Extra patience lessons here.

From the Book of Purple

Hecate Apotropaios! Averter of evil, send harm fleeing from me and mine by the power of your light!

My warding aloe plant is one who puts forth babies so profusely that I have to thin her out every so often and do something with the babies or they will crush each other in the pot. Most of them get put into smaller pots and given away, some of them become amulets. Aloe has been used to avert evil and household accidents for generations in the families that observe their folklore culture. It was dried and hung above doors. It was wrapped in cloths with visages of holy people upon them and hung from doorways, it was grown and left to run riot so that evil would be turned away from the property and it's dwellers.

This was a thinning year. If left to grow as it was, there would be squishy, gooey aloe babies in no time. Instead, now there are gifts and amulets! the whole process took much longer than I anticipated. I had pulled out the babies, listened to which of them would become one of seven amulets, set up altar, gather supplies. Basically I had everything ready to go on day one. Something was missing. Something important. It turned out that special something was time. Time to devote and honor the spirits of the plants I had harvested. I had plucked up some fresh sow weed to accompany the aloe. I sprinkled them one last time with viridarium dust ( magical vitamins) and water. I left a fresh bowl of water, a goblet of spirits I brewed, and Hecate a fresh organic brown egg from a local who has chickens. You offer up your best right?

And the altar sat.

The alchemy still wasn't where I wanted it. I was becoming frustrated. It's like I had the engine running but the gears weren't engaged. I continued for three days to devote the altar. I fed it with my finest lavender wands, said prayers over it and added energy. Each time it felt closer, but not quite. Each session of devotion ended with a no, not yet. Until yesterday. It was like the engine opened full throttle and blasted out of the drive way like a drag race was happening. All those not yets had added up and finally the individual components of the amulet were finally steeped in enough magic to do what it was being asked of them. Hecate the Aptropaios came forth like a guardian angel, so bright,  her visage was concealed. Her energy was, however, unmistakable. A watch tower on a very dark shore suddenly came to life. Darkness fleed before Her, denying a hiding spot for the evil that likes to lurk in. Now the amulets could be made!

I should be used to long magical processes. I use them all the time to create my own oils. It takes at least a moon to get some of them done to my snooty standards of good. This surprised me. I don't know why. I guess this was an extra lesson in patience and how it relates to power.