Article by Taryn Walker
The Reiki symbols are taught and passed on from teacher to student through a Reiki attunement. Usually students first contemplate the meaning and then practice drawing the symbols until they feel familiar. During the attunement the teacher transmits the energy of the meaning of each symbol so that each time the student uses the symbol the same energy is activated. This is why it’s good to find a teacher you resonate strongly with.
You can think of the symbols as additional tools to support and enhance a Reiki session. Traditionally they were kept secret but nowadays the internet has made this impossible. Secrecy is a special way of honouring the sacredness of the symbols. It is also believed that knowledge kept secret holds greater power than public knowledge. Although real secrecy is no longer an option it is still recommended only to share the symbols privately in a Reiki course to maintain the sacred connection. Even if shared carelessly, the symbols have no real power without an attunement.
A lot of new practitioners feel confused or unsure about the Reiki symbols. There are so many symbols to be found online and in books and as many variations on how to draw these symbols. Should I learn ALL the symbols out there? What happens if I draw a symbol in the wrong way?!!
There’s really nothing to worry about. Use the symbols transmitted to you by your teacher. If you stay connected to your teacher it’s likely that you’ll receive new symbols over time. When it comes to drawing the symbols stick to the way you were taught unless it feels totally uncomfortable, in which case it’s totally okay to make adjustments that suit you better. It is known that Hawayo Takata, the woman who brought Usui Reiki to The West, drew the symbols in slightly different ways to suit different students. How you draw a symbol is not nearly as important as connecting to its meaning. This is why meditating with the Reiki symbols is so helpful.
Image by wildxplorer
Here is a simple meditation to connect with the Reiki symbols:
- Consecrate the meditation to the highest consciousness and connect with Reiki in your preferred way.
- With eyes closed draw a Reiki symbol in your mind’s eye.
- Repeat the name of the symbol slowly and deliberately while maintaining the visualisation.
- Invoke the energy of the symbol by contemplating its meaning.
- Allow your entire being to come into resonance with this energy.
- Continue to repeat the symbol’s name like a mantra to keep the mind from wandering.
Make adjustments to this meditation according to your temperament. You may be more visual or more kinaesthetic in the way you interact with the world and this will affect the way you connect with the Reiki symbols.
Over time many interesting and wonderful revelations about the symbols may come to you. Keep practicing and trust your intuition when it comes to which symbols to use, how to draw them and when to use them. Allow your connection to Reiki to guide you and you’ll understand more and more that there is no wrong way to practice.
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Taryn Walker
Taryn Walker is a traveling Reiki Master Teacher who wishes to inspire people to realise that they are miraculous! She believes that Reiki can reveal our natural ability to heal ourselves and this empowers us to take responsibility for our lives. She works a lot with distant Reiki and loves the way it allows people to experience the illusion of separation. Taryn is grateful for being able to connect with her Reiki clients even while traveling. She usually lives on a little island in Thailand, where she practices and teaches Reiki, but finds ‘home’ wherever she is. Taryn enjoys yoga, nature, creating art, cooking and finding magic in “ordinary” places. Follow her here: reiki-alchemy.com, and alchemyhealing.
Taryn,
I am looking forward to contemplating and meditating on the symbols in a deeper way. As always, the article I have been in need of is made manifest in perfect timing. Thank you for answering my questions so eloquently.
Light and love,
Ranae
Lovely Ranae 🙂 Thank you! I’m glad this came to you at the perfect time. Keep walking in the Light!
Love Taryn Xx
I was perusing your site after seeing the reiki symbols, just for curiosity sake because I’m a Reiki Matter Practitioner.
My question/comment isn’t about the article, it’s about the link to the ONLINE Reiki Master course. I’m definitely offended that this is something offered let alone promote it. As surprised as I was to see you post how to draw the Reiki symbols again, despite mentioning in the article that they are held in secrecy and basically that’s not important as long as you don’t use them carelessly. Isn’t posting them on FB careless? Isn’t becoming a Reiki Master more than another online course claiming that one can become something online when the truth is, one can’t achieve such a prestiges modality in the alternative and natural healing community.
I spent 10 years working Reiki until I was called to become a Master…this can icky be achieved by working with a Master.
Hi Lori,
I used to feel the same way about online Reiki teachings until I agreed to teach an online course and distant attunement with a woman who could not receive the attunement in another way. She wanted to be able to offer her two autistic children some relief and I though this was a good reason to try the attunement with her by distance. It was a beautiful experience for both of us and since then she has been able to offer Reiki to her children and other family members and friends. This experience made me think differently about how Reiki can be taught. Although I would always favour and recommend in-person teaching, I think it’s great that Reiki can be taught online and by distance. I think of Reiki as simply a connection to our inner wisdom and I think some people are able to experience this connection remotely and remember their natural ability for self healing and to then take this further and help to establish the Reiki connection for others.
About the symbols and sharing them, I wrote this article but did not add the link to the symbols. I think the editor thought it would be nice for those totally new to Reiki to get an idea of what the symbols are so as to understand the article better. I personally have chosen only to share the symbols with my students, but some practitioners feel comfortable with sharing this knowledge publicly. It’s a matter of preference.
Everyone’s Reiki journey is different. Your 10 year journey is very special and unique to you. How each person learns Reiki and evolves their practice is deeply personal and I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way for it to happen, just different ways suited to different temperaments and according to unique karma.
true, Reiki can not be learnt or attuned on the net. For saying Reiki Rays thinks they know about Reiki if they knew anything they would know no one can be attuned on the internet.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion! Reiki found me because I wanted to help a client with infertility issues! I took my classes and got my attunements, yes attunements since I am an Usui Reiki Master as well as a Karuna Ki Master! If we want to help the world, then we need to change our mentality about the healing power, which is not owned by anyone! If Long Distance attunements and healings are not valid, then why do we have a long distance healing symbol? My proof is the feedback from my clients! https://www.reikiinfinitehealer.com/lp/reiki-home-course?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI54PSwdP43gIVEHh-Ch0BlwBdEAAYASAAEgKFXvD_BwE
Love and Light
Because there is a big difference between a healing and an attunments. master Usui stated the importance of the teacher and student being together and I think he would like Reiki to be taught and followed as a spiritual and healing where the two work as one.