Reiki

I took Reiki classes a few months ago and had some very real issues with the entire thing. I finished them but wasn't shy about voicing my doubts and lack of ability to have faith in it. It hasn't ever really gotten any better for me, personally, and I have never done a Reiki session on another person before. I don't think I ever would with the amount of doubt I carry regarding it, either, to be honest. I think someone who believes in it and wants it done - should have it done by someone who has some glimmer of faith.

That being said, I'm not sorry I learned about it as in-depth as I did. I would have never known for myself had I not tried. But like many said - don't pay a lot of money for it and do not pay extra for attunements. Some people really do use it as a way of making money and don't care about much else.

As far as a placebo effect goes, those are actually quite phenomenal, in my opinion. I don't hear the words as negative things and think that if someone is able to do it, they should. However, I think they should do it in a wise and educated manner and not deny or replace medical advice. Using it in conjunction would probably benefit someone tremendously.

pla·ce·bo ef·fect
noun
a beneficial effect, produced by a placebo drug or treatment, that cannot be attributed to the properties of the placebo itself, and must, therefore, be due to the patient's belief in that treatment.

Whatever you decide, do what you feel is best for you and do so with a clear mind. Enjoy the learning experiences and whatever you get out of it, regardless of if it happens to match anyone else's opinion.

Reserved Sanity wrote: I am not well versed on, but am increasingly interested in Reiki. I am considering studying it but and not sure if it's a worthwhile investment of time and energy.

What is your view/understanding/experience of reiki and how it relates to our faith - especially the force?

yes and yes friend. If you ever want to know something go GET it. Find out. That is the first step to a greater journey!

I myself study Reiki and have noticed a change in my being. Pm for more if you like.
Reiki is strange and un familiar. Be cautious, study leads to learn, learn leads to knowledge, knowledge leads to wisdom.!
The Force can be called many things. Regardless of name it is ready avalible. I keep that kind of mentality and it fans the flame of what and how I learn.

Sven One wrote: the successes I have seen is arthritis in a few where they feel better but, it requires more visits and one being bad burns on the skin. I don't charge for what I know because It was given freely.

Are you saying you have actually seen someone burn the skin with the flowing energy of a reiki treatment?

Care to give your short take on what its about? I have a Riki book on my shelf from when I was into various new age and pagan practices but Ive yet to get around to it. (Sadly a ton of my books are on the must get to list). You may have decided my next read after the two I am currently reading.

Most (and not all) of the posts in this thread about Reiki as of the time I'm visiting seem skeptical. I'd like to offer a more positive view of Reiki.

My experience began with it in the 1990's, after a fall left me with painful bursitis in my elbows. My physician said nothing could be done, and I'd have to learn to live with pain. I was familiar with energy work, and found a Reiki practitioner near my home who treated me once a week for a few months.

I could feel heat from her hands each time, and like some have suggested here I became so relaxed that sometimes I fell asleep. With consistent treatment, my bursitis disappeared and I could again function normally. Since that time, I've undergone Reiki training and attunements myself (I am a level II).

I don't perceive that the work done by my first practitioner was just a grab for money. For a 90-minute session, she charged about half what a massage therapist would charge for an hour. Some may decry, "This is spiritual work, it should be free", but c'mon - energy workers have to eat like the rest of us, and don't get extra hours in the day to offer this service after working a different full-time job.

I'd agree that there are practitioners and schools of Reiki that give cause for skepticism. The practitioner who first treated me had studied Tera Mai Reiki, which at the time was one of the larger schools. Usui Reiki is the original, and has a rich history of dedicated, sincere individuals who disseminated and practice it; it's the one I'd suggest delving in to if you're considering getting more familiar with Reiki. While there may be a few other legitimate schools of Reiki training people who in most cases have integrity and a sincere desire to be of service, there are a number of Reiki knock-offs worth questioning; methods claiming a recent founding with small followings and names that could have come from Madison Avenue (sounding like, say, Sparkly Fairy Reiki or Surfer's Delight Reiki) probably warrant minimal attention.

