Do You Need to Know the Reiki Symbols to Practice Reiki by Val Tobin When Reiki students graduate from Level I to Level II, they learn the three symbols that allow them to use Reiki in more powerful and versatile ways. Learning the symbols enables practitioners to work with their clients more specifically, targeting areas of the body, mind, and spirit in new and different ways. They are now able to send Reiki over distances, use Reiki for manifesting, and even to send Reiki through time to heal past lives. The Second Degree Reiki takes practitioners to a level of deep knowingness. In fact, the higher level of Reiki channeling power you receive when you are initiated into this Degree is called “Oku Den,” which means “Deep Knowledge” in Japanese. Second Degree Reiki. This tradition has carried down from the originator, but there is more to it than simply adhering to Dr. Usui’s wishes. The main reason you shouldn’t use the symbols for Reiki when you have not received Level II attunements is because they won’t work.
Can Reiki I Practitioners Learn and Use the Symbols without Getting the Attunements or Taking Level II Training?
While it is possible to find copies of the symbols in books or on the Internet, I don’t advise Level I Reiki practitioners to find, learn, and use them for Reiki. When learning Reiki II, we are taught that the symbols are sacred, and when used in the service of Reiki, they should not be shared with anyone who has not been attuned to Second Degree Reiki. For that reason, when using the symbols on a client, I make sure that his/her eyes are closed, or I do not physically draw the symbols. I mentally visualize the symbols in my hands or on the person.
The Power Comes with Attunement and Not from Symbols
William Lee Rand, founder of the International Center for Reiki Training, says in his Reiki manual, Reiki: The Healing Touch, First and Second Degree Manual, he has verified many times that without receiving the attunements, use of the symbols doesn’t work. He explains, “It is interesting to note that the attunement actually empowers the symbols so that they will fulfill their intended purpose; without the attunement, the symbols do not seem to do much” (Rand II 5).
I use the Usui Reiki method, discovered by Dr. Mikao Usui in the 1900s. Dr. Usui insisted that his students memorize and keep confidential the symbols they learn when working on their - 85 -