Reiki & Magic

[XEn8]

Hello,

For the context: I am a baby witch, and I’m very much into chaos magic. I’m wondering how Reiki can be lived through the magical lens.

I would love to have some feedback from people here who practice Reiki, to know how magic and Reiki met and influenced the way you practice either magic or Reiki.

On my side, I learned Reiki a long time ago and stopped giving Reiki a long time ago too. This last year I came back to it, but I have the feeling that my practice needs to evolve. Should I stick to Reiki and its principles, or should I simply get into the energetic/aetheric work of magic, or is a mix of the two possible?

Today, the few times I gave Reiki, although in magic I can be totally involved in what I’m doing, in Reiki, following the Reiki philosophy, I feel like I should totally surrender to the life energy that does all the work, and I should absolutely not interfere, just be totally present at what is happening. And all the energy techniques that we use in Reiki, including Reiki symbols, seem to me like interfering too much with the Chi that should exactly know what to do.

And this is where I feel a bit torn between:

a) what I learned and experimented with during my Reiki training (my Reiki teacher was also a physicist, and he gave a lot of importance to technicality and experimentation),

b) the Reiki principle of non-intervention,

c) the magic that I am welcoming into my life, which is taking me in another direction, where intention and personal involvement have a much more important place.

So I am wondering how to make these different approaches coexist, and if they can really nourish each other.

For those who practice both magic and Reiki, I would love to hear about your experience: how your practice of magic and Reiki nurtures each other, if your magic practice has made your understanding of Reiki evolve, if it has transformed the way you give Reiki, if you stayed faithful to the philosophy and principles of Reiki, or if you opened yourself to some freedom in your practice.

And also, the other way around, how has Reiki influenced your magic? Did magic make you see the practitioner as something other than a simple channel? And how do you manage magical intention, personal will, and the principle of non-intervention in Reiki?

Thank you for all your sharings.

 

[Lucien6493]

For me reiki and magick are a seamless blending. I cast runes in the same way that I send distance healings. I will write up manuals as hypersigils and attune, using them as invocations. I use reiki while meditating, while hedge-riding and pathworking. I use reiki pretty much all the time, and for that matter, so do you. I know this with certainty, not because I am a reiki master, which I am, but because you are alive! At least I think you are. Way I see it magick is just one way of using universal life force (ki). To separate magickal intent from the soft, flowing surrender (trance) of a self-healing or the healing of another is like saying that the inbreath and the outbreath do not go together. I beg to differ. But the thing to remember is this...there is reiki and then there is the reiki community of healers at large. Some of them should have stayed (at large). Back in the early nineties when I took the three degrees, reiki manuals were sprouting like mushrooms. It was a fiercely competitive little cottage industry. Lots of ego. Lots of nonsense. I was part of that, from the inside, and every master and their cat was more powerful than the next, and if you had ten attunements under your belt the master down the street had twenty, and suddenly you had Radiance Technique and Tera Mai and rules, rules, rules.

But really, what is an attunement anyway? I asked my reiki master, when I went in for Reiki I, "so, let me get this straight. You are going to charge me two hundred bucks for doing who knows what and then you are going to tell me that you did it, and I'm supposed to believe you?" And she was like..."Yeah. Exactly!" I call that magick. And the attunement process...nobody understands it. But anyway. Let's get to the non-intervention part. All that really means is that the energy is being pulled through you. Nothing more. Nothing less. It means, don't push the river. It is a very clear intent that opens the channel though, and yes, some of the symbols can be used to send thoughtforms. Some can be used to execrate and draw energy out of a person, and all of them can be used as sigils, for to focus the intent. At the end of the day though, you are not separate from Reiki. It is you. And that is why, when you try to live by the five principles, you are trying (just for today) to get out of your own way. You are doing the same when you practice magick.

 

[XEn8]

Thank you very much for your reply. I let it infuse in me, and it feels like big, old pieces of furniture are moving by themselves in my head.

I realized, ironically, that while I am usually quite resistant to dogmas and systems that try to impose their rules on our personal experiences, I let myself be restricted by Reiki dogmas, which are only the fruit of human communities that tried to claim ownership over it.

