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Welcome to the August issue of our newsletter. In this Issue In Other News Pass it on Know anyone who might be interested in our newsletter? Click here to forward this email to up to 5 friends at once. |
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Welcome to the latest issue of 'Reiki News and Views'. 
Welcome, Welcome! I'm sure you've done much journeying and learning since the last newsletter. It seems to have been a period of 'leaving behind' all the things that are of no use to us, releasing all the things that we've outgrown and stepping boldly into the present, ready to embrace the new and exciting knowledge that's coming about due to energy shifts. It'll be interesting to see how this affects the Reiki energies that we're attuned to. With so many lunar and planetary happenings at the moment and indeed throughout the year it would be unusual, shall we say, if we weren't in some way influenced by them, being as we work so closely with energy. Use this time of energetic change to create affirmations to help you move forward into a bright and positive future using Reiki to empower your thoughts. If you'd like to use crystals to use in conjunction with Reiki then Citrine is a great crystal to use with its wonderful sunshining colour yellow. It helps to manifest your goals, keeps us cheerful, attracts abundance, personal power and balances the solar plexus chakra. Meditating with the HUNAB KU or THE GALACTIC BUTTERFLY 
The Mayan civilisation believed that we are all connected to a source of being, The Hunab Ku. The Hunab Ku was responsible for creating all life on the physical plane, as well as the consciousness which organised a spinning disk of energy into: the sun and moon, stars, planets and solar systems. This, the Hunab Ku, was situated in the very centre of the Milky Way, where it was said to be the gateway to other galaxies which lie way out beyond our sun. The Mayans believed we are connected to the source through invisible threads, travelling from our solar plexus along a beam of light and passing through the sun to the centre of the universe - our source. Originally there was no symbol for the Hunab Ku, just an unwritten understanding of something vast and powerful that was the Supreme Creator or Source. Later on, however, the Toltec or Zapatec weavers devised a symbol to represent this powerful source of creation in order to embellish their woven cloths. In the 1980s ‘The Mayan Factor’ was written and Jose Arguenes brought the Hunab Ku symbol to our attention. Originally the symbol was said to be rectangular but today is more commonly seen as a circular symbol on materials sold in Mexico. Meditating on the symbol of the Hunab Ku or Galactic Butterfly invites us to offer the intention to connect with the consciousness of our galaxy and beyond. It allows us to transcend the barriers of perception and time, to connect with the source - the generator of all life that exists and the architect of creation, enabling us to re-connect with the sense of oneness that we've struggled with in the past and are just re-awakening to. Hunab Ku characterizes movement and energy – the basis of life itself. With this in mind spend some time meditating on the image and noting the experiences that you have. It is an opportunity to ponder on universal energy, our interconnected relationship with it and with one another.
Annie McMahon
I find I often have a long list of lovely folk that I like to send distant healing to. While I was training to practice Reiki, I was told about a method whereby I could use a Reiki healing box to focus on sending distant healing to people that needed it. The healing is sent to everyone all at once. It's so useful to be able to do this an benefits so many at once.
