Witches & their brooms...

Many different theories surround why witches are associated with brooms. The most likely explanation is that brooms are a symbol of female domesticity, a tool of every woman, and most witches are women. In earlier times it was customary for a woman to leave her broom outside her door if she was going to be away from the home. In Medieval times, the belief that witches rode brooms was prevalent, even though such an act was only ever once mentioned in European witch trials. Accused witches on trial said they could fly with the aid of Flying Ointments (hallucinogenic plants mixed with a fat base and absorbed into the skin via pulse points). Jean Bodin, a 16th century demonologist, was close to the truth when he maintained that only a witch's spirit could fly, not her physical body. ^_^

http://www.thewitchesgarden.com/tours.php?D=5