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Many of my students have emailed me the Catholics Bishops recent decree about Reiki. I read it, and wrote the following article about why, point by point, I find it completely unconvincing. William Rand will also be writing his own article on the subject for the Reiki news magazine. I also include a list of christian reiki websites.

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Reiki 1&2, Reiki Master, and *ONLINE* Advanced Classes.

Northern California / Southern California / *ONLINE ADVANCED CLASSES *

In addition to California, I will also be doing a coteach with Robin Fuerst in Pullman, WA May 16-17. And I am teaching Reiki 1&2 class in Chicago May 30-31!

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Northern California / Southern California / *ONLINE CLASS*

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Northern/Central California Schedule

I am continuing to do more classes in Northern California every few months. I will also be doing Central California (San Luis Obispo area) a few times per year.

The next Reiki 1&2 in Northern California will be in Pleasanton Jun 20-21.

The next Reiki Master class will be Jun 27-29 in Millbrae. The next Karuna class will be in San Jose July 18-19

There will be a Morro Bay Reiki 1&2 July 25-26

There will be a class in Tracey, CA August 22-23

Click on the buttons above or class link at left to signup or get more info.

Southern California Schedule

I will be teaching a Reiki 1&2 class in San Pedro/Long Beach July 11-12. There will be a Santa Monica Reiki 1&2 class Aug 8-9. I will also be teaching a class in Simi Valley Aug 15-16, and Santa Barbara Aug 29-30.

(Some of these may be combined if I do not get enough people)

PASADENA (Sierra Madre)

There is a Reiki 1&2 class June 13-14 in Sierra Madre (

Karuna Reiki will be Mothers Day Weekend, May 9-11

There is a Reiki Master class June 6-8

** ReikiMastery University

Online Classes and more**

Want to go beyond the basics of what fits into a Reiki class and really explore what Reiki can do? These classes are for those who have completed Reiki 1&2 training under any instructor, and want to explore more. Each class has a series of lessons. Each lesson has a number of short videos, with supporting text that you can watch and do at any time, from any computer. There is a forum to share experiences with fellow students and ask questions.

Extraordinary Distance Healing

**Online Class--- take from anywhere anytime... Reiki 2 required**

"Opened my eyes to so many new possibilites.. I see the world differently now. Reiki is really amazing.. Thankyou for this class"

"Having everyone in the class send healing to my problems made a trememdous difference. Thankyou"

$129 Starts now!

Distance Healing is one of the most powerful aspects of Reiki. Come explore what we it really can do. This 9 lesson online class will use a combination of videos and text to explore what Reiki Distance healing can really do. To register, you must be Reiki 2 or above.

• Intending symbols
• Distance basics Situation healing
• Lifting, blowing, listening techniques
• Guide staff meetings, hiring and firing guides
• Healing levels of soul
• Healing Time Line
• Calling Soul Home
• Space clearning
• Temple of Healing
• and much more..

Healing Ghosts & Spirits

**Online Class--- take from anywhere anytime... Reiki 2 required**

For Halloween, I am doing an online class for healing Ghosts and Spirits.The cost is $99, it will be 5-6 weeks. I have been doing healing work on ghosts and spirits for over 10 years, and have developed a technique that is both very positive and very effective. All souls have the right to enlightenment. We treat the ghost or spirit as worthy of healing. Then we use the Reiki to call in beings that can help it move on to its next level. Class includes a number of techniques to strenghten and protect your energy field which is not only important for this work, but will also strengthen you and bring understanding in other areas of Reiki and the rest of your life. Class will include 'live' examples so you can see experience what ghost energies are like and how to heal them. Tuition is $99

It is recommended that you have taken (or at least started) the Extraordinary Healing Class, and or had 2 years experiences sending distance Reiki before taking this class.

NOTICES

Handouts Registration Program

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Catholic decree about Reiki

This article required a great deal of thought, including even whether I should post it. Several of my students had forwarded links to the Catholics bishops decree to me. What was my response? So I read it, and thought about it, and wrote the following article. I showed the article to Laurelle and William,, both who liked what I had to say. William is already writing his own article for the Reik news.

When I first read about the Bishops decree about Reiki I was upset. I have a great deal of respect for all religious traditions. I often find it easy to talk to people of faith about Reiki because they and I know there is more to the world than meets the eye. We agree that the spiritual is an important and a worthwhile part of life. As a Unitarian Universalist, I honor all spiritual paths, even the paths of people who aren't sure they are on one. We are all seeking deeper connection and deeper understanding of the real world and the divine world.

