Reiki and Tantric Magic:
Healing or Hell?
from The Cross and the Veil
The International Center for Reiki Training has a comprehensive web site for understanding the practice of Reiki (pronounced RAY-KEY). According to the site, Reiki is defined as a specific kind of universal healing energy that was rediscovered by a medical doctor, Mikao Usui, in the 19th century. The following italicized excerpts are taken directly from the web site. Following each section is The Cross and the Veil's commentary.
"Dr. Mikao Usui, or Usui Sensei, as he is called by his students in Japan, is the founder of the Usui System of Reiki. He was born August 15, 1865 in the village of Yago in the yanagata district of Gifu prefecture, Japan. It is thought that he entered a Tendai Buddhist school on or near Mt. Kurama ("horse saddle mountain") at age four. He also studies kiko, the Japanese version of qigong, which is a health and healing discipline based on the development and use of life energy. The young Usui found that these healing methods required the practitioner to build up and then deplete his own life energy when giving treatments. He wondered if it were possible to do healing work without depleting one's own energy. He went on to study in Japan, China and Europe...his curriculum included...fortune telling, which Asians have long considered to be a worthy skill...Usui Sensei was also a member of the Rei Jyutu Ka, a metaphysical group dedicated to developing psychic abilities. In 1914 Usui's personal and business life was failing. As a sensitive spiritualist, Usui Sensi had spent much time meditating on the power spots on Mt. Kurama where he had received his early Buddhist training. So he decided to travel to this holy mountain, where he enrolled in Isyu Guo, a 21-day training course sponsored y the Tendai Buddhist Temple located there...it was during the Isyu Guo training that the great Reiki energy entered his crown chakra. This greatly enhanced his healing abilities and he realized he had received a wonderful new gift - the ability to give healing to others without depleting his own energy!"
Reiki practitioners who have written articles and books on the subject differ in their recounting of the origins of Reiki. Generally, it is held up as a rediscovery of the ancient and universal practice of the same "healing power" possessed by the prophets and Jesus Christ. Using the eastern paradigm of the "chakra system" (see previous article on yoga), the Reiki "healer" is said to receive an initiation that allows him or her to "heal". Similar to acupuncture and yoga, Reiki posits that unseen "energy" paths exist throughout the body that need only be charged with positive energy to restore each network of pathways and to restore health to the body.
"Reiki heals by flowing through the affected parts of the energy field and charging them with positive energy. It raises the vibratory level of the energy field in and around the physical body where the negative thoughts and feelings are attached. This causes the negative energy to break apart and fall away. In so doing, Reiki clears, straightens and heals the energy pathways, thus allowing the life force to flow in a healthy and natural way."
Neither "healing" nor "energy," Reiki is actually a form of Tantric[1] magic studied by Usui during a prolonged Buddhist retreat and fast during which time he reportedly studied Buddhist Tantric texts (see English language section of the internet web page, BUDDHIST ORIGINS OF REIKI).
Tantra has its origin in tantric yoga, in which sexual "energy" is manipulated for a variety of purposes " from seeking a magical union of lovers to attaining "union" with God or with the "Supreme Self" (from TANTRIC BUDDHISM IN INDIA). Tantric yoga involves secret practices and ceremonial rituals including group sex. Lovers visualize each other as "manifestations" of the male or female aspect of God and attempt to achieve ecstasy and a melding together of souls with (red tantra) or without (white tantra) physical union.
"Reiki is a special kind of life force that can only be channeled by someone that has been attuned to it. It is possible that some people are born with Reiki or have gotten it some other way. However, most healers who have not received the Reiki attunement from a Reiki Master are not using Reiki but another kind of life force. Reiki is not taught in the way other healing techniques are taught. It is transferred to the student by the Reiki Master during an attunement process. This process opens the crown, heart, and palm chakras and creates a special link between the student and the Reiki source. The Reiki attunement is a powerful spiritual experience. The attunement energies are channeled into the student through the Reiki Master. The process is guided by the Reiki or God consciousness and makes adjustments in the process depending on the needs of each student. The attunement is also attended by Reiki guides and other spiritual beings who help implement the process. Many report having mystical experiences involving personal messages, healings, visions, and past life experiences. The attunement can also increase psychic sensitivity. Students often report experiences involving: opening of the third eye, increased intuitive awareness, and other psychic abilities after receiving a Reiki attunement."
"What is Advanced Reiki Training?"
"This is a one day intensive. It includes:
The Usui Master attunement which increases the strength of your Reiki energy.
The Usui Master symbol which increases the effectiveness of the Reiki II symbols and can be used for healing.
Reiki meditation that strengthens the mind and expands consciousness.
