Stella Woods is an expert in astrology, Tarot and all things magical. She lifts your spirits, makes you laugh, encourages you to widen your horizons and, best of all, inspires you to manifest your dreams!
A few years ago Stella and I ran a two day workshop called In Your Element. I’ll never forget the rousing rendition Stella gave of Born to be Wild to demonstrate what Root Chakra music might sound like and the passion with which she got us to burn and bury what we no longer needed in our lives. Magic happened that weekend.
Twice a year Stella offers an 8 week course in Melbourne, Australia, called Magic & Manifestation. To bring her wisdom, knowledge and positive approach to life to a wider audience, Stella has published a book – The Seven Secrets of Magic & Manifestation. In it she provides a practical introduction to magic and leads you on a journey into your deepest desires and beyond. All things magical are covered – from vision boards to visualisation; crystals to colour therapy; spells to sound healing and designer rituals to dream busters.
LINDA: What exactly is magic?
STELLA: Well, it’s certainly not pulling rabbits out of top hats! I think most of us left magic far behind when we stopped reading fairy stories and Harry Potter or dressing up as princesses and super heroes. Let’s face it, anyone over about age 9 or 10 who claims to be practising magic is viewed with amusement or suspicion, and the word ‘witch’ is hardly complimentary!
For me magic is the opposite of logic. 
For example, if you want to buy a house, the logical way would be to find out how much money you can borrow from the bank, save for a deposit, look in the real estate section of the newspaper for properties in your price range, visit a real estate agent or go online and then start viewing houses and bidding at auctions etc. And certainly this approach will produce results.
The magical way would be to imagine exactly what kind of house your would like and where and then spend a lot of time anchoring that vision in your subconscious mind using various tools which I describe in my book, The Seven Secrets of Magic & Manifestation. Once you have no doubt that you will find this house and can imagine yourself living in it, the universe will prompt you to take the necessary steps to find it.
Another way of looking at this is that magic is the ability to get the forces of the universe working for you rather than against you.
LINDA: Can anyone make magic happen?
STELLA: Of course they can. Most people simply choose not to, while spending their leisure time watching romantic and adventure movies or magical movies like Avatar and Harry Potter! If I asked you if anyone could be taught to behave in a logical way, the answer would be ‘of course.’ Children know instinctively how think ‘magically’ or one might say ‘creatively’, but our education system tends to beat it out of them by the teenage years. When I’m teaching people about magic (especially sceptical left-brain focussed adults), I get them to identify times in their lives when by ‘sheer coincidence’ they’ve found exactly what they were looking for in a ‘miraculous’ way. Most have at some stage found the perfect pair of shoes or outfit or ‘bumped into’ exactly the right person who gave them a great job etc. Once they can work out what they did to make this happen, it is easy to teach them to replicate the process to manifest more complicated or bigger things.
LINDA: How do we get into the right head space to manifest our dreams or goals?
STELLA: I think it’s interesting that you’ve used the term ‘head space’. A lot of the time we need to get out of our head and into our body and especially into our heart and gut. These parts of the body provide far more intelligent feedback than our brains! Think about falling in love for example – it’s not a logical process, it’s an emotional one. So starting from that point, the best way to start to manifest is to put yourself in a situation where you can feel and imagine and where you’re actually having a good time doing this. That’s why so many people have their best ideas when they are asleep, daydreaming, meditating or on holiday. To me this is what the term ‘non-action’ means. You can’t have yang without yin! In tarot terms this would be, you can’t have the Emperor if you haven’t done the Fool, the Magician, the High Priestess and the Empress.
LINDA: Let’s go to your book – in a nutshell (if that’s possible) what are the seven secrets of magic and manifestation?
STELLA: Well obviously I’m not going to reveal all the secrets here… that’s what my book is for! But I think you’ll find when you do read the book that these secrets are not mind blowing or perhaps not even really secrets at all…. they are, dare I say it, quite logical! The reason I wrote the book was that I wanted to show people a step-by-step way of doing something that I (and in fact most people who are good at manifesting) had always done instinctively. I realised through teaching and counselling others, that many people had a block when it came to following their dreams, but that these blocks were all slightly different. Some lacked clarity or never allowed themselves to dream at all; some had emotional blocks or subconscious belief systems that stopped them from moving forward; some tried to do everything on their own; some lacked faith or confidence; some set the bar very low or gave up at the last hurdle and so on. So, I guess my book is designed to make sure you make it to the finishing line, regardless of where you are at right now in manifesting your dream life. My gripe with The Secret is that though its essential message was 100% true, it didn’t take into account the blockages that people face – one size does not fit all.
