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A Letter from Jim
Reiki Shamanism: A New Way of Reiki/Shamanic Instruction
By Jim PathFinder Ewing (Nvnehi Awatisgi)
We have embarked, Annette Waya and I, upon a new way of teaching our Reiki and Shamanism that we hope past, current and future students, friends and associates will find exciting and beneficial to the Earth Mother and all beings.
Our teaching is collaborative, Waya adds her experience with the course content, as well as wisdom gained through over 20 years as a college professor teaching a wide range of subjects and developing curricula.
We live in a world of expectations and our Dream of the World includes certain attributes in dealing with various issues, including energy medicines of the complementary, alternative and vibrational medicine modalities. For example, shamans, medicine men or women, Native curers do one thing, CAM and “integrative medicine” providers do another. But, as shown by my books, and particularly the latest, “Reiki Shamanism: A Guide to Out-of-Body Healing,” the lines of one modality are at heart not lines at all, but quite aptly, holistically, they are one – more apart in style and approach than of substance.
For this reason, we have begun a new phase of our teaching. We are adding Reiki Shamanism as a core curriculum that in instances will replace the two separate approaches.
We have offered Reiki and Shamanism as separate activities, and even combined activities as “Reiki Shamanism,” for many years. It has been on an individualized basis, without formal guidelines or set training. But now, with the international publication of “Reiki Shamanism,” people have been clamoring to both learn and teach Reiki Shamanism from coast to coast and in other countries.
While some have written for permission to teach from the book, others no doubt are doing so without contacting us. While it’s gratifying that Reiki Shamanism is becoming globally attractive and popular, this provides some cause for concern. Not to disparage anyone, but over the years, and currently, I’ve seen many people “teach” Reiki and “teach” Shamanism for a few dollars and even fewer credentials, training or knowledge. People pay for a couple of hours of instruction – often a pittance -- and then claim to be Reiki Masters and experts on Reiki or Shamanism and privy to the secrets of the universe. Some even charge astronomical fees – thousands of dollars – for just a “certificate” with little if any hands on training or personal instruction, and certainly not a body of knowledge from which to base one’s view.
Now, I find myself in the uncomfortable position of people saying they are “Reiki Shamans” as trained by PathFinder. While the book “Reiki Shamanism” teaches step by step how to do this work, and we welcome and promote it, there’s a wide divide between learning from a book and being “a student of” someone. This is of personal interest to me, in that my Shamanism was hard won and from a variety of sources, since childhood, and including both personal instruction and formalized training, such as is offered in Western society; and my Reiki training, likewise, came from diverse sources.
I’ve given hundreds of Reiki attunements and taught many how to journey or other shamanic or healing techniques. What I have discovered over the years is that although many have come to me with certificates of training in Reiki I or II or Reiki Master, they sometimes do not know the basics or have a grasp of Reiki or how it came to be.
We understand that Reiki and shamanism comes to different people in different ways. We deeply understand that in matters of Spirit, people are drawn by their inherent wisdom to learn what they can learn and from whom they best can learn – or, as the saying goes, when the student is ready a teacher appears. It is not to in any way to be discouraged that people learn matters of Spirit in whatever way they can grasp it!
But, while it’s understandable, and encouraged, to approach Shamanism as a “hollow bone” and without preconceived notions except the broadest of frameworks for understanding the world, if one cannot demonstrate knowledge of one’s craft, one cannot claim to teach or have “mastery” over it.
For these reasons, I’ve been very careful in choosing students. We do not offer large “audience style” trainings, instead giving individualized instruction to those who have the desire to learn in an interactive way and integrate and apply what they have learned-so it becomes truly their own. We have no desire nor intention to become "gurus", with a "following". Rather, we offer knowledge as an empowering tool. The Chinese have an apt saying, "The teacher opens the door, the student must walk through."
We do not “giveaway” this knowledge, either, for it is sacred and to be held sacred and shared only with those who are able to retain and give it in a good way that honors what is given. It’s not that we “hide” it by any means; it’s there for any and all who desire to find it. But it requires some effort; it’s not instantaneous, or superficial.
We would love for every person on earth to have Reiki and practice Shamanism in a good way, for the benefit of the Earth Mother and all beings. But that cannot be done if the knowledge is imperfectly learned or practiced. It then becomes lost in ego/personality and, thus, dissipated.
We encourage two ways of popular training in Reiki and Shamanism, neither of which is formally affiliated with us in any way, or has sought endorsement: The Shamanism classes of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies in Mill Valley, Calif., and the training methods, classifications and materials of the International Center for Reiki Training in Southfield, Mich.
We have received training from both: I received Reiki I & II training from ICRT-taught masters and received Karuna Reiki® Master/Teacher training and attunements from ICRT founder William Lee Rand; I received basic and advanced training in Shamanism from FSS certified instructors, sponsored FSS workshops for several years, and learned Soul Retrieval from Sandra Ingerman, author of “Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self.”
My training in both Reiki and Shamanism is by no means limited to these organizations, and includes various other organizations and personal instruction from shamans, medicine men and women and others for the past 40 years.
