Art and Manifestation

In recent years I discovered that there is a belief that art can manifest things into being. I’ve read that this is also possible with writing. The Scottish graphic novelist Grant Morrison, in interviews, mentioned that he would find himself in the same kind of strange situations he would write about in his comic books shortly after penning them and putting them out into the world. It could be argued that some of these situations may have become self fulfilling prophecies. An example would be if you wrote about being out in the Mohave Desert and getting into trouble with a bunch of scorpions and after writing about it, flew out to the Mohave, wandered around for a few days and got stung by a scorpion. Naturally if you put yourself in that position it’s more likely to happen. If you wrote a fictional story about yourself winning the lottery, there’s obviously more chance of your “fiction” manifesting in real life if you bought a lottery ticket. In some ways these instances could be explained away as slightly self fulfilling, but there are other times when it seems we can say something out loud, write something, or even draw something and eventually it happens without really intending it to happen.

It reminds me of something the writer David Icke has said on occasion “Energy flows where attention goes”. I’m not sure if that’s his quote or if he borrowed it, but I think there could be something to that. I’m still not 100 percent sure how much I believe in it, and whether these things are “coincidence”. I know there are many who say there is no such thing as coincidence.
 
I’ll tell you a few personal stories that relate to this in my own life. For a few years I’ve held an interest in maps. I can pinpoint roughly around the time the interest in maps appeared. It was about 12 years ago when I first set foot on U.S soil.

The model Mayflower Ship in Plymouth Massachusetts, (Photo by James)

I know that sounds bizarre, but thoughts of Leif Erikson, Erik the Red and Columbus came to me and I wondered about the natives that lived there. I thought about the pilgrims who first stepped foot off the Mayflower. I went to the Appalachian festival and met people who lived in or around the mountains. That carried through to the next year, when I visited the U.S again. This time I was on a plane flight home from the U.S and I was flying over Greenland. Seeing the snow peaked mountains in the distance, all the way to the southern coast where you saw icebergs floating around in the sea surrounding it.

Greenland as seen from above (Photo by James)

It was a great scene, and from there I naturally thought about the people that lived there, which lead me onto the Vikings. Then I thought again about what it would have been like to explore these countries without travelling 400 mph through the sky. Instead of the 9 hour flight I was now used to between Ireland and the U.S, what would it feel like for the Irish travellers making their way to New York and Boston from Ireland during the potato famine? I bought books on exploration, including a huge book on the old maps from the exploration era; amazing maps created during the time the Europeans discovered the North American continent, the Australian continent and so on.

About 2 years later I drew a self portrait of myself studying a map of Ireland and the UK. It was more a representation of the fact that a lot of my communications with people happened to be through the internet and the frustration that comes with that as a young person. (continued below)

A "self portrait" of sorts on the left, and sketching out my very first map for my local town

It would be a further six years later before I got a call from Art Ward, a member of my local town’s community group. Art asked if I would be interested in applying to illustrate the town map. So I applied and got the job. Now the town map can be seen throughout the town in four outdoor areas and also inside the tourist centre. The map can also be found inside the brochure which is available in many places throughout town. Some years there are close to a million visitors visiting the area from all around the world, and you can imagine it gives me great happiness to see foreigners using my illustrated map.

Did all of this come about from my interest in maps and that I drew myself studying one? Is it just a coincidence? I don’t know. I can't claim there is anything mysterious to it. What I can tell you with truthfulness is that I had never put my artwork out there in regards to anything “map” related. Granted, Art, who is now my friend, happened to see a few Leprechaun postcards I’d illustrated in the local shops, but a few whiskey drinking leprechauns is quite a different thing altogether than planning out an illustrated town map. He didn’t even know I had an interest in maps. From the map in my hometown, I went on to illustrate a few more maps for other towns and groups.

Three of Pentacles from the Twisted Tarot Tales horror comic deck. The Artist draws and manifests a monster

The sceptic in me reminds me that I have drawn thousands of illustrations over the years, and of many diverse things. I’ve drawn cities, trees, cowboys, cats, dogs, robots, monsters, knights and maidens, fire, water, sea and sky. Hey, I’m about to draw a few Chinese Christmas decorations tonight. As an artist working from a script or on the advice of your co partner, or from a client’s plans, you will find yourself drawing things you never thought you’d draw. I think to myself; If I’ve drawn all these thousands of illustrations of such diverse things, wouldn’t they have manifested things into real life too? I mean, couldn’t it be argued that if I drew millions of dollars, then I would manifest millions of dollars into my life? I am still at that stage where I think there is “something” to this stuff, but not too sure exactly what. For example when I was younger I dreamed that my artwork would be found from Japan all the way to California. I envisioned people from Japan and California looking at my work and being inspired. It sounds like a lofty goal, but depending on which way you look at it, it has more or less came true.

