Welcome to Ghost of a Podcast. I’m your host, Jessica Lanyadoo. I’m an astrologer, psychic medium, and animal communicator, and I’m going to give you your weekly horoscope and no bullshit, mystical advice for living your very best life.

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Hello, My Puppies and Kittens. Today, I’m going to talk to you a little bit about a topic that, in some ways, I kind of think is controversial. You might not think it is. I don’t know what you think. I want to talk to you about manifestation and intention setting. So let me tell you why I think it’s a little controversial, just straight out the gate. I definitely think the topic of manifestation can be used as a way to gaslight people. The idea that you can manifest things is beautiful, and it’s something that I personally use in my life, and I have taught, and I’m going to talk to you about here today. 

However, when we talk about something like spiritually manifesting stuff, where it gets into gaslighting and problematic thinking is when we say, okay, as spiritual beings we can manifest conditions; therefore, there is kind of this like assumption that people can make that if I’m manifesting good things for myself, well then, why aren’t you manifesting good things for yourself? And everything you do is a reflection of what you’re in alignment with. And there is a level on which that’s true—everything that we do and everything we engage with is a reflection of what we resonate with. That is a spiritual truth; however, it’s not the only fucking truth. 

There’s a lot of truths that coexist with each other. That’s what I believe to be true. And, so, when we talk about misogyny and racism and white supremacy, when we talk about systemic conditions that have impacted a multitude of people—but not just in this moment, over the course of generations—when we talk about transphobia or homophobia or the ways in which class functions or capitalism functions in the world, we have to acknowledge that these things are also real and true—that we’re not all starting from the same set of privileges and assets. And when you’re starting off from a pretty damn privileged place, and you’ve got lots of assets, then manifesting is all the more easy—for a lot of reasons and on a lot of levels. 

And, so, I’m not trying to say for those of us who are disadvantaged, manifesting is harder or worse, but I’m also not not saying that. What I’m saying is it’s complicated. And so when I talk about something like manifestation, I want to acknowledge that I’m talking about one thing, but it’s not the only thing. And we never want to use these kinds of concepts as a way to spiritually bypass the systemic problems that we have in this world and the realities that many people face that you may or may not be facing. 

And, also, you know me; I’m not a huge fan of all love, all light. I really believe that every light casts a shadow, and that shadow is an important part of light, and that struggle is an important part of growth, and that struggle is hard wired into the human condition. That’s what I believe. And, so, I am not going to tell you to feel good all the time, by a long shot. 

In fact, I am a big believer in something that I call the stage of no, and we’ve all been there. The stage of no is a time and a mindset where no matter what somebody offers you, it feels like a no. You open the fridge, and it’s filled with food, but nothing looks yummy. You open your closet; it’s filled with clothes, but nothing looks good. It’s when you are predisposed to have a no. And when we are in the stage of no, we are not in a solid place for manifesting. And it takes time and effort and intention to shift away from a stage of no. 

And, as an astrologer, I happen to know that there are transits that pre-dispose us to being in a really open place or a really shut down place. There are transits that tell us that we are more likely to be able to create flow in our lives or less likely to create flow in our lives. So I want to, again, just start off by breaking these things down. 

Manifestation is not magic—Honey, magic is not magic. We are not tidy little machines with beginnings and middles and ends. We are not manifestation machines that are meant to be able to manifest all the things, all at once, perfectly. That’s not—that’s not being a person. So when I share this with you, it’s about a process and an approach, instead of a magic bullet. There’s no quick fixes in life. You might think there are quick fixes. You may have enjoyed many quick fixes in your life, and to that I say, tip of the hat to you, madame. However, the journey is the process. So let’s talk about the journey of manifesting. 

One last aside, I promise, before I give you the goods, as it were. New Moons are notoriously fabulous for manifesting. New Moons happen once a month, every month. I mean, sometimes they happen twice in a month, but generally speaking, once a month, and they are a time of opening or beginning—a new cycle. And, astrologically, when we have a New Moon, it’s when the Sun—the identity and the will—and the Moon—your feelings and your needs—are sitting on top of each other, so they’re conjunct. They are right in alignment. 

And, so, this is a really great time for manifestation because manifestation is actually really simple. It is not easy; it’s just simple. And if you’re approaching manifestation in a complicated way, may I say; you don’t have to work so hard. In fact, working really hard on manifestation—not a great way forward.

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Okay. So what is manifestation? I guess it’s easiest for me to say it’s essentially the materialization of intention—that’s manifestation. So how does one go about manifesting? Well, it’s like I said, simple. What we need is for our feelings and our intention, which can be our thoughts and our attitudes and our actions, to be in alignment with each other. 

So what that might look like is saying I intend to manifest new friendships. Friendships that are in alignment with who I am and the person I want to be and the life I want to live. That’s what I want. I want new friendships. But if your feelings are really sad, really butthurt over a friendship that just ended or really insecure because you’ve had a history of difficulties with friendships—if your feelings are focused on, in all honesty, your fears and your hurts and your disappointments with past friendships or current friendships, then you’re not in alignment, so your feelings and your intention are not in alignment. They’re kind of pointed in different directions. 

The work of this, ideally speaking, if you want manifestation to work, is to be able to bring your feelings and your intention online. So how do you get your feelings and your thoughts online? Here it is—pretty simple: start with your body. What this looks like is dropping into your body, feeling your feelings, hearing your thoughts, and staying present with them. And striving towards a place of neutrality. Finding words that allow you to emotionally be present and fill in the spaces with those words. 

