I have the POWERRRRRR!!!!

Back in the 80s I attended psychic school in Durham. I didn't have much money -- or at least I didn't after paying for classes. The instructor told me she'd give me a tiny bit of a discount if I transcribed her lectures.

Whew! This was a JOB because she mumbled and went off on long, obtuse tangents, etc. After typing for weeks on end, I was supposed to edit everything. Since this was the dinosaur age of personal computers, she had to print out what I had typed before I could edit by using a pen/pencil. She couldn't afford new ink for her printer, so the type was, well, picture the difference between Carolina Blue and Dook Blue. The difference between her dying ink and Carolina Blue was about the same proportion of intensity.

Carolina Blue vs Dookie Blue

A person could go blind working with type like that. Needless to say, I never really got a bunch done on that job. (Besides, Sue was no help in communicating exactly what she wanted as an end product.) But Sue, I mean, the instructor did say for the work I'd done she'd imbue me with Reiki power, or unlock me to be able to function with Reiki energy… something. She put her hand on my head and blew at my forehead. There might have been a drop of oil involved. Ta da. It was over.

"So what do I do with it?" I asked. She shrugged. As years went by, I glanced at Reiki stuff now and then but never got up the energy (so to speak) to really try it out.

But now I had a chance to take real, official Reiki I from Carolyn Sheehan, the therapist who'd guided me through a past-life regression a few weeks ago. (To make the deal sweeter, I could sign up for Reiki II at the same time and get a discount. You know me; I signed up!)

Last Saturday I showed up at Carolyn's beautiful home in northern Raleigh, along with two other students. Two more were supposed to have joined us, but they couldn't make it.

Reiki is a Japanese energy healing technique, supposedly based on Sanskrit records, and even MORE supposedly (someone channeled info) on etheric records from the ancient, legendary and very likely mythical civilization of Mu. Riiight. I mean, what's wrong with it being Japanese? Or Indian? Is that not exotic enough?

Lately I've noticed quite legitimate medical facilities that list Reiki among services offered. Okay then. I've been interested in learning various energy healing systems.

So Carolyn gave us the history of Reiki and described the hand positions we'd be using with the technique as energy came down through our crown chakras, to our hearts, and out through our hands.

Then we had a ceremony to be imbued with the power or have ourselves unlocked or whatever. We were to meditate and then Carolyn came around to us, made gestures, air-wrote symbols around us, and blew energy into us. But before and during this, we meditated.

I saw things. I was directed through a cave that ran the gamut of the spectrum, soaking in each color. Then inside a cavern I sat on a quartz crystal throne as various guides gathered. One would be my special Reiki guide/mentor. This was the only purely feminine energy in the room, and I asked her name. She replied "Galadriel," which puzzled me. I mean, really? I kept hearing "Melchizedek" as well in the background. I'm a priest of Melchizedek. (Got it done when I was in psychic school.) But neither really rang true to me.

When I got home to think about it, I came up with Mel(k)(isandra) for the guide. Unlike the others in the room, she was energy, with fumes of energy rising from her on all sides. I had a vision of myself in the same state, pure energy.

Yesterday I spotted Mel, our head IT person, eating lunch, and I went over to tell her that I'd had Reiki training this past weekend, and my guide was also named Mel. "Oh yeah, I know her," she replied. "She goes to the Unitarian church over in Chapel Hill." I had to explain that we were talking about two different Mels, on two different planes of existence. Mel was kind enough not to roll her eyes.

A cubist figure.

The other beings in the room were cubist figures that came in all colors of the rainbow. They were all watching and supporting me. The Archangel Michael (not cubist) stood there on my right. He's often a Dook Blue (sorry, Michael) and he was now.

I'd been reading The Energy Cure, and there the author talks about energy coming in your left hand and leaving through your right. Reiki has energy coming in through your head and leaving through both hands. Now in the cavern the figures made room for a fountain base to the front and right of me. All of a sudden, vibrant blue light zapped down into it. This was a constant stream of energy, and it was coming IN.

Then on my left and in front, appeared another base, and orange light streamed straight UP from it. Together the two fountains created some kind of circuit, though the streams never touched each other that I could see. They were parallel.

After a few moments of "Well, what do I do now?" I turned into a bird, or something with wings, and took off into the sky, which had turned the color of the spectrum. That was universal energy, right up ahead of me, and it extended… well, maybe forever. I flew into it.

