A Deeper
Understanding of Attunements in Reiki
Published in the May 2001 issue
of "The Messenger"
We have studied many branches of Reiki and every
single branch, no let me say it seems every Reiki Master has his/her
own style of attunement.
Do they all work? Well, yes, they all
connect one with energy to varying degrees and frequencies.
Is it
intent alone? No, not in our experience. If it were intent alone we
would have been attuned to the fullness and purity of Usui Sensei's
original Reiki from the very beginning... there would be no variations
in energy frequency, quality or quantity. Our original Reiki
teacher's intent was to connect to Usui's original full energy. I
(Adonea) have to say now that I have been attuned to Usui Reiki Ryoho
via Reiju and attunement, my Reiki is very different... fuller,
hotter, more penetrating. So what is the difference? I believe that
you get the energy connection through the lineage as well as from the
teacher - all filtering through the mind and beliefs of each
individual in the lineage itself.
Wouldn't it be interesting to have
been attuned by Usui Sensei himself? What fun that would have been!!!
As to the number of attunements done - it varies; in first level we
know traditionally that there are 4 attunement done. Are they all the
same? Well that depends on what branch/school and who does the
attunements. They are all the same in some systems; in some, no
symbols are used, in others - symbols are added from the first through
fourth attunement. In some, the 2nd and 3rd attunements are the same
and others all 4 are slightly different; some schools only use 1
attunement for first level. Why is this? In my opinion, teachers have
changed... added different intents and modified the ritual to fit what
they feel is real/whole all of which change the quality of energy
transmitted. A good example of this is Karuna Reiki and Tera Mai (both
use attunements to connect to the energy, both use the same symbols
generally, but the energy of each is quite different. Why? Perhaps
because the understanding of the teachers of each system is very
different; thus this understanding is transmitted with the attunement
itself. Even in Japan, the attunements vary from teacher to teacher.
However, I have noticed that they all have a very similar underlying
form (with the exclusion of Doi-san's Reiju and integration
attunements). This is not the case in the West; even the form varies
from branch-to-branch. I personally don't feel that the dance (ritual)
itself is as important as the Master's ability to tap into, feel,
hold, and transmit the fullness of the energy itself. If they cannot
do this or have never felt the fullness of Reiho, they have no point
of reference and can only pass on the quality and quantity of energy
at their personal level of ability. It is important to recognize that
the fullness of Reiki can also be transmitted to a student without a
physical dance (ritual) of any kind; so the attunement is also a tool
which can be dropped in time -when the teacher has attained the
ability to recognize, tap into and transmit the fullness of Reiki by
will... not an easy feat to do well.
So what does each attunement do
in First level? Does each one work on a different level, like
physical, mental, emotional and spiritual? Or does one open the
student, and another permanently seal in the Reiki energy? In my
experience, I (after doing thousands of attunements) cannot say
specifically what happens with each attunement; it seems more
dependent on the individual receiving it. We were taught that each
attunement had a specific function from our first teacher, but I will
not say this understanding is correct or complete. In my experience,
more attunements are better than less attunements. Perhaps one
attunement is all that is needed to connect a person to Reiki, but I
have found the more attunements or Reiju given, the more refined the
person becomes energetically. Each attunement removes more dross and
allows the person to hold/give more Reiki energy. So why would anyone
want only one? Just like the Reiki saying, "the more Reiki (hands-on)
you do the more that flows through you", the same is true with
attunements - they are both tools of transmission with different
levels of understanding and goals.
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