Historical Reiki Inconsistencies

Purpose of this Page

This page is a presentation of inconsistent statements by various Reiki groups – some past, some present. Where it has not been possible to place direct quotes, summaries of statements have been used. These pages are impartial and are presented to serve the Reiki community. We are simply interested in researching facts about the system of Reiki and sharing that through this website and our research book, The Reiki Sourcebook, and our practical guide The Japanese Art of Reiki. We hope you find it beneficial.

Below are a few histories that have been refuted by more recent research, have not been able to be verified or are simply confusing. These begin with the stories that Hawayo Takata taught about the origins of the system of Reiki and the life of Usui Mikao. Then move to other research such as that taught in Usui Do. The influence of concepts used in Raku Kei Reiki and a supposed Japanese style branch of Reiki called Jin Kei Do. Finally some facts about the mostly defunct Medicine Dharma Reiki, which also encompasses the teachings called Men Chhos Reiki, and Universal Healing Reiki. An addition is the more recent western teachings of ‘Original Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai Training’ and a new system called the ‘Seven Level System’.

  • Hawayo Takata
  • Usui Do
  • Raku Kei Reiki
  • Reiki Jin Kei Do
  • Medicine Dharma Reiki/Men Chhos Reiki/Universal Healing Reiki
  • Original Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai Training
  • Seven Level System

Benefits of this Research

We are enormously pleased to note that questions into the validity of some systems are causing individuals to stand up and question facts. Please remember it is not a crime to ask questions – it is in fact a right that we have and we insist on being allowed that right when we are being sold something. It is obviously not the questioner who wishes to appear more powerful or make money from promoting any one system as ‘original’ or ‘new’ – but rather the promoter.

Our impartial research is currently helping people all around the world through information on this site and via our books. In 2001/2, information we had researched about Lama Yeshe (see Medicine Dharma Reiki below) was placed on a Reiki Internet group and we were contacted by Gordon Bell, previously one of Lama Yeshe’s students, who asked for more of our research, which we happily gave him (names, phone numbers etc…). Later an administrative member of Lama Yeshe’s group thanked us for bringing their attention to these facts as they had been looking but had been unable to find anything. Here is part of that email … 

‘I wanted to thank you for posting your site advising people to verify and for being so diplomatic about it. And to thank you for all the help you gave us in sharing how you did your research on the credentials. If it hadn’t been for Gordon being in touch with the chat group, most of us would have been totally unaware of what was going on and what serious questions there were, although obviously got to where we developed our own questions when authentication was AGAIN delayed, etc. When Gordon updated me last spring after I resigned, a few of us started our own investigations but could not make head way as you did on credentials….sooo embarrasing. And it is so rediculous everyone isn’t coming together sharing if they have valid material, you are right. Thanks for all your help and for standing up for the integrity of Reiki.’

History of Verification

The system of Reiki developed in the West from 1938 onwards. Until the 1980s there was a total lack of contact between the West and Japan. Westerners were lead to believe that the teachings no longer existed in Japan and therefore there was little motivation to research the system from a Japanese background. This ‘lack of background’ also appeared to give many Westerners the freedom to create and even ‘channel’’ their own history for the system of Reiki. It was not until the 1990s that verifiable historical information about Usui Mikao and his teachings came to light. Most notably is the memorial stone of Usui Mikao that was translated and published in the West by Frank Arjava Petter in the mid 1990s. 

As can be seen in the sections about Usui Mikao and his teachings there is more information available today. Much of this new information, however, is unreliable and unverified. Unfortunately, it is still difficult to trace historical connections and information that may be over 100 years old, especially in Japan where the culture and language is so disparate from that in the West.

In the West the lack of resources needed to verify the more recent information that is being provided to the Reiki community is frustrating. It is hoped that those who offer this information also back it up with verifiable photos or copies of texts etc… Though this would seem a reasonable request it is rarely presented.

There are a number of reasons offered as to why verifiable information is not available. One of the major reasons is that the person offering the information claims that only he/she is allowed to view this information. Another reason given is often that the original source of the information is said to be dead or unavailable. This lack of transparency only creates more issues and mythologizing within the system of Reiki.

