Reiki Masters and Practitioners
Unity in the Face of Adversity
1999 has sure been a year that some wished hadn't been! Early
in the year, I spelled out "Reiki Opportunity for 1999".
I strongly felt we would somehow all unite for a great Reiki
cause. In the meantime, I was busy, as usual, on the Internet
answering the constant delivery of e-mail concerning Reiki.
At times, I also get quite busy on the Reiki list servers and
bulletin board systems (BBS). As far as the BBS's go, there
always seems to be at least one or two who just have to go out
of their way to contradict what is being said about Reiki no
matter what. This year was no exception. But I see the whole
picture of Reiki in terms of "Spiritual Love Light"
as I sometimes sign-off with. That simply means that Love is
encompassed by Spiritual Light. I like to espouse that thought.
My well-known phrase is:"Touching the World With Hands
of Light and the Spirit of Love".
As I began to ponder what
kind of wonderful opportunity might yet unfold this year, I suddenly
learned about an issue in New York where the Massage Board was
seeking to include Reiki under the umbrella of Massage Therapy.
Suddenly, a Reiki Master from New York began sending messages
to everyone advising us of the proposed Reiki take over by the
Massage Board and the help that was needed to defeat that measure.
The situation sounded bad. How could anyone take-over Reiki, I
thought? Reiki has been free since Dr. Mikao Usui pronounced it
to be ever since he rediscovered it in Japan in the late 1800's.
Many decided that this was a wake-up call and I then considered
the possibility that if the Massage Board succeeded to take-over
Reiki in New York, that could set an important precedent elsewhere
in the U.S.A.. News continued to be updated about the New York
issue and when it came down to a final vote, many others and I
were glad to learn that the efforts of hard-working New Yorkers
had paid off. The Massage Board had laid off! Reiki had succeeded
in the state where the Statue of Liberty proudly holds her ever-burning
light of freedom. How wonderful to know that Reiki freedom had
prevailed!
A little time elapsed and then came our turn in Texas for a similar
measure. We came to learn that State Representative Debra Danburg,
a Democrat from Houston, had proposed HB 367, the Reiki Practitioner
Registry Act, that would literally require all Reiki Masters and
Practitioners to be registered by the state before they could
do Reiki! This came as both a surprise and a shock to many since
Reiki, as previously stated, had been kept Free and Unencumbered
since Dr. Usui rediscovered it.
It finally set in that we were facing a foe at the Capitol with
this new bill. And then the knowledge that the Representative
had drafted the bill to include two Reiki organizations as the
primary teachers of Reiki to all the state's Reiki Masters and
Practitioners. The two groups named were Reiki Touch Institute
of Holistic Medicine, Inc. and The Reiki Alliance. There were
some who did not recognize the first one initially, though they
had heard and were familiar with The Reiki Alliance. It was later
learned that The Reiki Alliance had no knowledge that they had
been written into the bill and were not in support of HB 367.
A major protest developed upon learning that these two organizations
would be the ones teaching people the Reiki Degrees for what some
said could be hefty sums of money! How on Earth could the state
require a Sacred and Spiritual energy modality to become state-regulated,
we asked? That's like the state walking into a church and informing
the clergy who do laying-on-of-hands as part of their spiritual
beliefs to stop and become registered before they could proceed!
A storm of protest erupted soon afterwards and we first started
a notification campaign of fellow Masters and Practitioners in
Texas. After that, several Internet Bulletin Boards were put into
use to publicize this critical matter and the organization "Texans
for Reiki and Fairness" was born. It served as the catalyst
to bring together the thousands who practice and teach Reiki in
Texas to do brain-storming on this matter in order to counteract
this bill which was considered detrimental to Reiki everywhere,
since a victory for HB 367 in Texas could have easily set a dangerous
precedent for other states to follow.
In the weeks that followed, there were more letters and phone
calls made to the Capitol (yours truly wrote about sixty-five
letters) to inform our state legislators more about Reiki. A Democrat
and state legislator even invited me to the Capitol concerning
this matter! The calls and letters came pouring in to both members
of the Committee on Public Health, that had jurisdiction over
this matter, as well as to the House Speaker and his fellow legislators
of both parties. Not long after that, TIRPA, Texas Independent
Reiki Practitioners Association was founded. TIRPA was very instrumental
in establishing an all-day "Reiki Day at the Capitol"
which was very successful! An elected state representative (Democrat)
also co-sponsored the event! I was very honored to be one of the
Masters who also did Reiki that day. During the day, many people
from the Capitol stopped by to receive Reiki. This was perhaps
the first time ever in United States history that Reiki had been
performed at a state's Capitol!
As time went by and more and yet more people became involved
in having this bill halted, legislators who once co-signed the
bill refrained from doing so this time around. And as the bill
saw the last days of the session fastly approaching, I'm sure
that the chief sponsor of the bill also saw the handwriting on
the wall that HB 367 was doomed. We all breathed a sigh of relief
as we later learned that the bill was officially dead due to lack
of support from the legislators. Texas Reiki Masters and Practitioners
celebrated a Great Victory, not only for our state but for America,
as no detrimental precedent setting bill had been enacted into
law in Texas! All along I had asked legislators the question "Where
is the Outrage from the Public (against Reiki)?" I had asked
them if they had received any letters from their constituents
against Reiki. They ALL informed me that they had not!
TIRPA, by now, had been fully established and ready to protect
the integrity of Reiki from any future attempts to encumber it
with unneeded legislation. Other nationwide organizations also
maintain a constant vigil over Reiki i.e., the National Reiki
and Spiritual Healing Coalition http://www.egroups.com/group/reikiandspiritualhealingcoalition/info.html
-and- Creative Minds Unlimited Message Board at: http://www.create.org/bbs
to assure that Reiki people and their supporters and friends are
well-informed if there is a future attempt to legislate Reiki
elsewhere in the United States. But even now, the State of Florida's
Massage Board is seeking to consider Reiki as part of Massage
Therapy and a big nationwide effort is underway to defeat that
measure as well! Yes, the Reiki world has come together, finally,
due to threatening and proposed Reiki legislation. Never before
has there been such an outpouring of support from literally everywhere
for Reiki! This is good news to those of us who teach and practice
Reiki and see it as the benevolent, Spiritual energy that comes
from God, thus Sacred, and that is set apart from any other energy
modality due to the fact that Reiki requires attunements to the
energy by a qualified Reiki Master, aside from other important
things.
And as predicted, 1999 indeed was 'The Year of Reiki Opportunity'
as we all were given the opportunity to work together in concert
for a modality so near and dear to our heart - Reiki. In retrospect,
spending the many hours burning the midnight oil working to KEEP
REIKI FREE, finally had paid off! My thanks to each and every
participant who also helped us and worked towards this goal and
who continues tokeep Reiki so close to their heart!
Reverend Winters is an internationally-renowned Reiki Master
(teacher) [Usui System,Independent] and a Texan. He has always
been an advocate of the people, especially those with little or
no voice. He is an ordained minister who practices the laying-on-of-hands
and incorporates Reiki into his Christian ministry. He is founder
of the Usui Reiki Masters Society. He also does Pendulum Readings
and Intuitive Scripting and has received a Certificate/Diploma
in Parapsychology. He holds a doctorate in Religious Education
from a religious non-profit educational institution (church).
as well as in other similar areas from another church. He frequently
can be found discussing Reiki on the Internet and continues to
help mankind as his life's path has led him.
lancerei@texas.net
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