What you shared made me realize that yes, Reiki can be lived like we can live magic, finding our own personal way.

You explained that a clear intention opens the channel, while we should not “push the river.” This makes me question how these two things work together concretely when giving Reiki to someone.

In my practice, I observed for example that when I add visualisations and imagine the Ki flowing from head to toe of the person I am giving Reiki to, the person will tell me afterwards that they could feel the energy circulating very strongly. And it seems to me that maybe it was too strong and not really necessary.

Another time, I don’t know why I did this, but I visualised each of the person’s chakras filling with the colour corresponding to that chakra. Then, when the chakra was full of this colour, I imagined a lotus opening and blooming. I did this for all the chakras. After the session, the person told me that they had felt flowers blooming all along their torso !

So I am really questioning how to work with intention in Reiki, especially when giving Reiki to another person, because then it necessarily becomes more sensitive. I would be curious to know how this works in your own practice. When do you choose to give the Ki a precise direction or intention ? When do you use a symbol to send a thoughtform ? And when do you simply let the energy flow freely ? How do you make the distinction between these different ways of working ?

Your way of presenting Reiki symbols as sigils and as ways to work with thoughtforms also opens an entirely new field of exploration. My understanding of thoughtforms is still limited, but it shows me how Reiki can be as magical as magic can be ! And I must admit that after reading your post, I suddenly feel much more curious to explore this as a purely magical practice for myself for a while.

Thank you again for sharing. Your reply showed me the freedom I can take back into my Reiki practice ! Thank you !!!

 

[Morell]

I realized, ironically, that while I am usually quite resistant to dogmas and systems that try to impose their rules on our personal experiences, I let myself be restricted by Reiki dogmas, which are only the fruit of human communities that tried to claim ownership over it.

Now that is some proper introspection!

You know, when you channel Reiki energy, you are always intervening, even by guiding that energy to a person. If you were not intervening, that would be the same as you not being there at all. So claiming non-intervention is on itself a nonsense, even when you just guide the energy to a place, you are active participant in the proces.

Seems to me as your experiments are working well. Looks like you are getting good hand on your energy work and magic.

 

[David Wilson-Steer]

Hello,

For the context: I am a baby witch, and I’m very much into chaos magic. I’m wondering how Reiki can be lived through the magical lens.

I would love to have some feedback from people here who practice Reiki, to know how magic and Reiki met and influenced the way you practice either magic or Reiki.

On my side, I learned Reiki a long time ago and stopped giving Reiki a long time ago too. This last year I came back to it, but I have the feeling that my practice needs to evolve. Should I stick to Reiki and its principles, or should I simply get into the energetic/aetheric work of magic, or is a mix of the two possible?

Today, the few times I gave Reiki, although in magic I can be totally involved in what I’m doing, in Reiki, following the Reiki philosophy, I feel like I should totally surrender to the life energy that does all the work, and I should absolutely not interfere, just be totally present at what is happening. And all the energy techniques that we use in Reiki, including Reiki symbols, seem to me like interfering too much with the Chi that should exactly know what to do.

And this is where I feel a bit torn between:

a) what I learned and experimented with during my Reiki training (my Reiki teacher was also a physicist, and he gave a lot of importance to technicality and experimentation),

b) the Reiki principle of non-intervention,

c) the magic that I am welcoming into my life, which is taking me in another direction, where intention and personal involvement have a much more important place.

So I am wondering how to make these different approaches coexist, and if they can really nourish each other.

For those who practice both magic and Reiki, I would love to hear about your experience: how your practice of magic and Reiki nurtures each other, if your magic practice has made your understanding of Reiki evolve, if it has transformed the way you give Reiki, if you stayed faithful to the philosophy and principles of Reiki, or if you opened yourself to some freedom in your practice.

And also, the other way around, how has Reiki influenced your magic? Did magic make you see the practitioner as something other than a simple channel? And how do you manage magical intention, personal will, and the principle of non-intervention in Reiki?

Thank you for all your sharings.

I don't know much about Reiki but my experience is that in my workshops the Reiki people are the first ones that become aware when a spirit has manifested. So I imagine there is some connection.

 

[Amadeus]

magic or Reiki.