And then the ceremony was over.

We started to practice the positions on ourselves and then we moved into another room where a massage table had been set up. One person got on the table. The other two worked on him simultaneously while being supervised.

I was the second to get done. The female student stopped at my throat chakra and said something was off. Carolyn came over to check, and sure enough, soon she was working hard on my throat. She called some angels to help -- Michael and Rafael (Raf's in charge of healing; Michael is protection) in particular. Carolyn said that something was wound about my chakra like a string, compressing it.

I was doing my own part lying there but working on the chakra like I'd been taught back in psychic school, cleaning it out. Finally Carolyn announced that I was done. She thanked the angels and told them they could leave. I informed her that Rafael was hanging around. (Michael of course was near because, if you recall, I'm one of Michael's people.)

We soon discovered why. The two students got to my toes. They called Carolyn over. "My god, your toes are like ice! There's no circulation!"

I assured her I'd had them checked, as I'm borderline diabetic and toes are a big potential problem for diabetics. They've been tingling lately and I've been worried. Carolyn called upon the angels once more, and the three people plus angels plus whoever took FOREVER working on my toes.

"Look here," Rafael told me, and suddenly I saw red spots -- energy -- in my toes. At that moment Carolyn announced that they were done. Whew!

I am to keep up healing myself as practice, and when I do so, I'll spend a little extra time on my toes and throat. Oh-- Carolyn said the throat chakra thing was from a HUGE argument in a past life. I told her yeah, it was my African life and my wife had been a real nagging bitch. We'd had that argument, I'd been fed up -- "I'll show HER!" -- and I stomped off into the forest to get rid of that big cat creature that had been threatening us. Of course it killed me. These things happen. But the argument, it appears, lingered on.

We proceeded to do our thang on the third student, then back to the first, who needed more help with a pulled muscle. On the first student, I didn't really notice any energy coming from my hands. Maybe a tad, once. I had to rely on my guides to tell me when to move from position to position. On the third student, I could definitely feel the ebb and flow of energy, and a couple of times my hands really heated up. (With The Energy Cure technique the energy is a steady flow, coming into the left hand and leaving through the right.)

In three months I'll get to take Reiki II, and I'm looking forward to it. We'll discover more about symbols and distance healing and whatnot.

Contrast and compare to The Energy Cure, by William Bengston, Ph.D. (and Sylvia Fraser). This is a fascinating look at energy healing from both a practical and scientific point of view. I'm always surprised to discover just how many corners of the psychic universe have been under scientific evaluation -- and have held up -- for so very long.

Dr. Bengston is not only a practitioner of using energy to cure, but has also pioneered scientific investigation into the process. He's discovered that IT WORKS. And it works consistently, under experimental conditions as well as practical ones. He utilizes "cycling," which is a VERY quick series of visualizations, to let the ego step aside and the universal energy come through for healing.

He tells of how he got involved with this as a high school graduate, wondering what he'd do for the rest of his life. Dr. Bengston went through many disappointments in trying to get the scientific community to listen to the results of his experiments. I'm glad there are now SOME outlets out there willing to spread the word and elaborate on his findings.

Reiki has a lot more frou-frou associated with it than this method. Is it really needed? Dr. Bengston says his technique won't work on people who've been through radiation and chemo (he also says that that might only apply to himself; that others who utilize it might be able to work with those conditions). Carolyn said that radiation and chemo are no problem. Years ago I took Kolaimni (don't know why I didn't keep it up. I have the instruction books somewhere) and recall that method as also not having Reiki's ceremonial/symbolic frou-frou, but it had a different way of approaching the healing, by reminding the etheric body of its structure and working one's way carefully through the physical body (like Reiki does, only Reiki concentrates on chakras. Kolaimni charges up chakras in one phase of its healing process).

I was also interested to see how much Reiki stresses that one must charge for Reiki work, an energy for energy kind of exchange. Dr. Bengston keeps a donation jar present, but does not require payment.

The only thing I wish the book would do is to be more clear exactly how one does the process. I want a step-by-step guide. So I got the audio followup, and hope that that has more detail. Dr. Bengston's website shows that in-person workshops are available.

I'm surprised to see ordinary medical practices are now beginning to incorporate Reiki. I think the same will hold true for Dr. Bengston's Energy Cure. It is a technique anyone can use, though skill level will vary. You'll get a lot out of reading the book.

Now get out there and find the energy healing method that works for you!