It's still understandable that there will be skeptics, but for what it's worth - I think those of us whose philosophy or religion rests on a fictional adventure story populated by masters of invisible energy flying around in space ships have to be a bit careful throwing around the "woo" word.

Kamizu wrote: I thought you had to ask the person if they wanted healing? Or is that only a shamanism etiquette?

That's an ethical concern, nothing more.

tzb wrote: Sorry Steam, no inquisition intended but I'd be interested to know how you deemed the skeptic's scepticism wasn't only surface level, or how the evidence you saw in people who didn't know they were receiving it wasn't confirmation bias.

The skeptic is a lifelong and steadfast atheist I've known for most of my life. The evidence in others consisted of mechanical maladies (physical ailments that aren't infections, like limps, long-term muscle soreness, etc.) being alleviated and temporary suppression of chronic illnesses, both based on their own testimony. You are, as always, welcome to your own beliefs, as this is far from a scientific inquiry.

tzb wrote: Personally I've seen no compelling evidence to believe in Reiki, and I have a problem with people spending money on woo because they're desperate for help. There are a number of other dubious things about it, but in the rare instance people aren't using it to take advantage of other people... to each their own

Due to one of the rather obscure tenets of my faith structure, I am forbidden to charge for reiki "treatments" themselves, rather relying on donations when folks feel like it. There are some loopholes I could possibly exploit to make money for teaching, or to have a lowest-acceptable donation amount, but I haven't received a dime for any work of that kind.

Goken wrote: Steam, I don't know how you managed to be both skeptical and a believer, but I like it. :laugh:

I'm still a scientist at heart, so I believe that even when dealing with the supernatural there is some kind of cause and effect, and I believe that everything should be tested. The fact that you can't measure the spiritual with dials or meters or fancy gizmos shouldn't stop us from using a scientific mindset on spiritual/supernatural/etc. things.

That sort of mindset is why I say that reiki, as it is taught, is complete and utter b.s. It works, but not for the reasons reiki masters will tell you that it works. And they give all kinds of convenient lies along the way to shepherd people who'll never look deeper into the practice from any guilt they may feel over harm they cause. I've been considering for years writing a book or making a video series about why these teachings are dangerous and what the truth behind them is so that people can actually use reiki as a gateway to other energywork, but I'm lazy. I am, however, open to discussing it in private until I can do something more broadcastable, though.

MadHatter wrote: Care to give your short take on what its about? I have a Riki book on my shelf from when I was into various new age and pagan practices but Ive yet to get around to it.

Usui Reiki is a "healing modality" (that's New Age Crystal Junkie for "means of using energy") that is based in completely incorrect assumptions about how energy moves, and yet somehow still finds a way to work a little over half the time.

I've never learnt it but I guess I do my own version of some of the principles maybe.... but I've hung around a few that did, and Ms Adder did past level 1 but pulled out before completing level 2 as she prefers to use the 'universal energy' without specific symbols or lineage personalities.

I tend to fall in the camp about it that 'attunement' is achieved by the existing capacity for interaction between teacher and student as individuals, and not the effort of the teacher to any and all students who might pay; as such I think you gotta try out lots of different practitioners before you find an 'attunement match' ie someone your in synch with, share the same 'vibes' - and then a lot of it becomes incidental to the actual practise and development of focused intention. I think there are some risks to it, as I've seen one person react badly to it.... but I think that was them opening up to their own 'bad taste', rather then anything else. Now perhaps some people are open to more types of people then others, or perhaps that is something which can be achieved through supporting practise!?

I might have paid for it if I found a teacher whom I had great initial results with, but otherwise no.

Reserved Sanity wrote: I am not well versed on, but am increasingly interested in Reiki. I am considering studying it but and not sure if it's a worthwhile investment of time and energy.

What is your view/understanding/experience of reiki and how it relates to our faith - especially the force?

Here's my take on it. I am currently a Reiki Master, but I don't have a business practice nor do I want to. I had given Reiki to a number of people, but I never charge them for it. Reiki is a valid modality and I understood it, at the time, to be one of the healing powers of the Tao. Like the Force, the Tao cannot be defined.

