we send out a vibration through sound that communicates beyond the self, creating an environment that is aligned with our purpose, bringing the desired result.
The Switchword COPY resonates with Dawkins’s meme theory, as it’s recited to manifest pregnancy – in other words, to continue a genetic lineage. To copy is to replicate; to repeat the word COPY is to continue the replication of cells.
When we repeat Switchwords there’s also a shift in the brain. Our attention shifts from the word to the sound of the word, the meaning then falls away and you have just the vibration. This is known as semantic satiation. Have you noticed that when you look at a word over and over again it begins to appear less meaningful? Run your eye over words you’ve added to a Scrabble board (or cast your mind back to writing 100 lines of ‘I will not talk in class’ at school) and the words seem to melt into a pattern of shapes. They are simply form and sound – vibrational objects. This is why it doesn’t matter if you don’t understand why particular words act as Switches – we do not need to make a link between the semantics and the effect. The effect is created by the sound and feel of the word, which then aligns your energy to manifest your goal.
Switchwords as mantras – the vibration of transformation
The power of words to transform reality through sound vibration is illustrated by mantras (the word ‘mantra’ derives from Sanskrit, a vibrational language, and means ‘instrument of thought’). If we accept the loose definition that a mantra is a melodic pattern of words repeated to bring about a change in consciousness, reciting a mantra aims to create an altered reality. This is an important concept in Switchwording: the idea that spoken words can be transformational, creating an effect outside of the self, is fundamental to the belief that they will work and manifest a chosen desire. Once spoken and repeated as a mantra, a Switchword gains its own momentum. A Sufi saying states, ‘You stop doing the mantra, and the mantra starts doing you.’ In other words, the mantra manifests your intention, and it comes back to you as an experience. Words, thoughts and beliefs, recited with intention, create reality.
Sanskrit scholar Dr Douglas Brooks comments, ‘Sanskrit tells us what Nature shows us. A limited number of rules gives an arbitrarily large number of outcomes. The way Nature goes about its business, Sanskrit goes about its language.’ This reference to ‘a limited number of rules gives an arbitrarily large number of outcomes’ is suggestive of chaos theory and the butterfly effect proposed by the American mathematician and meteorologist Edward Lorenz. The theory, in very simple terms, is that one subtle event in one part of the world can effect a greater change elsewhere. The energy generated by the subtle movement of a butterfly wing potentially results in a tornado on the other side of the world. As a mantra is action and intention, it activates the energy of the universe, which responds in kind, bringing to us an event, a realisation or an experience greater in energy than the energy of the original intention. A single word, repeated, may bring us much more than an echo of the word. It brings us a result that is a tangible expression of our desire.
Why 10, 28 or 108 chants?
You can say a Switchword as a mantra by simply repeating it as often as you like, or you can go for the traditional numbers of chant in mantra, which are 10, 28 or 108. The number 108 is sacred in Vedic philosophy. There are 108 Upanishads, and 108 is the number of steps from the material world to that of the divine in Hindu and Buddhist traditions. There are also 108 names of Shiva, the Hindu destroyer-god, and 108 volumes of the Kangyur (‘The Translation of the Word’), the Tibetan sacred text that is believed to contain the words of the Buddha himself. The popular recitation of mantras 108 or 28 times (among other numbers) may also derive from the sacred Sanskrit Gayatri Mantra, a verse from the hymn of the Rigveda, which dates from around 1500–1200 BCE. The Gayatri Mantra is repeated 10, 18, 28, 108 or 1,000 times for the chanter’s spiritual development and to bring him what he wants in life. Mariasusai Dhavamony in Classical Hinduism explains, ‘It [the Gayatri Mantra] not only serves the purpose of concentrating the mind on the divine object, but also confers on the reciters the “mystical” power and the fulfilment of his desires …’
Why Switchwords succeed where affirmations can fail
The difference between Switchwording and affirmations lies in the part of the brain that they’re designed to address. Switchwords work through sound and feel, which creates a vibration that speaks to the unconscious mind; affirmations work through semantics, or the words’ meanings, which has a direct appeal to the conscious mind. Affirmations use words that exactly match our purpose (‘I am strong, I am successful’), whereas Switchwords reach behind the conscious brain to get to the part that affirmations do not reach. Does our unconscious mind truly believe ‘I am strong, I am successful’ yet? Often, there’s a part of us that’s decrying the affirmation – the cynical ‘Oh yeah’ voice within that’s yet to be convinced that we could be anything other than we are. Also, there’s a scientific reason why our positive, conscious affirmations often don’t get through. According to Mark Waldman and Andrew Newberg MD, ‘The brain barely responds to our positive words and thoughts. They’re not a threat to our survival, so the brain doesn’t need to respond as rapidly as it does to negative thoughts and words.’ The part of the brain that responds to threats to our survival (‘fight or flight’ mode, as it is known) is the amygdala, which plays a role in the unconscious memory. Perhaps the amygdala, the old, reptilian part of the brain, is involved in the response to Switchwords, resulting in a decrease in or deletion of negative memories that can drive our actions and decisions. If we try to manifest what we want in life when old memories and beliefs oppose our conscious willingness, it’s likely that our wishes won’t produce results. Switchwords align us so that we can manifest. This is why TOGETHER is the master Switchword (see here), because it brings us into perfect alignment within ourselves and attunes us to the universe.
Because Switchwords are not literal, they slip under the radar of the conscious mind without revealing their purpose. That way, the conscious mind can’t intervene, question, analyse or disrupt their flow. It can’t hinder the flow of energy or block our ability to manifest. For example, the affirmation ‘I take positive action’ has just that literal meaning. The universal Switchword for the same effect is: NOW.
Take the Switchword SUFFER. Its meaning is to manage prosperity – so SUFFER is quite the opposite of what we would get with an affirmation (such as ‘My life is filled with abundance’). This doesn’t mean you can’t continue to use your positive affirmations if you want to – they can be very helpful in reinforcing your integrity in stressful situations – but, in my experience, Switchwords work more quickly and more profoundly.
For this reason, Switchwords appear to have more in common with mantras than with positive affirmations. As Switchwords work through vibrational rather than literal meaning, they share their purpose with mantras – the first mantras were constructed according to their sound, rooted in the seed syllable ‘Om’ or pranava, meaning ‘sound’ and ‘humming’. An affirmation may have a sound or vibrational aspect – such as rhyme, assonance or alliteration (‘Beat the others to be the best’; ‘What you resist persists’) – yet these effects are often secondary, intended only as an aide-mémoire. Again, with Switchwords we don’t need to understand the words, know them or have any personal point of reference for them to work. They operate on the vibration of sound, rather than the anchor of conscious knowing. Philosopher Frits Staal (1930–2012), who did not believe that the words of mantras had much literal meaning, compared them to birdsong. While we may not understand the language, we acknowledge it as a form of communication through sound.
Believe it or not … Switchwords work
Believing that your Switchwords will work and trusting that what you’ve wished for will be delivered gives energy to your manifesting, but even with minimal belief these amazing words still appear to work. Here’s just one example.
The morning after I sent out my regular Switchword email to my group, two recipients immediately replied. They had won exactly the same amount of money after chanting the Switch phrases ‘FIND-DIVINE-COUNT-ON’ and ‘ELOHIM-DIVINE’, which I’d included in my email for the first time. The response from Jon, a teacher who was curious about my