Moons, Manifesting and Me

5 minute read

There was a super moon this week and if you’re on Instagram and follow predominantly women your timeline may have been full of moon swims, crystal cleansing, and ceremonial cacao rituals. At any time before 2020, I would have firmly rolled my eyes at most of this, as would, I’m sure, many of the women that took part this week. And while I could easily say that the last year has been so difficult that I’m now a fan of do whatever gets you through, there is a more specific reason for my live and let live attitude. Readers, I have a confession to make.

In January this year, I paid money to one of those new-fangled self-appointed gurus to take part in a manifestation course. I told myself that it would make for great copy when it was proven to be complete nonsense. I could write a snarky article about the rise of ‘wish it into being’ culture run by 2021’s version of a witch doctor. It was a very cliched, cynical journalist move.

But in reality, I was in fact doing it because it had been a shitty year and I had seen a lot of people turn to crystals and manifesting and positivity and I wondered if I shook off the shackles of my cynicism would it help to lift me from the void of blah I found myself in.

I paid my $34 dollars and got ready with a semi-open mind for a ten-day course that was promising to change my life.

The programme I was doing was run by Gabrielle Bernstein who is a former nightlife publicist turned wellness guru. Last year she released her 10th book, “Super Attractor: Methods for Manifesting a Life Beyond Your Wildest Dreams.” Her gravelly voice is easy to listen to and her Instagram ‘Ask Gabby’ series is so popular with her nearly one million followers that she has just turned it into a podcast.

The course included subjects like What are you a yes for? Reprogramming your thoughts. Become a magnet for what you desire. Appreciation. Creative visualisation and Signs. Each day there was a welcome from Gabby, a worksheet to fill out and a guided meditation to listen to. There were effusive congratulations for making it this far as if giving thirty or forty minutes of your day to sitting in silence listening to a woman on your phone or laptop was a great achievement. There were many invitations to join her membership plan that would help to continue your great work and endless follow-up marketing emails.

It was, in all, an endeavour perfectly designed to make me roll my eyes and laugh at myself. No one was more surprised than I was to discover that I did neither.

What I did discover was the secret to manifestation. No, I am not about to set myself up as a rival to Gwyneth Paltrow and her Goop empire – I think steaming my vagina is a step too far for me – but I am actively using Gabby’s principles regularly.

It turns out that manifesting is basically, figuring out what you want. There are people who say that they manifested millions but I think they’re few and far between. What most people do is really think about what they want, write it down so it’s crystal clear, and find a way to make that happen. Manifesting, I’ve found, is just a way of discovering your real wants and needs, clarifying them, and working hard to get them.

It seems like it’s a spiritual practice where you’re connecting with the universe and I guess, in a way, it is if you consider that maybe you are your universe, but mainly it’s just a tool for deciding what you want.

I have friends who are really into The Secret and manifesting and actually when I speak to them about those things I have found that at the heart of all of them is positivity and gratitude. Being grateful for what you have (without having to fill out a journal or write a list where you end up saying delicious peas for dinner because you can’t think of a fifth thing that day) is a great way to feel better about your life. And positivity breeds optimism which I have always found is fertile ground for opportunities. With optimism, you’re much more likely to say yes to things you would have shied away from in the past or to send that email that you would ordinarily be embarrassed about.

We’re so busy getting on with things that we often don’t have time to consider what it is we really want in life. We’re often so concerned with what people think of us that we don’t send that email about working together and we very often can’t see the wood for the trees when we feel trapped in a situation that’s not working for us.

Wellness, spirituality, gurus, and washing crystals in a moon-soaked sea may seem like something you’re really not interested in but making a list of wants and desires and discovering a way to turn them into your reality is something we could all do with a dose of.

I didn’t realise that I needed a New York spirituality guru to make me feel better this year but then, the whole year has been one massive surprise after another. I was able to turn my foray into manifestation into an article after all, just not the one I thought I would write. I haven’t joined Gabby’s inner circle or bought any of her books but it turns out that $34 is a small price to pay for the list I have pinned up in front of me now. I’m looking forward to getting started.

Jennifer Stevens, May 2021