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It seems like everywhere we look, someone is talking about affirmations and their ability to manifest or bring about our wildest dreams into reality. But what does it all mean and how does it actually work, or not work?
What is an affirmation?
An affirmation means that you make a statement affirming that something is true or absolute such as “I am in control of my emotions”.
Affirmations vs. Prayers and Wishes
Affirmations affirm that something is true whereas prayers and wishes are requests for something from the Universe, Spirit, God, All, the Divine, etc to come true. Affirmations work in a similar fashion to prayers, both send a specific thought form out into the cosmos; however, affirmations draw that thoughtform (ie. emotional control) near to you rather than asking for it to be given or gifted to you. See the difference?
Caution: The Unintentionally Affirmation
Sounds like a great way to manifest your wildest dreams, right?
Yes, but not so fast. Just as easily as we can pray for financial security and affirm that we are wealthy and blessed, we can also affirm “negative” things through the same means. Every time that you make comments or so much as think something not so positive like “I am broke and I’ll never get out of debt”, you send that affirmation out into the cosmos as well. Essentially, you are going to attract more circumstances and situations that leave you broke and stuck in debt. You aren’t asking to be broke and stuck in debt, you are stating that you are and will always be. Words are spells, the act of spelling something out. Think about that for a second.
So what? It’s just a bunch of Hocus Pocus…right?
It's less Hocus Pocus and more Abracadabra. Uh, say what? Abracadabra actually means “I create as I speak” and the notion that speech has the potential for Divine thought and carries the seeds of creation for manifestation before physical creation actually takes place is a concept that has been seen throughout history across cultures.
French occultist Eliphas Levi in his Doctrine and Ritual in High Magic discusses how the soul inhales and exhales like the lungs through thoughts and words. That proportion exists between ideas, words, and creation, and to inspire is to Breathe on someone or something; Breath being the active principle or Divine Breath. He also explains how sickly souls have bad Breath and vitiate the moral atmosphere by mixing impure reflections with the astral light which penetrates them creating harmful currents able to assault others through their bad thoughts and words. This is a curse, also created through affirmation.
Affirmations are much more than wishful words, so one should take caution in what they speak and even think, for these are the seeds of manifestations, for better or worse, for them and for others.
The point here is not to scare you or intimidate you away from creating affirmations, it’s simply to bring your awareness to the power of thought and speech. Once you release the genie from the bottle, there is no going back. If there is something you want to see manifest within yourself or in your world, affirmations are an incredibly powerful tool, some would even say their use is non negotiable. For when you speak of something, you speak it into existence. Before we go any further, please keep in mind that affirmations are not the sum total of effective manifestation work, more on this in a later blog post.
Crafting Effective Affirmations
Before we go echo out a vibration into the Universe hoping to hit our mark, we would be wise to consider the following:
What is it exactly that I am hoping to accomplish with an affirmation? (think of what result you are wanting to achieve and that will tell you what seed to plant)
Is this something that is helpful or harmful to myself or someone else? Everything has a cause and effect and what you put out you will get back in one form or fashion.
For the alchemist interested in High Magick, I recommend asking yourself if what you are seeking is in alignment with the Divine Will before proceeding further.
For example:
If I am someone with a poor sense of self identity, I might want to focus on creating an affirmation for better self-awareness, understanding and acceptance. This clearly is not harmful to myself or others, and is most definitely something that is in alignment with Divine Will; to know thyself.
Once we have considered these questions, the task moves to creating a simple yet specific phrase to affirm that this want or need will manifest. The key here is to speak the affirmation as if it has already happened. Again, remember that the thought and word is the seed of creation made manifest.
Back to our poor sense of self identity example. When crafting the affirmation, the key points we may want to include are: knowing exactly who I am, recognizing my needs, and accepting myself for who I am.
