REIKI AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

© 2012 - Reprinted with permission from Shining Lotus Metaphysical Bookstore Newsletter Jan 12

by Joy Vernon

JOY VERNON

I am extremely lucky to always have brilliant students in my classes. My current Shinpiden (Reiki Level 3) class is no exception and we had a very interesting discussion of the difference between reiju and attunements last night.

Reiju means spiritual blessing and is the Japanese basis of the practice that in Western Reiki has developed into the attunement. In Western Reiki, the attunement is considered to open and/or increase the student’s ability to connect with and channel the Reiki energy. However, in traditional Japanese Reiki, we are reminded that our innate energy is developed over time through regular practice of the precepts, meditations, hands-on healing, mantras and symbols, and the regular and repeated experience of connecting with Spirit and with others through giving and receiving reiju.

In the Usui Reiki Ryôhô style that I teach, reiju is a very simple ritual that does not use the symbols or mantras. The giver of the reiju remembers that they are one with the great bright light, and from this place of energetic connection ritualistically reminds the recipient of their own unity with that place of enlightenment through performing a series of briefly held hand positions.

I also teach the Hayashi attunements that have filtered down into Western Reiki. These attunements are much simpler, easier and more straightforward than the Western Reiki attunements I first learned. The Hayashi attunements use the symbols and mantras as part of the energetic exchange between giver and receiver. In this process, the giver connects to the great bright light but during the attunement ritual also takes time to remember each of the component elements that comprise the undifferentiated unity of the place of enlightenment, and through using the symbols and mantras to express each of these facets, teaches the student on an energetic level the steps necessary to attain oneness.

As I was attempting to express these thoughts to my students last night, I fumbled trying to think of an appropriate analogy. But one of my students did the work for me and exclaimed, “It’s like a prism!” She went on to express how the Reiki energy is the white light that enters the prism, and the symbols and mantras are the various colors of the rainbow that refract out. The Reiki practitioner is the prism itself. (What can I say? I told you my students are brilliant!)

With that metaphor in mind, it becomes simplicity itself to explain the difference between reiju and attunements. Reiju is showing the student the undifferentiated light that enters the prism—it’s teaching by introducing the end goal or destination first. The attunements teach the student to understand each of the refracted colors of the rainbow first as a way to approach an understanding of the light. As teachers, we benefit from understanding and being able to energetically demonstrate both the light entering us as well as the facets refracting from us, the Reiki prisms. Brilliant!

Joy Vernon has been studying energetic and esoteric modalities for more than twenty years. She is a Reiki Practitioner and Teacher in the Traditional Japanese Usui Reiki Ryôhô lineage through IHR. She leads the Denver Reiki Co-op and is a member of Shibumi International Reiki Association. Joy is also a Certified Professional Tarot Reader.

BOOK REVIEW: RENNA SHESSO'S "A MAGICAL TOUR OF THE NIGHT SKY"

© 2012 - Reprinted with permission from Shining Lotus Metaphysical Bookstore Newsletter Jan 12

by Courtney DeWinter, Reiki Master Teacher - Delphine Healing Arts

As we humans enter a new calendar year, there’s more interest in astrology than at any other time of the year – as people seek answers on what the next 12 months will bring for them. Will I be more prosperous?  Will I conceive?  Where is my true love?  Should I take that new job?  Astrology charts will unveil the answers to these questions (and more) once you know critical information such as the placement of the sun, moon, and planets at the time of your birth.

These days, people often take for granted how quickly and accurately an astrological chart can be developed using computer programs.  And even though one’s chart is based on the placement of the sun, moon, and planets, it’s ironic that most people can immediately name their Sun Sign…yet they can’t gaze up at a night sky and point out the constellations affecting their personal fortunes.

Renna Shesso’s new book, “A Magical Tour of the Night Sky”, bridges this knowledge gap by talking about the astronomy behind astrology, and providing some handy tools for identifying planets and astrological constellations. She’s clearly written this book to bring the astronomy back into astrology, and laments the fact that: “Astrology in our times has little to do with actual observation of the heavens.”