Last year was my first and last journey into Reiki, having gone through four classes, attending over 40 Reiki share events, having met over 80 Reiki Masters, along with doing hardcore objective research. I treated this journey as an "experiment". When I find something that I do not know, I aim to know - to know both the darkness and the light - to know all the "masks" because that is my faith in knowledge. So, I ended up finding more darkness than light here.

So, here are the bits that I learned from that journey:

• In my first level class, I was taught that there was some Japanese guy goes by the name of Usui who created Reiki that is being practiced today.
→ False. Usui did not created the Reiki system as we know it today, but his spiritual practice was simply a part of it, along with the original symbols. There were several people involved that contributed to the system. One was fairly known, Hawayo Takata (1900-1980), who has brought it to the West. It was because of her that Reiki became very popular.


• I was taught that Reiki is "a universal life force", no matter what "form" it's in.
→ I later found that this is not so. There is no defining what the "real" Reiki was, except that I had observed it to be a subtle energy being given to the person and contribute to the body's need for energy, its need for releasing any emotional/spiritual/mental blockage that the body contains, as it has done in my case. I also found out that one Reiki is not the same as the other. The way I can describe it is a person can "draw" energy from a certain "ethereal realm" - not the same "place" as the "real" Reiki (by "real", I mean the system as practiced by Takata). I even observed that there are many "ethereal realms" as there are "Reiki systems". It felt as if these "realms" were "created", not "naturally formed". Scary thought...


• The symbols are powerful and sacred.
→ Yes, in a way. However, there had been so many practitioners corrupting the symbols by altering them or "adding" symbols of their own (i.e., channeling, from ancient texts, etc.). The problem with these "new" symbols is that their meanings are not understood. So, with each "corruption" birthed a new "Reiki system".

The symbols that Usui has given to the Navy officers (a few years before his death), who don't know how to "call" their own healing abilities as his earlier students did (these earlier students were followers of Buddhism/Shintoism) - they had to use the symbols as "training wheels", nothing more. If you know the psychology of "imprinting", along with the good understanding of energy body, you'd know how the symbols work. Using the wrong "symbols" (as many Reiki systems has done), you don't know "what" you are "inviting" into your "field" (think real hard about that).

Usui never used the symbols on himself or on his earlier students - they were "natural healers" - however, healing was not their "main" focus of their practices, just simply a small part of it.


• Reiki requires a "belief" for it to work.
→ That is false. With a "real" Reiki, it does not require any belief of any kind. It works independently of one's belief systems or concentration. For an example, when I was sitting with a stranger one day in a local park, I suddenly felt the energy moving through me towards that person, without my thought for it. I can then see that person's expression changed from sadness to peaceful. I asked her how she's doing - she was feeling sad, telling me how she couldn't find a "reason" to deal with the things she was going through. She was asking God in her mind for help. Then, she felt her prayer was answered - a "reason" came to her and she felt really happy. That was one of the observations over time that I determined the energy goes to whomever was "asking" for it - in a truest sense of the word - either verbal or in mind. It's the "energy" of the person or its body who are "asking" for the energy that it needs. I even found a few people who wanted "Reiki" and not really asking for it, the energy didn't flow to them, no matter how hard I concentrated. It was strange, really, but eventually I understood that I was simply an "instrument", nothing more.


• One needs an attunement to practice Reiki.
→ If one wanted to learn and use Reiki, one do need attunements but only from a proper Master. I found out there are "Reiki" groups who don't give attunements, practicing Reiki on others. I met a number of them and I felt no energy coming from them - they appeared to be "pretending" while at the same time, asking for money (while giving true Reiki a bad rep). I also met groups that give attunements, along with New Age rituals, like holy water, chanting, etc. One only need an attunement, nothing more, for one to "receive" an ability to channel the energy. Geez, it's really an overkill with those other things.

What Usui and his students had done with their healing works, they had done so with years and years of training. So, Reiki is very much like a lazy person's Qi Gong.

I'm sure that there are more, but it would take me a lifetime to investigate and break down every exact detail that has happened in the last few decades with Reiki and its dark side.

