I am not going to pretend that I have any spectacularly ‘hot takes’ in the online magic community. Sometimes I jokingly say that my takes are mostly ‘lukewarm.’ But, if people can talk about hexing the moon or decide they can police what people offer their gods, I don’t see why I can’t subject the internet to my very own Lukewarm Takes. 

What the Hell is Reality Shifting? 

Wikipedia defines Reality Shifting as the practice of one person ‘moving’ their consciousness or physical body to a different dimension. This is often referred to as the Desired Reality or DR. This concept exploded over the course of the pandemic, especially within fandoms. Now there is a fairly dedicated group of people online who are certain that they can shift realities into their DR—where everything exists as they want it to. Well, and people who make money off of those exact people. 

Why do I hate it? 

As much as I’d love to just go in-depth about some theory—this take has literally zero to do with the base idea of this. I could buy that there are different dimensions, and I could even buy that in one of them I am my ideal shape, with purple hair, and I have a reverse harem of my anime husbandos and have very flashy magic powers. But, I absolutely hate the way people have turned this into a grift. 

It only takes a cursory search on Etsy to find a literal boatload of services and pdfs on offer to ‘help’ people shift to their DR. As far as I can tell…none of them work. Last time I spoke to someone about this, the service offerers seemed to follow a general script. Naturally, there was no ‘guarantee’ of the shift, or it being permanent. But, many merchants are happy to offer more ‘advanced’ pdfs or repeated services…for a price. 

And that’s where this really toasts my bagels. On one hand, it’s an excellent scam. If I had fewer morals, I probably would have set up my own shop so I could have gotten a piece of this money. On the other, it seems a little cruel to prey upon people who are desperate and lonely. 

Why not just lean into the cringe with the rest of us and develop a Chuunibyo persona and at least get a fun LARP out of your time? I can’t imagine trying to shove all my eggs into one basket, and depending on some kind of internet guru to get me to my anime wonderland—mostly because I have already had my dreams dashed more than enough times to know a scam when I see one. 

The Price of a Dream

Much like the world of weightless supplements, I honestly see this as a market or industry that is completely based on the idea of selling a dream. Why sell the idea of hard work or self improvement when you can sell the possibility of true paradise without much actual work? I think we all know just how much people are willing to spend on that kind of possibility. A quick amazon.com search showed a number of scripting journals, how-to pdfs, and other accessories all based on reality shifting. 

But, here’s my question. If Reality Shifting really was possible…wouldn’t we have a lot fewer very lonely and desperate people in this one? I can tell you I’d be long gone from this shitstorm. I certainly would not have remained behind to ‘help’ people do the same—because fuck this. Doesn’t this seem a little suspect to anyone else? 

And I have to wonder…why does no one talk about what happens to you ‘you’ in the reality that you enter? Do you merge? Or do you kick out that version of you in order to replace them? Does that mean that a certain number of you across the infinite dimensions have to suffer for some to live a perfect life? 

There are just a few too many things that don’t make sense to me. 

Another reason this just doesn’t sit well in my stomach is just how self-destructive it is…in our dimension. A friend of mine paid for one of these pdfs, just to see what the big deal was about. The way some of these authors describe leaving their bodies behind and ‘shifting’ sounds a little too close to self-deletion for my personal comfort.

Simultaneously, I have to wonder just how much time and resources these people are pouring into this when they could be working on improving their lives and physical bodies–or whatever bothers them about this dimension. Again, it is extraordinary how much money and time people will sink into doing as little as humanly possible.