I do not practice reiki but here is a good warning about it. Family friend ended up getting serious illnesses after doing it on people. Tried to help them and soon became mysteriously ill. She took the illnesses somehow upon herself. Later some practitioners had to help get rid of all that.
She supposedly protected herself from getting the problems but still did. It had something to do with interfering too much in their problems.
This happened several times not just once, the final blow was the most devastating. Ended up not doing it on anybody anymore.

 

[Morell]

I do not practice reiki but here is a good warning about it. Family friend ended up getting serious illnesses after doing it on people. Tried to help them and soon became mysteriously ill. She took the illnesses somehow upon herself. Later some practitioners had to help get rid of all that.
She supposedly protected herself from getting the problems but still did. It had something to do with interfering too much in their problems.
This happened several times not just once, the final blow was the most devastating. Ended up not doing it on anybody anymore.

Sounds like she exchanged their energy for hers. Interesting. I've heard some strange stories, though I stopped taking reiki seriously when I heard that there is more than 3 levels of imitation... and about initiations into various stuff like faery reiki, dragon reiki, etc... In that moment I smelled money greed.

 

[XEn8]

You know, when you channel Reiki energy, you are always intervening, even by guiding that energy to a person. If you were not intervening, that would be the same as you not being there at all. So claiming non-intervention is on itself a nonsense, even when you just guide the energy to a place, you are active participant in the proces.

Yes, what you’re saying makes sense: the moment I stand next to someone and direct energy toward that person, I’m already taking action. Claiming absolute non-intervention does indeed become contradictory.

But the fundamental question I ask myself is one of intention and, ultimately, the very purpose of giving a Reiki treatment to someone else. Simply observing that a technique produces effects doesn’t answer the question of whether it’s appropriate. Power and accuracy aren’t synonymous.

Speaking of non-intervention, here’s a very recent anecdote: Two weeks ago, I gave a Reiki treatment to a shiatsu practitioner and deliberately tried not to direct anything. I simply made the energy available. Without knowing how I’d gone about it, he later told me that he’d felt the energy made available to him (this is the first time I’ve received such feedback) and that he’d mentally directed it himself to the areas where he thought he needed it.

It was a very interesting experience, but it left me with even more questions: Who should direct the energy? The practitioner, the recipient’s mind, their body, or no one consciously? Personally, I don’t think the recipient’s mind is necessarily the right candidate either, because if the mind is the source of the problems for which the person is seeking help, it certainly isn’t the one that holds the solution.

Seems to me as your experiments are working well. Looks like you are getting good hand on your energy work and magic.

My experiments do indeed work well—sometimes with surprising precision. That is precisely what makes the question of purpose and accuracy even more important, especially when working on someone else.

Sounds like she exchanged their energy for hers. Interesting. I've heard some strange stories, though I stopped taking reiki seriously when I heard that there is more than 3 levels of imitation... and about initiations into various stuff like faery reiki, dragon reiki, etc... In that moment I smelled money greed.

And yes, stories about “fairy Reiki,” “dragon Reiki,” and the endless proliferation of initiations also make me laugh… bitterly.

I do, however, find traditional Reiki very beautiful. It can serve as an interesting gateway to energy work, offering a method, a framework, and very concrete experiences. But I think a magician who seriously studies energy work can develop comparable abilities through many other paths. Reiki didn’t invent ki.

I don't know much about Reiki but my experience is that in my workshops the Reiki people are the first ones that become aware when a spirit has manifested. So I imagine there is some connection.

Thank you—this is very interesting to read, and it ties in with something I’ve observed before.

I used to work with family constellations, and in some sessions—though not always—I could sense what I perceived as the presence of a spirit. Some of these presences felt particularly heavy.

I do feel that Reiki and energy work can heighten sensitivity to these kinds of manifestations. The challenge for me, however, is discernment: knowing what we’re actually perceiving, what we’re interpreting, and what our own sensitivity is amplifying. But I fully recognize the connection you’re talking about.

I do not practice reiki but here is a good warning about it. Family friend ended up getting serious illnesses after doing it on people. Tried to help them and soon became mysteriously ill. She took the illnesses somehow upon herself. Later some practitioners had to help get rid of all that.
She supposedly protected herself from getting the problems but still did. It had something to do with interfering too much in their problems.
This happened several times not just once, the final blow was the most devastating. Ended up not doing it on anybody anymore.

