We just celebrated bringing in a New Year, with many people creating ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ by writing down goals and wishes. Once a year, birthday candles flicker as magical invitations to make wishes on. We may blow dandelion thistles into the wind, look at the sky and wish upon a star, set New Moon intentions every month, and even wish on the setting sun.
But what does it mean to wish?
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “wish” is both a verb (to desire for something) and a noun (an expressed will or desire). It’s a continuous loop! When you desire something (verb), your desire is expressed and manifested (noun). And when your wish is manifested, then you create new wishes, and the cycle continues.
Wishing is a ritual in which we engage our heart centers, our spirit, and give something to the universe in ceremony to receive a desired outcome. Giving something to the universe could mean giving our 100% focused attention in meditation, acts of service, food, clothing, money, etc.
Here are just a few examples of how people around the world practice the ritual of wishing.
- Throwing coins in the Trevi Wishing Fountain in Italy.
- The Massai in East Africa spits on another person as a blessing, bestowing a part of their essence to wish them a good life.
- In Chinese culture, Feng Shui, animals, numbers, and gems are all used to manifest good luck and keep away evil entities.
- Kissing the Blarney Stone in Ireland as a wish to receive "the ability to deceive without offending".
- The Hawaiian tradition of placing Leis on visitors, who then throw them into the ocean as their boats sailed away with the wish to return to the island soon.
- Clootie Wells in the UK and Ireland whereby people dip a cloth into a pool of water and tie it to an adjacent tree wishing for health.
- Australian Aborigines view Dreamtime as the past, present, and future existing simultaneously. Dreamtime and we are eternal.
- Lighting candles as prayers and wishes to Catholic Patron Saints.
But what if none of these wishing rituals resonate with you and you want to create your own?
Great! This is what I love about Wishbeads - empowering yourself to explore your own spiritual ceremonies around wishing, even if it’s just making tiny shifts to focus on what makes you smile, what music makes you dance, or getting excited about how many green lights you see in a day. Essentially, it’s all about getting your creative juices flowing and following your bliss!
In The Bowl of Light by Dr. Hank Wesselman, Hawaiian Shaman Kahuna Hale Makua describes the relationship between empowered manifesting and spirituality:
“Mana is a personal creative force that is manifested within the individual and that can flow out into the world. And the more mana people possess, the more they can accomplish-and create…. In order to accomplish this creative act using our creative energy--our mana--, another element is required: our focused attention, our mākia. This involves our consciousness focusing upon the unformed aka [the primordial “stuff” out of which everything in the universe is made] essence of everything that we see as well as that we don’t see….This word mana reveals that spirituality is not a noun...Spirituality is a verb, a process that we must experience directly in order to know it. And when we do, everything changes, because it is then that we become truly empowered.”
So, the more you’re laser-focused on creativity, the more empowered you’ll be, and the more wishes are manifested!
Then there’s the question of time and space. When we make a wish, some are fulfilled immediately, while others take time. Some wishes come true exactly how we envisioned them, while others take us on a wild ride, fulfilling the root of the issue of what we needed in a much better way that didn’t even occur to us. So, when you wish, but open to the journey and you may just receive something better than you ever imagined.
You know the saying “you are what you eat”? Well, you are what you wish.
As Shakespeare wisely wrote in King Lear, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” If we do not like an aspect of our lives, it is not enough merely to wish it to be different. We have to intentionally and spiritually practice creating the life we wish.