Psst... a few things in your reality have changed, and you didn't even notice!
Dear reader,
Do you remember that classic line from the Disney movie Snow White: “Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the fairest one of all?”
Wait a moment...
Did you say, “Mirror mirror...”?
(Why yes, of course, such an iconic line!)
What if I tell you that this line, which you remember so clearly, actually isn't in the movie?
The movie says, “Magic mirror on the wall”. Take a look for yourself: movie clip.
Shocked? So am I. And so will be almost anyone you tell about this.
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Now, do you remember watching animated short films from Warner Bros.' Looney Toons series back in the day?
How smart was the name of that franchise, “Toons” being short for cartoons!
…Or was it?
Hmm, after checking, it's actually Looney Tunes (wiki page).
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Now you'll probably want to search online to see in what year the cartoon franchise name and the movie script changed and why. And what you'll find is that apparently, they've never changed — they've always been the way they are now...
So how come you and I — and probably thousands or even millions of other people — are so sure that it was “Mirror mirror” and “Looney Toons”?
Are we all just collectively misremembering?
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Here's another one for you. Remember that famous statue by sculptor Rodin, the Thinker, sitting deep in thought, with his fist to the forehead? Can you take a moment right now to pose like the statue?
Now look at all these people in the photo below posing with their fists to their foreheads, to imitate the statue... all the while the statue in the back actually has its fist to the chin:
(Image found online, original source unknown)
Movie scripts can change, but a century-plus-old statue — unlikely (wiki page about The Thinker).
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So what's going on here?
As some of you may have already guessed, all the above are instances of the Mandela effect, which is this weird and cool phenomenon where many people remember something being a certain way, only to find out one day that it's actually quite different from the way they remember it, and that surprisingly, that thing didn’t just change — it has never been the way they remember it to be!
It's often something obvious that we come across in daily life, like: the name of a popular store chain (JC Penny is now JC Penney), or a car logo (Volvo emblem now includes an arrow); or something from popular culture: a classic line from a movie (“Luke, I am your father” is now “No, I am your father”), a game character's appearance (the Monopoly Man no longer has a monocle), and so on.
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Occasionally, we'll come across traces of something being the way we remember it to be: perhaps an old photo, a reference in someone's notes, fan art or imitation. We call those remnants “residue”.
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So why does this happen?
Do we collectively misremember things, or is there something else going on?
Some say that the Mandela effect is one way that our Higher Selves try to wake us up from the collective dream we're all dreaming. Coming across an instance of this phenomenon can shake us up enough to make us question the “realness” and solidity of what we perceive as our reality.
It is also said that there are multiple timelines in existence. Timelines are versions of our reality where things are slightly different. When we shift into a different timeline, we may discover that in that other version of reality, no one has ever heard of “Mirror mirror on the wall” — it’s been “Magic mirror” all along.
And that is also why a few of you reading this won't be able to relate to some of the examples above — in your reality, you may have never seen the Thinker with his fist to the forehead, or it may have always been Looney Tunes.
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It's cool to read about a popular example of the Mandela effect. What's even cooler is to witness something in your reality magically change right in front of your eyes…
I recently got to personally experience one of those reality shifts, and that is what inspired me to write this article.
A couple of months ago, a new client scheduled a session (an Akashic reading) with me, and when an email with her information for the session arrived, I noted to myself that her last name had an unusual spelling.
Typically, in German surnames like Schmidt, Schultz, or Schwartz, the “sh” sound is spelled using three letters: SCH. In her case, it was one of those typical German last names, but there was no C in it. Let's use the surname Schneider as an example here (not her actual name). She spelled it as Shneider.
It was not a typo, as the name was spelled the same way everywhere it appeared on the intake form (two or three times).
I remember pausing for a minute to ponder possible origins of the family given the unusual spelling, and I also remember carefully writing the name down by hand on the paper chart that I use to prepare readings, making sure I get the uncommon spelling right.
* * *
We had our session, and three weeks later this client came back for another reading.
When an email with her second appointment arrived, I had to sit back for a moment and take a deep breath. Her name was now spelled Schneider with a C.
No, she didn't just change her name to make it harder to spell, and it wasn't a typo.
I knew what had happened: reality had shifted a bit over those past three weeks, and in this version of reality, or timeline, this woman’s name had always been spelled with a C.
I checked to see if I could find “residue”: evidence of the other spelling existing.
I found that her name had changed to the “new” spelling in all our emails, including her very first appointment email, in my contacts, and even in my mailing list.
However, my paper chart from our first session, where I had carefully written her name down by hand, letter by letter, still had the old spelling, one without the C. Aha! I have in my hands the evidence of something in the objective reality shifting within a period of three weeks! :)
Of course, my client doesn't remember her name ever being spelled differently than it is now, but she was fascinated to hear about the mysterious change I’d witnessed (and gave me permission share this story here on the blog.)
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What Mandela effects have you noticed in your reality? Will you be paying closer attention going forward whenever you notice unusual changes instead of shrugging them off? :)
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Lastly, I want to give credit to Shane Robinson of Unbiased & On The Fence, as I owe most of my understanding of this curious phenomenon to his great videos on the Mandela effect. Check out Top 10 Mandela Effect examples and many other fun videos on his YouTube channel if you want to geek out and see other examples of the Mandela effect!
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