Freemasonry and Reiki

For those of my readers who are not familiar with what Reiki is, a few words of explanation may be in order. Bear with me. Once I've explained what Reiki is, I will turn to discussing the unusual connection it has to Freemasonry. Reiki is what the medical profession calls a CAM. This acronym stands for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. It's a term for those forms of alternative medical treatment that in recent years the allopathic medical establishment has begun to tolerate if not completely embrace. Reiki practitioners call it a system of energetic treatment.

In most states, Reiki has not been regulated by law, and as a result there is no standard certification process for Reiki practitioners. Reiki deals with the energy body, and western medicine has no way of measuring it. While some Reiki practitioners may touch the body during treatments, others do not. Either way, they at most put hands on the body, they do not manipulate the body or muscles as massage  therapists do. Reiki is essentially "healing by the laying on of hands."

Reiki came into this world in the early years of the last century in Japan. Mikio Usui, a follower of the Buddhist and Shinto religions of Japan, developed Reiki originally as a spiritual system but also began using it as a method of energetic, or spiritual healing.  It was eventually brought to the west by Mrs. Hawayo Takata. Mrs. Takata was a Hawaiian native of Japanese heritage. She first encountered Reiki in 1935 while in Japan. She was impressed by the healing she experienced under the Reiki master Chujiro Hayashi and spent a year studying and mastering the techniques. She returned to Hawaii and practiced Reiki there for decades. Virtually all western Reiki traditions ultimately derive from the lineage established in the west by Mrs. Takata.

As recently as 20 years ago anywhere in the west, Reiki meant simply Usui Reiki as taught by Mrs. Hawayo Takata. Not only that, but for decades the number of Reiki masters was kept artificially limited to a small handful due to the way in which Mrs. Takata enforced a rigid system of  initiation with exceedingly high initiation fees of ten thousand dollars. Mrs. Takata died in 1980, and subsequently the tight control over Reiki dissolved, and in addition to a dramatic lowering of prices, information became available demonstrating that Reiki in Japan was somewhat different from what Mrs. Takata had been teaching. In the past dozen years or so, a myriad different forms of Reiki have blossomed. This blossoming has reached the scale of an avalanche, and while nobody has any accurate count, there are today scores of complex Reiki systems and thousands of special focus reiki "attunements" or energetic treatments. Reiki considers that treatments can alter the flow and vibration of the energy of the person and can thereby alter peoples health and spiritual experiences. An entire side of Reiki is more concerned with spiritual issues than with physical therapy.

Over the past year, I have become aware that there are, perhaps not surprising given the dramatic and eclectic nature of the growth of Reiki, several Reiki attunements which have a connection to Freemasonry. Now, admittedly, those who scoff at anything alternative will be quick to dismiss these as simple con artistry, attempting to garner some respect from borrowing some of the aura of Freemasonry.  Let me hasten to note that Reiki has its own following and these systems hardly represent a large share of the focus of Reiki nor do they share a large part of the Reiki market. They are in fact, a perhaps natural development when one realizes that there has been a great deal of interest in Egypt in some schools of Reiki and an entirely separate system of energetic treatment based on ancient Egyptian traditions called Sekhem has been created or rediscovered. Through this, attention was drawn to Hermeticism, and eventually to Freemasonry.

There are a number of Reiki attunements which focus on either historical figures related to Freemasonry, and even to Rosicrucianism and the Templars. Among these are a Reiki attunement associated with John Dee, who although not known to have been a mason, was involved in much the same areas of spiritual and scientific investigation that early Freemasons such as Alias Ashmole were. More concretely in the area of Freemasonry, there is an attunement dedicated to the energetic principles associated with Cagliostro. Among the energies that this attunement maintains it aids, are healing powers, vitality, resilience, purifying the heart, enlightening the mind, Alchemy, Hermeticism, and wisdom.

Another interesting attunement, is called Metatron's Cube Reiki, named after the angel Matatron, this energetic treatment is inspired by sacred geometry. It also claims to provide an attunement and "empowerment" of the Rose Cross. The other attunement directly claiming a connection to Masonic "energies" is one called the Templar Grade Attunement. The description afforded this Reiki energetic treatment says that it represents "a symbol of oneness and the manifestation of...concsciousness into our world." Also, they note that "the Templar Degree is a wonderfully calm and peacefull attunement that is a valuable stepping stone for any Reiki practitioner."

There are other attunements associated with Hermes, and a number of others focusing on Thoth.

While this inevitably will not thrill certain elements of the North American old guard, nor the materialists among us, it should at least afford the skeptics a moment of amusement or bemusement, and the rest may find it of some interest that those engaged in modern forms of spiritual exploration still turn to the craft for inspiration.