Can we bring our hopes and dreams to reality? How about manifesting wishes into existence? While science is skeptical that manifesting or “setting intentions” have any effect, many ancient spiritual and folk practices nevertheless exist for these purposes to change external circumstances.
Manifesting was (and still is) used to help “make dreams become reality”, and can sometimes involve the “magical” help and assistance of herbs. That said, can essential oils help you manifest because they contain herbs? Read on to learn the answer and the best essential oils for manifesting.
What is Manifesting?
According to Professor of Philosophy and Senior Lecturer Laura D’Olimpio, writer of a journal article on the topic, manifesting is “the so-called act of willing what you desire into reality through the power of thought and belief.” It is now a popular trend based on a previously very popular similar trend, the Law of Attraction.
Another popular definition of manifesting: “to make something happen by imagining it and consciously thinking it will happen.” While science doesn’t support that manifesting works, nevertheless there are similar traditions— such as prayer, rituals, or spells— that are a mainstay in spiritualities and religions around the world, designed to attract or ensure wealth, safety, good health, love, and more.
Rituals like these, though not supported by physical evidence, are still personally and culturally important: for empowering people during times of hardship, strengthening communities, celebrating traditions or history, and promoting resilience. Manifesting could be considered a modern-day spiritual ritual in the same vein.¹
Can Essential Oils Help with Manifesting?
Manifesting is very similar to ritual and prayer. In many traditional cultures (and folk or pagan practices), elaborate rituals could incorporate natural items, herbs, and even certain words, movements, or dances to promote an outcome or effect on the outside world.
Around the globe— and out of all these listed elements—herbs are the most common and popular components included in manifesting-like rituals. Experts believe this may be because herbs themselves have their own pharmacological properties.²
Today, most people don’t have easy access to herbs popularly used in rituals. On the other hand, these same herbs and their properties can be found as ingredients in prevalent essential oil brands and blends. People who use rituals for manifesting are now turning to essential oils instead of fresh or dried herbs: they’re more accessible, affordable, and even less messy for use in manifesting rituals, spells, or similar.
Top Essential Oils for Manifesting
Many popular ritual, prayer, spell work, or manifesting herbs can be found in essential oil form, and have many different potential manifesting purposes.³ Essential oils for manifesting can include:
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Angelica Essential Oil (Angelica archangelica)
Angelica essential oil has a pleasant licorice-like scent, and is connected to many spiritual uses in cultures around the world. It’s classically used for protection, healing, boosting artistic creativity (connection to “spirit world”), and attracting love from someone you’ve lost or from your past.
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Basil Essential Oil (Ocimum basilicum)
This Italian herb was historically associated with wealth, money, and raising up good career luck—maybe due to the vibrant green color of its leaves. It could also be used in manifesting rituals for love, and it does have herbal healing uses that relate to the heart.
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Blackberry Essential Oil (Rubus fruticosus)
Blackberry is thought to boost general protection—maybe due to its thorny brambles, and could even keep away nightmares. But because it also produces sweet and nourishing berries, it is also associated with wealth, encouraging good health, and healing. It’s used in herbal healing for intense digestive illnesses.
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Caraway Essential Oil (Carum carvi)
If you want to attract a good and faithful lover, go with caraway or add it to your manifestation rituals or blends. It may also provide protection against enemies, thieving or stealing, and boosting financial blessings while bringing robust health. In herbalism, caraway can help support digestion.
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Chamomile Essential Oil (Matricaria recutitia / Anthemus nobilis)
This gentle flower can calm the mind, body, and soul while bringing good dreams—especially for children, but works for adults, too (while some say it helps prevent nightmares). It could also help attract more financial blessings and better love into your life.
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Feverfew Essential Oil (Chrysanthemum parthenium)
About to go on a trip or a vacation? Feverfew is thought to bring good luck to wanderers and those about to travel, and could manifest good vibes for your holiday or vacation. It could also attract an abundance of good health—in herbal medicine, feverfew is used to help migraines.
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Garlic Essential Oil (Allium sativum)
It may be pungent and strong-smelling, but garlic is considered a serious ally for manifesting protection: for yourself, your family, and your home. In tradition, there is good reason it’s associated with keeping vampires away! It may also help manifest strength during hard times.
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Ginger Essential Oil (Zingiber officinale)
Ginger was (and still is) used in rituals, practices, and prayers across many Asian countries and cultures. It is often associated with manifesting love, protection, good health, and better confidence—in herbal healing has been widely used to support coughs, colds, digestive upset, nausea, and inflammation.⁴
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Lemon Essential Oil (Citrus limon)
The fragrance of lemon certainly adds ambience to any room or space, and can help you focus most of all. When using it in rituals, it may also confer protection, positivity, love, energetic cleansing (of both body and home), and even stoking up romance and passion while you manifest.
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Mint Essential Oil (Mentha spp.)
