Why I Don’t Manifest Anymore —  Pros and Cons of Manifestation Rhetoric

 

When dreamy Neptune entered watery Pisces in 2011 the New Age spirituality, manifestation, and Law of Attraction rhetoric BLEW UP and never stopped gaining popularity. 

 

Essentially the idea that thoughts become things or whatever you think creates your frequency which then manifests as your reality, became this big, empowering idea. There’s nothing really harmful about that idea, right? 

 

Wrong. 

 

The harm in this rhetoric is that when something bad or challenging happens, people in the New Age, manifestation world will say you have fearful thoughts and beliefs, and that’s why bad things are happening to you — in a sense, you created difficulties with your mind. We’re taught to blame and point fingers at ourselves when we’re met with life’s inevitable challenges or hard times… 

 

…now I see that’s one of the most harmful, detrimental ideas about manifestation. 

 

And sadly, people believe this and live this. 

 

Interestingly enough, it seems to make things worse for people because they’re constantly trying to force or resist the natural unfoldings of life. The more you attempt to push away any challenges and say, “No, I’m not going to think about this anymore. I’m not available for this thought at all”,  the more you end up perpetuating that experience because there’s so much internal resistance.

 

So what about people who never think about the Laws of the Universe or manifestation? They don’t have internal fears, they’re happy and thoroughly enjoying life. Then suddenly, something tragic happens. Did they subconsciously attract that tragedy into their lives? 

 

No. As a professional astrologer, I don’t believe so. 

Maybe it’s NOT you or your thoughts at all. 

 

Sometimes when challenges arise, it’s just a season or a chapter of life. Not “punishment” for a series of negative, worrisome thoughts we had a couple of weeks ago. 

 

We can literally see these seasons or chapters of life by looking at astrological timing, transits, and movements on a person’s chart. For example, if the last four years of your life have been very difficult, maybe you’re in the midst of hard, prolonged astrological transits. 

 

Maybe it’s an outer planet transit. Maybe you’re dealing with heavy Saturn or Pluto themes. Maybe it’s NOT you or your thoughts at all.  

 

Astrology opened my eyes and changed my beliefs because up until recently I always believed your mind creates your world. I deeply enjoyed the Neptune in Pisces energy of if you can dream it, you can have it. I loved crafting dreamy vision boards, spiritual to-do lists, writing daily affirmations, and reading books like The Secret. Those New Age, semi-culty practices served me for many years!

 

In part, I still see value in them because they got me to where I’m at today. 

 

But here’s what I believe now —  when you think something about yourself, over and over again, you start to believe it. And from that deep underlying belief you’ve created about yourself and your life, you start to take action in your life consistently which feels great! 

 

You can’t lie that feeling empowered in your choices, making decisions, and taking action from a place of “alignment” (which in essence just means feeling good) is fun. But, as a traditional astrologer, I beg to disagree that everything happens only as a result of our thoughts or frequency. 

 

Everything is timed — look at your chart. 

 

Even if you will something to be, do everything you can to manifest your dreams and desires and it’s still not working for you, we can see why in your chart. 

 

With cyclocartography (timing) and astrocartography (location), we can see you’re living on a Pluto line with a hard Saturn transit or feeling the effects of your Saturn Rx going direct. Or with Zodiacal Releasing (life’s biography), maybe you’re in a sticky preparatory period feeling like you’re putting in work with zero recognition or results. 

 

You’ve got to cross-reference what’s happening in your life with your astrology — I repeat, your timing doesn’t lie! 

 

Your timing is planned and reflects back what’s intentionally, unfolding in your life, whether you thought positive thoughts about it or not. It’s completely natural to have months that flow and feel really nice and months that feel not-so-fun. But overall never berate yourself for not being “aligned” 24/7, thinking about life’s challenges, or manifesting your dreams and desires overnight. And if you’re moving through a five-year section of your life that’s constantly challenging you, I promise you have positive years coming. 