LINDA: How do people use the companion Affirmation Card Deck?
STELLA: The Affirmation Card Deck is actually a stand-alone product (and if I might say so, makes a great present – the cards are gilt edged in a special presentation box and the illustrations by Cristina Re are absolutely stunning)! You can of course use the cards with the book, but many people buy either the card deck or the book separately.
As for how to use the cards, it’s really quite simple. There are 33 cards in the deck, each with a different theme or lesson (e.g. Wisdom, Power, Love, Abundance). The cards can be read upright or in reversed position and there’s a booklet that come with the card deck that explains all the card meanings and offers some example spreads as well.
For example, you could ask the cards ‘What lesson do I need to learn right now?’ or ‘What energy can I use to resolve this problem?’ The Transformation card here shows a beautiful butterfly – If you pick this card, it means it’s time for a radical transformation of your self-image, appearance and even the company you keep. Time to show off your colours and beauty to the world!
LINDA: What are some of the practical tools we can use to manifest our dreams or goals?
STELLA: I cover many tools in my book – colour, sound, crystals, the vision board or treasure map; the time-travel story; the magic journal and of course the magic wand. But again the language of your question is interesting. I am trying to get people away from thinking about practical tools and into the heart-space of a magician, which is all about imagination, faith and focus. Once you have learned to approach life in a magical way, you don’t really need too many tools – things just show up!
LINDA: Give us some ‘success stories’ of people who have done your course and gone on to manifest their dreams.
STELLA: I have many student ‘success stories’, some of which appear in my book, but the important thing for me is not to focus on the success of others, but to have the courage to identify and focus on your own dream and to believe in yourself, rather than being influenced by others and their opinions.
However I do have students who have ‘achieved’ remarkable results. Hanna who gained a place on the Australian Women’s Basketball Team; Gene who met and married the woman of his dreams and then had a child; Lee who wrote and recorded a whole album of songs; Ira who managed a whole sea change to Athens; Jeannie who lost enormous amounts of weight and Natasha whose photography business went through the roof with contracts in San Francisco and New York.
LINDA: What advice do you have for people who do a vision board or use some other manifestation tool, but nothing comes of it?
STELLA: I cover this issue in Secret Six in my book in depth, but the important thing is not to assume that manifestation doesn’t work for you. There will be something in your approach that needs tweaking and that ‘something’ differs from person to person.
LINDA: Where does pure fantasy fit in? In the early stages of a romantic relationship, for example, it’s easy to get lost in cloud-cuckoo land forgetting that the other person has their own dreams which might not mesh with yours?
STELLA: If you spend time learning and following the principles in my book, the results you manifest will not be ‘fanciful.’ For example if you want to find a partner, you would ask for someone whose goals and dreams mesh with yours, without necessarily specifying how that will happen. For me the ‘fantasy’ or day dreaming aspect needs to happen BEFORE you manifest, not to be projected onto an existing situation.
LINDA: You now offer a course which focuses on practical spells and rituals. What are the ethics associated with these practices?
STELLA: The same ethics as apply as in any life situation. Do not harm or attempt to control others. Let’s face it plenty of people try to manipulate and control others in the corporate world. Magic is all about changing your energy, not controlling others.
LINDA: In summary, what do people gain by actively investing time and energy into using the magic and manifestation tools you describe in your book?
STELLA: Well I think it’s pretty clear from the things we’ve already discussed that my book and card deck are designed to help people identify and achieve their dreams in a more flowing and effortless manner. So, if we’re talking about investing time and energy, I can guarantee that the time and energy you will save by making magic and manifestation part of your life will be returned to you a hundredfold!
About Stella Woods
Stella Woods is one of Australia’s leading astrologers with thousands of satisfied clients and a reputation for offering practical, sensitive and insightful advice. She is also an experienced astrology teacher and counsellor, a popular radio presenter and a national magazine columnist.
Stella has been studying, reading and teaching astrology for over 20 years and is a member of the Association of Professional Astrologers and a Professional Member of the Tarot Guild of Australia. She also holds certificates in Medieval Astrology and Spiritual Group Facilitation and has studied Literary Symbolism, Kabbalah and Jungian Psychology.
On a personal level, Stella is totally passionate about astrology and Tarot. Her dream is to bring these ancient teachings back to life by sharing their power and wisdom with humanity.
For more information visit Stella’s website where you’ll find details of her Magic & Manifestation course.
Over to you!
How have you experienced magic in your life? Did it just happen or did you use some of the techniques Stella talks about? We’d love to hear from you!
