What the shell is for
September 2026
"The nine hazels of Crimall the wise
Drop their fruits where the wellspring lies
Through the power of magic they stay,
Under a dark druidic spray."
- from Sinann II in the Metrical Dindshenchas
Mid September has the hazels still at work on their nuts, since the crop doesn't come ripe until well into the autumn here in Ireland at least, and anyone who has ever cracked one open early knows the centre is pale and soft and not worth the eating.
You'll have something of your own in that same state, a practice or a piece of study that has formed a bit, you can see the shape of the shell in anyway, but it's nowhere near finished.
The hazel sits at the centre of how knowledge is pictured in Irish myth, with nine hazels standing over a well and dropping their nuts into the water, where five salmon eat them and take a red spot for every nut.
We have a few different versions of it even - Connla's Well under the wave and the Well of Segais at the source of the Boyne or the Shannon, with streams of wisdom running out of it and bubbles of inspiration rising off the nuts to be drunk by people of many arts. It shows up in the Otherworld in the tale of Cormac's Sword too.
None of the inspiration starts to filter through though, until the hazel nuts ripen and drop of their own accord.
The working here is for the one thing you're learning that isn't ready to be shown yet, and for leaving it shut until it's ripe.
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