Featured Project #2:
MANIFESTING MAP

VISUALIZATION HAS LONG BEEN an important part of meditation and manifesting. Being able to picture something in your mind is helpful in focusing your intent towards making it come true. Some people are very adept at creating visual pictures in their minds and some find it more difficult to conjure these images up at will.

Whichever type of person you may be, the use of personally chosen visual images and text, viewed regularly and with intent, can help you to bring your heart's desires to life. I have used this technique myself with excellent results. But the first time I did it, I had no idea what a powerful tool it actually was and added images that I hadn't made specific, nor was I aware that I needed to spend time with my manifestation map.

Several years later I found my map tucked behind a chair and saw the "unassigned" images and instantly knew where those had come to fruition in my life. It wasn't the way I would have planned it but it was OK. Now, whenever I create a manifesting map, I take time to really think about what I want to make happen and make the images and text as clear and specific as possible. I also use the principles of feng shui and treat my map like a room or home, aligning my images and text with the areas of placement featured in the Bagua. The Bagua is a sectioned diagram used by feng shui practitioners to guide placement of objects in order to affect different areas or aspects of life.

The Bagua

You can create manifesting maps for a specific purpose or for a long term set of goals. For example, if you wanted a certain kind of new car you would look for as many images of the car as you can, along with text outlining all of its benefits and advantages. You'd find a picture of yourself and cut the head and shoulders out and fit yourself into the driver's seat of the car. In the money area of the Bagua you might put in a mock title showing that you own the car outright. In the 'helpful people and friends' corner, you might put pictures of your friends sitting in or gathered around your new car. In the 'family' area, love and romance section and other areas, you would find ways to depict yourself and the associated people or things involved with this particular vehicle. Any text (maybe written in colored markers or glitter pen), a date by which time you must have the car, appropriate crystals, or other things that visually stimulate you can be added to your manifesting map. Then you would keep the map in a private spot, where you could look at it several times a day, and imagine yourself enjoying your new car. You would also send light and love from your heart to the images on the map, letting the universe know that this is something you truly desire.

The Bagua is also helpful for creating a map of your long term goals, as you could place images and text representing all the things you want in each of the eight areas relating to the different areas of life such as home, career, future, relationships, etc. You could also use the colors associated with the areas of the Bagua to boost the energy of your manifestations. Wherever possible, include real images of yourself in the picture, as this increases the power of your visualization. Once it is finished, place it somewhere that you're sure to see it often as a reminder of all that you wish to create in your life.

Making Your Own Manifesting Map

Creating your own manifesting map is fun and easy and doesn't require expensive supplies. All it takes is a little time and effort browsing through magazines or searching the Internet for pictorial representations of the things you wish to manifest in your life. After that, it's a simple matter of sitting down with all your pictures and choosing where to place each color, image, and piece of text.

You will need:

• One 12" x 12" (30 x 30 cm) square of white cardboard, illustration board, or foam core board
• One 2" to 3" (5 x 7 cm) picture or printout of the Earth (to ground your wishes into the real world) that you can cut out and glue to your manifesting map
• Pictures and words cut out from newspapers, magazines or printed on your computer
• Personal photographs that you can use to cut out faces or bodies of family, friends and pets
• Colored pencils, pens and markers
• Ruler
• Glue stick for paper items and or household cement for charms, crystals, etc.
• Crystals, oils, glitter, anything that will help you put the highest focus on your manifestation

1. On your square of illustration board use a ruler or yardstick to draw lines from corner to corner diagonally and also from the centers of the top to bottom and from side to side to create a grid.
    
2. Glue your picture of the Earth in the very center of the board, where the lines converge. The Earth is the source of all of the things you want to bring into your life, and placing an image of the Earth in the center of your manifesting map provides a focus for your intention and a reminder that you are grounding your dreams into reality.
    
   
    
3. Begin gluing pictures and text into the areas on the board that correspond to the appropriate areas of the Bagua. Use your imagination to add other visually stimulating items such as crystals, charms, rune symbols, glitter, etc. Oils may be added, if you wish, but use them sparingly so as not to damage other elements on the map. Use the image of the Bagua, shown earlier, to help you.

Working with Your Manifesting Map
Once you feel you have your board completed, cleanse and clear it with sage or incense smoke or with your breath. Then find a quiet spot and sit with your manifesting map. Look at each part of it and imagine already having the things you are depicting. See those things, feel them, touch them, smell them, taste them, as if they were already real. Imagine yourself in the very situations you are attracting and feel how wonderful it is to have those things in your life.

Once you have built your own energy up through your emotions and senses, begin to imagine that the lines on the grid are made of light and are pulsing with universal light energy, sending out your signals to the universe to be brought back to you in full. Imagine the lines extending forever in every direction including above and below your map. Then allow the light to grow even more, to extend outside the lines and to fill the map completely.

When you feel you are ready say a short prayer or say something like:

Let all these things that I call for,
or something even better, come to pass
with ease, grace, peace, joy and laughter.

It is my intent that the manifestation of these
things be in the highest good and harm none.

And so it is. And so it is. And so it is.
It is done.

Place your activated manifesting grid in a spot where you will be able to see it each day but where it will not be seen or handled by others. Some people keep theirs in a special drawer at work or in a drawer or cabinet at home where it won't be disturbed. Find time as frequently as possible to look at your manifesting map and imagine enjoying all of the things depicted on it that you are attracting to you. Every time you pass by it, even during those times it is hidden from your view, send it light and love from your heart.

Keep an open mind and awareness of how things you have outlined in your manifesting map have come to pass. It is always a good idea to take stock every few months and note down any progress that has been made in each area. If one area of your map appears to need extra support you might even make another special map that focuses on that particular goal.

There is no limit to the number or types of manifesting maps you can create. Some people save their manifesting maps for years after they have completed their purpose, simply because they enjoyed them so much. Others prefer to burn or otherwise dismantle maps once they have successfully fulfilled their intention. I have been known to make little changes and adjustments to my maps along the way so that one map continues to be usable for a very long time. You can keep, change, or dispose of your manifesting maps in whatever way feels right to you.

Check back next month, as Carol shows us
how to create Power Prayer Beads!

© Carol Holaday, 2009
This craft was excerpted with permission from Crafting a Magical Life: Manifesting Your Heart's Desire Through Creative Projects by Carol Holaday, ©2009, Findhorn Press.

Crafting a Magical Life contains a lot MORE
for you to explore and enjoy... and it is available NOW
from Findhorn Press, Amazon.com, and other major bookstores.

Click on the cover image below to purchase.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carol Holaday was born in Lubbock, TX on February 20th, 1957 and shares her family tree with the sleeping prophet, Edgar Cayce, through her great grandmother Edna Brown. A 1988 graduate of Texas Tech University and certified teacher, artist and writer, Carol has long been interested in the magical aspects of folk craft traditions, particularly those that involve crystals and minerals. Carol has written many articles on the spiritual and magical uses of crystals and stones for the international monthly online magazine, Planetlightworker.com, for which she also writes an exclusive monthly forecast called the Crystal Star Oracle. She lives in San Diego, California where, along with husband Chris, she owns a crystal and magical crafts business called Wisdom Crystals and teaches spiritual and metaphysical classes on a monthly basis. She may be contacted directly at Joysprite@gmail.com.

Visit Carol's website at www.wisdomcrystals.com/ to find out more about her new book, Crafting a Magical Life: Manifesting your Heart's Desire through Creative Projects, published by Findhorn Press in 2009. Purchase Crafting a Magical LIfe now by clicking on the image above.