Advanced techniques for using Reiki to solve problems and achieve goals.
Using Reiki to protect yourself and others.
The use of crystals and stones with Reiki.
How to make a Reiki grid that will continue to send Reiki to yourself and others after it is charged.
Reiki psychic surgery that allows you to remove negative psychic energy from yourself and others and send it to the light.
A guided meditation that introduces you to your Reiki guides wherein you receive healing and information.
Finally, an exercise will be given for those planning to take Reiki III/Master training.
You must take ART if you want to take Reiki III/Master. This class is often taught with Reiki III as a three day intensive.
Cost, $210.00
Much like other forms of "New Age healing" techniques, the following characteristics are common of Reiki:
Usui was said to have originally descended the mountain from his retreat with healing powers and the desire to heal the masses. He lived in the slums of a city for several years, performing seemingly miraculous healings on the poor without charge. Then, after a time, these same "patients" who had been healed returned to him, having lost their "healings." Usui meditated on why this was so and how he could remedy the problem. He decided that his patients became ill again because they did not sufficiently value the healings they received, and so he began to charge money for his services.
Like most New Age healing techniques, practitioners and schools of Reiki vary their practice and combine it with other practices such as the use of crystals, magical incantations for protection, "psychic" surgery, group energy channeling, and spiritualism that includes the taking over of the body by one's "guide."
Unfortunately, a number of Catholic nurses, doctors, hospitals and retreat centers have innocently included Reiki as an "alternative form of medicine." One such place, The Bon Secours Spiritual Center in Marriottsville, Maryland, advertises on the web thusly:
"Why receive Massage or Reiki while on retreat?
Because we believe that both are graced ways of experiencing God's healing touch during a retreat."
"In a pastoral context massage becomes a sacrament of touch, an anointing, for it combines one of the oldest and simplest of medical treatments with the ancient healing powers of "the laying on of hands" and "the anointing with oil". Hands are symbols of human service and communicators of the healing potential within. Oil is a biblical symbol of the divine gift of health, strength and respect for the whole person. In massage these symbols coalesce to heal, comfort, soothe, relax and strengthen the whole being."
Mary Ann Finch
Many seriously ill patients in hospitals are exposed to occult techniques, including Reiki, without full knowledge or consent. While in a weakened and vulnerable state, "volunteers" perform Reiki magic over them as described in the following:
According to William Lee Rand, in his web article, "Reiki in Hospitals:"
"The Reiki Clinic at the Tucson Medical Center (TMC) in Arizona has a team of Reiki practitioners who give Reiki to patients in their rooms? The TMC program started in May 1995...The program first began in the Cancer Care Unit, but has since expanded to many other areas in the hospital. At first, the attending physician had to give permission for Reiki to be provided. This has changed, and now the attending nurse makes the request. Reiki sessions are given by two-person teams as this creates a feeling of safety and confidence for both the patients and the practitioners. A patient must sign a consent form and sessions are given in their rooms while they are in bed.
It is up to the Reiki team to explain Reiki to the patient before giving the treatment. They have found that this usually works best by first taking a few minutes to introduce themselves and get to know the patient, then explain the work they do. They have also found it best not to use the word "Reiki" at first when describing how they can help, but to talk about healing energy. They explain how healing energy exists in the body but is depleted when a person is sick, and they describe their work as helping to increase the patient's healing energy supply. Later, after trust has been gained, they explain more about the technique and that it is called Reiki. They also play special healing music during the Reiki session.
Volunteers at the Reiki clinic have found it helpful not to use metaphysical terms when talking to patients or to hospital staff about Reiki. Terms like aura, chakras, energy bodies, etc. tend to cause confusion and mistrust. It works better to explain Reiki in simple everyday terms by simply saying that touching is something that everyone needs and enjoys. They also found that describing their work as Reiki treatments tended to create some fear, whereas calling them Reiki sessions worked much better."
In essence, Reiki and the New Age paradigm in general, seeks to change our bodies and minds, which are temples of the Holy Spirit, into dens which spirit guides may inhabit, and which are reduced to metaphysical machines that can only be corrected and perfected through mechanistic energy infusions. It is a power paradigm which emphasizes control and domination of psychosexual forces - a kind of occult, psychic masturbation.
- the sacraments of reconciliation;
- Eucharistic adoration in honor of the Holy Face;
- anointing of the sick blessed with prayers to the Holy Face;
- orthodox spiritual direction for those in crisis;
- restoration of those affected by New Age involvement.
Just as Jesus expressed just anger at the taking over of His Father's House, we too should be just as zealous in reclaiming our loved ones and institutions from these false idols.