Recently, I found and read a 2005 interview with one of Takata's original Master students, Mary McFadyen (who, sadly, has disappeared in 2011) and caught this bit (From: _http://www.einfach-nur-reiki.de/reiki/healing-spirituality-interview-mcfadyen.shtml):

The Reiki that was given by Dr. Usui and came to us through Mrs. Takata is enough... But what has happened to it is that it has been distorted and diluted and changed until much of what is taught today as Reiki is not Reiki. There may be an energy there, and some of it is clearly a healing energy, it works, and it's fine... but much of it is not true healing energy, it's not the energy that Mrs. Takata gave us... and it's not Reiki. My guess is – it‘s only a guess, because nobody can possibly know–but my guess is that more than 70 percent of what is given as Reiki today is not Reiki... it has been changed: the symbols have been changed, the initiations have been changed, in some Reiki systems the students are not given the full four initiations for the First Degree, many only receive one, as if this is the same as four, but of course it‘s not the same. I have seen symbols in books that just make my toes curl – they are backwards, they are upside down, in fact to a very extensive degree the power symbol is taught backwards and the proper symbol is taught as an additional symbol. In fact, one puts energy in, the other takes it out... so, what is happening? People think that they can make changes and it's okay... well, it may be and it may not be... my personal view is that it's not. I try to stay true to what Mrs. Takata taught. Reiki has evolved since she died, there are various techniques, which we use the Reiki symbols for, which are extremely valuable, but they are still true to what was taught...

The bit about "more than 70 percent of what is given as Reiki today is not Reiki" also meets my observations, sadly enough. Though, there may be more than that.

There is no single book on Reiki that can tell you everything about it - you'd need to read everything and question everything. I even found books that are like "copies" of each other - gave me headaches.

As for finding a teacher, it will be rare, but not impossible, to find one with proper lineage to Takata, with proper symbols, if you want to learn and use Reiki. So, if you choose to do it, exercise discernment and caution. Ask a potential Reiki Master about their lineage and how they teach Reiki. What symbols they use? What do they charge? What's their philosophy regarding Reiki? A good teacher would answer truthfully. If you find in yourself a strong doubt with a certain teacher, trust it. If you felt something resonate with you, even some part, that would be a good small step toward learning Reiki.

Anyway, that's my take. For what it's worth...

Zac-Ek Plast wrote:

Reserved Sanity wrote: I am not well versed on, but am increasingly interested in Reiki. I am considering studying it but and not sure if it's a worthwhile investment of time and energy.

What is your view/understanding/experience of reiki and how it relates to our faith - especially the force?

Here's my take on it. I am currently a Reiki Master, but I don't have a business practice nor do I want to. I had given Reiki to a number of people, but I never charge them for it. Reiki is a valid modality and I understood it, at the time, to be one of the healing powers of the Tao. Like the Force, the Tao cannot be defined.

Last year was my first and last journey into Reiki, having gone through four classes, attending over 40 Reiki share events, having met over 80 Reiki Masters, along with doing hardcore objective research. I treated this journey as an "experiment". When I find something that I do not know, I aim to know - to know both the darkness and the light - to know all the "masks" because that is my faith in knowledge. So, I ended up finding more darkness than light here.

So, here are the bits that I learned from that journey:

• In my first level class, I was taught that there was some Japanese guy goes by the name of Usui who created Reiki that is being practiced today.
→ False. Usui did not created the Reiki system as we know it today, but his spiritual practice was simply a part of it, along with the original symbols. There were several people involved that contributed to the system. One was fairly known, Hawayo Takata (1900-1980), who has brought it to the West. It was because of her that Reiki became very popular.


• I was taught that Reiki is "a universal life force", no matter what "form" it's in.
→ I later found that this is not so. There is no defining what the "real" Reiki was, except that I had observed it to be a subtle energy being given to the person and contribute to the body's need for energy, its need for releasing any emotional/spiritual/mental blockage that the body contains, as it has done in my case. I also found out that one Reiki is not the same as the other. The way I can describe it is a person can "draw" energy from a certain "ethereal realm" - not the same "place" as the "real" Reiki (by "real", I mean the system as practiced by Takata). I even observed that there are many "ethereal realms" as there are "Reiki systems". It felt as if these "realms" were "created", not "naturally formed". Scary thought...


