Proper Response

[McKenzie]

I'm not sure if this is the proper forum to ask this in, and if not, please move it.

I was wondering what should be one's proper response to someone who tries to preform Reiki on oneself. This happened to me last night, and though I told the lady "no," quite adamantly, too, she insisted, and would not stop "giving me energy." I prayed that she would stop, knowing that Reiki is wrong and a weird new-age practice.

Anyway, what else could I have do, or how should I have reacted to this unwanted "gift." Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

God bless & Mary protect

[StColette]

The proper response would be to say no and walk away from that situation as soon as possible.

For those who don't know what Reiki is here is a article about it from Catholic Exchange

How Is Reiki Contrary to Catholicism?
1/27/05

Dear Catholic Exchange,

How is Reiki contrary to the practice of Catholicism?

Mr. Kyd

Dear Mr. Kyd,

Thank you for your contacting Catholics United for the Faith regarding Reiki. Please see our FAITH FACT on the New Age movement, which provides a concise overview of its forms and manifestations. It can be found online at Let the Son Shine: the Truth About the New Age Movement. The following information shows that Reiki is not consistent with Christian spirituality.

At the outset, it should be emphasized that the information we obtained is primarily from pro-Reiki Internet sites. We recommend an online search to view the sites, e.g., The Reiki Threshold.

Objectively, Reiki is at odds with the Catholic Faith, and we recommend that Catholics avoid it. Reiki is a manifestation of the ancient Gnostic heresy. Gnostics believed that salvation comes through attainment of hidden or secretive knowledge. Reiki is a particularly dangerous form of Gnosticism because nowhere does it mention the personal salvation of the soul within the context of the Body of Christ, the Church. In addition, it nowhere mentions grace. It substitutes something called a “Universal Life Force” for grace and God, i.e., a form of pantheism, a ubiquitous “Star Wars Force” that is available to be tapped into by all people (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), no. 285).

The history of Reiki clearly shows that it is non-Christian. Its founder, Dr. Mikau Usui, “discovered” Reiki in a Buddhist temple. Dr. Usui went to the Buddhist temple because he did not believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ. He thought Buddha and Christ had an “inner energy” that helped them to heal. It was this “energy” that he sought. He discovered the energy (Reiki) while on a Buddhist retreat. Following his discovery, Dr. Usui reportedly began to perform healings, the source of which he did not ascribe to the Trinity. The purpose of the healings was to restore the energy of the person. After a healing, a person would discover his own natural healing power.

The following is a list of Reiki errors:

• Does not recognize the personal salvation of the soul within the context of the Body of Christ, the Church;

• Does not include the doctrine of grace;

• Does not recognize the divinity of Jesus Christ;

• Does not recognize a personal, trinitarian God;

• Assumes the equality of all religions;

• Makes no mention of a fall or sin;

• Makes no mention of redemption.

There is wealth of information about Reiki on the Internet. In attempting to access healing powers beyond one’s nature, one must be very cautious about spirits that are hostile to God and His Kingdom. Because of Reiki’s pantheistic disposition, its practice is not recommended (cf. CCC, no. 2117).

Some people will argue that Vatican II’s Nostra Aetate (Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions) allows for Catholics to “promote” the genuine truth in non-Christian religions. Article no. 2 of Nostra Aetate does say that we are exhorted to “acknowledge, preserve and promote the spiritual and moral truths found among non-Christians, also their social life and culture.” However, there is a crucial paragraph that immediately precedes those remarks:

The Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions. She has a high regard for the manner of life and conduct, the precepts and doctrines which, although differing in many ways from her own teaching, nevertheless often reflect a ray of truth which enlightens all men. Yet she proclaims and is in duty bound to proclaim without fail, Christ who is the way, the truth and life (Jn 1:6). In Him, in Whom God reconciled all things to Himself (2 Cor 5:18-19), men find the fullness of their religious life.

The Church, therefore, urges her sons to enter with prudence and charity into discussion and collaboration with members of other religions (no. 2, emphasis added).

Clearly, then, the Church’s affirmation of Buddhism, Hinduism, and other non-Christian faiths is conditioned on the extent to which they proclaim and live authentic truth, the fullness of which is in the Catholic Church, to whom all men and women are called (cf. Vatican II, Unitatits Redintegratio (Decree on Ecumenism), no. 3).

