On TikTok, a young woman is claiming that she’s “done gatekeeping”. She wants to tell us the one affirmation she uses to make “hella money”. In typically self-assured style, she reels off a single sentence, one she claims has been answered over and over again by the universe. “I get paid to exist,” she says. “My existence pays for itself.” Nearly 150,000 people have liked it. Among an array of adulatory comments, one less impressed take cuts through: “You have 1.9 million followers, of course you get paid to exist”.
The subtle art of achieving health, wealth, happiness and your deepest desires simply by willing them into existence – otherwise known as “manifestation” – is all the rage. Particularly when it comes to conjuring cash. And quickly. Can’t pay your rent, or afford a holiday? According to the “manifestation coaches” of TikTok, all you need to do is chant “money comes to me easily, money comes to me fast,” while blowing cinnamon over the threshold of your front door. Or you could wrap a tenner around a cinnamon stick and carry it around in your wallet. When it comes to manifestation techniques, the options seem almost endless. Indeed, the hashtag #moneymanifestations has clocked up over 125 million views, while #moneyaffirmations has gained 40 million views and counting. To put it in perspective, that’s roughly the population of California, or more than half the population of the entire UK. Whichever way you look at it, that’s a lot of people trying to get rich by harnessing the vast, unknowable abundance of the universe using just the power of their minds. And occasionally a selection of aromatic condiments.
