Black Pullet talisman eighteen: knowing intentions

The Black Pullet, and what its talismans are

The Black Pullet is a grimoire of a particular kind. It is not a book of spirit lists, like the Goetia, but a book of talismans and rings, each made for a particular purpose, each with its own story in the text. The talismans of the Black Pullet are numbered, and each number is a different working, for a different aim. That numbering matters, because it means you do not choose a Black Pullet talisman in general. You choose a particular one, for a particular purpose, and the number is how you know which one you mean.

Talisman eighteen is the talisman to know intentions. The title states its purpose plainly, and the related silk talisman in this shop states it more fully: to know of bad intentions of others. That fuller wording is worth holding onto, because it sharpens the purpose. This is not a talisman for knowing things in general. It is a talisman for knowing what others intend, and in particular for knowing when those intentions are bad, before they act on them. That is a specific, practical purpose, and it belongs to a specific kind of situation: one where you deal with people whose intentions matter, and where not knowing them leaves you exposed.

Think about the situations where knowing intentions actually helps. A negotiation, where the other side's real position is hidden. A household or workplace, where someone's friendliness may or may not be sincere. A new acquaintance, whose interest in you may have a second motive. In each case, the advantage is not in knowing everything about the person. It is in knowing, in time, whether their intentions towards you are good or bad, so you can act accordingly, while there is still time to act.

Knowing, and what to do with what you know

A talisman for knowing intentions raises a question that is easy to overlook: what will you do with what you learn? Knowing someone's intentions is only useful if you are prepared to act on the knowledge, and acting on it is often harder than gaining it. If you learn that someone's intentions are bad, will you step back, end the dealing, set a boundary, or change your plans? If you learn that they are good, will you trust further, and act on that trust? Decide, before you take up the talisman, what kinds of action you are actually willing to take on what you learn, because a talisman that tells you something you then ignore is not helping you. It is only worrying you.

Be specific about the people and situations you have in mind, too. A general wish to know everyone's intentions, all the time, is not a working. It is a state of suspicion, and suspicion worn constantly will colour every interaction you have, whether the talisman is working or not. A clearer working is one aimed at a particular situation: a particular dealing, a particular person, a particular decision where intentions matter. State that situation in one sentence, and let the talisman serve that sentence, rather than serving a general unease.

It is also worth noting what this talisman is not. It is not a talisman for reading thoughts in general, though the Black Pullet has neighbouring talismans for related purposes, such as reading thoughts and divulging thoughts. Knowing intentions is narrower, and more practical, than reading a mind. An intention is a direction, a leaning towards an act. Knowing it tells you where a person is headed, which is often all you need to know, and often more useful than knowing the whole contents of their thinking.

How these talismans are made: by hand, in wax

These are each hand made with the proper materials. The designs are hand engraved right into the wax used to create the rings and talismans. No engraving machine is used for this, since that would take away much of the magic.

That last sentence is a maker's statement about what makes a talisman, and it deserves respect. A hand-engraved design carries the maker's hand, her attention, and her time, in every line. A machine-engraved design carries none of those things, however precise its lines may be. In talisman work, where the design is the working, the hand that makes the design is part of the design's virtue. A talisman made by hand, slowly, with attention, is a different object from one stamped out by machine, and practitioners who have handled both can feel the difference.

It will be the item listed in the title, one talisman, and any other items shown are for information purposes only. That is the right expectation for a handmade piece. Do not expect an exact copy of a photograph. Expect a talisman made for you, by hand, to the same design and purpose, with the small differences that handwork always brings. Those differences are not faults. They are the mark of the hand that made it.

Working with a talisman for knowing intentions

When the talisman arrives, take it up properly before you begin to rely on it. Set aside a quiet time, hold it, and state its purpose in your own words, in one clear sentence: to know the intentions of others towards you, and in particular to know bad intentions in time to act. That statement is the working half of the talisman. Without it, you have a well-made object. With it, you have a talisman with a job.

