine of human technology has bequeathed the mighty VIBRATOR to the females of the species, thus ending forever the phenomenon of witchcraft through the time-honoured technological mechanism of obsolescence.
This doesn't keep any New Agers from thinking otherwise.

Posted: 2003-11-01 05:46am
by Darth Fanboy
You know A witch is actually dervied from ancient fertility cults from way way way long ago.

Black used to be the symbol of fertility, hence the black clothing

Green the symbol of Green Crops and growing plants, hence the green skin

And a witch is female because females are the gender that bears children, giving life.

Those old Fertility cults didnt have a God per say as much as the worshipped lie itself, but the Witches were retooled as a symbol of satannic evils and such by people from other, more "respected" cults/(aka religions). Hence why witchcraft as a satannic evil coined by Puritans with broom waving wart infested hags is complete bullshite.

Posted: 2003-11-01 06:08am
by Patrick Degan
Darth Wong wrote:And that, my friends, is why there are no more witches. In the 20th century, the creative engine of human technology has bequeathed the mighty VIBRATOR to the females of the species, thus ending forever the phenomenon of witchcraft through the time-honoured technological mechanism of obsolescence.
Oh, there are modern-day witches. They've simply traded up from mould-coated broomsticks to special battery-powered "magick wands". 8)

Posted: 2003-11-01 06:09am
by Spanky The Dolphin
Yeah, but modern "Wicca" is equally just a bunch of new age cobbled together post hoc crap, too.

Posted: 2003-11-01 10:11am
by Rye
IIRC, the broom is actually a male celtic or druid thing. It symbolises the phallus, and it's actually the bushy part that you have aiming forwards and upwards.

The stuff about ergot is true though.

I've never heard that particular explanation, although it's not difficult or unpleasant to imagine.

Posted: 2003-11-01 02:37pm
by Drooling Iguana
So, basically, instead of witches coming to ride brooms, they rode brooms to come?

Posted: 2003-11-01 04:26pm
by Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi
You see, when eaten, there was the risk of death, but when absorbed through the thin tissues of the female genitals, the hallucinogenic effects were more pronounced with less ill-effects. The modern image of a witch riding a broomstick was inspired by the sight of a woman rubbing herself on the drug coated smooth stick of her broom, writhing in the throes of hallucinations, and no doubt, some intense orgasms as well. To her unsophisticated neighbors, such a sight would have been terrifying. The lack of an equivalent mechanism for men is one reason why "witchcraft" was seen as a predominantly female phenomenon. The addition of clothing to the witch is a modern embellishment to protect 'Family Values'."
I knew it had something to do with self-gratification using the broom.

Posted: 2003-11-01 05:31pm
by SyntaxVorlon
This makes dressing young girls up as witches with brooms a bit sick then.
Isn't she cute, she's got her little persecution hat and flying dildo.

Posted: 2003-11-01 05:57pm
by Keevan_Colton
How did the witch come?
On a broomstick.

Posted: 2003-11-01 06:14pm
by DPDarkPrimus
I find that strangely arousing.