ab:besom.txt                                                           16jan90


                               Besom Chant



       "Besom, besom long and lithe
       Made from ash and willow withe
       Tied with thongs of willow bark
       In running stream at moonset dark.
       With a pentagram indighted
       As the ritual fire is lighted;
       Sweep ye circle, deosil,
       Sweep out evil, sweep out ill,
       Make the round of the ground
       Where we do the Lady's will.

       Besom, besom, Lady's broom
       Sweep out darkness, sweep out doom
       Rid ye Lady's hallowed ground
       Of demons, imps and Hell's red hound;
       Then set ye down on Her green earth
       By running stream or Mistress' hearth,
       'Till called once more on Sabbath night
       To cleans once more the dancing site."

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-I understand that this chant was written by Lady Tamara of the WCC.
(However, I have no evidence for this except hearsay, and the fact that
the WCC appears to use it, so I may be wrong.)
-I don't have a published source for it - but it's one of those things that
every Witch in town seems to have a copy of.
-There is absolutely NO reason to think of it as traditional Gardnerian or
Alexandrian. However, it's an example of the kind of thing that finds its
way into a lot of BOSs, regardless of tradition. There appears to be no
equivalent to this in the "standard" BOS, and some people feel a need for
it, so a lot of people have added this chant to their BOS.