A New Look at Reiki Symbols and Reiki Lineage

I received an email recently stating that the symbols on my website are not accurate, even suggesting that they are “distorted”. This woman also suggested that if my Master Teacher did not know her lineage that I should assume the training was not accurate.  

First, I want to be clear that the symbols I share on my website are the same as those in the very well-known book, Essential Reiki, by Diane Stein. Next, I am sharing some of my response to the email in order to address what I consider to be some issues within the Reiki community in terms of Reiki symbols—their use and accuracy—and “Reiki Lineage” which pertains to whether a Reiki Master can trace their training back to either Mrs. Takata, who first brought Reiki to the United States, or one of her students. 

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I wrote, “Thank you for your email. On my website I have addressed the issue of symbols here http://www.worldhealing.net/sharesymbols.html which is my response to someone who had an issue with the fact that I had published the symbols at all. Included in my response are two links that bring some greater insight into the symbols, including that it was discovered that Mrs. Takata herself modified the symbols for different students, and that Dr. Usui only started using the symbols towards the end of his practice—they are not essential to doing Reiki.

The symbols themselves are not Reiki. They are focusing tools. Reiki is Love and the Creator’s Divine Intelligence and it does not need a symbol to know what to do. That is a human-created mental construct. It’s my feeling that no human should stand in the way of what is meant to be between an individual and the Creator, and to add extra mandatory dogma that is limiting creates separation and encourages just the sort of email that you have sent, containing judgment and comparison. There are Reiki Masters all over the world who are committed to loving service who have helped many people reconnect to their birthright as natural healers—it may not look the way you think it should or your Reiki Master thinks it should, but it’s still within integrity within the eyes of the Creator.

As far as lineage, that is one of the greatest examples of ego in Reiki—as if to suggest that the lineage matters as some sort of status symbol. Human ego does not belong in Reiki. Anyone who uses Reiki within Integrity and Love, no matter who their teacher—they are not deficient if the “lineage” is not traced back to Mrs. Takata. If that is how you were taught, then you may want to take another look. Reiki is meant to heal the ego, not build it up, not build more polarity. It is meant to unify, not separate…

Reiki is alive and dynamic. Energy is alive and dynamic. Each of us as children of God are alive and dynamic. No system of healing is static. The only constant in the Universe is Love and Change.”

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I believe that there is a great benefit to learning the Reiki symbols and working with them, if it feels right. Reiki reconnects us to our inner guidance, and each individual who practices Reiki has the right to tune into that guidance and make their own choices in terms of Reiki symbols.

I will share a true story here of an attunement I did on a student way back in the beginning of my practice, in 1994.  I was drawing the Reiki symbol for the second level, which is kind of intricate—the Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen—the practice is to draw it in the air with your hand.  I had made a mistake, and was attempting to erase it in the air  (I sort of chuckle at it now ) and I got a clear message from my inner being:

“What are you doing?”

“I made a mistake and I have to fix it”

“Whatever!!  That is not what Reiki is about.  I will “fix it” if you want.  You should get back to the heart.  Connect with your student, heart-to-heart.  Remember…Reiki is Love.”

That was good enough for me.  That established the way I approached Reiki from that moment on.

Reiki Is Love!

“Are You An Angel From Heaven?” He Asked

During the holidays I was visiting my family in New Jersey and got stuck there four extra days due to a blizzard. The day after the storm my hubby and I discovered that a snow plow had indeed been through the parking lot of the hotel, but of course it had plowed everyone into their parking spaces I went to the front desk to see if they had a shovel or even a brush to clean the windows off, and amazingly enough, they said no. Hard to believe, because of course it snows there every winter, but they had no supplies for their guests. Granted some people at the hotel may have actually been from New Jersey or other northeastern states, so they may have had a brush or ice scraper in the car, but I would say it’s rare that anyone would be carrying the much-needed shovel with them.

