Carnival of Reiki Premiere Edition

(Cue the calliope...)

Laydeez annnd gennntlemennn! The Premiere Edition of the Carnival of Reiki is here! Step right up and take a gander at one of the most fascinating collections of Reiki-related posts anybody's seen anywhere, from your local blogosphere to the far corners of cyberspace. We've got videos! We've got an article from a scholarly journal! We've got a Reiki box, and we have a cow!

But first, we have some breaking news that can't wait until next week's Reiki Roundup.

We take you now to Toronto, Canada, where a beauty pageant has turned ugly. For those with broadband, here is a video report. The "Miss Toronto Tourism" contest has dropped judge Stephanie Conover because her hobbies include Reiki and Tarot reading.

The pageant sent a letter to Conover, who was crowned Miss Canada Plus 2007, telling her she was off the panel for the Feb. 2 competition because "Tarot card reading and Reiki are the occult and is not acceptable by God, Jews, Muslims or Christians." The letter went on to urge Conover to "repent."

Miss Toronto Tourism pageant organizers, you are misinformed. Reiki is not a religion. Reiki is not religious. It is practiced by people of all faiths, as well as agnostics and atheists, in every country on earth. Torontans are speaking up on the subject via letters to the editor. It's also possible to contact the pageant organizers directly.

Some Reiki practitioners also read Tarot cards, just as some Reiki practitioners enjoy needlepoint or ice cream. But that doesn't mean that needlepoint, ice cream, or Tarot cards have anything to do with Reiki. Catholics practice Reiki, Jews practice Reiki, Pastafarians practice Reiki. Some Reiki practitioners are Buddhist, and some, like Conover, are Wiccan (a nature-based religion). But that doesn't mean Reiki and Wicca have any more connection than Reiki and ice cream. (Hmmm, this is making me hungry...)

We now return you to the first-ever Carnival of Reiki, already in progress. The Carnival of Reiki is a blog carnival, one of the latest online trends. A blog carnival is simply a collection of blog posts on a given topic, although for the Carnival of Reiki we are also including other types of web sites. Here is a comprehensive list of all current blog carnivals.

We'll be publishing another Carnival of Reiki on February 28 (deadline February 25), so if you'd like to contribute a Reiki-related item, just click here to submit it.

As regular readers know, I believe strongly that in order to call yourself a Reiki practitioner, you have to maintain a regular personal practice. Some of you may also recall that one of my New Year's Resolutions for The Reiki Digest was to add video, and our first contribution makes that wish come true. From Bronwen and Frans Stiene, authors of The Reiki Sourcebook, The Japanese Art of Reiki, The A-Z of Reiki, The Reiki Techniques Card Deck and Your Reiki Treatment, we have a couple of videos, the first demonstrating a simple but powerful method for giving Reiki to others, and the second illustrating a Reiki self-care session. Please note: the videos are accompanied by the beautiful sound of a shakuhachi flute, so if you're watching them in a less than private setting, be prepared to adjust the volume on your computer.





The Stienes have more videos available here. We look forward to seeing them at next month's Reiki Symposium at the New York Open Center, where Bronwen will be among the presenters.

Next up, an article from the peer-reviewed medical journal Advances in Mind-Body Medicine submitted by the author, Pamela Miles: Reiki for Mind, Body, and Spirit Support of Cancer Patients (the article is in PDF form and will open in a new window).

Other articles and resources on Reiki and medicine are available on Pamela's web site. She is the author of Reiki: A Comprehensive Guide.

At Reiki Artist, Beth Hansen-Buth explores the hara system of traditional Japanese Reiki.

Lexi Sundell of the blog Energies of Creation has sent in two posts: in the first one, titled "Encounter with Cow Energy," she describes her first experience using Reiki on a bovine recipient, and in the second, she tells us about Reiki for the road.

Although the "Reiki box" isn't part of traditional Japanese Reiki, it is used in some Western Reiki traditions. Ariel (whose last name doesn't show up on her blog) contributed this post about her own experiment with a Reiki box.

The next item isn't about Reiki, but it could be helpful for those who feel uncomfortable practicing Reiki professionally. Intuitive business coach Jenn Givler asks, "Is it wrong to be abundant AND spiritual?"

Another post that isn't exactly about Reiki, except that it addresses something that's mentioned in the precepts: worry, or in this case, fear. Joshua Wagner of the blog Total Possibility tells us how he dealt with his own fears while discovering his "Inner Cheetah" on a ropes course.

Wandering Hillbilly buddy don, who loves to receive Reiki and has found it helpful in dealing with his chronic migraines, has contributed this post describing one of his more memorable Reiki sessions. buddy don writes in hillbilly dialect with phonetic spellings, so if you have trouble understanding, just read it out loud.

There are a few submissions that didn't make it into this edition. One was merely a pitch for a line of products sold through network marketing, another was a post unrelated to Reiki that the author has apparently submitted to every blog carnival in cyberspace. Finally, there was one submission from a blogger who concludes her post with a request for a donation. We're all for abundance, but we won't be linking to any posts that ask for money. That's not what the Carnival of Reiki is about.

Next week, another regular edition of The Reiki Digest, complete with our Reiki Roundup and Celeb-Reiki features. Many thanks to all our Carnival contributors!