For about a year, Glasreo and I went to two different reiki shares as often as we could. They were both held monthly, and unless we were sick or had family obligations that couldn’t be rescheduled, we were there! But at some point the scheduling got harder. One of them relocated further away. And we might have mourned it, but other opportunities arose, instead.
Instead, we did more bartered reiki for friends, exchanging reiki for divination and other things. These were longer sessions than those at the reiki shares, which tended to have 4+ people working on a single person for 5-15 minutes. Doing long sessions is important, and it’s equally important to learn how to pace yourself, to decide when to stop and talk for a moment, and when to continue on and discuss what you’re seeing later. We had done a few long sessions before, but they had been a bit nerve wracking for us. Now, we are more confident in our ability to continue to give reiki for 45 minutes or longer.
Instead, we had our first paying reiki client. Up until then, we had only done reiki in shares or in barter, which is fine and good, but does not pay the bills, as they say. But our client wished to pay, and she has come back for several sessions at this point. It has been good for us and for her to help her and to figure out our pricing as we continue down this road. She may become our first student – she has expressed an interest in learning.
Instead, we began to host our own, tiny, healer’s reiki share with a good friend who is going through a tough transition. Two of us work on the third, rotating spaces, sharing messages, talking about spirits, and learning together, healing together. It is nice to be sharing this gift with someone who has a similar background to us. The other reiki shares we attended were nice enough, but while they were pagan-tolerant, we mostly learned to hold our tongues.
Instead, I am reading more about reiki in an attempt to create a curriculum that I will find more full and more satisfying than the one I was taught. To that end, I am re-reading the manual from my own instruction: William Lee Rand’s First and Second Degree Manual. I am also reading Christopher Penczak’s The Magic of Reiki, and The Essence of Reiki by Dawn Mellowship and Andy Chrysostomou. I expect that once I’ve finished taking notes for my curriculum, I’ll be reviewing the books for my readers here, as well, so stay tuned.
Instead, I am learning my own “attunement style” as I give healing attunements to objects, many of which are available in our Etsy Shop. I designed a sort of sigil that contains within it all the reiki symbols and kanji I use, which I mentioned in a previous post. I think it may become part of my tool set as I learn to attune people, as well. And the more I read about the attunement process, the less it seems that there is One True Way and the more inclined I am to play to my specific strengths and to account for my specific weaknesses, and to tailor the experience to the specific student, in order for the whole process to be as smooth as possible.
I don’t know that we even saw the door to those other reiki shares closing when it began to close, but I am glad that another door opened in its place. We are moving forward.