Luckily my brother who lived about a mile away ventured out to bring me one of his extra shovels, and also a brush with a large handle, so we were able to dig our rental vehicle out. Afterwards, my hubby wasn’t feeling well so he took some pain meds, although by mistake he took the nighttime ones so he was out like a light. I decided that since no one else had a shovel, maybe I should be loaning it out to help the other guests—it just didn’t seem right to keep it all to myself So I went out to the lobby and did just that. People were happy to see me, that’s for sure… Sometimes I would go outside with the person to keep them company (and keep an eye on the shovel, since it was a hot commodity, and I didn’t want to lose it!) The snow had stopped, but with forty-mile-an-hour-winds, it looked like it was still snowing since everything was getting blown back up into the air, forming very high snow drifts, and the wind was brutally cold.

After a while I went back to the room because I had to warm up. I had lost my gloves, and it was no fun being out in that frigid weather. Almost immediately after I sat down, my inner being prompted me to go back outside. I said, “Really? No way! I’m freezing!” But it was repeated….I needed to go right away. “Ugh, I don’t want to do this”, I thought, but I did. Resistance was there, but I moved through it.

As soon as I got out into the hallway, I saw immediately why I had been prompted to go outside. At the end of the hallway was the glass exit door, and I could see an elderly man digging his car out with his hands. Okay, so now I was smiling, not at his dilemma, but that I had listened to my inner guidance.  I know my inner being was smiling too.   

When I got outside I just stood there with the shovel in one hand and the brush in the other, smiling at him. When he turned around he sort of blinked and asked me, “Are you an angel from heaven?” And I said, “I think so!” He said, “Because I just said, ‘God, please send me someone with a shovel’” And I said, “Well I must have heard your call then, and here I am!” I just love when that happens It was priceless. Perfect timing, to be sure.

The next half hour was a time we will both never forget. It turns out the man was a Christian minister, and we were able to share so much in that time about spiritual things—not always agreeing with one another, but listening to what the other had to say with mutual friendship and respect. He was such a wonderful man. I was blessed to meet him.

When he was done, we parted ways with a hug, and I went on to loan my shovel out to some other people. After that half hour I was on an energy high from the experience I had just had, so I didn’t mind the cold anymore! Finally I got back to the room and retired the shovel for the day. Mind you, my hubby had been asleep the whole time and had no idea where I’d been or what I had been up to, but by that time, he was awake.

He said, “Some man came to the door and woke me up, and I think I scared the heck out of him”, he said, chuckling a little. I said, “Why?” And he said, “Well, he said that he wanted to thank the lady again who had let him use her shovel, and I said ‘Oh, was she doing that angel stuff again?‘” I asked him, “Why did you say that about the angel stuff?” and he said, “Heck if I know…it just sort of rolled off my tongue…” He said the minister’s eyes got real wide and he said, something like, “Okay, thanks again!” and went running down the hall. I think he may have wondered if I was some ethereal other-worldly being at that point, but of course I was just playing the role of a flesh-and-blood human angel, with my cool sunglasses, leather jacket and (now-ruined) black suede boots.

I’ve shared this story with a lot of people since then, mostly because it’s such a great illustration of the beautiful things that happen when we listen to those inner promptings. When we do, we find ourselves in the right place at the right time in order to create beautiful, timeless, unforgettable moments…

Fun! View/Download the wordle I’ve created that corresponds to this blog:

Resources:
HelpOthers.org
Random Acts of Kindness Foundation
Kindness Printables

Where Did You Come From? Where Are You Going?

The truth is, no one comes from here. Each of us entered the Earth from somewhere else, and there was a time when you weren’t embodied. Where did you come from? Your soul, your consciousness entered your human body from the higher dimensions, commonly called Heaven. That part most of us know.

What many people don’t know is that each of us leaves a part of ourselves on the other side (the wisest, most aware part, darnit! LOL) and that part is still there while we experience life on Earth. We leave it there because the Earth energies are lower and slower, and it’s like a safety net, a lifeline to our true Divine nature. Many refer to this self as the Higher Self ; Eckhardt Tolle refers to this self in his books “The Power of Now” and “A New Earth” as “The Observer” or “The Witness.”

