Ok, I will bite. New Agers have many beliefs and perspectives I definitely don't
agree with. That being said, some of their techniques and practices will work if you use them in a
realistic manner. I have a list of things that I found worked when I tried them.
Manifestation and the Vision Board: You don't have to do this with LOA (Law of Attraction) because I actually find LOA to be victim blaming which can be
unhealthy. However, having a vision board with realistic goals such as
"I will have a dream vacation" can be very psychologically rewarding. I think it can reprogram or redirect our brains to focus on the goals we want. I digitalized my vision board on my phone and in spite of some of the depression I had (I started this when I had cancer) I remember this being one of the daily things I did when I awoke, and it helped me psychologically to focus on my goals in a
positive manner. (I had trouble being positive because I was terminal, poor, and most of my family was not supporting me much.) I typically chanted and even though I am not a Buddhist, I really like using chants such as the Lotus sutra to manifest. As opposed to saying "dream vacation" over and over aloud or to myself. I feel like how one chants doesn't matter, use whatever is comfortable to you.
If I don't get everything I want from it, it doesn't actually matter to me. I feel better on a psychological level. So, I get something out of it that helps me either way.
Crystals: Yeah, I know. It's
unpopular opinion time! Crystals work if you don't rely on them as like a primary source. Let's say you wanna do some healing, you can do a spell with crystals with that. But you still go to that doctor's appointment. You don't use crystals as a supplement vs modern medicine. I typically use them in my candle magic and regular practices as a tool much like wands or athames. I love them! They really add to my spells.
Positive Thinking: Again, sounds like bs, huh? You have probably ran into a
toxically positive New Ager. But again, if you use this realistically, it actually can help you in life. I actually use to be against this kind of thing. Thought it was shenanigans. Until I met a math teacher who forced us to do this PT crap as a part of class. She made us write "we will pass this class" along with other affirmations that were realistic. (This was remedial math, btw.) I had strong skepticism. Was fairly doubtful the whole way through. Did it anyway and.... after failing that same course 4 times, I did actually pass. So, now I believe that PT it can actually work, even if you are a big honking skeptic like I was.
Hypnosis: This is a NA thing that has not be talked about in decades, but there is solid evidence on a scientific level that hypnosis works. Just to give you an idea, this is an
. It's actually hilarious how this became so scientifically valid that it was dropped by New Agers for some reason? I have no idea why because it would have gave them more credibility.
Shadow Working: I did this by accident when crafting my magic. But "shadow working" gives NA stuff a bit of an edge. Shadow working means dealing with your
negative emotions. This can be more like what you see in Buddhist meditations about reactions to extreme ones like using your emotions in rituals/spells. There's so much variation with this, it is probably better if people experimented to see what fits. Some like the model of being aware of these emotions but letting them be, not even acting on them. Others, like myself, my prefer to "work with" our negative emotions, so to speak, and use it in spell work.
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