I've gotta be honest here.
I kind of hate the word and concept of manifestation.
As someone that enjoys practical solutions, manifesting can be slippery.
Manifestation coaches create pyramid schemes to sell you on dreams of future rewards.
When that's not happening, the idea can delve into New Age woo concepts and language that obfuscates the whole idea with a cloud of positive thinking, and superficial self importance.
What I hope follows is a way to detach from whatever definition of manifestation you might have and simply think of it as results magic.
it’s changing experience through indirect or clever means in a way that gets you results you want and enjoy.
Let's get started.
The Un-Fun But Effective Way To Manifest
Saying 'good, I get x', is the way to always manifest what you want, by wanting what you get, and have.
Let me guess, though ... you don't like that answer.
That's what I expected, so let's go into some ways to manifest that you might actually prefer.
The Ways To Manifest That You Might Like A Little More
Sigils, in my opinion, are stand-ins for direct action.
They're a subtle way to represent the result you want to bring into your life.
We're going to talk about three types of sigils: Being/Mantra Sigils, Awareness Sigils, and Drawn Sigils.
A) Being/Mantra Sigils
I've written about these ones at length here, but I'll try to give a simplified version in this piece.
A Being/Mantra Sigil is one you bring to mind repeatedly, whenever it comes to you in the course of a day, or sparked by a reminder on your phone.
It being present in your mind can naturally make you more inclined to take x action that's compatible with that repeated sigil.
Additionally, repeatedly bringing to mind a Being/Mantra Sigil can keep you in the present moment, allowing you to naturally act in a way consistent with the Sigil you chose.
Actors do this a little more directly with method acting, and you can read the aforementioned 'Being A Sigil' piece for that 'how to'.
There's two guidelines I'll offer for how to use this form of sigils effectively:
- 1) The sigil you choose can't limit you
- Ex: Choosing 'Wealth' instead of 'Millionaire' (because 'million' in this case is limiting
- 2) The sigil can't be a doing-to-get (x) specific result
- This means you try to embody the sigil by 'being' it, without craving after something specific
- To chase some specific result would mean you're contradicting guideline #1, because you'd be limiting yourself
So, essentially, you can choose a Being/Mantra Sigil of 'Unfazed' or 'Calm', and by simply bringing it to your awareness, I've found that you can naturally gravitate to a result compatible with that sigil.
If it seems too good to be true, I guess that's why it's called "Magic."
B) Awareness Sigils
When it comes to Awareness Sigils, I have W. Timothy Gallwey, and his 'Inner Game' books to thank for my approach, though, he doesn't call them by that name.
Mr. Gallwey usually begins with a desired outcome (like improving customer service), and then looks at what are the critical variables that can make or break that outcome (whether you're smiling as you do the job, or rating the tone of the customer on a scale of 1-10).
With a critical variable, you're not exactly following a prescription, or reading a step-by-step list to get the outcome you want. Your actions aren't driven by craving for results. Your awareness, simply by being aware, is putting you in the right direction to achieve the results you want.
Being aware of critical variables that could contribute/create a possibility you have in mind, takes in-order-to out of the equation. You're not doing-to-get, you're just being aware.
How do you do it?
1) Start by identifying the Awareness Sigil/the desired outcome or result you want
- Ex: High-quality meetings at work
2) Ask yourself 'what would need to be true to fail to achieve/obtain x"
- Ex: Not sticking to an agenda
- Not starting or ending a meeting on time
- Not having everyone contribute evenly
3) Turn The WWNTBT To Fail Results Into Their Opposite Action
- Ex: Observing whether a meeting sticks to the agenda
- Observing start and end times of meetings
- Observing frequency, and total length of time that each person speaks
4) When One Action Seems Appealing, Ensure That:
- 1) It's something you can observe
- 2) It's easy to observe
- 3) It's interesting enough to keep your attention
- 4) It's relevant to fulfilling the Awareness Sigil/Sigil outcome
Additional Awareness Sigil Examples To Ensure There's No Confusion
A1) Desired Outcome: Wealth
A2) Choosing The Awareness Sigil of 'Spotting Wealth Opportunities'
B1) Desired Outcome: Being Unassailable
B2) Choosing The Awareness Sigil of 'Noticing How Protected I Am Against Potential Risk'
C1) Desired Outcome: Being Free From Anxiety
C2) Choosing the Awareness Sigil of 'How Calm Am I Right Now on A Scale of 1-10?'