Our goal as humans at this special time in our evolution is to allow that part on the other side to first come closer to us and guide us; then work together with us more specifically, like a team; and finally to merge with us. That means in a sense that “Home“, our true Home, comes to us. It means that our Divinity can safely become embodied within us now because the energies of the Earth have become higher, lighter, closer to the energies of Home, because of all the inner work and reconnection to Spirit that many of us have been involved in over the past many years. This is unprecedented in the history of humanity, and is the essence of the hoopla surrounding “2012.” Many indigenous cultures have passed down the teaching that the end of the year 2012 is the end of a great cycle of evolution and the beginning of a Golden Age of Enlightenment. This resonates deep within my heart, and I see daily examples of the shift already taking place all over the world as people open their hearts and minds to love and the Spirit within.

So how do you align with this Higher Self? I will share my ideas and my own personal experience as it happened over time.

First, you acknowledge that this you exists.

Next, you invite this Higher Self to guide and assist you (and, hey, maybe even follow some of their suggestions! LOL)

Finally, you invite this Higher Self to merge with you.

I experienced the guidance and assistance part for many years but did not experience what I felt was a merge until I used the word “surrender.” I did not actually say I would surrender to my Higher Self, because I wasn’t sure what it would entail or how my life would change because of it. (Too much of a Leo I guess, always wanting to be in control…LOL) Instead I said I would surrender to L-O-V-E because that seemed very safe to me, and really, it’s the same thing anyway. By the way, this surrender happened around the time my Dad passed away, in 1999…the experience really broke my heart wide open and I felt I needed this sort of re-connection at the time. More on my Dad in a bit…

What happened next is I felt like my big sister was always with me, to my left, and it was like we were experiencing and viewing life together, side-by-side…from there it began to feel like sometimes she (still someone else) was looking out of my eyes with me, like the “better, wiser me” was really inside me, making a short visit…and then finally I merged with “her” when I realized and owned the fact that we are actually the same being.

(Note: I would say that Higher Selves are not gender-based, but the tendency would be to perceive it as your same physical gender.)

Now, the human me still has what Eckhardt Tolle calls the “pain body” or “egoic mind” which is also still here inside me and it takes the stage sometimes (which gives me lots of new material to blog about ), but the Higher me is always here inside me too, and that’s how I find my way back to my center when I lose my way.

Back to my Dad, and what our relationship has to do with this story…I tell my clients and students that he makes Heaven real to me…we became closer in the last ten years of his life when we began to share a lot of spiritual information together, and now that he’s on the other side I still feel his presence and I still feel him loving me from “there” while I’m “here.” Please know that love is a bridge between the dimensions. I wish everyone could know this, because it makes the loss of people we love so much easier to bear. One thing I learned is that when I’m thinking about my Dad, reminiscing and feeling love for him, and then suddenly my heart fills to overflow, I finally realized it’s actually him, loving me back. I’ll bet many of you have had the same experience, but maybe didn’t realize what it was. The overwhelming love that fills your heart at that time is the beautiful full-circle-of-love, because when love is shared with someone on the other side, it is returned…

So where did you come from? Home. Where are you going? Home. But not in the old way of going Home. We don’t have to leave the planet to access our true Home, because Home is now coming to us. The old saying, “Home is Where the Heart Is“, has never been more true!

Resource: Love Can Build a Bridge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDZCFHaOCMw&feature=related

Fun! View/Download the wordle I’ve created that corresponds to this blog:

Yo-Yo No More!

Maybe it’s the hustle and bustle of preparing for the holidays, but I’ve been bouncing back and forth a lot lately between peace and irritation….things are going smoothly and then wham, I drop an egg on the floor and I’m out of my center…then things are going well again and wham, my kitty knocks over the trash barrel (again) and I’m off (again)….things are going smoothly once more and then whoops, I burn a tray of cookies, and I start to panic. I’ve really been on a roll with this! I’m shocked when I notice this happening as much as ten times an hour if I’m particularly busy in the kitchen! What the heck?

