Broomstick...flying?
I'm sure you've heard, and even seen on the television or the movies about witches having the ability to levitate, and fly on a broomstick. Well, this is not actualy true, that is just a steriotype of a witch, made from something that a person had observed many years ago...
...Marybeth was born in the woods, were her pagan mother had lived. Many times Marybeth had seen her mother in ritual, hopping around the garden with the broom between her legs,
There was one time that Marybeth remembers, when her mother was doing this, that stands out. There was a man in the woods. He was hunting animals with his bow and arrows. For some reason, Marybeth didn't like the man, but mother didn't seem to be bothered by him, so he must be ok. That night, Marybeth's mother did a ritual under the full moon. Marybeth felt the man in the woods near the house, looked out the window, and saw him watching his mother in ritual, hopping around a large fire on her broomstick...
The ending of this story is a sad one, since these were the times of the Salem Witch Trials, but the man that Marybeth didn't like, came back into town saying that her mother rode on a broomstick. This eventually got twisted around, as many things do, saying that she FLEW on her broomstick, and so was the birth of the steriotypical flight of a witch.
The Broomstick is a symbol of fertility, as such
it is used in a Wiccan mariage ceremony. The woman will walk up with the broom, and both will hop over, and even with it to promote fertility.