• The symbols are powerful and sacred.
→ Yes, in a way. However, there had been so many practitioners corrupting the symbols by altering them or "adding" symbols of their own (i.e., channeling, from ancient texts, etc.). The problem with these "new" symbols is that their meanings are not understood. So, with each "corruption" birthed a new "Reiki system".

The symbols that Usui has given to the Navy officers (a few years before his death), who don't know how to "call" their own healing abilities as his earlier students did (these earlier students were followers of Buddhism/Shintoism) - they had to use the symbols as "training wheels", nothing more. If you know the psychology of "imprinting", along with the good understanding of energy body, you'd know how the symbols work. Using the wrong "symbols" (as many Reiki systems has done), you don't know "what" you are "inviting" into your "field" (think real hard about that).

Usui never used the symbols on himself or on his earlier students - they were "natural healers" - however, healing was not their "main" focus of their practices, just simply a small part of it.


• Reiki requires a "belief" for it to work.
→ That is false. With a "real" Reiki, it does not require any belief of any kind. It works independently of one's belief systems or concentration. For an example, when I was sitting with a stranger one day in a local park, I suddenly felt the energy moving through me towards that person, without my thought for it. I can then see that person's expression changed from sadness to peaceful. I asked her how she's doing - she was feeling sad, telling me how she couldn't find a "reason" to deal with the things she was going through. She was asking God in her mind for help. Then, she felt her prayer was answered - a "reason" came to her and she felt really happy. That was one of the observations over time that I determined the energy goes to whomever was "asking" for it - in a truest sense of the word - either verbal or in mind. It's the "energy" of the person or its body who are "asking" for the energy that it needs. I even found a few people who wanted "Reiki" and not really asking for it, the energy didn't flow to them, no matter how hard I concentrated. It was strange, really, but eventually I understood that I was simply an "instrument", nothing more.


• One needs an attunement to practice Reiki.
→ If one wanted to learn and use Reiki, one do need attunements but only from a proper Master. I found out there are "Reiki" groups who don't give attunements, practicing Reiki on others. I met a number of them and I felt no energy coming from them - they appeared to be "pretending" while at the same time, asking for money (while giving true Reiki a bad rep). I also met groups that give attunements, along with New Age rituals, like holy water, chanting, etc. One only need an attunement, nothing more, for one to "receive" an ability to channel the energy. Geez, it's really an overkill with those other things.

What Usui and his students had done with their healing works, they had done so with years and years of training. So, Reiki is very much like a lazy person's Qi Gong.

I'm sure that there are more, but it would take me a lifetime to investigate and break down every exact detail that has happened in the last few decades with Reiki and its dark side.

Recently, I found and read a 2005 interview with one of Takata's original Master students, Mary McFadyen (who, sadly, has disappeared in 2011) and caught this bit (From: _http://www.einfach-nur-reiki.de/reiki/healing-spirituality-interview-mcfadyen.shtml):

The Reiki that was given by Dr. Usui and came to us through Mrs. Takata is enough... But what has happened to it is that it has been distorted and diluted and changed until much of what is taught today as Reiki is not Reiki. There may be an energy there, and some of it is clearly a healing energy, it works, and it's fine... but much of it is not true healing energy, it's not the energy that Mrs. Takata gave us... and it's not Reiki. My guess is – it‘s only a guess, because nobody can possibly know–but my guess is that more than 70 percent of what is given as Reiki today is not Reiki... it has been changed: the symbols have been changed, the initiations have been changed, in some Reiki systems the students are not given the full four initiations for the First Degree, many only receive one, as if this is the same as four, but of course it‘s not the same. I have seen symbols in books that just make my toes curl – they are backwards, they are upside down, in fact to a very extensive degree the power symbol is taught backwards and the proper symbol is taught as an additional symbol. In fact, one puts energy in, the other takes it out... so, what is happening? People think that they can make changes and it's okay... well, it may be and it may not be... my personal view is that it's not. I try to stay true to what Mrs. Takata taught. Reiki has evolved since she died, there are various techniques, which we use the Reiki symbols for, which are extremely valuable, but they are still true to what was taught...

