THE EXTENDED HISTORY OF MANIFESTATION, REALITY SHIFTING, ASTRAL PROJECTION, SPIRITUALITY, ETC.
no tldrs, no summaries, sit the fuck down and read. or complain that your mindset is crap, and for some reason, you just can’t get yourself to believe in this… your choice.
most people, specifically antis, believe that manifestation is something that began out of nowhere. a tiktok trend, they say. something formed by teenagers who had nothing else to do during quarantine. and yet, those very people fail to see that this is simply wrong.
just because they tried once or twice in 2020 doesn’t erase the history they refuse to acknowledge.
for centuries, people have believed that mind and spirit can shape reality.
anthropologists note that magic and manifesting were not considered “primitive” by all; quote, “even reasonable, lucid, and intellectually sophisticated people, including great philosophers and artists of the past, dabbled in magic”.
the idea that consciousness can alter the world / your reality or travel beyond it is ancient.
one scientist summarizes, “the idea that humans can leave their bodies during dream states is ancient. countless people, from new agers to shamans around the world, believe that it is possible to commune with cosmic intelligence.”
nearly every society has had rituals or teachings for realizing desires or journeying to other realms whether through prayer, spell, trance, meditation, or other techniques.
so, enough with the stalling. let’s begin with our history lesson! take notes, pens in hand.
animism and shamanic traditions.
in many indigenous cultures, the shaman or medicine person was the spiritual specialist.
they would enter trances or dreams to negotiate with spirits, heal the sick, or control nature. our prime example is “american indian and first nations” traditions, which include the “vision quest” and the medicine man, whom is known as a a traditional healer and spiritual leader. ethnographies note that using drumming, shamans could enter trances, combat evil spirits and disease, communicate with ancestors, prevent famine, and control weather (rain dances). by ritual they aimed to manifest desired outcomes: good harvests, healing, luck, etc.
similar roles existed in african, siberian, oceanic, and amazonian tribes. among the waiwai people of the amazon, a shaman (yaskomo) is believed to perform soul-flights: flying to the sky to consult moon spirits, entering caves to ask animal spirits for game, or diving into rivers for help.
in Inuit / arctic belief, a healer (angakkuq) could journey to mythic realms (the north star, the underworld, etc.) to heal the community.
these accounts show that even hunter-gatherers conceived of traveling to their desired worlds and other worlds in visions to achieve practical goals.
ancient egypt and mesopotamia: magic and the afterlife.
now we move towards ancient egypt (c. 3000–1000 BCE), religion was suffused with magical spells for controlling fate.
pharaohs and nobles buried books of the dead—collections of incantations—with the deceased. these texts were meant to manifest a safe afterlife, the spirit (“ka” and “ba”) had to speak the right words to pass trials. one guidebook states that after death “the deceased… travels across the sky before judgement… to progress through the complex challenges in these stages, the dead must speak the right names and spells at the right time and respond with the right answers to the gods’ questions.” egyptians literally carried prayer-scrolls inscribed with spells to make the underworld obedient.
sources are a fragment of an “egyptian book of the dead” (c. 1075–945 BCE). such papyri functioned as “guidebooks for the dead,” containing magical formulas to control reality in the afterlife. the hieroglyphs include prayers to deities like osiris and re, and instructions (for instance, naming the parts of a door before passing it) to ensure safe passage. ancient egyptian religion blended spirituality with practical “manifestation”. reciting or inscribing the correct words, one aimed to bring about life after death. similarly, the mesopotamians kept extensive collections of omens and incantations (e.g. enûma anu enlil) hoping to foresee or shape events.
ancient india: vedas, mantras, and yoga siddhis.
indian traditions are rich in the idea that mind and intention shape destiny. thank them for being the basic foundation of nonduality! vedic texts (1500–500 BCE) already treat thought and word as powerful. the rigveda (c. 1500 BCE) contains hymns implying that one’s destiny is influenced by action and intention. the sanskrit concept sankalpa (resolution or intent) is used in rituals to set a firm purpose.
medieval theologians observe that hindu priests would invoke deities to bring worldly blessings, as one modern scholar notes: “if you want money, think of lakṣmī” (goddess of wealth); “if you want good luck, be sure to participate in ganesh puja”.
these are explicit instructions to manifest prosperity by mental focus and prayer.
moreover, Indian yogic tradition identifies advanced mental powers (siddhis). patanjali’s yoga sutras (c. 400 CE) describe supernormal abilities gained through meditation ranging from telepathy to levitation. they continue to list powers like “becoming manifold, disappearing, walking on water, flying” and perceiving past lives.
commentators (e.g. v. taimni) stress these siddhis have indeed “been exercised by people in practically all ages”. classical Indian texts assert that deep samādhi (meditative absorption) can let one bend nature, effectively manifesting miracles.
in hinduism, beyond the vedas, the upanishads and bhagavad gītā teach that the ultimate reality is pure consciousness and that aligning one’s will with that reality yields results.