There is also the citation from Vatican II’s Ad Gentes Divinitus, the Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity, in which Catholics are told to reflect “attentively on how Christian religious life may be able to assimilate the ascetic and contemplative traditions whose seeds were sometimes already planted by God in ancient cultures prior to the preaching of the Gospel” (no. 18).

Note well that the document says “assimilate” and not “accommodate.” The purpose of any catechetical program or retreat center is to form people in the one, true Catholic Faith, not to engage in activities that deliberately or may indirectly foster religious indifferentism (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 848; cf. Jn 14:6). That is the important point to make to any catechist or retreat center that professes to be Catholic and is attempting to integrate any Eastern prayer methods. As Ad Gentes itself notes, “As the salt of the earth and light of the world (cf. Mt 5:13-14), the Church is summoned with special urgency to save and renew every creature. In this way, all things can be restored in Christ, and in Him mankind can compose one family and one people” (no. 1).

I hope that this information is helpful. If you have further questions or comments please do not hesitate to call Information Services at 1-800-MY-FAITH. We offer this service to everyone entirely free of charge, and would appreciate your support, through your prayers and donations, so we may help others.

United In the Faith,

Christopher Kreps
Information Specialist
Catholics United for the Faith
827 North Fourth Street
Steubenville, OH 43952
800-MY-FAITH (800-693-2484)

[url="http://es.catholicexchange.com/vm/index.asp?vm_id=64&art_id=27130"]http://es.catholicexchange.com/vm/index.as...64&art_id=27130[/url]

[phatcatholic]

here is another article:

[b]Reiki and Tantric Magic[/b]
[url="http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=2929"]http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=2929[/url]

The International Center for Reiki Training has a comprehensive web site for understanding the practice of Reiki (pronounced RAY-KEY) at [url="http://www.reiki.org"]http://www.reiki.org[/url]. According to the site, Reiki is defined as a specific kind of universal healing energy that was rediscovered by a medical doctor, Mikao Usui, in the 19th century. The following excerpts are taken directly from the web site. Following each quote is The Cross and The Veil's commentary.

[i]"Dr. Mikao Usui, or Usui Sensei, as he is called by his students in Japan, is the founder of the Usui SYstem of Reiki. He was born August 15, 1865 in the village of Yago in the yanagata district of Gifu prefecture, Japan. It is thought that he entered a Tendai Buddhist school on or near Mt. Kurama ("horse saddle mountain") at age four. He also studies kiko, the Japanese version of qigong, which is a health and healing discipline based on the development and use of life energy. The young Usui found that these healing methods required the practitioner to build up and then deplete his own life energy when giving treatments. He wondered if it were possible to do healing work without depleting one's own energy. He went on to study in Japan, China and Europe...his curriculum included...fortune telling, which Asians have long considered to be a worthy skill...Usui Sensei was also a member of the Rei Jyutu Ka, a metaphysical group dedicated to developing psychic abilities. In 1914 Usui's personal and business life was failing. As a sensitive spiritualist, Usui Sensi had spent much time meditating ot the power spots on Mt. Kurama where he had received his early Buddhist training. So he decided to travel to this holy mountain, where he enrolled in Isyu Guo, a 21-day training course sponsored y the Tendai Buddhist Temple located there...it was during the Isyu Guo training that the great Reiki energy entered his crown chakra. This greatly enhanced his healing abilities and he realized he had received a wonderful new gift - the ability to give healing to others without depleting his own energy!" [/i]

Reiki practitioners who have written articles and books on the subject differ in their recounting of the origins of Reiki. Generally, it is held up as a rediscovery of the ancient and universal practice of the same “healing power” possessed by the prophets and Jesus Christ. Using the eastern paradigm of the “chakra system” (see article on yoga), the Reiki “healer” is said to receive an initiation that allows him or her to “heal”. Similar to acupuncture and yoga, Reiki posits that unseen “energy” paths exist throughout the body that need only be charged with positive energy to restore each network of pathways and to restore health to the body.


