According to an article by Megan Garber at The Atlantic, they did it for the drugs.
Starting in the 1300s, Europeans developed a taste for hallucinogenic drugs. Unfortunately, ingesting them often caused nausea and vomiting. Absorbing them through the skin came with fewer side effects and delivering them through the mucous membranes of the female genitals was ideal.
A physician quoted at The Guardian says the claim is medically sound:
Ointment would have been very effective as a delivery method… Mucous membranes are particularly good at transporting drugs – that’s why cocaine is snorted… Vaginal application would be pretty efficient, and the effects of the drugs would be noticeable quite rapidly.
According to legend, then, witches would coat the handle of a broom — a convenient household item — lift their skirts and get high.
The women who trafficked in hallucinogenic substances were often accused of being witches. Or, conversely, women accused of being witches were also accused of making magic ointments (from the fat of murdered children, no less). And witch experts in the 15th century claimed that they used these ointments not just to get high, but to get high; that is, that they literally flew using ointments.
Hence, witches on brooms.
Comments 21
Bill R — October 27, 2014
That's gross.
Lara — October 27, 2014
14th and 15th century European depictions of witches frequently show poisonous fumes or vapors wafting out of the witches' bodies, most often from under their skirts or directly out of genitalia. Some images even depict the witches riding on these vapors in lieu of brooms. I've never read anything about the connection to drugs, but that would partly explain the presence of the vapors in witch lore.
Tom Megginson — October 27, 2014
"Ride" brooms. As George Takei would say, "Oh my!"
duboisist — October 28, 2014
Although the theory makes sense biologically it sounded like too much of a stretch that people would have been doing this in Middle Ages Europe, but after reading the Atlantic article and following their links the theory seems to hold up pretty well.
I would be interested in finding out if there was something unique about European plants that lead to them being administered in this way.
pbradford021 . — October 28, 2014
basketball
MSJ — October 28, 2014
"Since the Middle Ages, controlled doses of ergot were used to induce abortion and to stop maternal bleeding after childbirth." This is on the Wikipedia entry for ergot -- the citation is a 1946 German-language dissertation. While I don't see anything related to abortion or childbirth here, it seems feasible that there's a connection between midwifery -- whose jurisdiction was challenged in the Middle Ages with the professionalization of gynecologists -- and witchcraft. And perhaps brooms were not just used to facilitate a nice time, but for family planning.
One to Nothing — October 28, 2014
The broom seems like it would be kind of unwieldy.
vermontaigne — October 28, 2014
Ioan Culianu wrote about this decades ago.
deedee2die4 — October 28, 2014
Oint me up!
Yvonne — October 29, 2014
There's something else going on, too. If you look up old depictions of witches (especially from the early modern period) you see that witches are often flying on all kinds of devices (like pitchforks and tables) and of course on animals too (like goats). Using a broomstick to rub flying ointment in one's vagina has always seemed quite farfetched to me. Not saying it definitely never happened, but I'm sure there's much more to it.
Umlud — October 30, 2014
So then what's the story behind Baba Yaga?
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Desmond Angerman — November 19, 2020
Nice shit