Apart from groups that claim to have true information but do not produce any verification there are also groups that channel information and claim that it is the correct historical information. This information has been gained by supposedly channeling past Reiki Masters, Usui Mikao, Angels etc.The issue here is that these histories are quite individual and do not appear to completely fit into any one story.

The aim of discussing these historical inconsistencies is to bring awareness to the community and to promote the idea of verification.

Hawayo Takata

Hawayo Takata brought the system of Reiki to the West (Hawaii, USA) in 1938 at the advent of the Second World War. Her teachings included varied stories about the system’s founder Usui Mikao. Today researchers relate these inconsistencies to the fact that Japan was the enemy during the war and that some Japanese were being placed in internment camps within America. Some of the stories she related were that:

Usui Mikao was a doctor.

This may well have been the initial translation of the polite Japanese term ‘sensei’, given as a sign of respect in Japan to teachers, lawyers etc… Usui Mikao was not a medical doctor. There is no evidence that he was a PH D either.

He was the principal and a minister of the Doshisha University in Kyoto.

No records of have been found by researchers to verify this.

He studied at a Chicago University.

This has been researched in the US and no documentation of a person called Usui Mikao from that period can be found in their database.

Usui Mikao was a Christian.

Today, his wife’s cousin states that he was a Tendai lay monk and we know that his ashes are buried in a Pure Land Buddhist graveyard (where his memorial stone stands). 

Usui Mikao was a Zen monk.

This was a different story that she told later in her life. There is no evidence to suggest that he was specifically a Zen monk, though today it is understood that he definitely was Buddhist (either Tendai or Pure Land).

Usui Mikao worked in a beggar’s quarter for 7 years. His experience here lead him to believe that it was necessary to get clients/students to either pay or do something (often called an energy exchange) so that respect was given and responsibility was taken for their own health.

This particular parable was used to convince students that money needed to be charged for Reiki otherwise the client or student would not respect or value it enough. Today it is thought that there may have been such a story used by Hayashi Chujiro (who also charged large amounts of money for his teachings) that related to the Tokyo earthquake of 1923 (also mentioned on the memorial stone of Usui Mikao). Research has not pointed to Usui Mikao charging anything for his teachings or treatments. Hayashi Chujiro is known to have brought the system of Reiki into a new phase by offering a clinic where clients could come and lie down (rather than sit) and be treated by two practitioners over a period of time. Another unproven myth by Hawayo Takata exists that he worked in the beggar’s quarter for the length of 7 years. Hawayo Takata stated that this occurred after his experience on MT Kurama, which the memorial stone states, was in 1922. If this were the case then he would not have had the time to do so. In 1924 he moved to Tokyo from Kyoto and in 1926 Usui Mikao died.

The Only Teacher of the Usui System of Reiki in the World Today.

This was written on advertisements for Hawayo Takata’s course in Illinois in 1975. Today it is understood that there are and always have been people practicing Usui Mikao’s teachings in Japan and that Hawayo Takata was aware of this.

Hawayo Takata’s actual teachings appear to not have strayed far from the teachings of Hayashi Chujiro. One difference might be the price required from students of Hawayo Takata. Though Hayashi Chujiro was known to have asked large amounts of money for his courses (according to Chiyoko Yamaguchi) Hawayo Takata set the Level 3 teaching fee at $10, 000 US dollars in the 1970s. She was also known to place restrictions on students and told a Reiki Master student (Iris Ishikuro) that she may only teach three Level 3 students. 

Usui Do

Dave King, who today teaches a system called Usui Do, states that he met a student of Eguchi Toshihiro (a student and friend of Usui Mikao) in 1971. The student’s name was Yuji Onuki and he cannot be traced today. Dave King states he also met with another student of Hayashi Chujiro called Tatsumi (who is now dead) in 1995. He also claims to have contact with a Buddhist nun who studied with Usui Mikao called Tenon In. His friend Melissa Riggall, who passed on earlier this year, had also met with these people.

On researching the origins of the so-called ‘Tatsumi’ attunement that is used widely in Usui Reiki Ryoho lineages today there appeared to be confusion as to what the actual attunement/transformation is. Rick Rivard first taught it publicly at the inaugural URRI workshop in 1999 in Vancouver. There are similarities between the actual Vortex attunement and the Tatsumi attunement but they are certainly not identical.

