ladykrampus reblogged
“The jug being emptied, one of them cried out, ‘Is it time to be gone?’ and at the same moment, putting on a red cap, she added -
‘By yarrow and rue, And my red cap too, Hie over to England’
Making use of a twig which she held in her hand as a steed, she gracefully soared up the chimney, and was rapidly followed by the rest [the other two witches]”
This passage from The Witches Excursion by Patrick Kennedy in WB Yeats’ Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry depicts the magical use of yarrow in a flying spell [for more, see my post on yarrow in folklore and healing].
Householder Shemus Rua heads off on a ‘broomstick’ ride across the Irish Sea, following his housekeeper and her two witch companions after finding them making merry in his kitchen.
The picture is an old woodcut from a 1720 collection depicting both male and female witches flying on broomsticks. [Photo: Wellcome Library, London]