Along with the lists of names and cards I also place objects that I’m drawn to. I have a selection of small crystals that I’ve blessed with Reiki and dedicated to magnifying the healing energy, pictures of the Reiki symbols that I've drawn and added lots of colour to, there are pieces of sage and lavender and other items that symbolise health and wellbeing to me. The box can also be used for personal use. You can put your affirmations in the box, write out cards with the things that you wish to manifest, goals and pictures for your dream board. Remember as well as writing the names of people you could also use photographs. You can use photos or pictures of pets and animals, your garden, plants, you could also direct Reiki to a holiday that’s coming up, or any forthcoming event. Every two or three days I sit with the box and direct Reiki at it. I write the symbols on the top of the box with my finger and say a little prayer or a few words of intention to send healing to all those whose names are mentioned, along with the other things enclosed in the box. Every time I see the box or walk past it I send out loving thoughts to those that need distant healing. Some of the names stay in the box for a long time, others get changed, it’s up to you, use your intuition. Take time to look through and read the names every now and then. It's a living, working Reiki energy box so maintain it as such if you can. If you’re unsure about asking someone if they want distant healing sent to them, add their name to your Reiki healing box, then hold the intention that Reiki be sent to them for their highest good. Reiki is an intelligent energy, it will work on someone as it sees fit so you don’t need to worry about it. Besides making a healing box that includes both healing for yourself and others, you could just make a healing box for yourself. As before, you could write out affirmations, put photos of things that you’d like to manifest, write out things that you’d like to heal in your life. Send Reiki to the things in the box and ask for guidance, in addition you could ask for help from God, Angels, your spirit guides or whoever you’re drawn to. Trust that all the things are being dealt with and that you are being healed. Remember to keep giving self Reiki as this is part of the process of maintaining your health and wellbeing. Annie McMahon
A PERSONAL REIKI GUIDE BY YOUR SIDE 
St. Thomas Aquinas wrote: “Angels transcend every religion, every philosophy, every creed. In fact, angels have no religion as we know it…. their existence precedes every religious system that has ever existed on earth” Angels and guides come in many forms, they come in whatever type best suits you. They may appear as shaman, fairies, animals, spirits of wood or water, saints or angelic beings. They are all guides. These forms of energy which have been here for all time, change as we change, they are perhaps a link to part of our higher selves, the part that is all knowing, beyond the confines of time, dimensions and space. With these kinds of credential’s who wouldn’t want a little help from a guide. I couldn’t help ponder:
I decided to set out with the intention of connecting with a Reiki guide to assist with my healing work, to access some direct communication with them.
What I didn’t expect !
“There are many guides you can call on at different parts of your journey, but this one is ready to come into consciousness, and she’s better placed than most to assist you in the art of healing. She’s been assisting at reiki courses with many great teachers for years. She’s been waiting for you to come together because part of your path is passing on information to other healers about energy. She’s here to help you move towards the next stage of your reiki journey. Great teachers follow the energy of the moment; they see their curriculum unfolding without the need to structure it. This is, however, planned in the background at an unseen level. Runners, helpers, guides, angels, teachers, prophets all work like whirling dervish in the background to make this moment by moment learning happen. Having one point of contact for this ‘behind the scenes’ support crew can be a useful addition to your future work with reiki. Here’s your chance to see, feel, hear and chat to your guide. She’s the spokes person for the back stage crew. See her, locate where she is in your energy field, note how she lets you know she’s there and the ways she signals to you”
What happened next ? I sat in a quiet place, in order to connect and breathe deeply, down into my centre, to ground, breath and relax into my body, into my heart chakra, sending energy into my 6th Chakra, allowing an openness to my 3rd eye, that intuitive sensing, astral, dreaming window. To see the hidden world around me. Here’s the journey, written so that you too can try it for yourself if you wish. The Journey for 'YOU' Behind closed eyes see a beautiful field on a sunny day. Invite her to come back with you now into the room where you’re sitting. Ask her to work with you to create an image that represents her presence and to give you a message. With a blank sheet of paper, scissors, patterned paper, glue and pens at the ready you will create an image of your guide with her help. Sit with the image of your guide in front of you. When you’re finished thank her for her help and guidance and say your goodbyes. Visualise her walking back across the field from where you started. And Finally The magic of making this image brings light delight. My guide has flamboyance and an ‘80s Abba’, star like quality, stars on her boots, her belly full and large, with gut feeling as her tool, flowers in full bloom in her hair at the crown, daisy’s like paddles in her arms which seemed to wave right or left to guide me, the moon to her right as an influencing light, with love in the shadows, the colour red and petals all around. The inner knowing that I have a helper, who knows exactly what my skills, strengths and short comings are, who knows the back stage details of hidden talents yet to be revealed, the seeds yet to be germinated, is comforting and exciting. I have a chance to catch some of this magic and pay more attention to it as I receive gentle nudges from my guide. I offer gratitude to Ani my reiki guide for bringing this story to you.