5) How To Execute An Awareness Sigil
It's simple: just be aware of what you chose.
Whether it's something you're rating on a scale of 1-10, like your calmness, or how interested a prospect seems when you're doing a sales call, or you're simply noting whether there's risk around you. There's a number of directions you can go in, as long as you're using awareness instead of forcing things to change in a direct way.
You execute an Awareness Sigil by being aware. The same way that you're aware of whether you want to eat more food. It's as simple as that, and the results come about in fun ways.
C) Drawn Sigils
These are the sigils that everyone talks about.
Weird symbols, made out of letters, meant to bypass your conscious filters and, sometime in the future, reward you with a desired result.
Because I've written about this, at length, in my 'Presciption Magic' post, and here, I'll leave you with those guides (in particular, the latter much briefer version) to get you well-versed in making your own drawn sigils.
D) How To Integrate All Three Into Your Life
The principle that connects all of these sigils is a quote from the aforementioned Timothy Gallwey: “Awareness is curative.”
By being aware of something, we notice it and recognize it. And when we notice and recognize something, we’re now more likely to change our behavior. It’s on our radar.
Let’s talk about how I use all three sigils, and how you might as well:
My Process For Being/Mantra Sigils
In my personal experience, I use Being/Mantra sigils to stay in the present, but I also review a list of my “intended beings” every night to continue to orient myself naturally to actions that are in alignment with those intentions.
My Process For Awareness Sigils
I keep a simple document that I review daily for things I want to continue to be aware of.
Some examples:
- I’ve noted my bedtime each night, and have found that by keeping myself aware of it, I naturally correct myself when bad patterns come into play
- I’ve noted how many unexpected positive things have happened in a day, as they happen. By doing so, it’s changed how I look at even my worst days
- I’ve tracked how much time I’ve spent each time using my Spanish flash cards, which has helped me make real progress in learning the language
- I’ve tracked how many times I open the browser tab for an online course I’ve taken, which has forced me to be conscious of how much time I’m actually dedicating to learning a new skill
- I’ve tracked those Intended Beings/Being or Mantra Sigils, which has kept those objectives and ideals top of mine
Practical Takeaways:
- Use a to-do app, or calendar reminder to nudge you to review any Awareness Sigils you create for yourself
- Make the Awareness Sigil extremely easy to execute and stick to by using an incredibly tiny step (Ex: opening a browser tab related to your goal), like I’ve talked about my piece on habits
- Get rid of any Awareness Sigils that have fulfilled their purpose, so you can add new ones to your routine
My Process For Drawn/Paper Sigils
With drawn, or paper sigils, I sometimes use them as a way to offload worries or goals that I can’t inch towards with a more concrete method.
If something feels like a longshot, make a sigil for it.
If you feel like the odds are stacked against your success, make a sigil for it.
If you don’t know where to start, make a sigil for it.
I’ve found that by making and ‘charging’ sigils, I can slip an intention into the background of my mind, and sometimes luck strikes and resurfaces that intention as a success at a later date.
Sometimes, that’s as good as we can do, and sometimes, that’s really all we need to do at that moment to inch closer to a success.
Final Thoughts
If you have a purple car in the back of your mind, you might end up seeing more of them in the near future. It's a trope at this point, but if you've experienced that, you know how true it can be.
In the same vein, if you have the a Being/Mantra Sigil or Awareness Sigil, you may find yourself gravitating towards actions that will bring it to life (or manifest it, if you want to use that word).
The old saying in business is "what gets measured gets managed," but here it's 'what gets noticed, gets multiplied'.
Just because you really want, and intend on making millions of dollars, and quitting your job, doesn't mean the magic is going to be powerful enough to bring those dreams to life.
The secret is: if someone is offering you a secret that guarantees such a thing, they're using you to guarantee that the money they wanted to manifest gets manifested.
That doesn't mean your results can't be rewarding. We often don't know what's good for us until reality does its thing and gives us a variation of our desired outcome that is perhaps more fulfilling than the original objective would've been.
The best thing about magic, and from practicing these forms of 'sigil' magic, is that it gives you a direct line to personal empowerment. You now have a way to get yourself closer to a life you want, while making it fun along the way.
Just promise me and yourself that now that you know how to work this magic in your own life, you won't get caught spending thousands to stock up on snake-oil.