saints like sri ramakrishna (1836–1886) and paramahansa yogananda (1893–1952) described yogic feats. yogananda, for instance, claimed to have witnessed his guru, swami pranabananda, perform a miracle via astral projection—a modern testimony that yogic power can transcend space.
buddhism too speaks of psychic faculties (abhinñā) attainable through deep meditation. The pāli canon (buddha’s discourses) lists “six superknowledges,” including mind-reading, past-life recall, and flying. many later buddhist adepts, especially in tibet and japan, were said to master such powers.
stories of milarepa (11th c. tibetan yogi) tell of him flying through the air or calling storms. and in japan, esoteric buddhist monks (shugendō practitioners) believed that austerities on mountains enabled them to control the elements.
chinese taoism and alchemy.
from the han dynasty on, taoist alchemists sought immortality by purifying body and spirit. the cantong qi (4th century) describes refining the “three treasures”, jing, qi, shen, to align the human microcosm with the universe. practitioners ingested elixirs made of refined cinnabar (mercury sulfide) or gold, believing this would grant eternal life. they treated the body as a laboratory: by internal visualization and herbal concoctions, they aimed to transform physical matter and one’s fate. classical taoism distinguishes the philosophical path (daojia) from the popular, magical side (daojiao) focused on these alchemical “life-force” techniques.
in later centuries, chinese qigong masters also demonstrated feats like levitation or mind-over-matter, though often kept secret. modern taoists note that these siddhis were not ends in themselves but byproducts of spiritual discipline.
nevertheless, extremely cool.
ancient greece and rome: hermeticism and magical papyri
In the greco-roman world, philosophical and magical traditions centered on the idea that gods and spirits could be petitioned or harnessed to affect reality.
from about… say, 100 BCE to 400 CE, egypt’s greek magical papyri offered spells and rituals for every purpose. love, wealth, healing, protection, you name it. a quote from a historian, “these papyri were used by magicians, priests, [and] mystics for the direct purpose of influencing reality, and therefore manifesting”.
the orphic and hermetic writings contained invocations; each orphic hymn ends with an appeal meant to draw down divine power, akin to a prayer of manifestation.
devotees would even bury lead tablets inscribed with wishes, a technique mirroring today’s vision boards or scripting, to bring their desires to life.
mediterranean philosophy also flirted with these ideas. ouuuu!!!
neoplatonism (3rd–5th centuries CE) taught that “the one” or “the good” could be called upon through ritual, thus “working with the gods and goddesses”. whether zeus, asclepius or hermes, was seen as a form of manifesting reality by aligning with higher powers. some emperors and elites even employed personal “incantation masters.”
in rome, pliny the elder (1st century CE) records magical cures and spells. more concretely, people paid vendors for love potions or curses in the colosseum.
christianity and medieval europe.
believe it or not, medieval christian tradition also contains many accounts of miracles and mystical powers.
saints and holy people were routinely attributed abilities that defy physical laws, my favorite example being st. joseph of cupertino (1603–1663), a simple italian franciscan friar became famous for levitating during prayer. reports say joseph would “rise and float” during mass so dramatically that crowds claimed he was “the man who could fly.” he was eventually canonized as a saint, and even today is venerated as the patron of astronauts and aviation for this very reason.
other medieval miracles include bilocation (being seen in two places at once.. sound familiar?), prophecy or instant healing at shrines. the kabbalistic tradition (judaism) and the christian hermetic / neoplatonic currents also taught that pure thought and prayer could influence reality.
renaissance occultists like paracelsus (1493–1541) invoked astrological and angelic forces in medicine and alchemy.
giordano bruno (1548–1600) famously claimed a living universe in which mind and matter interpenetrate. john dee (1527–1608), advisor to queen elizabeth I, spent years in occult study and “angel magic,” believing he could make contact with higher intelligences.
renaissance to modern occult and new thought.
the 16th–19th centuries saw a renewed focus on the mind’s power in the west as renaissance magicians like cornelius agrippa (1486–1535) wrote grimoires and spellbooks and revived hermetic ideas.
the protestant mystics (jacob boehme, etc.) and rosicrucians spoke of an inner christ consciousness capable of miracles, which was the same idea neville goddard had.
concurrent with occultism was the new thought movement (late 1800s USA), i have an entire post on this! but in short, this directly anticipated today’s “law of attraction”.
20th century, spiritualism and self help extended these ideas. famous mind-power teachers (napoleon hill, norman vincent peale, now rhonda byrne’s “the secret”) popularized the notion that thinking certain thoughts or feeling certain ways will attract matching outcomes.
today, manifesting is mainstream in some circles.
the secret (2006) sold over 30 million copies and celebrities like oprah winfrey have endorsed it.
searches for “manifesting” exploded by 600% during the 2020 pandemic. which is where the argument that this, something that was once esoteric is now often packaged as “false”.
though the history i gave isn’t quite similar to current manifestation, or may not align with what you believe—realize it is all the same.
people have belief in something —> they experience it.