Carry or wear the talisman where the situations it concerns actually happen: to the meeting, the negotiation, the gathering, the introduction. A talisman kept in a drawer while you walk into the very situation it was made for is not doing its work. Keep it with you, and keep a record of what you notice while carrying it: the date, the situation, the person, what you sensed about their intentions, and what happened afterwards, in plain language. That record, kept over weeks, is what lets you tell whether the talisman is sharpening your judgement, or whether you are simply noticing what you would have noticed anyway.

Pay attention to how the knowledge comes. It may not come as a dramatic revelation. It may come as a sharpening of an impression you already had, a doubt that firms up, a friendliness that suddenly reads as false, or a reassurance that settles a worry you had carried for days. Those quiet shifts are often the real action of a talisman like this, and they are easy to miss if you are waiting for a voice or a vision. Note them, and note what you did about them, because the doing is what turns knowledge into protection.

Discernment, and its limits

Discernment is a skill, and a talisman can support it, but it cannot replace the ordinary work of judging people. Listen to what people actually say and do, over time, as well as to what you sense about their intentions. A person whose actions consistently match their words is showing you their intentions in the ordinary world, and that evidence should weigh alongside anything subtler. A person whose words and actions do not match is also showing you something, and that mismatch is itself information, whether you wear a talisman or not.

It is also worth keeping your own intentions clear in the situations where you use this talisman. If you approach a dealing with hidden intentions of your own, you are adding to the very confusion the talisman is meant to clear. State your own position honestly, to yourself at least, and deal plainly where you can. Clear dealing invites clear reading, and a talisman for knowing intentions works best in a practice that values clarity on both sides.

No promise is made here about what this talisman will do for you in terms of magical result. That wording is about the work itself, not about delivery dates for a physical item. What is offered is the eighteenth Black Pullet talisman, to know intentions, hand made with the proper materials, hand engraved into the wax, unique to its making, as a single talisman for knowing the intentions of others, and in particular for knowing bad intentions in time to act.

The Black Pullet's numbered way of working

The Black Pullet's numbering is not a catalogue convenience. It is a way of thinking about magic, and it is worth understanding if you are taking up one of its talismans. Each number is a complete working, with its own purpose, its own design, and its own story in the book, and the numbers do not form a ladder, where eighteen is better than seventeen or worse than nineteen. They form a set, where each number answers a different need, and the practitioner's job is to find the number that answers theirs.

That set structure has a practical consequence: do not collect Black Pullet talismans as a set, for completeness, unless you genuinely need each one. A talisman for knowing intentions, a talisman for opening locks, and a talisman for finding treasure are three different workings, for three different situations, and owning all three without a situation for each is owning three answers without a question. Take up the talisman whose purpose matches a situation you actually face, work with it for that situation, and let the other numbers wait until their situations arrive. That restraint is part of working the Black Pullet well.

The book's stories also matter to how its talismans are understood. The Black Pullet presents its talismans through a narrative, with a master, a pupil, and a hen, and that narrative frame gives the talismans a character that a bare list of purposes would not. The talismans are not abstract powers. They are gifts within a story, passed from teacher to pupil, and that passing is part of their tradition. When you take up talisman eighteen, you are entering that story at one point, for one purpose, and the story's tone, which is practical, direct, and concerned with real situations rather than abstract philosophy, suits a talisman for knowing intentions very well. Intentions are a practical matter, and this is a practical book.

Keep the talisman's number with its record. Note it as talisman eighteen, to know intentions, with the date it was made, the date you received it, and the situation it was taken up for. That numbering, kept in your record, will matter later, when you have worked with more than one Black Pullet piece, or when you are deciding whether a neighbouring number, for reading thoughts or divulging thoughts, fits a new situation better than eighteen does. A numbered record keeps a numbered tradition clear, and clarity is the whole purpose of a talisman for knowing intentions.

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