More secrets in plain sight

More evidence that symbols some insist must be kept secret show up in some very public places. Only some Reiki practitioners will find these of interest. Any reader is welcome to look, of course, but they might not mean much to you -- and that's exactly the point:

From the 1993 Jet Li film "The Legend":



From the 1955 film "The Left Hand of God" -- Humphrey Bogart, Gene Tierney and something else that may be of interest.



From the streets of New York's Chinatown:



And now let's move on to some items that (we hope) will be of interest to all our readers. It's been a couple of weeks since our last Reiki Roundup, so let's get going. Our first stop is beyond cyberspace to the print edition of : Prevention magazine, which includes Reiki in an article in the August issue titled, "The Best Zen For Your Personality." The section about Reiki is fairly accurate, as those things go, but I don't know that all Reiki practitioners "believe that they can channel energy through their hands and transmit it to the patient." Actually, neither practitioner nor recipient has to believe in anything for Reiki to do what it does. The article also points out that studies have found Reiki to reduce anxiety and blood pressure.

Our next stop is the Los Angeles Times, where we find this week's Celeb-Reiki's: The Heaters, together and in the spotlight again after 27 years. The Heaters' keyboard player and vocalist Maggie Connell is also a Reiki Master as well as The Reiki Digest's Music Editor. Congratulations, Maggie!

In Lewiston, Maine, hospital patients can receive Reiki.

On to Payson, Arizona, USA, where we find a gardener-massage therapist-Reiki practitioner who is quoted as saying, "I am a level II Reiki master."

Meanwhile, in suburban Orlando, Florida, we find another massage therapist who also practices Reiki.

Next, we head over the border to Wilmot, Nova Scotia, Canada, where we find a mother-and-daughter combination rock shop and Reiki practice.

This next article is datelined Hamburg, Germany, but it's in a publication called Indian Muslims. It's headlined, "Many sceptical of healing hands treatment practiced in Europe," and it features a popular straw man in arguments against Reiki:

"This is the key problem with Reiki: Practitioners give the impression that they can heal their patients...," the article quotes the head of the German wellness association as saying. (To which The Reiki Digest replies, if that's the key problem, then there's no problem because ethical Reiki practitioners do not make such claims.) Toward the end of the article, an actual Reiki practitioner, Wolfgang Niedermeyer, finally gets a quote in: ' "When you want to relax, Reiki is among the most widely spread practices," he said. Laying hands on someone could provide comfort or have a relieving effect. But he added, "One should not expect anything else from Reiki." '

It's fairly common for a Reiki client to fall asleep on the table, but in Edenvale, South Africa, we find one still sleeping 40 minutes after her session.

Special Correspondent Michelle Shinagawa has posted some of her Mt. Kurama prayer images on her Reiki Photography blog this week and promises us a Reiki Photography Store soon.

This week's edition of The Reiki Show features "The Haijin Reiki Doctor," Dr. Val Finnell, interviewed by hosts Bronwen and Frans Stiene of the International House of Reiki. And speaking of the International House of Reiki, check out the new banner ad there on the left for their international Shinpiden (Master/Teacher level) courses, including the upcoming one in New York in October.