a broom made of a bundle of twigs tied to a stouter pole
A besom is an archaic-style broom that is used in Wicca.
Unlike modern brooms, besoms are made in the archaic fashion,
being made of a bunch of twigs that are tied to a natural wood pole (from a cut-down small tree) or a sufficiently straight branch.
In Wicca, a besom is used to form a sacred space by sweeping alleged "negative energies" out of the space by sweeping from east to west, in the same direction that the sun moves across the sky. Less-fluffy wiccans may use a besom exclusively in the mundane manner, using it as a broom to sweep away debris.