Have you had enough of vision boards and affirmations? It's understandable. Humans are deep and complex, and the way we manifest is deep and complex too. We don't just create from our conscious mind. We create from our subconscious mind, our bodies, our nervous systems, and the emotional impressions that stick with us from day-to-day.
The following techniques address the deeper and often overlooked aspects of manifestation, drawing from witchy philosophy, somatic psychology, alchemy, Hermeticism, and Vedic teachings. I don't claim to be perfect in the art of manifestation, but these techniques have repeatedly helped me in many situations where I felt stuck. I am still working with them and learning from them, as the path of manifestation is synonymous with healing, an unfolding and neverending process.
Heart Sessions
Sitting in soft candlelight while allowing tears to fall in the presence of our spirit guides may seem like a healing technique rather than a manifestation one. But undigested emotions take up energetic space, create energy blocks, and may attract unwanted situations into our lives. Over time, suppressed feelings solidify into what teachers of Jñāna Yoga (the yoga of the intellect) call impressions or samskaras. These live in our heart space and unconsciously drive our beliefs, thinking processes, and behaviors, while influencing our degree of magnetism.
Many of us are used to intellectualizing, interpreting, and analyzing emotions, rather than simply feeling them. Being disciplined enough to regularly create sacred space for surrendering to feelings without figuring them out is an important part of developing magnetism. This is largely a somatic practice.
There are many small ways that sadness, grief, anger, or other challenging emotions can surface during the day. In order to get through work, social interactions, or other aspects of daily life, we end up comparmentalizing. However, resisting an uncomfortable experience actually locks it into our energy field. Leaning into the painful sensations of unwanted emotions without resistance is what actually allows them to leave our field.
Just as meditation clears the mind of clutter, heart sessions are cleansing for the spirit and the uncomfortable experiences locked within. Speaking of a cluttered mind, that’s one way to know there’s a lot going on in the heart space. In many schools of psychology, as well as in Vedic philosophy, overthinking is considered the psyche’s way of defending itself against emotional disturbance.
I call the process of simply feeling “heart sessions” so I can create a sense of ritual and sanctity around it. I'll set aside an hour or so with no distractions, light a candle, and use journaling, meditation, or a somatic practice to drop into my heart. As emotions surface, I simply feel them fully without resistance. That's it. Just do it once a week or so, but especially when you feel a backlog of feelings.
It's nice to end the session by envisioning your field being filled with rainbow-colored sparkles, white light, or shimmering colors, then doing something joyful and fun aftewards to balance out the shadow work.
2. Identifying Inner Divides
Manifestation is often said to be dependent on your ability to focus on a new desired reality…to visualize, affirm, and get into the feeling state of that reality regularly. But it’s a lot to ask for humans to have a clear and unified vision of what they want. We all have so many parts to us, most of which are unconscious. In many cases, when we go after a goal, we’re hitting the gas and the brakes at the same time.
Just being aware of where you’re conflicted can help resolve manifestation blocks. Once you identify a part that is against your supposed desired wish, you can connect to that part and try to work out a healthier way for it to get its recognition or needs met.
To do this, write down a list of all the things that would be bad if you were to get your manifestation. Maybe you want a new job, but if you’re honest, getting it would mean you need to make decisions in other areas of your life that you’re not ready for. Maybe it means you might change, and you’re afraid of that. Or maybe you’re just lazy, like most of us are, and the idea of even more responsibility and less time is an anathema to your soul.
Sometimes this process can unearth very unexpected, unsavory qualities, such as an actual subconscious enjoyment of our limiting circumstances. According to witchy philosopher Carolyn Elliott in her controversial book Existential Kink, we do get a sort of satisfaction out of suffering and not getting what we want. Her take is that the on some level, the soul desires experiences of lack in order to have the earthly experience of limitation (the opposite of the soul’s true nature).
She also goes into what some psychoanalysists call secondary gains. These are often unconscious benefits we get from a negative behavior, such as getting attention from others, fulfilling a childhood need to be taken care of by others, getting power and control out of a dramatic situation, the list goes on…
In my experience, just shining the light of awareness on where I'm conflicted has helped me to clear blocks and find healthier way to get my inner whatever's needs met.
3. High Self-Worth Decisions
This is a quick and straightforward tip, though not always easy to implement.
In my experience, the universe lines up to support you when you empower yourself. Your guides and angelic helpers want to see you recognize the magnificence of your soul and the expansiveness of your spirit rather than see you settle for situations, people, or circumstances that aren’t good for you or that lower your sense of self-worth.
I’ve noticed a clear pattern of opportunities flooding in after making high self-worth decisions and conversely, opportunities drying up if I backtrack at all or fail to master a lesson.
It all makes sense because your energetic field becomes distorted and diminished when you’re in a state of fear or nervous system dysregulation. And settling for disempowering, harmful, or simply unaligned situations both comes from and fuels states of fear and dysregulation.
Just keep this in mind when it comes to both big and small decisions. And if you pass an opportunity because it would lower your self-worth, stick with it and don’t backtrack.
I hope these tips have helped you! Happy manifesting
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