Here are some statements by Dave King about it:

1) Nobody has been taught the Tatsumi attunement. The attunement I taught to Rick came from the Vortex school of traditional Japanese Reiki in Japan – it is not Tatsumi’s. We taught the Vortex attunement as part of a TJR course but Rick was not told how it worked and was not authorized to teach it since he was not a “senior teacher”.

2) On one trip to Japan Toshitaka Mochizuki invited me to attend his (Vortex system) workshop. During that time I was taught an “attunement” pattern originating from Commander Hayashi. On my return to Canada I began teaching much of Mochizuki’s material including the attunement. The material was taught to few people including Rick Rivard in Vancouver. I later discovered that the Vortex system was partially Western in origin but then spent time with Tatsumi and learned what he had been taught by Hayashi. The initial demonstration of the physical component of Usui’s “transformation” was made using a stone Japanese lantern in Tatsumi’s garden. It was this I passed on to Rick, who was not given the appropriate go-dan training or authority to pass this on.

3) We did not TEACH the Tatsumi attunement. Rick was told of Tatsumi’s initial demonstration of the physical part of the transformation and then Rick created an attunement pattern out of it (complete with chakras).

Two more statements made by Dave King about the attunements/transformations:

1) There is no difference between the ritual as given to us by Tatsumi, Onuki or Mariko-Obaasan. Hayashi did not use symbols in the transformation before 1931. After that time only the kotodamas were used but never over the hands of the recipient. This is how Rev. Takata originally taught it.

2) From Dave’s Visit to Tatsumi:

On my last day I was shown how Hayashi had done his attunements. This method made far more sense than the method I had been shown in Canada but was very similar to that shown by Onuki.

Another inconsistency between stories is:

1) In an Article called Melissa’s Visit to Tatsumi, Melissa Riggall (who has now passed on) wrote:

I stayed in Tatsumi’s cottage for the next three days.

She then left and the next thing she heard was that Tatsumi had died.

2) Recently Rick Rivard wrote on the URRI:

Melissa actually lived with the Tatsumi family for a month and learned the complete Usui-Do system.

In Toshitaka Mochizuki’s book, Iyashi No Te, there is a group photo in which Usui Mikao, friends, family and students are gathered together on the 16th of January 1926. Dave King claims that Tenon-In has told him that Jigoro Kano is seen standing at the furthest right hand side of the picture. Though there is a slight resemblance this has been denied by respectable martial arts authorities such as the Kodokan Judo Institute in Japan, Stanley Pranin of the Aikido Journal, and Miek Skoss of Koryu Books.

Another statement by Dave King when asked for verification about the information that he is offering to the Reiki community:

‘It is not up to us to prove our research.’

Dave King also claims to receive teachings from a Tendai nun called either Mariko Obaasan or Mariko Suzuki who was born in 1897 and is claimed to be still alive today.

1) In 2001 Dave King wrote in an email to us:

In any case none of the nuns taught by Usui were trained to pass on the system.

2) On Rick Rivard’s site in 2004 it is stated that:

Dave King and Melissa Riggall of the Usui-Do Eidan received Rokudan (2nd highest level) from Onuki-san in 1971, Shichidan (highest level) from Tatsumi-san in 1996 and Godan (3rd highest level) from Tenon-in in October 2002, the latter giving them a direct spiritual connection to Usui Sensei through her. 

Raku Kei Reiki

This is an important, though little known, branch of the system of Reiki today. Its founders, Iris ishikuro and her student, Arthur Robertson created it in the early 1980s. Iris Ishikuro was one of Hawayo Takata’s 22 Reiki Master students. It appears that from this point many New Age style techniques were introduced to the system of Reiki and can be attributed to input from Iris Ishikuro and Arthur Robertson. These include the chakra system, the hui yin breath, the Johre symbol, breath of the fire dragon, the Tibetan style history and kanji hand mudras. This branch of Reiki was a strong influence on the branches of Reiki such as Usui/Tibetan Reiki, Tibetan/Usui Reiki, Seichim, Tera Mai Reiki, Johrei Reiki and less directly on many other branches and some Independent Reiki Masters.