As a Reiki teacher, I have taught Christians (Catholics, Protestants, Nuns, Ministers, Mormons, Jevovah Witnesses, Evangelicals and more), Jews, Muslims, Hindus,. Pagans, Buddhists, Shinto, Shamans and all the rest. I love the variety of people who come to learn Reiki, and how they fit it into their life.

Reiki is not a religion. It is a form of holistic healing, that can be practiced by all people. It has no dogma, no beliefs, it is simply a way to put an effective positive form of holistic healing energy into the hands of any who want to learn.

Reading the article more carefully, I was struck by other things. The article is a bit long, I may shorten it later, but I thought it was important to go through the bishops decree point by point.

Catholic Bishops decree against Reiki Surprisingly Unconvincing

by Reiki Master Jessica Miller www.ReikiMastery.com copyright 2009

It was inevitable really. Reiki is becoming more and more well known. I have trained a number of Catholic nuns over the years of different denominations, as well as endless numbers of Catholic lay people. Reiki was being taught at a convent in Kentucky. Reiki is being talked about on Oprah. Reiki is being offered in an increasing number of hospitals, universities, and healing centers worldwide. Reiki has become high profile enough that the bishops of the Catholic Church felt they had to render an opinion.

And of course the opinion is not in favor of Reiki. Reiki is too universal. It can be learned and used by anybody, regardless of his or her religious affiliation and beliefs. And while Reiki is rapidly gaining popularity because it is easy to learn and effective, the scientific studies validating Reiki are only just starting to be done. It would have been startling if the Catholic
Church had spoken out in favor of Reiki. This is the same Catholic Church that has also spoken against yoga, Chinese acupuncture, chakras and Asian philosophy.And yet to me the oddest thing about their arguments about Reiki is they are do completely unconvincing.

Read the Text for yourself

I think it is very important to read original sources, not just what anyone, including me, says about an issue. So here is the reference, though I do exerpt the important parts below.

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops published the statements of the Catholic Church against Reiki in March 2009.
http://www.usccb.org/dpp/Evaluation_Guidelines_finaltext_2009-03.pdf

The article describes two kinds of healing recognized by the church, healing by divine grace, and healing that utilizes the powers of nature. The article then clarifies that by powers of nature, it means science and medicine. The quoted sections below all come from this article.

Healing by Divine Power, as defined by Catholic Bishops

According to the article, Healing by divine power is done "through the invocation of the name of the Lord Jesus, asking for healing through the power of the Holy Spirit, whether in the form of the sacramental laying on of hands and anointing with oil or of simple prayers for healing, which often include an appeal to the saints for their aid."

According to this definition, any form of prayer, white light, affirmations or positive thinking that can be done in a way that does not directly involve the name of Jesus, even if it does appeal directly to God is not recognized as healing by the church. By this kind of 'our kind is the only kind that counts' logic, of course, the Catholic Church could not endorse Reiki, as that would have been tantamount to saying there are ways of divine healing that could exist outside their church.

The Catholic bishops discomfort is increased by the ways the broader spiritual community describes Reiki. "Much of the literature on Reiki is filled with references to God, the Goddess, the 'divine healing power,' and the 'divine mind.' The life force energy is described as being directed by God, the 'Higher Intelligence,' or the 'divine consciousness.'" While it would have of course been sacrilegious (and rude to non-Christian practitioners) to say that Reiki is the loving kindness energy of Jesus, such universal terms are not things a Catholic bishop can embrace. It also may be interesting to note that the word Rei can be translated to mean "Holy" and Ki to mean "Spirit"

Healing by Science and Nature

The article goes on to state that many nurses practice Reiki as a "natural means of healing." It then goes to state that as a natural method, it should be judged by scientific criteria. The article then asserts, "Reputable scientific studies attesting to the efficacy of Reiki are lacking." There are actually a small but growing number of scientific studies that do attest to Reiki's effectiveness. Do you really think that even as more studies are done, the Catholic Church is likely to change this opinion? A great resource for further data on this is http://www.reikimedresearch.org/. And like all alternative and complementary modalities, a given percentage of the medical establishment will never believe the results because they are too contradictory to their model of the world.

Misunderstanding the Nature of Reiki

The next section attempts to explain some conceptual differences in how Reiki healing is different than 'the divine healing known to Christians'. How they describe this difference indicate a lack of any real research.

The article considers "The radical difference can be immediately seen in the fact that for the Reiki practitioner the healing power is at human disposal." They then go on to acknowledge that many (I would say virtually all) Reiki teachers want to avoid this implication and argue that it is not the Reiki practitioner personally who effects the healing, but the Reiki energy directed by the divine consciousness." This is not a 'avoiding this implication', but a statement of the general experience of teaching and using Reiki. Reiki is at human disposal in the same way prayer is at human disposal. As human beings, we initiate prayer, or initiate Reiki by choosing to do it. The results are up to 'the divine consciousness', be it called God, or universal energy, or the grace of Jesus or whatever you want to call it.

