...and thorns again

I have a funny little coda to add to my "Salt and Thorns" post.  I mentioned that I used a tiny twig with thorns that I'd found lying on the ground up the street from me.  It's not very visible in the photo unless you know where to look--if you click to enlarge the photo it's on the left, in front of the piece of hematite, already partially embedded in the melted wax.

I remember it being almost completely embedded in the melted, hardened wax by the time the candle had completely burned out, and then I disposed of the wax.  I kept the mirror and hematite and cleansed them to be used again, but the thorns were stuck in the wax--and they seem more like a "onetime use" spell ingredient to me anyway, like herbs.

The other night, as I was getting ready for bed, I looked down and saw something on the floor in front of the cabinet that is my altar.  When I picked it up, I was amazed to see that it was the tiny "thorn twig" I had used in my spell.  (It was barely visible, being brown on a brown wooden floor, and I'm really glad I didn't step on it since my feet were bare.)  I kind of just stared at it for a moment, and then I stuck it back in my cabinet, right back in the spot on the top shelf where it had been before.  Obviously, it wasn't done being useful to me!  And since I had just been praying for health and protection for me and my family and loved ones, I took it as an auspicious sign.  I think I'll be keeping it as a talisman now rather than using it as a "consumable" like I do with most plant materials.