Okay, over on a religious discussion forum (completely different site, not associated with MySpace), people were discussing Halloween and witches (particularly little kids dressing up as witches for Halloween). Well, one of the people who was opposed to celebrating Halloween (they were Christian), brought up some of the symbolism behin the witch's broom. Specifically, he brought up the fact that there's some evidence that in some cases, the broom has been seen as a phallic symbol. A couple of us pointed out that a much more common use of the broom is to sweep the floor -- particularly as a way to cean ritual space before the actual ritual begins (this cleansing is both in a physical and spiritual sense -- those most of the phyical dirt is generally gotten by the vacuum cleanver first, I grant you). And we thought it was silly to object to kids dressing up on witches with brooms based on one of many different symbolic associations. The other person disagreed, and I can respect that. It's his personal conviction, and he has a right to it. (I'll only object when he tries to push that personal conviction as gospel truth on everyone else.)
But that's not what raised my ire. What really raised my ire were the other Pagans. "That's not true! That has never been a part of Wicca or any other form of Paganism!" Well, that's not true. The association of the broom with a phallic symbol is documented in historical witchcraft. It's been commented on in more than one place. And even Gerald Gardner -- the man who is generally credited as the "founder" of Wicca -- even talks about this association. (He also mentions the old folk practice of jumping through the fields on a broom, leaping high to "show the crops how to grow." This is another practice that was mentioned in the discussion that a bunch of Pagans swore had nothing to do with Wicca or Paganism.) Now personally, I think that the fact that Gardner mentions these things makes a pretty good indication that some part of Wicca sees the broom as a phallic symbol at some points. I could be wrong about that, but I'd certainly be hesitant to say "no, it has nothing to do with that in Wicca." But no, these people had to insist otherwise.
But truth is, even if we say that Wicca today, doesn't have a phallic association with the broom, there are just as many other legitimate symbolic connections that are going to bother the utterly prudish. I mean, come off it people, there's a reason Wicca is referred to in some circles as a fertility religion. It's loosely based in the old fertility cults. And that comes through in a lot of symbols. The Goddess is the Great Mother. How do you think she became a Mother in the first place? And when Gardner talks about the "gates of Life and Death," he makes it pretty clear that the "Gates of Life" are those found between the legs of a woman. In fact, he comes right out and says it in at least one of his books.
But no, for some reason, some people want to whitewash it all. Get rid of all of that sexual and phallic symbolism. Great Rite? Oh heavens! We have to downplay the sexual symbolism of that too. Make sure it's all quite G-Rated and Puritan approved.
Quite frankly, if this is what it takes to make Wicca appear decent and mainstream to the masses out there -- keep whitewashing it until it's not even Wicca anymore -- I'm more firmly convinced that I would rather live with it not appearing decent and mainstream to the masses. Quite frankly, I'd rather take my cues from Doreen Valiente. I think she put it best:
Witchcraft does not need to apologize for involving sex magic. It is other religions which need to apologize for the miseries of puritanical repression they have inflicted on humanity.
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