Positive vibrations? Are you there? It’s me, a mentally unstable college student.
(Photos by Veronica Nocera / Rowdy Magazine Staff Writer)
Gone are the days of “good luck’s” and “well wishes” — if you’ve spent any time on Tik Tok or Twitter recently, you know manifestation is the latest craze.
Lately, “manifest” has been the word on everyone’s tongue.
Zoom University feeling particularly sufferable? Manifest for a better day tomorrow! Craving a caffeine fix? Manifest for an overpriced Nitro Cold Brew in your future.
Second person on your floor tested positive? Manifest an only mildly invasive nostril swab and a negative result.
But unlike suggestive Draco Malfoy POVs and dangerously addicting dances that haunt my every movement, the idea of manifestation is not original to the FYP.
The practice is derived from the Law of Attraction — the belief that positive and negative thoughts result in positive and negative experiences, respectively. This concept first emerged during the New Thought movement of the 19th century and drew inspiration from New England transcendentalism, Bible verses, and Hinduism.
In 2006, The Secret, an Australian-American documentary-turned-self-help-book, brought the Law of Attraction into the spotlight, paving the way for its popularity on Tik Tok fourteen years later.
One of the most popular means of manifestation boasts a medium familiar to stationary-fanatics: manifestation journals. Here, there are three different avenues you can take — scripting, the 3-6-9 method, and the 55-5 method.
1) Scripting
For anyone who uses journaling as a method of emotional release (or maybe just wrote a lot of OC fanfiction in middle school), scripting is probably the simplest way to manifest your ideal future.
The idea is to write out a script detailing what exactly you want to come to fruition, either by painting a picture of your dream life or simply listing out outcomes you’re anticipating. There are three main rules:
1) Always use the present tense! The premise is to outline your hopes and dreams as if they’ve already been achieved. The President of the United States has no sexual assault allegations. Democracy isn’t dying. Baby steps.
2) Use lots of emotion words — you have to make it clear how dream-you feels. This is where thesaurus.com might come in handy.
3) Express gratitude. The universe works hard. Let her know you care.
( Veronica Nocera / Rowdy Magazine staff writer )
2) 3-6-9 Method
The 3-6-9 method is rooted in Nikola Tesla’s belief that the numbers three, six, and nine hold the “key to the universe”.
There are two ways to go about it: The first involves writing the same present-tense statement several times over the course of the day — three times in the morning, six times in the afternoon, and nine times at night.
The second is the method you’ve most likely encountered on Tik Tok. It’s specifically intended to manifest contact from a certain person. Here, the three sets of statements are different.
The first three are simply the name of the person you want to contact you. An old friend, the cashier you fell in love with at Trader Joes, a certain Congresswoman with an affinity for red lipstick — the options are endless. The next six statements express intention, or what you want your target person to experience — longing, regret, love at first sight. And the final nine statements are the most specific, the action.
( Veronica Nocera / Rowdy Magazine staff writer )
3) 55-5 Method
The 55-5 method can only be described as on par with that scene in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix where Umbridge makes Harry repeatedly carve “I must not tell lies” into his skin (painful and excessive).
Once again, the premise is simple — take your present-tense manifestation statement and write it out 55 times a day for five days in a row. Since I only managed this for one day, I can’t speak to its results, but I can confidently say this: 55 is too many times to write the same thing. The English language no longer made sense by the end.
( Veronica Nocera / Rowdy Magazine staff writer )
Whether you’re a long time practitioner or a Tik Tok-inspired novice, the art of manifestation is definitely worth a shot, especially if you’re scrambling for a way to use that journal you couldn’t help but buy.
Does this truly work? Well, that’s for you to find out.
As for myself, I’ll let you know how it goes the next time AOC goes live.
Veronica Nocera is a Staff Writer at Rowdy Magazine. Her simple pleasures include hoarding stationery, rewatching '90s rom coms, and romanticizing the lives of 20th century female authors. She's intensely passionate about the power of language, social justice, and the overlap between past and present. You can reach her at vnocera@ufl.edu for more info