Symbols of Reiho and Reiki by
Light
Published in the May 2000 issue of "The Messenger"
Have you
noticed how many ‘systems’ of Reiki are being presented on the
internet these days? Many contain ever-increasing numbers of symbols…
one has 4500 symbols - one for every human disease. How can anyone
possibly learn all of them or know when and under what circumstances
to use a particular one? What is the origin of the Reiki symbols; how
many are there, how did they come to be associated with Reiki, and are
the symbols the power behind Reiki?
Recently, there has been an
interest in Reiki information that has come out of Japan… the country
where Reiki was re-discovered. Japan had been a closed country until
the Meiji Empire started in 1868. And since then there has been a free
exchange of goods and knowledge with the rest of the world. It was
recently announced that Mikao Usui, founder of the Reiki System of
Natural Healing, had a teaching manual and notes that expressed his
understanding of Reiki. And Usui’s history has been pieced together,
including details that had previously been scarce/non-existent outside
of Japan. It has been discovered that in addition to Usui’s manual,
Hayashi Sensei also had a manual that is readily available within the
Reiki community. This information sheds new light and understanding on
Reiki and we think it is time to aright some of the mis-information
about Reiki.
The first is about the symbols of Reiki… they did not
appear to Usui Sensei in multi-colored bubbles when he was knocked
unconscious on Mt. Kurama Yama. In fact he never lost consciousness;
he received Satori (Zen enlightenment) and had "one big Reiki over his
head". He understood this energy that he knew to be "universal’ in
nature, which he called Reiki. He received understanding of how Reiki
could help to bring energy, vitality, joy and balanced health into his
life and the lives of all humanity. He practiced using the energy on
his family and friends and created a society of practitioners (Usui
Reiki Ryoho Gakkai) to educate the masses on the use of this energy
technique. But Usui soon discovered that others could not sense or
feel the subtleties of the energy that he enjoyed because of his
Satori. So Usui had to devise methods for his students to be able to
feel the different frequencies contained within Reiki. He was a
learned man, well studied in human diseases, and he drew upon this
knowledge to create charts of common diseases and the organs that were
adversely affected. This is the foundation of his manual. From this
information, it was deducted that there were certain organs common to
multiple diseases and when treated, energy and balance could be
restored to organs and body systems. This is the origin of the hand
positions that are taught in most Reiki classes. Usui did not intend
for students to treat all people by strictly following the pattern of
hand positions, but rather to use them as guidelines until
practitioners could sense/feel imbalances (called Byosen’s) and work
on them until the Byosen’s were no longer present in the body. In
other words, the charts of disease and the concurring hand positions
were only temporary tools intended to be dismissed as soon as a
practitioner could sense subtle energies.
Similarly, Usui tried to
help his students to feel different levels of energy that existed in
the human energy field by using and/or creating symbols that
represented frequencies similar to the physical, emotional and
spiritual energies that make-up the essential nature of all humans. He
only used four symbols to represent these energies… more than those
were unnecessary. And like the hand positions, the symbols were also
considered as temporary tools… to help practitioners to discern subtle
energies. They are to be dispensed with when sensitivity is
developed.
So how does a Reiki practitioner do a self-treatment or
give a treatment to others without the use of symbols and hand
positions? By practicing and developing the ability to discern subtle
energy vibrations and what they represent. And by also developing the
intuition so one’s hands are guided to an area(s) in the body that is
out-of-balance or dis-eased. These abilities can only be developed
with patience and lots of self-treatments. When working with Reiki on
one’s self or on others, the practitioner needs to state the intent
and desire to develop their sensitivity to subtle energies.
Additionally, a practitioner also needs to experiment with sensing of
energies…. develop energy games to help sensitize one’s receptivity to
different vibrations. I will give examples of some games to
experiment with in next month’s article. In the meantime… put your
Reiki-empowered hands on yourself and Reiki….Reiki….Reiki. Namaste’
and Reiki ((((hugs))))).
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