Thank you so much for sharing this warning. Your experience really resonates with me.

When I used to practice this a lot in the past, it was mostly among peers, in a spirit of experimentation. I think that mindset is different from one where you’re truly seeking to help, support, or care for someone. The inner intention isn’t the same, and that can perhaps profoundly alter the dynamics of the relationship.

About a year ago, I started practicing again even though my nervous system was already extremely sensitive. The treatments I gave significantly worsened my condition. Just recently, I gave another treatment to a friend who practices shiatsu. Yet I had been very careful not to take anything from him, to protect myself, and not to impose any intention. But I had also spent a lot of time listening to him and supporting him emotionally before and after the treatment (!). So perhaps I was already engaged in a much deeper act of helping than I realized.

Starting the evening of the treatment, and then for about ten to fifteen days, I experienced an unusual string of moments of disorientation, getting lost, and minor accidents. I took the wrong public transportation in the wrong direction, got off at the wrong stops, bumped into furniture, broke things, and found myself in absurd situations.

I can’t say for certain that I took something from that person, nor can I explain exactly what happened. But this series of incidents was significant enough for me to take it seriously. I eventually did a thorough cleansing of myself and my apartment.

I’ve now come to the conclusion that giving Reiki treatments to others is probably not a good practice for me. I now prefer to explore this energy within myself and in my magical practice. Your story clearly reinforces this decision. Thank you for sharing it.

 

[Morell]

Yes, what you’re saying makes sense: the moment I stand next to someone and direct energy toward that person, I’m already taking action. Claiming absolute non-intervention does indeed become contradictory.

But the fundamental question I ask myself is one of intention and, ultimately, the very purpose of giving a Reiki treatment to someone else. Simply observing that a technique produces effects doesn’t answer the question of whether it’s appropriate. Power and accuracy aren’t synonymous.

Speaking of non-intervention, here’s a very recent anecdote: Two weeks ago, I gave a Reiki treatment to a shiatsu practitioner and deliberately tried not to direct anything. I simply made the energy available. Without knowing how I’d gone about it, he later told me that he’d felt the energy made available to him (this is the first time I’ve received such feedback) and that he’d mentally directed it himself to the areas where he thought he needed it.

It was a very interesting experience, but it left me with even more questions: Who should direct the energy? The practitioner, the recipient’s mind, their body, or no one consciously? Personally, I don’t think the recipient’s mind is necessarily the right candidate either, because if the mind is the source of the problems for which the person is seeking help, it certainly isn’t the one that holds the solution.

Why does that matter to you? Do not spread your responsibility on other people. They are responsible for themselves and you have enough with responsibility for you alone.

You can give other people energy, but it is up to them how they use it, conscious or not. Even after conscious use the body often simply regains its harmony and puts energy where the body needs it. Same with you and your own body when you give yourself reiki.

If you are bothered about affecting other people, and you are not wrong in considering that, why don't you properly ask before sending other people energy? Not all energy is compatible and even if you are trying to do good, some people might feel attacked. If they know and agree, you don't have to worry. Being open about what you do when you are doing healing is actually something one should do, maybe even with reiki, because you are affecting them, even though it's not physical, it's no less real. Would you want someone to manipulate your energy without you allowing it?

 

[Pneuma_Purifier]

I do, however, find traditional Reiki very beautiful. It can serve as an interesting gateway to energy work, offering a method, a framework, and very concrete experiences. But I think a magician who seriously studies energy work can develop comparable abilities through many other paths. Reiki didn’t invent ki.

I’m curious about Reiki, however, as @XEn8 said, there are other energy methods with that aim for the same goal.

I do feel that Reiki and energy work can heighten sensitivity to these kinds of manifestations. The challenge for me, however, is discernment: knowing what we’re actually perceiving, what we’re interpreting, and what our own sensitivity is amplifying. But I fully recognize the connection you’re talking about.

