There was a Reiki Master down in Clearwater (FL) who had been initiated into the "lineage" of one of the persons who was reputed to have "altered" and "added to" the Reiki teachings. (In fact, as I understand it, due to extreme promotional efforts and books, etc., this person's teachings are the most widely known version of Reiki in the country today.) So Louise became resentful at the refusal of our Reiki Master and decided to go to this other Reiki Master of the "altered" line for her Master level.
After she had obtained her Master Initiation, she offered to give me, Candy and Tim the Second Level attunements at a tremendous discount. Okay. Sounded like a good deal to me. I couldn't imagine how there could be anything wrong with it because I wasn't even sure what was done or how. I agreed.
Along with the second level initiation, a little booklet was provided which included the symbols that the Second Level student was now "empowered" to use. I was reading through this book when I came to a page that was headed "Power Exercises." It began:
The Reiki Alliance form of teaching involves using the body as an energy channel to pass the attunements. Usui Traditional Reiki does not use this method, or the power exercises given here. The advantage of these exercises is that with them you need to pass the attunement only once to transmit the Reiki degree. [Diane Stein, 1991]
I sort of didn't really notice the distinction between "The Reiki Alliance" and "Usui Traditional Reiki" as I was reading this the first time, so I continued on. The instructions for the "power exercise" for women began:
Sit with legs open, so that you can press the heel of one foot against your vagina and clitoris. Use a firm, steady pressure... You may experience sexual stimulation or orgasm. [Ibid.]
I have to admit that warning bells went off in my head with this one. Believe me, I am NOT unaware of Tantra and certain Kundalini stimulating practices, nor the benefits to be gained from them, but after studying these things in some detail, I KNEW that in such ancient traditions, the student is carefully led through many stages of instruction and preparation before introduced to such a practice as was being described in this Reiki manual; and "sexual stimulation or orgasm" is NOT encouraged in these traditions; at least not in the early stages of training which can take YEARS! This kind of exercise can actually be quite dangerous if you don't REALLY know what you are doing!
But, I continued to read. A page was included that showed the method for using the Reiki symbols to basically, "bomb the Earth with love and light." Well, at that point in my education, it didn't seem like a bad idea. I had even considered doing remote Spirit Release on all the members of Congress!
But THEN I reached the back of the book where there was a page headed "Alternate Reiki Symbols (Usui Traditional Method.)" I had a look at them and then I went back to the symbols that the "Reiki Alliance" was teaching and compared them. Not only were they VERY different, one of them, the "Power symbol," was completely REVERSED.
Now THAT disturbed me in a BIG way! I had a sort of visceral understanding of these symbols as being a Cosmic or interdimensional language, or electromagnetic circuit diagram, and here I was seeing that somebody had not only altered them, but had even reversed one of them.
If these symbols are, as I was understanding it, a sort of Cosmic microchip that can be installed in the body to enable a flow of energy from other dimensions; if they are a "language" that "tells" the body something in a deep, objective way, and then somebody changes them, WHAT are they now "programming?" What is being "said" to the body? What are the circuits being routed to DO?
I called Louise immediately and pointed this out to her - that she had apparently "gone over" to the group that our Reiki Master had been talking about, though none of them had ever been named by her. Louise was not only dismissive of my concerns, she was actually contemptuous of my idea that there could be a real problem here. As I remember her saying: "If you believe they will work, they will! It's all a matter of what you believe. If you don't believe they will work, they won't. If your spiritual development is weak or backward, of course, nothing will work for you."