Well, I had to come back to it one more time. I wrote the International Center for Reiki Healing, William Rand’s organization, with questions about attunements and where the Reiki is turned on. I got a response from Jan, which clarifies a lot of things.
Part of the confusion is that there seems to be things ‘left out’ of the sequences. It is that ‘missing or unspoken step’ that makes their case for them.
You see, Rand’s book states that the symbols are not given the student until Reiki 2, yet students are able to give Reiki treatments after Reiki 1. Well, if the student is not passed the symbols (which is what an attunement process is) then how does the master ‘turn on’ the Reiki ability in the student?
From the information I got from Jan, I saw that what is truly happening is that as their students come in, they are attuned to Reiki 1. In that attunement, they are passed the Reiki 1 symbols. That’s right, the proper attunement is given and the symbols are passed. When Rand and Stein both said that the symbols are not given a student until Reiki 2, they meant that the student is not shown the symbol, or taught how to use it until they get to Reiki 2. It is passed to them, but they are not aware of what it is or how to use it.
This again, is where differing schools of thought create different teaching approaches. I have always been against keeping secrets from my students, and I try to de-mystify things as much as possible. I allow the student to see what they have been attuned with. It is the way Kay did it, and I follow her method here. In other thoughts, the student is not shown the symbols until Reiki 2, and the attunement process is a complete mystery.
But this does support their claim that by giving the attunement to the student at the beginning of class, they are passing on the ability, or opening up the ability as it is stored within a person’s DNA. As far as what I believe, the jury is still out. I will need to make up my own mind as to which school of thought I follow. When I do, I will let you know.
Take care all.