 

The second reason I believe manifestation works kind of a waste of time is sometimes you don’t know what you really want…  

 

You might consciously have an idea of what will make you happy, but sometimes that thing might not actually bring you the happiness or personal fulfillment you’re searching for. 

 

For instance, I always dreamed about living in the mountains, surrounded by waterfalls and trees. I desperately wanted that life. So when an opportunity presented itself for me and my husband Alex to move to the mountains in Corsica, on this beautiful island in the South of France — we did it! 

 

Dreamy, right? 

 

No. I was there for less than a year before realizing…yeah…I don’t want to live in the mountains. The worst place for me to live is the mountains. I have a whole blog post on why we left the mountains here. But, long story short, I had to admit that I didn’t actually want that. It didn’t end up making me happy. 

 

Will the person, place, or thing you’re (sometimes forcefully) manifesting truly make you happy? Experiment and play with that, but a lot of the time, we consciously think that we know what we want but life’s easier when we stop controlling and hyper-focusing on our thoughts and simply surrender to life. 

 

I would say that’s one of the biggest cons, and reasons I don’t manifest anymore — constantly controlling your mind in every way possible. 

 

Conscious mind control, whether through repeating affirmations, toxicly positive voice notes or journal entries, feels empowering because there’s a false sense of control. But there’s something to be said about surrendering to your inner voice, your soul, your life. 

 

Is it helpful to be in control? Or does it just give us a false sense of safety about the unknowns of our future? Most people are uncomfortable in the unknown and love the idea of being in the driver’s seat of their life, controlling every thought, every word, every “outcome.” 

 

This attempt to leave nothing to chance, and obsessing over the Law of Attraction and manifesting, results in people blaming themselves when something doesn’t unfold perfectly the way they imagined. 

 

It’s all about controlling the unknown future. 

 

But guess what? You don’t need to control anything. You just need to live. 

 

And I want to make something very clear —  the MOST toxic part of the Law of Attraction, spiritual, New Age world that we’ve been in for 12+ years is the idea that your conscious thoughts create your world. That’s not true. 

 

If it were true, we’d all be living crazy, chaotic lives. And thank goodness our lives aren’t like that because we don’t manifest consciously. Manifestation happens subconsciously and I want to reiterate that if you think a dark, unsettling thought, it’s not going to suddenly become your reality. 

 

Just let it go. Let the thought float away. Let the visual go and move on. 

 

True manifestation, I believe, is a blend between surrendering to your timeline, taking action when it feels good, doing subconscious work, and being so open and ready for whatever life throws your way!

 

Do I still journal when I wake up feeling off? Yes. 

 

Do I still love writing lists of things I’d like to claim or accomplish each month? Of course! 

 

Aside from a few New Age-y things practices I don’t need to obsess over my thoughts or do work like To Be Magnetic. I feel rock solid in who I am. 

 

The Neptune in Pisces bubble will POP. 

 

This shift is so indicative of how this spiritual rhetoric will completely shift when Neptune enters Aries on March 30, 2025. We’ve been in this watery, foggy, dreamy state since Neptune entered Pisces in 2011 and things are about to change — fiery Aries in Neptune’s here to shake you awake and empower you to take ownership of your life. 

 

This bubble’s going to POP when Neptune enters Aries. 

 

(And I say all of this as someone who was deep in the astrology, New Age world for so long. I’m not doing that again.)

 

Manifestation rhetoric loves to control things. It glorifies having, doing, or accomplishing things in order to be happy, instead of just breathing, being you, and living your life. You don’t need to manifest six-figure months or Prince Charming overnight. I don’t believe in that at all. Now I think that’s the cult brain talking.

 

Here’s what I find helpful —  accept your path, surrender to your timing and astrology, and allow God, angels, the cosmos, whatever you want to call it to take the wheel while you release control and sit in the passenger seat of your life.

 

If you’re enjoying this conversation as much as I am, watch the full-length video about why I don’t manifest anymore on YouTube here. 

 

With love, 

 

Helena Woods