Reiki Jin Kei Do

Ranga Premaratna has taught this system of Reiki Jin Kei Do since 1990. Today, Ranga claims this lineage: Usui Mikao, Chujiro Hayashi, Takeuchi, Seiji Takamori, Ranga Premaratna. Ranga also studied with Beth Sanders, a student of Kathleen Milner (who channeled teachings called Tera Mai Reiki).

Written in one of the Jin kei do manuals we’ve seen is: You are receiving this same pure transmission that has been passed on from Dr. Usui to Dr. Hayashi, to Mrs. Takata, to Seiji Takamori, to me, and from me (Ranga J. Premaratna) to you in an unbroken line.

If you would like to see a scanned copy of this particular text and other pages from the Reiki Jin Kei do manual including its cover then please click here.

A confusing statement written in an open letter by Ranga (see the Healing Touch Website) is: Seiji Takamori was not a student of Hawayo Takata. He met her and received master initiation from her in exchange for services as a monk. 

The Reiki Jin Kei do story goes that in an isolated part of Nepal, Takamori came across a small order of monks whose practice included a discipline similar to Reiki. This ancient system of healing contained two of the Reiki symbols and echoed the Buddhist teachings. There is no verification of this except for the words of Ranga. It is known that there are similarities between the first two symbols used in the system of Reiki and many other cultures in the world. This does not mean that the system of Reiki is Nepalese, Chinese, Tibetan or Indian. There are similarities between many eastern philosophies and religions as they originally all came from the same source. Yet each has been adapted and further developed in its own culture creating systems that are unique.

In an interview with Frans Stiene in 2003 Ranga stated he had studied 20 days with Seiji Takamori and believes that he is the lineage bearer of Reiki Jin Kei Do. Ranga said he has no verification of these teachings and that there is no written material or photos of the teachings (or the individuals) of Seiji Takamori or Takeuchi.

In Japan, researchers have not come upon the name of Takeuchi as a student or acquaintance of Hayashi Chujiro.

Most of the techniques and meditations in Reiki Jin Kei Do are based on the chakra system. The chakra system was incorporated into the system of Reiki in the 1980s and 90s by students of Hawayo Takata (and their students) and was not taught by either Hawayo Takata or Hayashi. Students of Hayashi living today do not work with the chakra system and according to Hawayo Takata’s written diary notes she worked with the hara system (not the chakra system). It can be seen that she was taught the Japanese energetic system (hara) by looking at a copy of her handwritten notes relating to the hara click here and click here for her daughter’s typed copy of the notes.

In Reiki Jin Kei Do it is said that the first symbol (CKR) empowers other symbols. In the interview with Ranga he said he may have used the wrong wording and that he had drawn on the wording used by his western teacher/s (eg Beth Sanders, a student of Kathleen Milner). Other students of Hayashi do not teach that the CKR empowers other symbols. From Hawayo Takata’s student’s notes there was no mention of this in relation to CKR. It is undertsood that Barbara Weber Ray of The Radiance Technique also teaches this.

During the interview Ranga stated that the SHK symbol he was intially taught by Seiji Takamori had a curved line for the second half of the symbol (just like drawings of SHK popular in the West). Ranga later decided to create a straight line in the symbol rather than the curved one from his own personal research.

Ranga is currently writing down from memory what was taught to him by Seiji Takamori 13 years ago to make the teachings clearer. He stated in the interview that Seiji Takamori may also have taught him teachings other than the system of Reiki but that at the time he was unaware of this and consequently incorporated everything into Reiki Jin Kei do teachings. He said he can see this clearer today because of the historical facts that are coming to light from Japan from students of Hayashi and the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai etc…

Medicine Dharma Reiki/Men Chhos Reiki/Universal Healing Reiki

The concepts of this branch were introduced by Richard Blackwell (also known as Lama Yeshe) around 1994. He also wrote a book called Medicine Dharma Reiki (which is no longer being published).

Richard Blackwell made claims about his own personal history and that of a system that he said was the original form of Reiki that have not been verified.

These included statements such as:

The system of Reiki came from early Mahayana Buddhist Teachings and were associated with Medicine King Buddha.