Maz Williams
'The Wonder Worker' - by Susan Howatch I've just finished reading The Wonder Worker by Susan Howatch, and although it's a novel and doesn't mention reiki specifically, I would highly recommend it for all healers, of all types everywhere. It's extremely well written, the characters come across in such clear ( sometimes cringe worthy ) detail. I could recognize parts of myself in every character. The times I've fallen into naive and inexperienced psychological traps along the way! The book covers every possible pit fall on the learning curve of 'healing' in our culture. No matter what role, or in whatever capacity you take part in healing it's an entertaining and sober reminder of the fragile lines we tread. Maz Williams 'Plant Spirit Healing -A Guide to Working with Plant Consciousness' - by Pam Montgomery This book is written in a heart warming manner about how we can build our relationship with the spirit of plants. It opens us up to recognising the spirit in all things. It is based on what indigenous healers and shamans have always known that plants possess a spirit essence that can communicate through light, sound, and vibration, which is now being verified by scientific studies. As you read it, it certainly changes your perception about plant healing and has enabled me to connect with plants in my home and garden in a new and more spiritual way. I feel my ability to channel Reiki to plants has reached a new level too. Annie McMahon 'Everything I've Ever Done That Worked' - by Lesley Garner A good dip-in and coffee table book, it's written in a gorgeously relaxed, light, and accomplished way. Lesley writes humbling personal stories about the times she's fallen flat on her face in life, whether that be emotionally, spiritually, physcially, economically or any of the shades in between. It's funny, it's sad, and all parts have great insight into the university of life and what each time has taught her. She gives clear, concise, approachable things that worked for her, each chapter being 2-3 short pages - nuggets of gold you can pick up for a one minute read, each one is a tonic. It's the type of book you'd really want to have a few copies of, to give to friends. Maz Williams Information and guidance on developing your therapy practice: http://www.mytherapypractice.com/
Information about Reiki: http://www.reiki-evolution.co.uk www.threshold.ca/reiki/home.html http://www.light-reiki.co.uk/contents.htm http://www.angelfire.com/az/SpiritMatters/contents.html
Inspired by reading about the ancient Antahkarana symbol on William Lee Rand’s Reiki website and testing out the ideas put forward in the January ‘Reiki News and Views’ newsletter (available at www.spiritandwellbeing.com) I truly found this symbol to have potency within a reiki session and as a aid to meditation. Over the last year I’ve worked with numerous versions of this symbol, finding different ways to incorporate it into a session, however, I wanted the symbol to be in more direct contact with the person’s body when they received healing, this had to be subtle and unobtrusive. I found if the image was on a card it often fell off the table. Placing them under the table made it look like I’d cast some kind of witches spell and having one printed on cloth looked too much like a swastika - which felt would be insensitive and uncomfortable for people. I played around with the male and female Antahkarana and came up with a pattern using both together. This was transferred onto a stencil sheet, and I began using it with fabric paints onto full size couch covers. In larger numbers the pattern didn’t stand out too loudly and became an acceptable background for a therapy bed. With reiki inspired art, the energy of creating a piece of work is all important. Universal energy and positive intention is actively imbued before beginning to work. As always the intention is that the Reiki healing is just perfect for the person who receives it. Using the symbols in this form has added energy to my healing practices. I would recommend trying it. If nothing else these symbols in our lives can act as a regular reminder that we’re connected to source and our spiritual selves. That alone makes us act, think, behave in a different way towards the world around us - the forgotten art of remembering what we’re truly about. Visit www.spiritandwellbeing.co.uk for healing wraps and other reiki inspired crafts. Maz Williams
