My father’s father was an evangelical Pentecostal minister. He believed every word in the Bible was true. He believed in miracles. He also believed he could make them happen.
I heard stories about my grandfather bringing the dead back to life (a dead chicken, to be specific, but impressive nonetheless) and healing human injuries others might have deemed permanently disabling. A child’s leg was run over by a car, and I’ve been told that my grandfather healed it without the aid of a doctor. In both cases, the seemingly impossible was achieved through the laying on of hands—a religious practice connected to my relatives’ belief in “faith healing.”
It occurred to me recently that there is a strong parallel between the Christian approach to healing delivered through the hands and the practice of Reiki. The understanding of the source, the process and the expected results may differ, but the common belief seems to be that there is healing power in the hands when one has faith and the intention to help.
The source of healing power
Christians would say God (or maybe the Holy Spirit) is what emanates through the hands to heal others; Reiki practitioners might describe it simply as the healing energy of the Universe.
However, I believe in both cases, the practitioner would not see themselves as being totally responsible for the healing; it’s a Higher Power to thank for the “miracle” that has taken place. It’s just a matter of how that Higher Power is named and understood to operate.
The process of delivering healing
Sometimes, it’s very dramatic in evangelical Christian circles: people are grasped firmly, sometimes collapsing in the fervour of the moment. Often, the healing is performed in front of a crowd and the minister administering the laying on of hands will shout some kind of command that the healing takes place.
In Reiki, the sessions are largely silent. It’s usually done alone with the practitioner in a calm, soothing setting. The participant is lying down and may not even be touched at all—some Reiki practitioners hover their hands over the body. It’s a gentle, slow process.
The expected results
In the evangelical Christian context, healing after the laying on of hands is often expected to be dramatic and instantaneous. In a single moment, the healing is complete.
In Reiki, people often need multiple sessions—even regular sessions over long periods of time. Sometimes there is no discernable effect. Sometimes the effects aren’t revealed until some time has passed. Sometimes the person has to feel worse before they feel better. The one receiving the Reiki is seen to be an active participant in the process, but they don’t get to decide exactly how Reiki will work on them and through them, and neither does the practitioner. The Reiki works as it is meant to.
The legacy lives on
I am different from my grandfather in many ways. One difference is that he identified as “religious” while I identify as “spiritual.” I’m sure he’d be turning over in his grave if he knew I actually identify as “witchy.”
At the same time, just like him, I hope to facilitate the healing of others through the power that can be channelled through the hands. I’m already using Reiki on myself and witnessing its healing benefits. I wonder if my grandfather ever attempted to use the healing power of his hands on himself.
I do recall him lying on the couch after meals sometimes, his hand resting on his forehead and his eyes closed. One of my cousins once commented that this was prayer time for my grandfather. Could it be that he was connecting with the God he knew by inadvertently channeling Reiki to his Third Eye? I like to believe he was.
The Higher Power that connects all things goes by many names and genders and lives in many texts. As long as our faith and spiritual practices make the world a better place for ourselves and others, it’s in our hands to manifest healing however we choose—from one generation to the next.
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image 1 Ri Butov from Pixabay 2 image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
