by Frank Arjava Petter
Three years ago, before the publication of my first book, a fellow Reiki teacher and author, Walter Lübeck predicted that Reiki Fire would have a powerful effect on the Reiki community. He felt at first it would create controversy but within a few years would help to bring the international Reiki community closer together. This was one of my reasons for writing the book in the first place, to bring Reiki people from all lineages and organizations into greater harmony. After all we do work with the same energy.
I did not believe that my Reiki research in Japan would be difficult for Reiki practitioners to accept. I had thought that every Reiki lover on Earth was just as thrilled about our findings as we were. Finally we had some tangible and provable facts on Dr. Usui instead of the old fairy tales. But Walter was right in both instances. Some people found these new ideas difficult to accept at first, but now that people have had time to think about them, the value of factual information about Dr. Usui and the history of Reiki is being more widely accepted and appreciated. This new information, based on written records and interviews with members of the Japanese Reiki community has given Western Reiki a solid historical foundation and as a result, is helping bring greater harmony to the global Reiki community.
Also, during this time the international Reiki movement experienced a wake-up call when one individual attempted to trademark the Reiki names worldwide and use legal power to define Reiki for everyone and control how it is used. Those of us who did not agree to this preposterous idea were motivated to join together to prevent it and in so doing, got to know each other better. Now that the trademark attempt has failed, we can start over fresh, working together to create a strong international Reiki community based on harmony and cooperation.
We live in interesting times for the Reiki community and now find ourselves at an important turning point. It is now possible for us to grow into a place of loving acceptance of each other, develop a deeper understanding of our roots and create a stronger connection to the Reiki energy.
In the past several years, more information on Dr. Usui, his life and work in Japan has come to light and new facts and information continue to bubble up every day. Many of us in the West had been told that Reiki was an “oral tradition” and that nothing was to be placed in writing. I do not understand how this idea could have gotten started because it is now known that Dr. Usui had a handbook he gave to all his students. It contained crystal clear instructions as to how and when to use Reiki. In addition, every president of the Reiki organization started by Dr. Usui, the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, also created handbooks they passed out to their students. Out of these handbooks, and additional information given to us by Mr. F. Ogawa, whose father, K. Ogawa was a close friend and associate of Dr. Usui and the leader of the Shizuoka branch of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai in Shizuoka, we learned an array of wonderful Japanese Reiki techniques that have so far been unknown in the Western world.
