gorgeous gorgeous girls are *manifesting*
& gorgeous gorgeous girls are speaking things into existence
It’s February, so let’s manifest some shit into existence, amiright?
I’ve maneuvered myself onto WitchTok as well as ImposterSyndromeTok and so I get a lot of content directed at me now about manifesting what you want in life. Speaking what I desire out into the universe or writing it down in a journal so that it can happen one day—somehow, someway.
I’ve lost myself more times than I can count in these stories: the woman who loved to make playlists and found a way to make money doing it; the woman who can retire early due to her financial investment savvy; the woman who came out as queer and has built the community and partnership for herself that she’s always desired.
It’s mesmerizing stuff, and makes me want to shout every big dream I’ve had out into the universe. I WILL PUBLISH A BOOK. I WILL FIND A BIGGER APARTMENT. I WILL MAKE FRIENDS WITH SOHLA EL-WAYLLY AND WE’LL LOVE EACH OTHER FOREVER.
I’ve never been one for manifestation. This could be blamed on a childhood full of JINX, YOU OWE ME A SODA when someone said something at the exact same time another person said it. Speaking something into existence at the same time as someone else was so powerful it required a transaction—ideally, a Coke.
I can connect this back to the same power a jinx can wield when talking about something I want. How often have I said, “I don’t want to jinx it, but…” and then knocked on wood, as if that somehow determined my fate? I am, in the words of Michael Scott, not superstitious but I am a LITTLE stitious. Like somehow, if I said what I wanted at the same time the universe and I were both trying to make it happen I’d somehow not get it, and instead owe some weird metaphysical debt?
There’s something magical about speaking what you want into existence, something altogether powerful. I think there’s a reason witches were, and are, so feared. I mean, what are spells if not speaking what you want into existence? And I can make it make sense: post-2016, witches have become the zeitgeist-y supernatural entity. What better time than the Trump era to speak—no, demand—what we want and make it come true.
As with all things witchy, there’s misogyny involved. Men don’t tend to have an issue saying what they want, or rather, they aren’t conditioned NOT to want. Women, however, are always asked to make themselves smaller. Wanting takes up space, and it is therefore seen as greedy. Spells are expectation: a sprouting of the self and a sprouting of desire.
A few years ago, I got my first tarot set. I’m far from an expert at it—my journey with them has been slow-going. But what attracted me to tarot is that each card is an archetype: the major arcana as figures in your life (or who will come into your life), the ability to read into the suits and illustrations for meaning, the death card as an ending rather than actual death, etc.
I don’t really give readings for other people, but I do pull cards for myself when I’m feeling stuck. Tarot cards don’t tell the future: instead they allow you to ask yourself better, more pointed questions about what it is you want. What is serving me? What is not? What or who could I be more open to? Where might I draw a boundary? And for me that’s powerful, and far easier than merely manifesting without a structure.
Why is it hard to commit to manifestation? Why does it feel scary, even when I am alone with a mirror, with no one else listening? Manifesting can certainly be powerful, but not necessarily because anything changes because of it. No, the only change that occurs is the alchemy of speaking something aloud that’s never been spoken before.
But let’s bring it back to TikTok, WitchTok, and the like. There’s a meme going around right now in which women recite things like “Gorgeous gorgeous girls eat their pasta with a spoon,” “Gorgeous gorgeous girls walk into a meeting ten minutes late with a giant iced latte in their hand,” “Gorgeous gorgeous girls don’t change their bedsheets for months",” typically followed by a string of unrelated and/or weird and/or quirky actions. It’s cheesy and silly and profoundly mundane but it actually does sound like a manifestation or even a spell (albeit a spell out of my new fave show Yellowjackets which will likely be the subject of its own newsletter at some point). This meme lets us celebrate the bizarre shit we do on a day to day basis and counters it with a collective manifestation: we are all, indeed, gorgeous gorgeous girls.
If we could just call ourselves “gorgeous gorgeous girls” maybe we might have an easier time asking for what we want, or at least speaking what we need into the universe. That’s likely a FAR too earnest and pollyanna-ish take on it, BUT maybe there’s the tiniest hint of truth within it—spells and manifestations have to start somewhere. So why not a ridiculous meme? Why not gorgeous gorgeous girls?
Gorgeous gorgeous girls are on the up. Gorgeous gorgeous girls are making a home for themselves, a career for themselves, making boundaries for themselves. Gorgeous gorgeous girls are making decisions on their own timelines. Gorgeous gorgeous girls are carving out space for rest. Gorgeous gorgeous girls know that magic is in what something like tarot can provide for you, and not what other people may think.
And gorgeous gorgeous girls always know that speaking their truth is just another bit of spell-casting at their disposal.