Tiny dust-cumulus rise on each side
of the rhythmic broom.
The worse the news
the more I sweep.”
excerpted from “Sweeping Equation” by Dory L. Hudspeth

I’m not what you would call the world’s cleanest person but there are few moments of contentment I cherish more than sequestering myself away in a small cabin in the woods or at the beach and having a broom in my hand. So that I can sweep the hardwood floor as the most pressing chore of the day. And so that I might sweep the bad news and heaviness of the world away.

There’s just something about the act of sweeping. And the art of collecting brooms, which I didn’t realize I had started to low-key do until I came home from this past weekend’s broom making workshop and decided to line up my new turkey whisk broom alongside all my other brooms (minus our regular ole corn broom – not pictured).

I’m a huge fan of brooms in ceremony, be that for fertility rites, sweeping out the old for a house blessing ceremony, or jumping the broom during a wedding as the final gesture at the altar before being welcomed back into one’s community. I use my small ritual broom and dustpan to sweep up torn slips or after small burnings for healing ceremonies, seasonal sustenance rituals, and during the holidays and holy days. And I love to place or hang brooms at doorways to serve as threshold guardians.

Most every culture across every continent can claim history and lineage that tethers them to the ancient practices of twig gathering, broom making, and house tending and so I smiled when reading contemporary lore that posits broom making as an early 19th Century New England invention. (Flat broom making took an industrialized turn at that point, but the handcrafting of brooms is not a Made in America story.)

As part of my recent broom making class, I set an intention to simply do my best as a newbie despite my perennial classroom anxiety about being that one student who holds everyone else up. I declared my desire to sweep away past regrets and future worries which have been collecting dust bunnies in my scattered brain lately, and to focus my mind on the present moment. And I spoke aloud my hopes to engage in more handmaking ventures such as this one in the months to come.

Sigh. I have a feeling that I’ll be foraging broomsticks this summer as I set my sights on a few more broom styles to craft in the months to come.

If you’re at all curious about broom making, check out these resources below. And if you’ve ever wondered about the history of witches and broomsticks, here’s an intriguing interpretation that will have you thinking about broomsticks in a whole different way!

Resources:
Swept Away: The Vanishing Art of Broom Making by Karen Hobbs
(A book by an artisan weaver who recently died of cancer but whose works included basketry and various handmaking crafts)

A Sampling of Broom Makers & Their Classes:
The House of Twigs/Queen Meb
Jill Choate Basketry
Turkey Wing Whisk Broom Demo
A Harvest Broom Demo
Hearth Craft Brooms
Bristle & Stick
Makers listed on Caddy Supply (where most every broom maker sources their supplies)

The Sweeper } by Agnes Lee
Frail, wistful guardian of the broom,
The dwelling’s drudge and stay,
Whom destiny gave a single task—
To keep the dust away!
Sweep off the floor and polish the chair.
It will not always last.
Some day, for all your arms can do,
The dust will hold you fast.”