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February 6, 2020

What are the Reiki symbols?

Why the Reiki symbols finally made sense to me.

I think we all have the ability to facilitate healing. Not necessarily heal from diseases or illness but creating the space to evolve, change and learn.⁣ Healing is a process, not an instant quick fix.

Yet healing, or being a healer, always seemed like such a miraculous concept. Like, we may say Jesus was a healer. We hear stories of other saints or enlightened beings performing miraculous healing.⁣ These are special beings. Not me or the average person. So being a healer or the concept of healing seems distant and unreal.

Still, somehow I feel we can facilitate space to heal.⁣

⁣We are all healers.

We will spontaneously touch a painful body part. Not just to rub it because it hurts. But simply holding a hand over an achy spot feels right. ⁣

Or we rest a hand on our heart because we feel touched, immensely grateful, full of love – or perhaps heartbroken.⁣

Then there are “organised” healing therapies such as Reiki which I always had an ambivalent relationship to. I talk about why and my journey with Reiki and the Reiki symbols in this video.⁣

⁣One of the issues I had about Reiki was the symbols – what were they all about? I didn’t get it.⁣

Reiki is sometimes translated as Rei = universal and Ki = vitality or energy. Reiki healing is connecting to the Universal energy and being a channel for this vital energy. We can all connect with the universal force but in Reiki, you are attuned by another Reiki healer. As you start to work further with healing you might want more attunements which include using symbols in the healing session. These symbols can focus and enhance the Reiki healing whether you practise on yourself or others.

It was the Reiki symbols I didn’t understand. Why would you need symbols? Was it just a marketing ploy?

I struggled with this concept for many years until I read a fiction book called the warded man (or the painted man in the UK edition) and somehow this fantasy book made it click.⁣ In the book, we follow a war between demons and humans and how humans use magical wards, or runes, for protection and healing. That finally made it click. I now understood why Reiki uses symbols – or wards.

⁣Nordic runes and roots.

As a Dane, I grew up with Norse mythology. I still love the Nordic myths of gods, goddesses, the life in Valhalla and stories of elves, trolls and magical beings.

In the Norse mythology the god Odin, the Allfather, hang upside down from the tree Yggdrasil for nine nights as a sacrifice or spiritual practice. Here he discovered the runes and their meaning.

The runes are used as a way of writing, communication or as letters but also carry magical qualities. People still read the runes as a way of divination much like tarot cards.

The alphabet of the gods.

As a yoga teacher and ayurvedic practitioner, I learned about Sanskrit and mantras. The Sanskrit alphabet, or the Devanagari script, is the letters of the Devas or Gods. ⁣The Devanagari letters are said to carry special powers too. Many spiritual texts from the Indian continent are written in Sanskrit or the Devanagari script. And most of us know some words or mantras from yoga. This is why we still chant Sanskrit mantras. Not just in India but even across the world.

There are more examples from all over the world but as a Nordic yoga teacher and an ayurvedic practitioner, the runes and the Sanskrit letters are what made me truly understand the power of symbols. Just like you may use a rune for magic or healing, or you use a Sanskrit mantra you could also use the Reiki symbols. May it be in writing, intonation, a sense, a feeling, awareness or simply intention.

⁣Symbolism and power.

Symbols have power. They have meaning. I finally “got” the Reiki symbols despite having had my first initiation nearly 20 years ago.

We give the symbols power through our intention.

⁣For the most part, we give the symbols power through our intention. So when we offer Reiki or facilitate space for healing, transformation and growth it is through intention and awareness, be it a yoga session, massage or creating herbal or essential oils blends.⁣⁣

We are more than our physical body. We are energetic and vibrational beings. And using intention and symbols are something we have practised for centuries.

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Anja Brierley Lange  |  Contribution: 840