Reiki

What Are the Reiki Symbols, and What Do They Mean?

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In the Usui system, there are four Reiki symbols: three taught at the second level and one at the master level. Practitioners call them the Power, Mental/Emotional, Distant and Master symbols, and describe using them to focus Reiki for particular purposes. According to the International Center for Reiki Training, they are derived from Japanese characters and are traditionally kept confidential until a student reaches the level where they are taught.

How many symbols are there, and when are they taught?

In an article on the Usui Reiki symbols, William Lee Rand of the ICRT writes that the Usui system has four symbols in total, three given in Reiki II and one in Reiki III. He adds that other symbols are in use but are not part of the Usui system.

What are they called, and where do they come from?

The article refers to them by function:

  • The Power symbol.
  • The Mental/Emotional symbol.
  • The Distant symbol, which practitioners use for sending Reiki at a distance.
  • The Master symbol, taught at the master level.

According to the article, all four have Japanese names, and the Distant and Master symbols are written entirely in Japanese kanji. For the first two, it suggests the way they are drawn may combine kanji with other influences. It also notes that the name of the Master symbol appears in The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion, translated as “treasure house of the great beaming light.”

Why are they kept secret?

The ICRT article says the symbols are considered sacred and are traditionally revealed only to students about to be initiated into the level where they are used. Practitioners treat that confidentiality as a matter of respect; the symbols have nonetheless appeared in books.

Why do they look different from teacher to teacher?

The same article says that Takata did not always draw the symbols the same way for every student, that her students were not allowed to make written copies and had to keep them in memory, and that variations accumulated as the symbols were passed on. Its practical conclusion is that the correct way to draw them is the way your own teacher showed you.

What can science say about them?

Little, because the claims about symbols are about the Reiki energy itself, and the NCCIH says there is no scientific evidence that this energy exists. The symbols can be understood as part of the practice’s tradition and teaching, described in practitioners’ own terms.

Questions to ask a teacher about symbols

Ask: Which symbols will I learn at this level, and how will you teach me to draw them? Are they from the Usui system or from another lineage? And will I receive written materials, or are they to be kept in memory as in the older tradition?

This article is general information, not medical or psychological advice; talk with a licensed clinician about your own situation.

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