To that end, she provides practical information on how to identify specific constellations: first, by navigating to well-known star groupings such as the Big Dipper, Little Dipper, and Orion’s Belt; and second, by using certain bright stars in astrological constellations as major landmarks to locate other groupings of stars.  The book also is chock full of illustrations that map out the heavens and show the positions of key star clusters, and how to then find your own Sun Sign constellation – plus advice on what time of year it’s most easily viewed.

She adds color and flavor to what could be a dry subject by telling the mythical stories associated with each constellation as well as fascinating stories about how the heavens were used by for navigation by many different peoples.  For example, did you know that escaping slaves literally used the North Star (known as “Polaris”) to navigate toward freedom in the free northern states of United States?

She talks about the movement of the sun, moon, and planets in nice grounded terms.  For the record, her simple explanation of the “Precession of the Equinoxes” (which figures prominently in the planetary alignments associated with the coming solstice of 2012) is one of the clearest and cleanest I’ve read in a good, long time.

The book also is a tool for personal growth and discovery related to the various energies associated with the Sun, Moon, and specific planets.  At the end of each chapter on the planets that are visible to us in the night sky, there are interesting assignments to complete that help you get in touch with the attributes of that planet in creative ways.

This is one of those books that ties together practical, scientific knowledge with myths, legends, and cultural lore.  Perhaps best of all, it encourages us to get off the sofa, put on a jacket, and go outside to re-discover the magnificence of the universe, and the magic of watching the sun, moon, planets, and stars wheeling overhead in their unending celestial dance.

This soft cover book is available at Shining Lotus Bookstore in Denver, Colorado for $19.95.  For more information, visit Shining Lotus Book Store in Denver, Colorado at: www.shininglotus.com, or call 303.758.9113.

About The Reviewer:
Courtney DeWinter is a Reiki Master Teacher, and founder of Delphine Healing Arts, www.delphinehealingarts.com – offering comprehensive &   training classes in Denver, Colorado; Reiki healing sessions for people & animals; and monthly specialty workshops on energy protection, energy clearing, spirit guides, and more.  Courtney has 24 YEARS of experience in the Reiki energy healing system.  She also is a veteran journalist with 25 years of experience in reporting and feature writing.

ABUNDANCE IS MINE!

© 2012 - Reprinted with permission from Shining Lotus Metaphysical Bookstore Newsletter Jan 12

by Norma Mitchell

When we think of abundance, many of us tend to think about our material world abundance first. We ‘program’ for money, a new car, home, or something else that money can buy. Although money is important as one of our tools to help us create a successful life, true abundance is more than money. It is our well-being with Spirit, self and others.

When we realize Spirit is our true source for everything that is within our lives, we allow Spirit to work through us to create more magnificent lives than we could ever imagine. Every opportunity that Spirit provides us is part of Spirit”s love for us. These opportunities assist us to grow, to love, to enjoy, to share and to be all that we are created to be as expression of Spirit. There are times we don’t get what we want immediately and we sometimes think we are being punished or that for some reason Spirit doesn’t want us to have something. Actually, when we don’t get what we want, it is because on some level we are the ones who don’t believe we deserve whatever we want.

This four week workshop is designed to help you understand and release any restrictions you have concerning your abundance. The first part of each session will be discussion, followed by the use of relaxation techniques to explore old ‘programming’ — whether of this life or others — that has caused a resistance to allowing abundance in one or more area of your life.

John Randolph Price’s 40-Day Prosperity Plan in The Abundance Book will also be used as reinforcement of the changes you wish to make to experience true abundance. It is based on the idea that it takes forty days to change a habit and to understand that by working through Spirit we can create the life we want to experience now. This workshop will allow each of us to interact with loving support of each other and to enhance our belief that true abundance is available for us of us in every area of our lives.

Norma Mitchell. As a spiritual counselor, medical intuitive, business consultant, medium, teacher and hypno-therapist with 30 years experience “Helping People Help Themselves”. Norma Mitchell has been working with clients at the Shining Lotus™ since 2008. She provides Intuitive readings every Monday from 12pm to 5pm and also works from 12pm to 5pm on the second Saturday of every month.