[i]“Reiki heals by flowing through the affected parts of the energy field and charging them with positive energy. It raises the vibratory level of the energy field in and around the physical body where the negative thoughts and feelings are attached. This causes the negative energy to break apart and fall away. In so doing, Reiki clears, straightens and heals the energy pathways, thus allowing the life force to flow in a healthy and natural way.” [/i]

Neither “healing” nor “energy”, Reiki is actually a manifestation of Tantric magic studied by Usui during a prolonged Buddhist retreat and fast during which time he reportedly studied a Buddhist Tantric text. Tantra is a form of yoga in which sexual “energy” is manipulated for a variety of purposes – from seeking a magical union of lovers to attaining “union” with God or with the “Supreme Self”. Tantra is one of the most powerful forms of yoga (tantric yoga) and involves secret practices and ceremonial rituals including group sex. Lovers visualize each other as “manifestations” of the male or female aspect of God and attempt to achieve ecstasy and a melding together of souls with or without physical union.


[b]Reiki Atunement and the Reiki Master [/b]

[i]“Reiki is a special kind of life force that can only be channeled by someone that has been attuned to it. It is possible that some people are born with Reiki or have gotten it some other way. However, most healers who have not received the Reiki atunement from a Reiki Master are not using Reiki but another kind of life force. Reiki is not taught in the way other healing techniques are taught. It is transferred to the student by the Reiki Master during an atunement process. This process opens the crown, heart, and palm chakras and creates a special link between the student and the Reiki source. The Reiki atunement is a powerful spiritual experience. The atunement energies are channeled into the student through the Reiki Master. The process is guided by the Reiki or God consciousness and makes adjustments in the process depending on the needs of each student. The atunement is also attended by Reiki guides and other spiritual beings who help implement the process. Many report having mystical experiences involving personal messages, healings, visions, and past life experiences. The atunement can also increase psychic sensitivity. Students often report experiences involving: opening of the third eye, increased intuitive awareness, and other psychic abilities after receiving a Reiki atunement.”[list]“What is Advanced Reiki Training?”

“This is a one day intensive. It includes:

The Usui Master atunement which increases the strength of your Reiki energy.

The Usui Master symbol which increases the effectiveness of the Reiki II symbols and can be used for healing.

Reiki meditation that strengthens the mind and expands consciousness.

Advanced techniques for using Reiki to solve problems and achieve goals.

Using Reiki to protect yourself and others.

The use of crystals and stones with Reiki.

How to make a Reiki grid that will continue to send Reiki to yourself and others after it is charged.

Reiki psychic surgery that allows you to remove negative psychic energy from yourself and others and send it to the light.

A guided meditation that introduces you to your Reiki guides wherein you receive healing and information.

Finally, an exercise will be given for those planning to take Reiki III/Master training.

You must take ART if you want to take Reiki III/Master. This class is often taught with Reiki III as a three day intensive.

Cost, $210.00“[/i]
[/list][b]Much like other forms of “New Age healing” techniques, the following characteristics are common of Reiki:

1. The technique is promoted as special and unique but obtainable via weekend workshops;

2. Reception of power comes through a lineage of masters;

3. The power is controlled via a supernatural power, whether divine, angelic or universal;

4. It is a spiritual power operating through a quasi scientific metaphysical & mechanistic paradigm;

5. Psychic powers accompany the reception of the healing power;

6. “Healers” may charge money for their services. [/b]

Usui was said to have originally descended the mountain from his retreat with healing powers and the desire to heal the masses. He lived in the slums of a city for several years, performing seemingly miraculous healings on the poor without charge. Then, after a time, these same “patients’ who had been healed returned to him, having lost their “healings“. Usui meditated on why this was so and how he could remedy the problem. He decided that his patients became ill again because they did not sufficiently value the healings they received, and so he began to charge money for his services.

Like most New Age healing techniques, practitioners and schools of Reiki vary their practice and combine it with other practices such as the use of crystals, magical incantations for protection, “psychic” surgery, group energy channeling, and spiritualism that includes the taking over of the body by one’s “guide”.


[b]Reiki and Catholic Institutions [/b]

Unfortunately, a number of Catholic nurses, doctors, hospitals and retreat centers have innocently included Reiki as an “alternative form of medicine”. One such place, The Bon Secours Spiritual Center in Marriottsville, Maryland,advertises on the web thusly:[list]“Why receive Massage or Reiki while on retreat?

