SENDING REIKI WITH CREATIVITY
There are many ways to send Reiki through time and space to each other. In addition to ways suggested in our manuals, you can be creative and personal as you are faced with challenges for your loved ones.
This past week I was drawn to use a way of sending that I learned from my Reiki teacher and friend Luann Jacobs. Many years ago, our beloved friend Linda watched her husband unexpectedly die in front of her; she was in shock for quite some time. We couldn’t all be with her every moment, but we wanted to help her in a helpless time. Luann, already an experienced Reiki Master, took out a big piece of paper, put her Reiki hands on the paper, drew around her hands, and infused that paper with all the love and blessings she had within her. She mailed it to Linda, inviting her to place her hands over the drawn hands and feel the Reiki when she needed support. We were Reiki newbies then, in fact I wasn’t even attuned at that point, and yet when Linda showed me the paper, I immediately felt the potent, loving magic that Luann had offered.
And so it was that this week I created something similar for someone I care about. Her 17-year-old son had died by suicide. She let us know of her devastation and how the love she felt for him and the love she was experiencing from everyone supporting her, was “everything.” Another mutual friend with many skills said how helpless he felt in the face of such tragedy. He loves her and wanted to show support and didn’t know how. What can any of us do in a time like this when nothing we can do will offer what she really wants—her son back. Still, I felt grateful to have Reiki to send and did it in my usual ways. Then, a few days later, I remembered Luann’s gift and knew that I would make one for my friend. I didn’t have a huge paper, so I used what I had—one beautiful thick piece for each hand. I placed my hands on them, outlined them in ink, and drew the symbols in my mind. The energy that flowed was as bountiful as my tears. As I sent Reiki into the paper, I was engulfed in the Vastness of the Mystery of Love, of loss, hearts shattered open, and of Reiki. As is so often the case, even in the midst of so much pain, the Reiki felt like a kind of ecstasy—connection with the whole of everything, and its power allows all that is to be just as it is—sacred and loving.
Then, because another dear friend, Katie Whitsett, helped me to understand that I could paint if I wanted to, I painted. As I had placed my hands on the paper, I had experienced rainbow colors, so after a brief consultation with myself, I painted it that way. My own fear of not being a good enough artist stepped into the background as I trusted the inspiration that had come. It would be good just as it was.
I offer this story for several reasons today: one is that the power of our love for each other continues forever. As we witness and receive this love, it infuses us and continues the cycle. Perhaps in the past I might have had the idea of sending the hands but not done it. The inspiration itself had energy, but to actually put my hands on that paper and put paintbrush in paint offered me lessons that are now a part of me. Though there is really no help for my friend, I did offer what I had to offer and that was enough. Also, I share this because you might want to send your Reiki hands to someone someday, or even more important, you might trust an original idea or inspiration that comes through you. If so, please offer that.