A cosmic window opened for two minutes on Wednesday — 11:11 a.m. and p.m. on 11/11 — according to wellness influencers.
That morning, my colleagues and I were sitting in the bland white light of our office. We debated which slop bowl to eat for lunch, complained about the shortening days and shook off our coats, wet from the rainwater sluicing outside. Then, as the magic hour approached, the group chats fired up. “The portal is opening,” one reporter wrote. “Are you ready?”
It was all a joke — sort of. Our social media algorithms constantly showcase hot influencers telling us how to optimize our lives. Nov. 11 has become something like the spiritual-if-not-quite-religious omniholiday, a singular opportunity for every dream to come true. And in the middle of a dreary fall day, that promise appealed to even my most skeptical colleagues.
It’s a New Age idea with roots in numerology, the ancient belief that numbers carry mystical significance. Some call 1111 an “angel number,” which can give support from unseen forces. As a result, the date (11/11) and time (11:11) are seen as moments of special alignment with the universe. That’s morphed into a widespread superstition — like puffing a dandelion or skirting a ladder — of making a wish whenever 11:11 appears on the clock. Now influencers promote the day itself as an especially potent “manifestation portal.” Bear with me.
Manifestation is the idea that meditating on your hopes and dreams helps them come true. Dua Lipa said she manifested headlining Glastonbury. Simone Biles credits it for her gold medals. “Manifest” was the Cambridge Dictionary word of the year in 2024. TikTok hosts more than 110 million posts on manifesting. And a 2023 study from the University of Queensland found that a third of people surveyed believed in the idea.
Origin story
In mid-19th-century Maine, a clockmaker and mesmerist (cool word!) named Phineas Quimby began teaching that the mind could heal the body. His philosophy became known as New Thought.
It was a reaction, the author Barbara Ehrenreich wrote, to the punitive, sin-obsessed God of Calvinism. The idea influenced the development of Christian Science, which teaches that illness can be healed through prayer.
But as modern medicine advanced, New Thought’s focus shifted from health to wealth. The right mind-set, believers argued, could bring not just physical but also material success. That was a precursor to the prosperity gospel, as the Duke historian Kate Bowler has noted.
The idea persisted into the 20th century, appearing in “The Power of Positive Thinking,” the 1952 best seller by Norman Vincent Peale. More recently, Rhonda Byrne’s 2006 self-help book, “The Secret,” outlines the pseudoscientific “law of attraction,” which claims that thought alone can influence one’s life circumstances. It has sold more than 30 million copies. (Oprah was a fan.)
Now, manifestation is a hyper-individualistic, often materialistic social media phenomenon — one that promises success and happiness to those who practice it. “I don’t chase, I attract,” Kendall Jenner has said. Kim Kardashian, who calls herself a “master manifester,” wrote down about 55 characteristics she wanted in her next partner. It seems the F1 driver Lewis Hamilton checked every box.
What the science says
Believe what you want about a portal opening in the universe, or about a benevolent cosmos that wants you to get promoted or married. I really can’t weigh in on that.
Still, know that some neuroscientists say there is evidence for manifesting. Dr. James Doty, a Stanford neurosurgeon, and Dr. Tara Swart, who has taught at M.I.T., argue that it works not because of cosmic alignment but through neural rewiring. Setting clear intentions, visualizing goals, writing them down and believing you can reach them, they say, primes the brain. It helps people seek and seize opportunities. And it can change behaviors.
In a well-known U.C.L.A. study, college freshmen spent a few minutes a day picturing either the process of studying or the payoff of a good grade. Those who pictured the studying actually buckled down, studied more and got better grades.
Manifestation, though, can also lead to fixation and recklessness. For example, women in a weight-loss study at the University of Pennsylvania who fantasized about being thin lost less weight. And in the 2023 Queensland study, people who scored high on belief in manifestation were more likely to be drawn to risky investments and to have gone bankrupt.
So manifesting may be less about wishful thinking at the right minute of the right day. It may be about setting goals, then working hard to make them real.
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