We’ve had Japanese customers, and we’ve had customers from California buying our tarot decks, and Japanese and American tourists have picked up our illustrated town brochures here in Ireland. Without an exaggeration I can say my artwork has travelled to or been seen by people from the four corners of the earth.

The next strange thing to happen was the following. As family members often do, they’ll ask you if you’re working on any new projects, or what you’re currently working on now. This particular family member was not impressed that I had been working on a tarot deck, which I completely understand. From a religious perspective, most tarotists already know that most Christians do not look too kindly on anything tarot related, and this family member was very interested in working his way up in the church. Knowing this, and knowing his reaction from the first deck, I didn’t think there was much point in mentioning something that you know beforehand is going to annoy them. At the time I was working on the second Tarot deck, Simply Deep, and I knew that by my mentioning work on a second deck, it would ruin the mood. Who wants to ruin the mood at a family get together if they can avoid it? So I did what anyone would do in that situation who wasn’t really working on anything other than the thing they can’t mention…I told him I was working on a children’s book for someone in Rhode Island. It was a lie of course, and yes, part of me feels bad about it, but I also didn’t want to say I’m working on nothing. For my family, working on nothing would be as bad as working on a Tarot deck! So why Rhode Island? Why the tiniest state in the U.S? Your guess is as a good as mine.

I didn’t know anything about Rhode Island and chose it randomly. A couple of years later I struck up a friendship with Christine online, who, at the time of the “lie” about the children’s book, I did not know, and flew out to meet her in Rhode Island. Of all the places she could have come from, she came from Rhode Island (Ok so she may have been born in Massachusetts but has lived in a town basically bordering R.I and has spent much of her life around Rhode Island). A coincidence? Possibly.

So what about the children’s book? Well, as strange as this may sound, this year I started doing work for a client who lives in Rhode Island, and who has asked if I would illustrate a few of her children’s books. This lady comes from an area situated about 7 miles from where Christine was living at the time I met her. (both ladies didn’t know each other until when we began working on projects together).

Art and words merge. A "self portrait" of Christine and I before we met. When I was much younger I did not know that there was a whole belief system based on the idea that we can manifest things into our lives through art and writing. Art and writing can be used for meditation and to envision things. Some create "vision boards" for that very purpose.

Again, this may be a coincidence but out of all of the states in the U.S I’ve never worked on a children’s book in any one of them, except for Texas, and that was years before I’d told my little white lie to my family member regarding Rhode Island. It remains to be seen if I actually do illustrate this lady’s children’s books, but I really hope so. If she still wants me to do so, it will be after the project I am currently working on for her.

One of the labels I illustrated for LuckyClover13.com

I think that manifestation is a powerful thing. I am sure that if being able to manifest things like this is “real”, then you will also have manifested things in your life too. These instances may not come to your mind straight away, but if you think about it you might be surprised how many things have happened in your life after some serious thought; things that may have happened that you did not actively strive for. Many of these things that have happened to me have been blessings, but I have not necessarily “earned” them. However maybe earning them is not important. Maybe appreciating them when they come is what it’s all about.
 
When I illustrate the candle labels for LuckyClover13.com I try to visualise the desired outcome of each candle. So for example the “lucky money” labels, I envisioned what it would be like walking down the street and finding a 100 dollar note! For the Prosperity labels, i imagine just that; a prosperous life, not just in a financial sense but having prosperity in love, in life, in happiness too, since these things are as important as being financially secure. I imagine the person wanting to manifest that money and prosperity should probably do the same but I think as the artist, putting good vibes into the image could do no harm.

 
This comes completely by coincidence while writing this article, but over at Luckyclover13.com Jacqueline currently has an offer on all orders over $101.00. Free shipping from now until Thursday. (U.S. and Canadian residents only) Nice!

Since I have yet to manifest that one million dollars, (hey, i'm working on it!) as a freelance artist I am always available for work on your projects.

We would love to hear your thoughts on this. Do you have any personal experiences of manifesting things into your life through song, art, meditation, writing or other? Do you have any tips on how to create the greatest possible manifestations? We'd love to hear from you!