The bit about "more than 70 percent of what is given as Reiki today is not Reiki" also meets my observations, sadly enough. Though, there may be more than that.

There is no single book on Reiki that can tell you everything about it - you'd need to read everything and question everything. I even found books that are like "copies" of each other - gave me headaches.

As for finding a teacher, it will be rare, but not impossible, to find one with proper lineage to Takata, with proper symbols, if you want to learn and use Reiki. So, if you choose to do it, exercise discernment and caution. Ask a potential Reiki Master about their lineage and how they teach Reiki. What symbols they use? What do they charge? What's their philosophy regarding Reiki? A good teacher would answer truthfully. If you find in yourself a strong doubt with a certain teacher, trust it. If you felt something resonate with you, even some part, that would be a good small step toward learning Reiki.

Anyway, that's my take. For what it's worth...

Thank you for this information , i have long thought why my resentment against reiki was so big , but the things you name make ik all clear to me , 3 things stand out

A the constant lying about the source of Reiki
B the not knowing which energy you let in
C The asking money for it

These really bugged me for years and now i know why , thank you very much , its good to hear it from a Reiki master

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I'm thankful for Zac-Ek's post, because they hit a lot of points that I would if I were going to take the time to discuss reiki one problem at a time. However, I don't agree with Z-E on all points. Below I've highlighted my personal beliefs, using Z-E's discourse as a framework. I've only been a reiki master for a couple of years, but I've done energy work for two decades, and what follows are my 'opinions' after rigorous study and testing of varying 'modalities' across world history.

Zac-Ek Plast wrote: Reiki is a valid modality and I understood it, at the time, to be one of the healing powers of the Tao. Like the Force, the Tao cannot be defined.

I wouldn't describe it quite like that, although you definitely could. Especially if one equates the Tao to anything similar to the universal Force. And, in actuality, the Tao could theoretically be defined, but not in the positive--i.e., one would not say 'the Tao is this...'--but rather in the negative, what the Tao is not. "The Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao," for example. Likewise can the Force, and the energy used in reiki, be defined.

• In my first level class, I was taught that there was some Japanese guy goes by the name of Usui who created Reiki that is being practiced today.
→ False. Usui did not created the Reiki system as we know it today, but his spiritual practice was simply a part of it, along with the original symbols. There were several people involved that contributed to the system. One was fairly known, Hawayo Takata (1900-1980), who has brought it to the West. It was because of her that Reiki became very popular.

The story goes that Usui Mikao meditated at some spiritually powerful place and that the reiki energy itself brought to him the sacred symbols of level 2 and beyond. That he somehow tapped into some primal, ancient system, blah blah blah.

This tale is impossible for a number of reasons, not least of which the rampant lies spread to make Usui Mikao look like a better or more spiritually gifted teacher than he was. Below, you'll find the reiki symbols (which, for reasons I'll tear apart later, are supposed to be kept 'secret'.)

At least one of those is impossible to squeeze into any "ancient healing" narrative, and the other three have been attested nowhere else, outside of reiki, that I have ever seen. That (for those of you who are budding symbologists) is what we like to call in the business "f***ing weird". If these symbols were used in such powerful healing ceremonies, secret or not, they'd be pretty darn easy to find.

I was taught that Reiki is "a universal life force", no matter what "form" it's in.

→ I later found that this is not so. There is no defining what the "real" Reiki was, except that I had observed it to be a subtle energy being given to the person and contribute to the body's need for energy, its need for releasing any emotional/spiritual/mental blockage that the body contains, as it has done in my case. I also found out that one Reiki is not the same as the other. The way I can describe it is a person can "draw" energy from a certain "ethereal realm" - not the same "place" as the "real" Reiki (by "real", I mean the system as practiced by Takata). I even observed that there are many "ethereal realms" as there are "Reiki systems". It felt as if these "realms" were "created", not "naturally formed". Scary thought...