The article's only support for the odd assertion that Reiki is at human disposal is the statement "the essence of Reiki is not a prayer but a technique that is passed down from the "Reiki Master" to the pupil, a technique that once mastered will reliably produce the anticipated results." Once again Reiki is like prayer, in that when people pray, they often have a general sense of what will typically happen. People will feel calmer, health or financial problems will improve, this is simply observation.

When Catholics are asking the saints for intercession, there is a general sense of what saints will help with what life issues, is that not also an anticipation of results? We teach techniques in Reiki, but Reiki works even when the techniques are not used. Like prayer, Reiki will frequently work on things that were not disclosed to the practitioner. One of the clearest demonstrations of the divinely rather than humanly guided nature of Reiki is that if you are angry at someone, send them Reiki, it will tend to heal your anger, and send positive energy to the other person, regardless of the practitioner's feelings.

Praying to Jesus first doesn't help?

The article then states that even if you say a prayer to Christ before doing Reiki, this does not affect the nature of Reiki. When people pray with any seriousness they know how prayer feels when it is 'on', they can feel the senseof divine connection. Reiki feels very familiar to many of these people. The bishop's position implies that if a Catholic says a prayer, and then did a form of spiritual energy work afterwards, the sincere Catholic would not notice if the energy work had a positive or negative energy?

Another assertion is based on their fear of the term 'universal life energy,' and misunderstandings of how Reiki works. They state that "Neither the Scriptures nor the Christian tradition as a whole speak of the natural world as based on 'universal life energy that is subject to manipulation by the natural human power of thought and will'." But as already noted, that while Reiki uses universal life energy, Reiki is not an exercise in human power of thought or will, and thus their argument is false.

The Bishop's decree then goes on to show its distrust of Asian religions, even though Reiki is not a religion and most practitioners do not rely on an eastern worldview. "In fact, this worldview has its origins in eastern religions and has a certain monist and pantheistic character, in that distinctions among self, world, and God tend to fall away." Reiki practitioners are very clear that it is not they doing the healing, therefore the implied "Reiki practitioners think they are God," doesn't apply.

Bishops did not try or talk to Reiki Practitioners

The oddest thing about the article is that nowhere do they seem to have actually talked to any Reiki practitioners or experienced Reiki for themselves. Everything they say is purely theoretical. They did a literature search, and found the data they wanted to support their argument, but it doesn't appear that they had any first hand experience in spite of the numbers of their members, including clergy, that use Reiki.

Bishops misunderstand Reiki information

The article concludes that Reiki should not be practiced as a spiritual discipline because one might start accepting beliefs in guides and a world of universal energy that does not exactly match Catholic teachings. Reiki makes no demands on what people believe. It has no dogma. It is not a religion. While some practitioners focus on Reiki guides, and angels, and saints, many do not.

Bishops make Nonsensical Claims

The article puts states that believing in Reiki is superstition, "something that corrupts one's worship of God by turning one's religious feeling and practice in a false direction". I actively encourage skepticism in my classes and healing nights. Reiki is unbelievable, I say. Come and experience it and decide for yourself. Experience is the opposite of superstition. Most Reiki practitioners have found their experience of Reiki has not taken them from their faith, it has deepened their faith, whatever it may be. Reiki gives them a sense of touching the sacred that many have failed to find. It leads them to go back to seeking it in their church or community with a deeper appreciation for their religious "roots". For many, Reiki is their first tangible sense that there is more to the world than meets the eye.

Try Reiki and Decide for Yourself

Do not let the Catholics bishops' words prevent you from exploring Reiki and reaching your own conclusions.Their conclusion is that Reiki therapy should not be practiced as a natural healing art or as a spiritual discipline. They argue that it should not be practiced as a healing art because it lacks scientific credibility. My advice is to go out and try it. The people who use Reiki do so because they have seen it work over and over again. If you believe Reiki is completely without basis, come to a Reiki healing night and experience it. Scientific study will catch up eventually, and studies supporting Reiki are beginning to appear.

Christian Reiki Websites:

(if links dont work, just copy text of link to your browser command line)

www.ChristianReiki.org - an excellent resource for Christians Questions and Answers on Reiki

http://areikihealer.tripod.com/christianreiki.html - another christian reiki website

http://reikiandyou.com/bookstore.htm : A christian oriented book about Reiki and You: Awakening the Healer Within

*** Late Additions *****

One of my students submitted this link to commentary on a respected Catholoic publication.

http://ncronline.org/news/spirituality/catholic-bishops-say-no-reiki-treatment