Modern researchers have found that the system of Reiki is distinctly Japanese and that the teachings have evolved from the Japanese culture. 

Usui Mikao was a well known and respected physician.

This fitted in neatly with Hawayo Takata’s naming of Usui Mikao as Dr Usui but no research has found that he was a doctor. This would certainly have been recorded by his students such as the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai who wrote his memorial stone in 1927 

Students of Men Chhos Reiki need to be practising Buddhists.

The system of Reiki appears to have been drawn from many elements and is therefore accessible to people of all religions – this is one of its unique points.

That the system of Reiki was taken from a text called ‘Tantra of the Lightening Flash’ which Richard Blackwell was translating.

Not verified – no-one had ever seen the texts apart from Richard Blackwell.

The principal student of Usui Mikao was Dr Watanabe Kioshi Itami and Medicine Dharma Reiki was based on his and Usui Mikao’s reconstruction of old texts.

None of Usui Mikao’s students have ever made mention of this individual and there is no verification that he existed. 

That Richard Blackwell studied with a teacher called Tsien Tsei Mya Rinpoche from Taiwan.

There is once again no verification that this person exists. It has been suggested that emails written by this Rinpoche in fact came from Richard Blackwell himself.

Usui Mikao’s religion was Shingon.

Richard Blackwell knew information about Shingon and may therefore have created this statement himself. Today, old students of Usui Mikao state that he was Tendai.

In 1988 Lama Yeshe received confirmation from the Office of the Dalai Lama formally documenting ordinations and enthronement as a Drugpa Kargyu Lama and recognition as the ninth incarnation of the Drugmar Rinpoche.

Not one reputable Buddhist group contacted by researchers throughout the world recognized Richard Blackwell as such. The Dalai Lama’s office was contacted and denied knowledge of this ordination.

Usui Mikao’s teachings centered on using ‘magic water’or ‘mizu hari’.

This technique has not been used by any traditional Reiki practitioners in Japan.

Usui Mikao had cholera at the age of 27.

This has not been verified and is likely to belong to ‘the story’ of Medicine Dharma Reiki.

At the end of 2002 most of his students realized that they were not likely to receive any verification of any of these statements or these unseen texts and the Medicine Dharma Reiki community disintegrated. To this day there has been no verification provided by Richard Blackwell. Statements are still being made to try to explain away what has happened including the idea that these teachings were in fact channeled.

Numerous groups have apologised publically for initially believing these teachings and promoting them. The official Medicine Dharma Reiki website run by Gordon Bell has also been disassembled and no longer exists. There was also an apology in the German magazine Reiki Magazin (webpage has been removed).

Another site attempted to explain publically what had happened to this supposed Reiki system  (http://www.geocities.com/drukmar/ no longer exists)

There is also an open email from author Paula Horan and her partner Narayan who had supported Richard Blackwell and practiced Medicine Dharma Reiki.

Original Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai Training

In 2003/4 a man called Liam Richards from New Zealand began advertising ‘Original Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai Training’ via Rick Rivard’s website. We enquired about the system as we were curious about this training largely because the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai is a Reiki society that exists in Japan and claims Usui Mikao as its first president. As far as we knew it had always been closed to foreigners and now a foreigner appeared to be teaching their teachings. 

We enquired through two emails about the nature of the teachings and the validity of their origins. Consequently we’ve been told by this teacher that our questions were becoming offensive. He does not permit us to quote his words on the internet (he’s seen our historical inconsistencies page 🙂 ) as he considers the information about this training to be personal (?) and ended by quoting at us one of the Reiki Precepts – that we should be devoting ourselves to our work (rather than his – we understand).

Well we consider this to be our work – we believe in the freedom to ask questions. We also consider the verification of claims in the Reiki community integral to creating a safe and encouraging environment for those interested in learning the system of Reiki and for those already practicing it.

Naturally it would save a lot of summarizing and the possibility of misconstruing an individual’s words if we could simply quote his claims (as we have in the previous inconsistencies on this page).

At any rate it boils down to the fact that this person is not interested in verifying any of the claims he does make.