About a year ago, I started practicing again even though my nervous system was already extremely sensitive. The treatments I gave significantly worsened my condition. Just recently, I gave another treatment to a friend who practices shiatsu. Yet I had been very careful not to take anything from him, to protect myself, and not to impose any intention. But I had also spent a lot of time listening to him and supporting him emotionally before and after the treatment (!). So perhaps I was already engaged in a much deeper act of helping than I realized.

Starting the evening of the treatment, and then for about ten to fifteen days, I experienced an unusual string of moments of disorientation, getting lost, and minor accidents. I took the wrong public transportation in the wrong direction, got off at the wrong stops, bumped into furniture, broke things, and found myself in absurd situations.

I can’t say for certain that I took something from that person, nor can I explain exactly what happened. But this series of incidents was significant enough for me to take it seriously. I eventually did a thorough cleansing of myself and my apartment.

I’ve now come to the conclusion that giving Reiki treatments to others is probably not a good practice for me. I now prefer to explore this energy within myself and in my magical practice. Your story clearly reinforces this decision. Thank you for sharing it.

I must follow a strict protocol to prevent the patient’s energetic state from impacting my own energetic body, ensuring I remain unaffected after the session.

 

[XEn8]

Why does that matter to you? Do not spread your responsibility on other people. They are responsible for themselves and you have enough with responsibility for you alone.

You can give other people energy, but it is up to them how they use it, conscious or not. Even after conscious use the body often simply regains its harmony and puts energy where the body needs it. Same with you and your own body when you give yourself reiki.

If you are bothered about affecting other people, and you are not wrong in considering that, why don't you properly ask before sending other people energy? Not all energy is compatible and even if you are trying to do good, some people might feel attacked. If they know and agree, you don't have to worry. Being open about what you do when you are doing healing is actually something one should do, maybe even with reiki, because you are affecting them, even though it's not physical, it's no less real. Would you want someone to manipulate your energy without you allowing it?

I think I didn’t fully articulate my point in my previous message, which may have led to a misunderstanding.

I agree with you that the recipient remains responsible for themselves and that their body can then regain its own balance and redistribute energy where it’s needed. My question wasn’t about taking that responsibility off their shoulders.

What I was questioning, more specifically, was the role of the conscious mind in the process. Personally, I think that both the giver and the recipient should be in a meditative state: aware and present, but receptive, without trying to mentally control the flow of energy. It is in this sense that the fact that this person deliberately directed the energy to the areas where he thought he needed it made me wonder. I’m not saying he didn’t have the right to do so, but I wonder if that mental direction was truly the most beneficial.

As for consent and explaining what I do, I think there’s also a misunderstanding. I only give Reiki to someone if they ask me to, and I explain briefly how it works. After the session, I always ask them first what they felt, without having yet told them about my own experience or the details of what I did. Then, I explain everything I did and what I myself observed.

I follow this exact order precisely to avoid influencing their account and to prevent them from reconstructing their experience based on what I’ve just told them. It is therefore not a matter of hiding anything from him, but of avoiding suggestive bias as much as possible.

My question is not about who should decide on whose behalf. Rather, it concerns the role that intention should play in a practice where it is asserted that energy and the body already know, on their own, how to restore their balance.

I must follow a strict protocol to prevent the patient’s energetic state from impacting my own energetic body, ensuring I remain unaffected after the session.

What you say about your strict protocol interests me particularly, precisely because the intention to protect myself and not take anything from the other person clearly wasn’t enough in my recent experience.

Could you tell me a little more about this protocol? What do you actually do before, during, and after a session to prevent the patient’s energetic state from affecting your own energetic body? Is this a protocol derived from a particular tradition, or something you’ve developed based on your own experience?

 

[Pneuma_Purifier]

What you say about your strict protocol interests me particularly, precisely because the intention to protect myself and not take anything from the other person clearly wasn’t enough in my recent experience.

It’s not the intention to protect ourselves. It's the way the session is performed.

Could you tell me a little more about this protocol? What do you actually do before, during, and after a session to prevent the patient’s energetic state from affecting your own energetic body? Is this a protocol derived from a particular tradition, or something you’ve developed based on your own experience?

Before: Energetic breathing.
During: Channeling fire energy toward the affected areas.
After: Gathering patient feedback.