Because we believe that both are graced ways of experiencing God’s healing
touch during a retreat.[list]‘In a pastoral context massage becomes a sacrament of touch, an anointing, for it combines one of the oldest and simplest of medical treatments with the ancient healing powers of ‘the laying on of hands’ and ‘the anointing with oil’. Hands are symbols of human service and communicators of the healing potential within. Oil is a biblical symbol of the divine gift of health, strength and respect for the whole person. In massage these symbols coalesce to heal, comfort, soothe, relax and strengthen the whole being.’[list]Mary Ann Finch”
[/list]
[/list]
[/list]
[b]Catholic Hospitals [/b]

Many seriously ill patients in hospitals are exposed to occult techniques, including Reiki, without full knowledge or consent. While in a weakened and vulnerable state, “volunteers” perform Reiki magic over them as described in the following:

According to William Lee Rand, in his web article, “Reiki in Hospitals”,:[list]“The Reiki Clinic at the Tucson Medical Center (TMC) in Arizona has a team of Reiki practitioners who give Reiki to patients in their rooms…The TMC program started in May 1995...The program first began in the Cancer Care Unit, but has since expanded to many other areas in the hospital. At first, the attending physician had to give permission for Reiki to be provided. This has changed, and now the attending nurse makes the request. Reiki sessions are given by two-person teams as this creates a feeling of safety and confidence for both the patients and the practitioners. A patient must sign a consent form and sessions are given in their rooms while they are in bed.

It is up to the Reiki team to explain Reiki to the patient before giving the treatment. They have found that this usually works best by first taking a few minutes to introduce themselves and get to know the patient, then explain the work they do. They have also found it best not to use the word “Reiki” at first when describing how they can help, but to talk about healing energy. They explain how healing energy exists in the body but is depleted when a person is sick, and they describe their work as helping to increase the patient’s healing energy supply. Later, after trust has been gained, they explain more about the technique and that it is called Reiki. They also play special healing music during the Reiki session.

Volunteers at the Reiki clinic have found it helpful not to use metaphysical terms when talking to patients or to hospital staff about Reiki. Terms like aura, chakras, energy bodies, etc. tend to cause confusion and mistrust. It works better to explain Reiki in simple everyday terms by simply saying that touching is something that everyone needs and enjoys. They also found that describing their work as Reiki treatments tended to create some fear, whereas calling them Reiki sessions worked much better.”
[/list]In essence, Reiki and the New Age paradigm in general, seeks to change our bodies and minds, which are temples of the Holy Spirit, into dens which spirit guides may inhabit, and which are reduced to metaphysical machines that can only be corrected and perfected through mechanistic energy infusions. It is a power paradigm which emphasizes control and domination.


[b]What can be done to remove Reiki, the most pervasive of popular occult techniques, from Catholic institutions? [/b]

1. We can “tear off the veils” of deception through dissemination of this kind of literature. ("I will tear off your veils and rescue my people from your power, so that they shall no longer be prey to your hands. Thus you shall know that I am the Lord." Ezekiel 13:21)

2. We can sponsor true “centers of healing” in hospitals, colleges & retreat houses that include programs in:[list]
[*]the sacraments of reconciliation;
[*]Eucharistic adoration in honor of the Holy Face;
[*]anointing of the sick blessed with prayers to the Holy Face;
[*]orthodox spiritual direction for those in crisis;
[*]restoration of those affected by New Age involvement.
[/list]3. Those Catholics who are especially gifted with the charisms of extraordinary faith, healing, deliverance and intercessory prayer can form discernment groups under the leadership of a priest experienced in orthodox Roman Catholic spiritual counseling in order to inaugurate these ministries.

Just as Jesus expressed just anger at the taking over of His Father’s House, we too should be just as zealous in reclaiming our loved ones and institutions from these false idols.


Clare McGrath Merkle is the editor of The Cross and Veil website and was once involved in the New Age as a "healer" and advanced Kriya yoga practitioner. The site is the fruit of ten years of personal renewal and five years of efforts at evangelization.