In our own research we’ve been told by Inamoto Hyakuten that Doi Hiroshi states that neither the current president of the Japanese Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, Kondoh Masaki, nor the the grandaughter of the previous president, Koyama Kimiko, have ever heard of Yoshinori Takida (Liam Richard’s Japanese teacher). According to Inamoto Hyakuten, Yoshinori Takida’s name was supposedly also checked for on an official Gakkai membership list but it was not there.

Rick Rivard’s website states about the teachings that:

In December 2003 my wish was realised as I began an exchange of training with a Reiki Master who had trained in the actual Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai style, and whose teacher was one of the 5 Shihan (teachers) of the old society*.

*By ‘old society’ he is referring to a certain period of the Japanese Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai. Someone of this stature, it would be thought, would be recorded and known by head Gakkai members.

In 2004 there was an open email sent out to Reiki groups by a woman who believes that she’s been taken advantage of by Liam Richards and that there are others who may have experienced what she has experienced.

Seven Level System

A new style of Reiki that has been developed since 1990 is called the Seven Level System. It was developed by Gary Samer from a breakaway Reiki group that began in the early 1980s called The Radiance Technique (created by Barbara Ray). The Radiance Technique introduced the concept of seven, rather than the traditional three, levels to the system of Reiki.

For the reader’s interest in 2004 the International House of Reiki personally requested factual and historical information about the Seven Levels System’s numerous claims but nothing has of yet been forthcoming although the teacher assured us that it would be.

Below in italics are some of the inconsistent statements made by the Seven Level System:

Barbara Ray, using the name The Radiance Technique, taught many Americans, one of who was Gary Samer, who learned all seven levels. Samer brought this system to Australia.

On enquiring with The Radiance Technique about the validity of Gary Samer’s Seven Level System they stated: Whatever is being offered as “Seven Level System” has nothing to do with The Radiance Technique.

Therefore the origins, history and concepts about the system of Reiki taught by the Seven Level System have no grounds.

The origins of Reiki have been traced back to ancient Tibet, ten thousand years ago. This knowledge passed from Tibet to India, and from India it was spread to Egypt, Greece and Rome in the West and China in the East

This statement appears to be linked to some of the wayout 1980s concepts that Reiki may have been Tibetan, Egyptian, Atlantian or perhaps Martian. Fortunately today with the amount of research that has been undertaken, Reiki practitioners are much more educated and aware of the Japanese origins of the system. Both The Reiki Sourcebook and The Japanese Art of Reiki have researched this aspect thoroughly. Japanese levels are also discussed in the books The Spirit of Reiki, Modern Reiki Method for Healing and Frank Arjava Petter’s Reiki books.

It [Reiki] was rediscovered at the turn of the twentieth century by Dr Mikao Usui, a Japanese scholar, who found the formula to activating a high order of life-force energy in an ancient Indian sutra, or book of knowledge written in Sanskrit, dating back some two and a half thousand years.

This statement appears to be related to the myth propagated by the founder of Men Chhos Reiki who now has changed his mind that the text exists and states that he channeled this information (see this page for more information).

Some symptoms experienced due to mis-alignments in other systems are: being drained of energy after giving treatments, depression, inability to focus, and sleep disorders, among other things. If one has experienced such symptoms after being trained in a system that used the title Reiki, which they had not experienced previous to their training, then it could be that they were trained in a fragmented system and mis-aligned. (Such a mis-alignment can be corrected by an alignment in the seven level system.)

This sounds like an unimaginative business tactic and it is up to the client to see through it themselves especially the bit about – ‘Such a mis-alignment can be corrected by an alignment in the seven level system’.

The seven levels or degrees correspond to the seven major chakras.

This is a New Age concept based on the Indian chakra system. If the system is ‘original’ as it claims then (as it is a Japanese system) it would never have corresponded to the 7 chakras and consequently there would never have been 7 levels. In Japan the chakra system was not used in the early 1900s. Japan has its own unique, energetic system. From Hawayo Takata’s 1936 diary notes it can be seen that she was taught the Japanese energetic system (hara). For a copy of her handwritten notes relating to the hara click here and click here for her daughter’s typed copy of the notes.

As the Radiance Technique first began this idea of seven levels in the 1980s it is interesting to note in their founder’s first edition of the book The Reiki Factor in 1983, that there were only three levels in the system of Reiki – See a copy of the relevant page fom her book here. This book was published three years after her teacher Takata’s death. This book was adapted in later editions creating seven levels.