"Reiki" is said to mean "universal energy." Proponents claim it is the benevolent, sacred, universal life force that has a consciousness and basically does what it feels is necessary. That is incredibly false. Reiki is a specific energy signature or frequency (hereafter "modality") that can be "tuned" by practitioners to do certain things. I won't go into great detail here, but the personal energy/chi/qi/prana/Force of an individual can be tuned to a certain frequency for a certain purpose; it remains the same energy, but it is "colored" by your intentions to be predisposed to the task you set it to. To believe that reiki is some kind of universal energy, disconnected from its practitioners (something that is taught widely--teachers will insist that you allow reiki to flow through you, using none of your personal energy) is harmful and false in a great many ways.

The symbols are powerful and sacred.

→ Yes, in a way. However, there had been so many practitioners corrupting the symbols by altering them or "adding" symbols of their own (i.e., channeling, from ancient texts, etc.). The problem with these "new" symbols is that their meanings are not understood. So, with each "corruption" birthed a new "Reiki system".

I'll disagree with Z-E here quite a bit: the symbols are not being "corrupted", because they aren't sacred or powerful outside of the faith put into them. That's what makes symbols powerful: the human belief systems invested in them. Reiki symbols are not old or widespread enough, even in this day and age, to have "power" on their own. They are, like all other ritualistic devices, simply a symbolic crutch; one uses symbols to lean on so they can "borrow" the faith and will necessary to perform a task they feel they are otherwise unable to do.

Reiki requires a "belief" for it to work.

→ That is false. With a "real" Reiki, it does not require any belief of any kind. It works independently of one's belief systems or concentration. For an example, when I was sitting with a stranger one day in a local park, I suddenly felt the energy moving through me towards that person, without my thought for it. I can then see that person's expression changed from sadness to peaceful. I asked her how she's doing - she was feeling sad, telling me how she couldn't find a "reason" to deal with the things she was going through. She was asking God in her mind for help. Then, she felt her prayer was answered - a "reason" came to her and she felt really happy. That was one of the observations over time that I determined the energy goes to whomever was "asking" for it - in a truest sense of the word - either verbal or in mind. It's the "energy" of the person or its body who are "asking" for the energy that it needs. I even found a few people who wanted "Reiki" and not really asking for it, the energy didn't flow to them, no matter how hard I concentrated. It was strange, really, but eventually I understood that I was simply an "instrument", nothing more.

I'm sorry, but this is incredibly true. You can't get two skeptics together and see reiki function properly. That's because all energywork from every modality relies on a modicum of willpower to move that energy from point A to point B, and without the faith and expectation of belief, that willpower becomes very hard to come by. It will fail.

One needs an attunement to practice Reiki.

→ If one wanted to learn and use Reiki, one do need attunements but only from a proper Master. I found out there are "Reiki" groups who don't give attunements, practicing Reiki on others. I met a number of them and I felt no energy coming from them - they appeared to be "pretending" while at the same time, asking for money (while giving true Reiki a bad rep). I also met groups that give attunements, along with New Age rituals, like holy water, chanting, etc. One only need an attunement, nothing more, for one to "receive" an ability to channel the energy. Geez, it's really an overkill with those other things.

This is true in that reiki is a "modality", a frequency of energy. In order to carry that frequency, you must "attune" yourself just as you would tune a radio so you could pick up the frequency of your favorite rock station. What isn't true is that you need to pay for the attunement, or receive it from someone else. All that is required is to come in contact with the reiki energy frequency once, and you can (in theory) attune yourself, with enough willpower and practice. And, if anyone at this Temple wants to be attuned by someone else but doesn't want to pay for it, I volunteer to grant you a free attunement so you can test drive this stuff. I'm sure other Temple members who are masters will do the same.

As for some of the other reiki "lies", this last one is the most insidious. They will tell you that because reiki has its own consciousness (false) and is purely benevolent (false), that reiki practitioners can do no harm. NEVER believe anyone who tells you that you cannot do harm with some form of faith, belief, or energy. They are ALWAYS lying. They tell you this about reiki to assuage your fears, and assume that if you believe strongly enough that you can do no harm with reiki that it will prevent you from doing harm with reiki. Unfortunately, the opposite is true: by believing that it can do no harm, and by believing that the energy goes where it wants instead of where you direct it, some very unfortunate consequences can come about. They're rare, but harm can result from reiki done improperly, which is why training is so very important.