Putting these into affirmation phrases we could use positive affirmations around self love and acceptance such as:
I know who I am
I recognize and validate my needs and wants
I accept my authentic self unconditionally
I love myself unconditionally
At the time of crafting these affirmations, the phrases may be the furthest thing from how you actually feel or the state you are currently living in at the present moment, that’s kind of the point. Affirmations are the seeds that bring about change, change that begins within the heart, mind and egregore. Now with that being said, things do not change in an instant or overnight because you spoke a few words. Be patient, know that you have planted the seeds for the very thing to manifest, and tend to your affirmations as if they were an actual garden needing daily attention and support in order to thrive.
To eat the fruit you must first tend to the seed, and manifestations are not succulents, they need water daily.
Common Positive Affirmations About the Self to Use:
I am…
I do…
I have…
I love…
I will…
I believe...
Words to Avoid in Crafting Affirmations:
Hope
Wish
Grant
Want
Need
Guess
Enhance your affirmations through visualizations. Use your imagination to visualize what this affirmation will look like when it is fully manifested. This would be the time to make sure that that giant lottery check you’re holding in front of the cameras, news crew, and all of the smiling people, clearly says “1 Million Dollars” rather than blank or open for interpretation. Focus on the details in your visualizations, they matter. More on this in a later blog post.
When To Use Your Affirmations
Before or during silent or active meditation as a mantra.
Holding the affirmation and visualization in your mind’s eye while performing breathwork. Checkout Breathwork: the Art of Spiritual Breathing
Upon waking up before getting out of bed, and repetitiously when falling asleep.
Creating an elixir by infusing the frequency in your drinking water, as well as stating the affirmation each time you take a drink. Checkout The Ancient Secret Meaning of Water, and How To Heal Your Energy With It.
Combine with crystals of a similar spiritual or healing property as your affirmation and make a crystal elixir. See How To Make and Use Crystal Elixirs.
Add to your altar or create a crystal grid with your affirmation placed in the center of your grid.
Use in a ritual bath or shower. State repeatedly and hold visualization. See 7 Sacred Bath Rituals for Healing
Place them in your physical visual environment like writing them on sticky notes and sticking them where you will see them regularly. If the affirmation is for an internal change, I recommend placing the notes on a mirror so that you are able to see the self reflection during recitation.
These are only a few suggestions, I would love to hear how you create and work with affirmation!
I leave you with a few final keys to unlocking the power of affirmations: they work best through repetition, faith, and active participation in your life. Affirmations work through repetition, the more energy you give to something, the stronger the current that you build and the more you draw the thing to you. Affirmations are not a “one and done” type of tool. On the flipside, you can repeat an affirmation until you're blue in the face, but if you are not willing to believe that it is possible, then you’ll likely never be able to speak it into existence (or at least in the way you had intended to). After all, winning $1 on a scratch off is still technically winning the lottery. As importantly, you must be an active participant in bringing the manifestation of the affirmation to life. If you wish to be a millionaire, but you aren’t actively doing anything that self made millionaires recommend doing, nor are you attempting anything revolutionary with potential payout, then how can you expect to be a millionaire? Sure you might win the lottery, but it may only be $1 as mentioned previously. Also, perhaps you would be closer to being a millionaire by forgoing buying lottery tickets and instead investing that money, no matter how seemingly insignificant it might seem. The seed of every Tree was also once small and insignificant.
It’s important that I also address the elephant in the room that so many like to shy away from. We aren’t going to get everything that we affirm or attempt to manifest. Divine Alignment, Will and timing play a significant part in our lives; what we get, what we don’t get, how easy or difficult something is, when something happens, and so forth.
He who seeks manifestations and affirms in alignment with the Divine Will and within Divine Timing is all the wiser for it.
This is where I leave you to consider what you’ve been putting out into the universe through your thoughts and words, deciding where changes need to be made in your internal dialogue and external verbal expressions, and what intentional positive affirmations can be crafted to plant the seeds for the changes you want to bring about in your life.
L V X
Brandy
© Brandy Rachelle
Uncredited images from my personal collection or stock images