In Hawayo Takata’s personal diary notes from 1936 it is also possible to learn of the three levels of the system that she was taught. Here is her handwritten copy and here is her daughter’s typed notes from Takata’s diary.

There are 7 symbols

Traditional teachers in Japan (the Gakkai) state that there are 4 traditional symbols only.

Of the twenty-two people she taught it was only one person who she taught the entire seven level system to and who was therefore empowered to make other teachers. That person was Dr Barbara Ray.

There is no factual evidence of this – only Barbara Ray states this. 

At a formal reception in August 1980, attended by over two hundred people, Takata announced Ray as her successor to the complete seven level system of Reiki.

There is no factual evidence of this – only Barbara Ray states this. There has never been any corroboration by one of the 200 other people.

Readers are also being misled here to think that The Radiance Technique is the Seven Level System. In fact The Radiance Technique (Barbara Ray’s system) states that the Whatever is being offered as “Seven Level System” has nothing to do with The Radiance Technique.

Other successors to this complete system belong to a Reiki society called the Gakkai, which was founded by Usui.

The Gakkai has three levels –Shoden, Okuden and Shinpiden not seven levels. This is stated by Gakkai spokesman and member – Doi Hiroshi.

Due to the fact that students of Mrs Takata had taught the third degree when unqualified to do so, errors had occurred in those non-seven level systems, which had led to mis-alignments

There is no factual evidence of this – only Barbara Ray states this.

Garlic is toxic to humans because its sulphone hydroxyl ions penetrate the blood-brain barrier and are poisonous to brain cells.

The source of this information belonged to a link that does not work nor sound very scientific in nature. It is http://www.karinya.com/garlic.htm – this site (once we found its home page) also includes articles such as ‘UFOs Proven Real’ and “ET Encounter’.

There is no mention in this statement about the amount of garlic that needs to be ingested before becoming harmful. Too much water can also be harmful but no-one is going to ask you to stop drinking it! Garlic and onions have absolutely nothing to do with the system of Reiki.

Homeopathic medicine comes to the same conclusion when it recognizes that red onion produces a dry cough, watery eyes, sneezing, runny nose and other familiar cold-related symptoms when consumed.

Onions contain a gas called propanethiol S-oxide that makes your eyes water – it doesn’t mean onions are harmful or dangerous. In fact it makes them an excellent source for homeopathic use – where their ability is utilised to make humans cry to get those sinuse cleared out. In homeopathy onions are used for cleansing. Yet another wonderful health benefit of the onion family. Onions are of the same family as garlic and many scientific articles show the wonderful healing properties of onions through the ages.

The garlic family of plants has been widely recognized as being harmful to dogs

Ummm true BUT…according to a Vet Website Dogs and cats lack the enzyme necessary to properly digest onions and ingestion can result in gas, vomiting, diarrhea or severe anemia. This has absolutely nothing to do with the function of the human body and does not in anyway indicate that the onion family is bad for humans – in fact scientific evidence appears to say the opposite. 

Teachers of the Seven Level System state that practitioners should not wear red or black. When asked why this was so – we were told that if you throw a black cloth over a plant – it will die. A true statement in itself – but surely any cloth thrown over a plant will ultimately end in the plants demise! 

Discussing these subjects (such as the scientific facts about garlic) may appear unimportant and even ridiculous and we would have to agree. Yet we must look deeper to the motivation behind such groups for creating this unscientific and mythical information. Why make up this stuff?

If teachers believe they can pull the wool over students’ eyes with such seemingly simple statements then you must ask – what else are they creating that is not true and why?

General Note about Inconsistencies

What can we say??? Please, please ask questions in life and don’t be put off if at first it feels a little uncomfortable. 

Not only will you be making a brighter future for yourself but also for your fellow travellers.

Verification is unfortunately a necessity within the Reiki community today because the faith of some students has been abused in the past.

Our only agenda on this page is to create an open Reiki community where we can all learn what we like in the safe knowledge that someone is not trying to take advantage of us.

To find out about the forms of Reiki that the International House of Reiki recommends today: Reiki Today