Manifestation and angel numbers: The quiet search for meaning online

Indian Express

2 days ago

I check my phone as a notification lights up. The time reads 5:55. In a second, I am transported back to 2020, to a version of me chasing angel numbers and their meanings the way a dog chases a passing car: wide-eyed, relentless, totally convinced it was all leading somewhere.
As a twenty-something girl coping with a complicated 'situationship', I slowly found myself pulled into the world of manifestation, affirmations, and angel numbers.
For the uninitiated, angel numbers refer to numerical patterns, most often a sequence of repeated numbers, that some believe carry hidden messages from the universe, or the angels, so to speak. Though angel numbers have been around for centuries, the concept gained traction in the early 2000s in the West as part of New Age spirituality. But more recently, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Internet became obsessed with manifestations (visualising a future) and affirmations (repeating positive phrases) in hopes of making dreams come true.
For me, it was a quick fix to get 'the boy' back, but over time, it became something that helped me cope with stress, uncertainty, and health scares during the pandemic. Affirmation videos on YouTube with chants like 'I am okay' and 'I am healthy' helped me get through the fear of contracting the virus, which for the longest time had no cure and had brought the world to a standstill.
A way to cope
Like many, I always thought I was a practical, logical person until I needed something to believe in, something to help me move forward and feel in control. And maybe that is what all of this was, at the core — a way of holding on.
There were only so many loaves of banana bread you could bake, or so many whipped Dalgona coffees you could make. After a point, the stillness became unbearable, and people reached for anything that made them feel like they were still connected to a future they could no longer clearly picture.
A 28-year-old business director from Mumbai shared that he reconnected with spirituality when faced with personal adversity. 'I was always spiritual, but it was during Covid-19 that I got into it again, when my mum was diagnosed with cancer. For how long can you stick to trends and keep making Dalgona coffee? When the cases started to rise, it got real. That is when I started manifesting again, mostly through practising gratitude every night. I would thank the universe for things, and I still do it.'
At the peak of the pandemic, with people stuck indoors and schools, temples, and community spaces closed off, the Internet opened its arms. TikTok became an oracle, Instagram a guide, and YouTube a sanctuary.
According to Google Trends, searches for 'manifesting' went up 600 per cent. Manifestation accounts gained traction all over social media, racking up followers and views. From gratitude scripting to candle rituals, creators were teaching people how to ask the universe for love, money, clarity, or peace.
Every other post was about visualising your dream life, attracting the right energy, or writing your goals 33 times for three days. It did not matter whether it worked; what mattered was that it gave people something to do, a way to feel a little more in control.
The business director added, 'Taking a step back and practising gratitude, chanting personal affirmations I came up with, that really helped me through the negativity.'
Spirituality in the age of apps and reels
The Secret, a book first published in 2006, also found a second life online. Its central idea, that your thoughts shape your reality, suddenly felt more relevant than ever. Even if you had not read the book, its messages were everywhere: 'Trust the timing of your life', 'the universe is always working in your favour', 'what you think, you attract.'
Anjali Khanchandani, 20, shares: 'I first tried it because it was trending, but it actually made me feel good, so I kept going. I read The Secret, and then started following a YouTube channel that shared manifestation success stories, which really pulled me in. Once I tried it myself and saw it working, I began to believe in it. Even now, I use it for almost everything.'
People started using these tricks and tools not just for peace of mind, but to manifest growth in their professional lives, too.
Sharing her manifestation journey, Devanshee Arora, a 23-year-old teacher, said, 'During Covid-19, I had a lot of time, and through social media, reels, posts, I got into numerology. Even if I was doubtful, I still did it. And honestly, it worked for me.'
'I only had four students at the coaching centre I used to teach at. After getting into manifestation, I too ended up getting a class of 60 students. I still practise manifestation, I listen to and write affirmations. I even stop people when they speak negatively,' she added.
Covid-19 also saw a rise in astrology apps like Astrotalk, Astroyogi, and GaneshaSpeaks. With a small joining fee and the first 'chat free', a lot of people found themselves talking to digital gurus predicting their future. Questions like 'When will I get married?' or 'Will I clear my exam?' started to appear on chat screens.
Tarot readings, once seen as niche or expensive, also became widespread. Readers with soothing voices and velvet backdrops popped up on screens, asking people to pick one deck out of the three, offering collective readings on reels. They would say, 'whoever finds this, I have a message for you.'
Moving on
For a 26-year-old auditor, tarot became her new normal when she found herself heartbroken over a complicated crush. 'When I saw my crush with someone else, I did not know what to do. I had strong feelings for him. To understand why it was happening, I started going for tarot readings,' she said.
'I spent a lot of money, went to at least 10 readers. But out of those, only two really made sense. The rest did not help much; they just said enough to keep me coming back. I also tried astrology apps, especially after my father passed away, trying to figure out what was happening in my life,' she added.
Her journey, however, was short-lived. 'I do not believe in all of this anymore. It did not really work. Angel numbers did not work for me either,' she said, adding that she cringes when she looks back at how much she believed in it, and how much she spent on it.
My own connection to meditation and affirmations faded too. It started to feel a bit fake, like something I no longer fully believed in.
While some may look back at it as a strange but meaningful phase, many still carry their beliefs and practices with them. Spirituality, once quiet and personal, now shows up in shopping carts. Affirmation decks, gratitude journals, crystal kits, and manifestation candles are suddenly everywhere. It makes the whole idea more approachable, even tempting to try.
Whether it sparked lasting belief or served as a temporary fix, the spiritual wave of the pandemic revealed that in the absence of control, people reached for hope that made the silence feel a little less empty.