by William Lee Rand
As students progress on the Reiki path new symbols, techniques and skills are acquired. By the time one takes more advanced levels such as Usui master or Karuna Reiki®, the number of symbols, techniques, meditations and hand positions one has available to use really add up. In fact, after one has taken Karuna Reiki®, you could have as many as 38 possible tools or techniques to use.
Remembering all of them and knowing which ones to use to treat yourself or a client can be challenging. This can be especially true if you need to treat yourself for a difficult situation that has stressed you out. When we’re stressed, we often don’t think as clearly as we could and it’s more likely we’ll forget some of the possible techniques we could use and miss the one that is most appropriate.
However, there is a method you can use to help remember your Reiki resources and also direct you to the ones you need to use for a particular situation. This is something I created for myself several years ago and it has proven really valuable. I made my own deck of cards with each of my Reiki resources listed on them. I was then able to use the cards to do a reading for myself that showed me which symbols, techniques, meditations or hand positions to use for the specific situation I wanted to heal or resolve.
Here's How To Do It
First list all the Reiki symbols, techniques, meditations and hand positions you know. Then using your computer with a program such as msword or pagemaker, create the outline of a small card – 2” x 3” will work. Once you have one card outline, copy and paste it over and over until you’ve created the number of cards you need.
Then fill in the names or descriptions of each of the symbols, techniques, meditations and hand positions onto the cards – one to a card. Print them using card stock. Then cut them out with scissors. Cutting them out by hand will take a little time and patience, but it’s worth it. While you’re cutting, think of Reiki and it’ll make your work easier and also place Reiki into the cards.
Once you’ve created your deck of cards use the following instructions to do a Reiki reading.
- Choose the issue you’d like to work on.
- Shuffle the cards to remove any energy that may be present from previous readings.
- Charge the cards with Reiki by holding them in your hands and thinking of Reiki. If you have Reiki II, use the mental/emotional symbol, but if not this process will work just fine without it.
- Shuffle the cards again while thinking of your issue.
- Spread them out in front of you in one line face down.
- Using your non-dominate hand and while thinking of Reiki choose 3 cards and turn the over.
- The cards you pick will have the symbols, techniques, meditations or hand positions you’ll need to solve your issue.
You can also use this technique for a client with an issue. Do steps 1-3 yourself and ask the client to do steps 4 and 5.
It’s uncanny how accurate this method can be. The wisdom or Reiki will be guiding you to choose the right cards and often what you get will give you insight into your issue based on which symbol(s), hand positions and so forth that you get.
This technique really works and I encourage you to create your own cards and use them!
In 2005, I worked with a production company and had a deck of Reiki cards professionally printed. These cards are part of The Reiki Touch Kit.
