Here is an interesting page I stumbled upon. Some of you may have already seen it. I know that these symbols are a sacred thing, and are traditionally handed down from the Master to the Pupil.... But today u can find the Master symbol even on many book covers, needless to say that they are all over the web. Anyway I found this page quite interesting. http://www.cedarseed.com/air/reiki.html

LuvSoulJah wrote:Here is an interesting page I stumbled upon. Some of you may have already seen it. I know that these symbols are a sacred thing, and are traditionally handed down from the Master to the Pupil.... But today u can find the Master symbol even on many book covers, needless to say that they are all over the web. Anyway I found this page quite interesting. http://www.cedarseed.com/air/reiki.html

Times are a changing. I never liked secrets.
I never liked belonging to organizations that
had secret hand shakes etc; Whose idea was it
to keep the Reiki symbols a secret? It would
appear that Reiki at one time was exclusive.
The price to become a teaching Master in the
system was expensive $10,000.00

well I'm glad we share the same thoughts on that then

LuvSoulJah wrote:well I'm glad we share the same thoughts on that then

I believe it was Diane Stein who published
the symbols in her, Essential Reiki Book.

I think the first publication of the symbols was in 1992 by A.J Mckenzie Clay. And soon after they were popping up everywhere....

There is an interesting concept governing the need to keep mystical/spiritual symbols secret: when they are shared with others, the power lessens (Franz Bardon, Initiation Into Hermetics). Reiki inherited that concept.

If a symbol is kept secret to help maintain its power, then its power source is very limited. VERY limited. Limited energy has limits--it will stop working once its source is depleted. The more people that use it, the faster the source dies. Secrets in this fashion keep others in their place, usually beneath the teacher.

However, if a symbol is shared with the public and it continues to grow, either it is very powerful or its power source is unlimited.

Unlimited energy has an unlimited power source, and in contrast to limited (secret) sources, the more people that use it, the more that it grows in power. As the source continues to grow, so do those using those energies.

yeah, but the thing is, folks who are level 1 don't need to know about the symbols. cause the spiritual practice of Reiki is primarily about mindfullness. if we're already jumping ahead in our level 1 with what we can do in level 2, or it's uses, then we aren't fully involoved in level 1. It's Tolles old saying, 'if we keep our mind in th epast or future, we're never fully in the present'.

Levels within Reiki are there for a reason. Just like levels are there within many things. It's pretty standard within most spiritual paths i've come across, that teachings are revealed gradually. If they aren't then the student doesn't fully get to appreciate the significance of some teachings. Proof of this is in the actual symbols, and there assumed (or lack of) use today.

The 10,000 thing. It originally came from the early Japanese folks themselves, It wasn't uncommon to pay for such things at a price like that. It out the serious student from the not-so. Cause i might not have 10k now sitting, but if i value Reiki Mastership, the idea of it more than anything (and to be a true Master of anything it must be a dedication, else the word is useless), then i'd do my very best to get as much as i can. When a teacher see's this, they easily come to other arrangments if needed. It's about the teacher seeing actions that Reiki means more than anything, and not just a few words. this is my understanding of things.

warmest wishes
Wayne

yes, I agree and considering those here that are still level one or below, I wasn't sure whether it was appropriate of me to post this topic, or share the link here. Maybe I should have titled the topic with a bit more caution. And also my profile pic.... which I created to help me visualize a distance healing...

hiya benni, your pic was fine buddy. the symbols aren't secret anymore. i was answering bridget's query really.

ah ok cool! Thanks! It's probably not normal Reiki practice. But I was actually given the ChoKuRei and another symbol from Karuna Reiki I think, a grounding symbol with my level 1 attunement.

as we both know it was Usui Shiki Ryoho, without a doubt (or not, knoweing things nowadays, hehe) you'd bene intiated with CKR. Though in that style it's not th eold way to be intiiated into using it. Though, if CKR was placed in hands, then that would initiate into use, and if you were taught it's use.

i'm suspecting being taught it at level 1, and a Karuna symbol (Karuna only availabe to masters of Usui Reiki), it's a cross-fertilization of things.

warmest wishes
Wayne

looooool!!!! ! great lecture u sent me by the way Wayne! thanks a lot m8!


and yes she said that she normally wouldn't teach any symbols to level 1's but her intuition told her to....

LuvSoulJah wrote:looooool!!!! ! great lecture u sent me by the way Wayne! thanks a lot m8!

ahh, hehe, i'm only catching on now mate! Yeah, i'm glad you like it. I think it's a really useful course. when you get to Hatsurei ho, maybe the 2nd or 3rd week i think, things starts to change quite a bit! Have fun!

warmest wishes
Wayne

Some Reiki 1 practitioners teach the symbols
If you teach Reiki 1/2 together

I see symbols as a tool to help us
focus on what the symbol represents.

chi_solas wrote:I believe it was Diane Stein who published
the symbols in her, Essential Reiki Book.

Kathleen Milner, founder of Tera-Mai, was the first Westerner to publish the symbols. She did so in print and in VHS.

Diane Stein published similar Reiki symbols afterwards, and her books grew to be more popular than Tera-Mai.