Whether it’s peppermint or spearmint, use these aromatic cooling herbs to stoke up wishes for love, fertility, a new child, stronger family relationships, and bringing new customers to your business! There is some association with mints and wealth for manifestation— it could be due to their striking green colors.
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Rose Essential Oil (Rosa spp.)
Rose’s aromatic scent could help you manifest stronger, better friendships and relationships of all kinds— plus more love, happiness, and peace overall. Its calming and gentle fragrance may also put you in the right ambience or mindset for setting intentions and believing in more possibilities.
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Rosemary Essential Oil (Rosmarinus officinalis)
It’s a good idea to add rosemary to your rituals— especially if you seek more protection, better nighttime dreams, good health, and positivity in your life. Rosemary is also called the “herb of remembrance” and is very stimulating; its properties may help you focus and get in a sharper mindset to envision your goals, hopes, and dreams in any setting.
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Sage Essential Oil (Salvia spp.)
Whether it’s garden sage, clary sage, or any other sage variety, these calming herbs are beneficial to ramp up general protection and cleansing of the body, or even one’s physical setting; along with boosting better physical and emotional health. As the classic “smudging” herb in many cultures, it’s a top choice for protection, clearing negativity, and warding off illness.
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Thyme Essential Oil (Thymus spp.)
It’s time to introduce thyme (pun intended) to manifestation rituals, especially if your goals are: better nighttime dreams (and getting rid of nightmares), financial luck, career luck, and better health and wellness. Thyme is also a top herb for coughs, colds, and flus in traditional healing modalities.
How to Use Essential Oils for Manifesting
People may use essential oils in different ways for manifesting or setting intentions. One popular way is to simply diffuse them— letting the aroma enhance the right mindset, calm you down, add ambience to your ritual, and impart its essence for your purposes.
According to Young Living Essential oils, using safe topical essential oil blends like rollerball products can help you with manifesting your intentions on the go. You can also use an essential oil diffuser necklace for the same purposes.⁵
Best Essential Oil Blends for Manifesting
One herb or oil can bring a lot of power and intention to a manifesting ritual. Using multiple essential oils for manifesting, however, is thought to be even better.
This reflects how herbs were used in traditional prayer or spell rituals throughout time: often, more than one herb was used to increase a certain intention or outcome. For the same purpose for manifesting, here are some certain outcomes and correlating essential oil blends that we suggest:
- For strengthening romance: Combine angelica, ginger, lemon, and rose essential oils to boost your current love life, such as bringing stronger attraction and chemistry into a partnership.
- Attracting new love or manifest love: Combine caraway, chamomile, and mint essential oils if you want to bring new love or romantic prospects into your life, or to boost your dating life through manifestation.
- Manifest money: Combine basil, blackberry, caraway, and thyme essential oils in order to manifest more money or financial success in your life—while picturing more money flowing your way!
- For protection: Combine rosemary, sage, thyme, and lemon essential oils for protecting your body, space, and energies—or to cleanse them of negative energies. Diffuse in your home for protection, or apply topically (using safe approaches) to protect the body. (If you’re bold, add garlic essential oil or use it alone for your manifesting!)
- Manifest health: Combine blackberry, feverfew, ginger, and sage essential oils to manifest stronger and better health, or to bring your focus to healing a certain ailment.
Other Tips for Manifesting
Besides herbs and essential oils for manifesting, here are some other tips to help focus your intentions and bring up your manifesting energy:
Build up self-confidence. It’s not enough to wish or dream; you must be able to see yourself in the future you desire for yourself, which requires resilience, positivity, and hard work.
Write it down. Whatever goals, dreams, or visions for yourself that you have, writing them down can help— such as in a journal or diary. This can make them seem a lot more real and possible.
Commitment. Don’t give up if your goals or dreams aren’t happening overnight. Rest— don’t quit.
About Adrian White
Adrian White is a certified herbalist, organic farmer, and health, food, and agriculture freelance writer—and upcoming author. She is a past contributor to Healthline with bylines in The Guardian, Civil Eats, and Good Housekeeping. Adrian is also the co-owner and operator of Jupiter Ridge LLC, an organic farm growing diverse vegetables, mushrooms and herbs.
Sources:
- D’Olimpio, Laura. “What’s Wrong with Wishful Thinking? “Manifesting” as an Epistemic Vice.” Educational Theory (2024).
- Quiroz, D., M. Sosef, T. van Andel. “Why ritual plant use has ethnopharmacological relevance.” Journal of Ethnopharmacology Vol. 188 (2016): 48-56.
- “Herbal Grimoire.” The Gypsy Haven Online Store. TheGypsyHaven.com
- Rhathore, Bawana. “13 Ways To Use Ginger For Good Luck + Money In Feng Shui.” Medium. KnifesForks.Medium.Com
- “Manifestation Essential Oils for the New Year.” Young Living Essential Oils. YoungLiving.com
- Davis, Tchiki (Ph.D). “4 Science-Based Tips to Manifest Your Dreams.” Psychology Today. PsychologyToday.com