As you practice Reiki more and more on yourself, you might experience some changes. In my experience Reiki has often brought things to the surface that I sometimes feel uncomfortable with, but Reiki is a healing energy and the things that arise are things that ultimately need healing. It’s time to let go and release these energies that are no longer required. I’m smiling to myself as I write this, it’s so easy to write things like this, but the reality is it can be a dark and utterly lonesome journey. With letting go and moving forward currently being the way of the energy perhaps some of you are finding things even more intense than usual. I’d like to share with you, the story of ‘The bowl of perfect light’. This story is taken from ‘Tales From the Night Rainbow’ – by Pali Jae Lee and Koko Willis. "Each child born has at birth, a Bowl of perfect Light. If he tends his Light, it will grow in strength and he can do all things--swim with the shark, fly with the birds, know and understand all things. If, however, he becomes envious or jealous he drops a stone into his Bowl of Light and some of the Light goes out. Light and the stone cannot hold the same space. If he continues to put stones in the Bowl of Light, the Light will go out and he will become a stone. A stone does not grow, nor does it move. If at any time he tires of being a stone, all he needs to do is turn the bowl upside down and the stones will fall away and the Light will grow once more." This story reflects the ancient Hawaiians belief, that we are not human beings here to have spiritual experiences, but that we are spirit here to have human experiences. We are each born with a spirit of shining light. When a baby was born, a carved wooden bowl was given by the Hawaiian elders as a gift and was representative of this child’s spiritual identity. All human beings were seen as spirit greatness - ‘uhane nui’, they shone as spirit light, free from troubles and stresses, full of joy and love. They deeply respected and loved their own personal shining light which allowed them to grow strong and healthy; they were in touch with the creative forces of nature. But we have forgotten how to love ourselves and nurture our spirit and more and more we dull our light. We begin to carry burdens with us, to feel fear, to doubt ourselves. We worry, judge, anger, envy, become jealous. Each of these things is the equivalent to dropping a stone into our bowl of light, extinguishing a part of its brightness. As long as you put stones into the bowl, the light becomes dull and your spirit no longer shines. The Hawaiians have a solution to this, they ‘huli’ the bowl. They turn the bowl upside down and pour out the rocks, continuing to shine their light and live as the spiritual being they really are. Practise: Select a bowl, one which looks nice and appeals to you for this process. Use Reiki to cleanse the bowl and send healing and love to it as a representation of the light that is your true self. You may want to say a small prayer of blessing. Choose some stones that you’d like to use to represent the things that you would like to let go of; thoughts, feelings and negative behaviours – fear, judgement, anger, worry. Reiki the stones holding the intention that they enable you to release the things that are not helpful to you. Take some time to watch your thoughts during the day, look at the way you react in different situations. Which behaviours and thoughts are being unhelpful? At the end of the day sit quietly with the bowl and contemplate the things that you would like to let go of. Taking one stone at a time, think about what it represents for you, reflect on the meaning of each of the stones, touch its surface and spend some quiet, personal time with it. Think about why that thought was blocking out your light, did it deserve to be represented by a stone? How would you deal with things differently next time, how would you change your thoughts and actions? Once you’ve finished identifying the things that you’d like to release, take your stones to a place where you can wash them. Watch the water cleansing each stone, washing all the emotion and heaviness away. See yourself as releasing each of the things that have caused you pain, know that from now on you will view situations differently and they will not have the power to lessen your light. Forgive those involved in the situations that you’ve experienced, forgive yourself and release all the thoughts concerning your reactions. Dry the stones and holding them in your hands or holding your hands over them on a flat surface. Direct Reiki to them, know that whatever they represent is healed or being healed for your highest good. Next hold your hands over the bowl and see light beginning to shine in the bowl once more, see it filing with light and being totally illuminated. Reiki the bowl for some time and know that you are growing spiritually; you are healing and releasing all the things that block out your light. Shine, my friend, shine. Be the bright light that you are. Annie McMahon
Reiki Blessings to you all. We hope that you find the newsletter packed full of interesting information. Please contact us if you would like to share any of your Reiki wisdom with us or if you'd like to make a comment about anything that you've read. Remember: shine your light, laugh often love yourself lots. |
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