So a place of neutrality in this situation maybe: I’ve had experiences with friends that are really positive, and I’ve had experiences with friends that are really negative. I see other people have experiences with friends that are really positive, so I know it’s possible. I’ve had experiences with friends that are really positive, so I know it’s possible. I don’t know what will happen next; I’m not in control, but I see that it’s possible that I can have successful friendships, and I know I want more. So you see this is more of a neutral statement. It’s not a commitment to the future. It’s not an attachment to the past; it’s somewhere in between all of that. And what this does is it allows you to be emotionally and mentally present with potential. But that presence is actually a state of neutrality. It’s not being attached or invested in a negative narrative, anymore than it is pretending that you believe something that you actually don’t believe yet. 

Being able to center your thoughts and your feelings in the same place is what manifestation is. And it’s not easy; it’s actually very difficult. But it’s simple. So if you find that you’re really struggling with this concept, may I invite you to explore these simple words: sad, mad, bad, glad. If you have a hard time tracking emotions, if you have a hard time bringing your feelings and your thoughts in alignment with each other, strive to distill all of your feelings into those bad boys—sad, bad, mad, glad. 

Simplify your emotions so that you can have greater understanding of them and presence with them. I know it’s hard to bring fear or resentment or guilt into something kind of more distilled because those emotions are so complex and nuanced. However, it’s a really valuable skill to be able to do. So if you’re feeling resentful, does it make you feel mad and bad? If you’re feeling guilty, are you sad and feel bad? Just try to distil it down. Because once you have a handle on a smaller emotion, like sad, mad, or bad, then you can start to identify how to take care of those feelings because they’re such fundamental feelings, right. And if you can start where you’re at, then you can build up the emotional strength to change how you feel. And when you change how you feel, and you bring it to a place, not necessarily of positivity, but of neutrality, that’s where the fertility of your ability to manifest exists. So don’t over think it—really. 

What I like to do when I’m trying to manifest something is I simply write out a list. I mean, I’m a Capricorn; let’s not be surprised that I’m going to write a damn list. I just write a list of all of the things that I want to call to me. It’s really simple. Some people like to use collage. You can do it digitally. You can do it analogue styles; it doesn’t matter. It’s about doing what works for you. It’s not about there being one right way of doing it. This is an exercise of clarifying your intention and getting yourself emotionally onboard. 

So back to my list. What I do is I get out a piece of paper and a pen, and I write out all of the things in a list form that I want to call to me. So if I’m thinking about, let’s say, a relationship, I’m not thinking about I want a friend who is like this, or I want a date who is like that. Instead, what I do is I write down the dynamic I want to manifest. 

So if you’re trying to manifest a kind of relationship or a kind of job or a certain dollar amount of money; it’s not really about those things. It’s about what you believe those things will mean for you, what you believe those things will feel like. You want to kind of go underneath the thing to get to the emotional part. 

So what I do after I finish writing my list is I fold the piece of paper so I cannot see any of what I’ve already written. And then whenever I have a feeling over the course of the next days or weeks—if I’m being honest, every time I’ve done this, and I’ve done it to really solid success, it’s taken me months, never really weeks. Who knows; maybe you’re quicker than me? But, for me, it’s always taken months to do this. So whenever I have a feeling, I add more things to the list. And then, again, I fold the piece of paper over so that I can’t re-read what I’ve already written. It’s really about pulling from within you. It’s not about coming up with something that is highly analyzed. 

And then, one day, you will wake up; you will have a feeling. You’ll be like, I am ready. And it will not be a feeling that emerges from impatience or from fear. It’ll just be a certainty—a sense of knowing. That’s it. And if you’re a super nervous person, and you overthink everything, your sense of knowing is going to be in the style of your personality. It’s not going to be in this like perfect blue light, I spent the last 40 years meditating style. So, like I said, magic is not exactly magic. 

Anyways, you’re going to wake up one day, and you’re going to have a feeling: you’re ready. And then what you’re going to do is you’re just going to re-read that list and notice the things you repeated a bunch of times. Because even if you don’t really think so, the things you repeated a bunch of times are the things that are the most important things to you. So then you re-write your list. You bring intention and emotion to that tidied up list. And all the things that you’ve repeated the most go at the top of your list.  

And then every day, once a day, return to it. Get present. Get emo. Check in, honestly, with where you’re at in your feelings about this. To me, this is the easiest way to manifest. To you, it might be a different way. There are a ton of ways. Find your own. But what I want you to really extrapolate from what I’m sharing with you is that it’s really quite simple. You want your thoughts and your feelings to be in alignment. You don’t want to be over-fixated on the goal itself. But, instead, to be aligned with what it is that you feel about that goal—what it is that you feel about the attainment of it, and the not having it yet.

My Loves, I hope that is helpful for you on your journey towards manifestation and intention setting. And I thank you, once again, for joining me for another week of Ghost of a Podcast. 

Something you probably just don’t know about me is that I have the hardest time saying goodbye on this podcast. Every episode I’ve ever created, I pretty much record 20 sign offs because I hate saying goodbye. How about I just say, talk to you in a couple of days. I hope you have a really transformative and introspective week.