I mentioned my zig-zagging emotions to my hubby, and he said, yes, he’s been experiencing the same thing—he said it was like a yo-yo. And I thought, voila, my next post will be called “Yo-Yo No More!” LOL

Irritation comes from resistance to what is, and resistance never feels good. Resistance jams up our energy, and I don’t mean good jam, like grape or apricot Resistance does not promote flow, and flow is where it’s at. When our energies are flowing we feel good and we attract more of what we want. Feeling good “let’s it in” (see my prior post on this). When we’re not flowing, we feel bad and we attract more of what we don’t want. Simple physics, and when we make the choice to feel good, simple, joyful living.

So I made a conscious change. When I notice a shift towards irritation coming on, I just stop. I stop everything. I stop moving. I stop thinking. I calm down. I accept what I see before me, whatever it is. I accept that it is what it is. I breathe deeply and let the irritation dissolve. After all, this is just an unconcious pattern, and I’m determined to live as a conscious being. I do what I can to clean up or fix what I can, or accept that I cannot change some things at all, and then release my attachment to the outcome. I feel better and I’m back into flowing. AND I find that when I stop getting so irritated all the time, the irritating things stop happening so much. Whoa, magical!

Have you been feeling like a yo-yo lately? If so, relax. Take a break, take a breath, and come back into peace. Tis the season for it, after all

Resource: I love this new song by Lady Antebellum, “Hello World” — I think a lot of us can benefit from slowing down, focusing on something as precious and innocent as a little child, and finding our peace again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlKK4Eu4EgQ

Fun! View/Download the wordle I’ve created that corresponds to this blog:

Look in the Mirror, Love Who You See

There’s a feeling you get when you watch a tender moment in a movie or those poignant Hallmark commercials, or when you listen to a song that moves you – a feeling in your heart that’s indescribable. You feel it too when you love someone – your spouse, your child, your siblings, your friends – it’s a warm, squishy feel-good feeling that’s beyond words. (For more on that feeling, read my post, “That Feeling You Get in Your Heart? That IS the Universe!” What has always surprised me, though, is how many people don’t have that feeling about themselves. When I counsel people who are having a rough time, who are experiencing recurring issues they’re having trouble moving through, I find that many of them either don’t know they can feel that feeling for themselves, or they used to feel it, but not anymore. Not anymore because they’re in self-judgment, or because they’re too stuck in their heads with mental noise to feel anything, or too busy, or they’ve gained too much weight, or they say that sometimes they do feel it (on the good days) and sometimes they don’t feel it (on the bad days).

I recommend that you take a few moments each day to look into your own eyes, because what looks back at you is very special. I remember asking my Dad many years ago if he knew who looked back at him when he looked at himself in the mirror, and he said, “God looks back!” And I said, “What? You know that?” And he said, “Doesn’t everybody?” No Dad, they don’t.

When you look in the mirror, really look, there’s a sparkle in your eyes that comes from the light of your consciousness, your Divinity. You are always connected to your Source, whether you realize it or not. Whether you feel it or not. And if you look long enough, just relaxing and breathing, quieting any mental noise, that warm, squishy feel-good feeling will well up in your heart, for you. It will be communicating to you the truth that you are okay just the way you are. That you are loved and cherished just the way you are. That you are worthy, just the way you are. That you can love and accept yourself, right now, just the way you are.

Why not give it a try? Look in the mirror today and love who you see It’s the most valuable, fullfilling, awesome gift you could ever give yourself…and you’re worth it!

Resource: A wonderful self-love connection exercise created by Jo-Ann Cutler: Pay it Forward Self-Love Project

Resource: I’m Worth It, by Gary DiMartino: http://www.worldhealing.net/worthit.html

Fun! View/Download the wordle I’ve created that corresponds to this blog: