Besoms and flying ointments in early modern witchcraft . Note on the left an older witch reading from a
grimoire while anointing the bottom of a young, naked witch, who is about to fly to the
sabbath upon an inverted besom with a lit candle attached to its twigs. Note also stoppered
vial,
crock with lid and small pot with protruding spoon near back foot of young witch. into wolf (
werewolf) or dog form. A number of different recipes for "flying ointments" have survived from the
early modern period, some of the constituents of which not only have hallucinogenic properties but are fat-soluble and could have been absorbed transdermally. Certain researchers have speculated that the stereotypical image of the witch "flying" astride the broomstick of a besom may derive from traditions concerning the use of broomsticks or other
staves by women to apply psychotropic ointments to their
vaginal or
anal mucosa. The active ingredients in
flying ointments were primarily plants in the nightshade family
Solanaceae, most commonly
Atropa belladonna (deadly nightshade) and
Hyoscyamus niger (henbane), belonging to the
tropane alkaloid-rich tribe
Hyoscyameae. Other tropane-containing, nightshade ingredients included the famous mandrake (
Mandragora officinarum),
Scopolia carniolica and
Datura stramonium, the thornapple. The alkaloids
atropine,
hyoscyamine and
scopolamine present in these solanaceous plants are not only potent (and highly toxic) hallucinogens of the
deliriant class, but are also fat-soluble and capable of being absorbed through unbroken human skin. and similarly to the broom it was sometimes associated with the occult. However, it also sometimes served as a protective
amulet, as well as a tool for
fortune-telling. ==See also==