For seven weeks, What We’re Watching is being taken over by the Paley Center’s Teen Transmitters internship cohort! Each week a different pair of students will share their thoughts on the 2021 media landscape along with personalized recommendations. This week we hear from Ankita Das, a rising senior at The Baccalaureate School for Global Education, and Ivy Liu, a rising senior at The Queens School of Inquiry. We hope you enjoy this unique opportunity to hear directly from young voices.

I will not fail my exam… I will have clear skin by the end of this summer… I will get accepted into my dream school… Yes, yes we know you all have probably been there at some point in your life. Especially now with the videos of people on TikTok claiming that they are able to attract what they want by simply writing their wishes down on paper, using a certain audio, or by wearing crystals. But to truly understand the concept of manifestation and the Law of Attraction, we need to know what they are and their proper origins.

Manifesting is the process of envisioning your goal and using the power of your mind to make it a reality. When you manifest something, you gain clarity about what you really want, how you want it to happen, and how it will look. Manifestation is the belief that we can attract what we want into our lives by simply changing our mindset, our feelings, and the vibration that we are emitting. The principles of manifestation, the Law of Attraction, and meditation are all derived from Hinduism, yet they are rarely known outside of India.

Here is a verse from Mundaka Upanishad, a Sanskrit scripture:

“Whatever destinations (loka) and objects of pleasures (kaman) the man, whose mind is free (or cleansed by austerities) from impurities (suddha sattva; nirmala antahkarana; this is to be attained by sadhana), desires (or resolves for), he obtains those destinations and those objects of pleasures.”

These beliefs have been renamed to appeal to a primarily Christian and Western audience, who would regard these behaviors as satanic if they had known that they were Hindu. Some people still call them sorcery or magic, which is really disrespectful. Most people mistakenly attribute concepts like the 3-6-9 manifestation technique to Nikola Tesla. However, Tesla learned it from Hinduism and was a strong believer in cultural appreciation.

Manifestation has a lot to do with the mind and the energy surrounding us. Similarly, astrology is an observational art that examines the planets and the world around us to come to conclusions and possibly even make predictions.

The Sumerians in Mesopotamia were the first ones to start observing the movements of the planet and stars. They identified and recorded star constellations and patterns. The Babylonians then expanded on the Sumerians' research and created the first zodiac wheel, which included twelve signs that corresponded to the twelve months of the year. These early civilizations relied on rhythm within nature's cycles and they hunted, harvested, and migrated with the stars. Over time, scientific and technological advances allowed us to stop relying so heavily on the sky to predict certain patterns. Astrology became a curiosity and a method for gaining more self-awareness, working hand-in-hand with the Law of Attraction to make manifesting more meaningful and powerful by giving us insight into how we should see or feel about certain situations.

Manifestation and astrology are getting very hot in the media, specifically on TikTok. “For You” pages are full of videos like “meet the zodiac signs as dogs” or “how your sign will die” along with video clips of young women and men educating their viewers on how to use the strength of their consciousness to achieve anything they want, which includes, but not limited to: self-love, romantic relationships, good grades, clear skin, etc. The hashtag #manifestation has been viewed over 3 billion times on social media and Gen Z is the prime target.

It's worth noting that the majority of the viewers for these films are young women. Women are more inclined to explore metaphysical answers, such as horoscopes or manifestation, because they are statistically more likely to have an "external locus of control," according to Yohana Desta, film director at Mashable.

We think one of the main reasons why manifestation got its hype on TikTok is because it's a straightforward, simple self-improvement technique that can even be used in conjunction with traditional religion. It's easily integrated into our lives. Most of the time it just requires a pen, paper, and yourself. The only thing it wants from you is for you to believe it works. However, these simple acts of affirming or writing something down promise a lot of things: from getting a dream job to being asked out by your crush. Teens can use manifestation videos to reclaim their trust in the world, or at the very least in themselves. They establish an online environment of reciprocal care, demonstrating to teenagers that they are not alone in their anxieties and that others are rooting for them. The torrent of frenzied chatter is broken up by manifestation videos, which provide periods of calm and encouragement when scrolling through TikTok's "FYP." As a result, these videos address two demands for today's teen: the desire to find some optimism in the face of a tragic world, and the desire to find a respite from the never-ending stream of internet news. Lastly, manifestation videos are different from the typical dance videos on TikTok and everyone likes new content.

TikTok is not a super reliable source to use to learn about the manifestation world, so here are some recommendations to feed your curious minds.

Co-Star - get horoscopes and add friends to see their compatibility

Dreamboard - online vision board app that will help you manifest your desires

The Final Call (2019), available to stream on Netflix/JustWatch

The Last Hour (2021), available to stream on Amazon Prime

The Secret (2006), available to stream on Netflix

The Astrology of You and Me by Gary Goldschneider

The Book of Life by Jiddu Krishnamurti

Dying To Be Me by Anita Moorjani

Get Out Your Own Way by Mark Goulston and Phillip Goldberg

The Power of Awareness by Neville Goddard

The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*CK by Mark Manson

Manifestation Babe with Kathryn Zinkena

Manifest Daily with Dheandra Nicolette

Good luck manifesting,

Photos—First image: Maura Dwyer; Second image: @hothighpriestess

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