But we endorse these organizations because they offer a standardized, coherent body of knowledge that anyone can readily obtain with only some effort or expense. We do not compete with them, but offer training and philosophy that complements their work, and builds upon it.
You will notice that in each case, I took the time and effort to study under the best in the field. William Lee Rand is the most knowledgeable, coherent, committed and accomplished Reiki Master of my knowledge and acquaintance. He “wrote the book,” so to speak, in bringing Reiki to large segments of Western society. With Ingerman, she literally “wrote the book” on Soul Retrieval, my specialty, and it was an honor to learn from her.
In both cases, too, it has been my practice to honor their work and teaching. While we offer other training, modalities and techniques (many outlined in my books), it has been my intention over the years when teaching what I learned from them to teach as I was taught. For example, in our Reiki courses, not only do we use the ICRT materials, but as I have frequently told my students: “I want William Lee Rand to rest assured that if you have one of PathFinder’s certificates, you have all the knowledge that’s needed, as if he had taught you himself.”
Over the years, people have offered suggestions over how we could teach more people; hold shorter classes, larger classes, rent big rooms, charge less, charge more, etc. We price our services according to comparable prices (and slightly below in most cases) in the region. For example, some people have actually found it cheaper to fly here and take the course than to take it in New York or Los Angeles, but the level of instruction is the same, or better, since we don’t offer “cafeteria style” teaching with (as I have actually experienced on occasion) 200 people in a room. We think that in most things, you do seem to get what you pay for.
We want what we charge to indicate that we value what we teach; if we don't charge comparably to others at the top of the craft, then we are devaluing them, the training and, ultimately, the student. While Reiki and Shamanism should be affordable, in our society, it’s true: In most instances people don't value what they make little effort to obtain.
We hope that by making these classes available and structuring them to complement other nationally and internationally recognized teachers and organizations, that students will come to “the one who wrote the book” on Reiki Shamanism and learn the techniques and practices that set the standard.
You will note that we call what we teach Reiki Shamanism, that than Shamanic Reiki, as some people call the blend of the two. This is more than mere semantics. As outlined in the book, “Reiki Shamanism,” we demonstrate that Reiki is a form of Shamanism, and not the other way around. Shamanic Reiki implies that a type of Reiki is shamanistic, or having the qualities of shamanism, or can have the appearance or techniques of shamanism. Reiki is well within the traditions and category of what constitutes “shamanism,” and not only has its origins in shamanic activities and spiritual and religious practices, but was derived by its founder, Dr. Usui, in traditional shamanic fashion as amply demonstrated in all cultures. Indeed, there are thousands of individuals walking around the globe with books, T-shirts, and other paraphernalia with the Reiki symbol on them completely unaware that the word for Reiki itself translates as “Shaman Who Makes Rain.”
We practiced shamanism for more than 30 years before learning Reiki and perhaps have a little bit different perspective on it than some; seeing Reiki as an energy modality among others that is useful and profound. But it’s still a form of shamanism and we teach it as such in the shamanic portions of our classes.
As stated elsewhere, the Reiki and Shamanism classes we now offer are divided into two types: Shamanism and Reiki.
Reiki Shaman I & II are classified as shamanism, though they include elements of Reiki, and hence do not come with certificates.
Reiki Shaman IIIa and IIIb are classified as Reiki, though the include elements of shamanism, and include certificates signed and issued by PathFinder.
This is for a reason. As I was taught, and as I believe, Shamanism should not be taught with “certificates.” Shaman is a Siberian word that means “one who sees in the dark.” It’s not a title, though in Native American society, various types of Spiritual people and elders had titles that denoted their function or abilities. Even so, one does not become a shaman through single achievement, but through living it. As I’ve written in my books, shamans don’t normally call themselves shamans; it’s something other people call them, or a name similar to that.
Once a shaman calls himself a shaman, then ego/personality gets involved. That implies the person has “ownership” of the power, rather than Spirit, Creator, Power Animals, Guides and Angels. If that happens, the “hollow bone” gets clogged with ego/personality, and the person loses Power, or ability to connect with Spirit; so unwittingly uses/drains their personal power rather than letting universal enegy flow through them. This is the way it has always been.
So, Reiki Shaman I & II, the first two classes – and others we come up with from time to time – that are shamanic in nature, will not have certificates. You may we “awarded,” that is, find or be given, a rock, or feather, or piece of cloth or some other thing to hold and remind you that Spirit came to you. That’s between you and Spirit, and any who give it.
The second two classes, Reiki Shaman IIIa and IIIb are classified as Reiki, though the include elements of shamanism, and include signed certificates. This reflects the state of the art, so to speak, of Reiki instruction. In virtually any recognized and coherent body of Reiki knowledge or training, the currency to show proficiency is the certificate. It tells the world – often, now with the burgeoning field of what is called CAM, or complementary and alternative medicine, or integrative medicine, including physicians, hospitals, massage therapy and physical therapy and nursing schools and insurance companies – that a certain level of attainment has been reached.
In order to have meaning, in this milieu, it is essential that these issued and signed certificates actually certify a level of competence in a defined body of knowledge. So Reiki Shaman IIIa and IIIb designations fit Reiki, CAM and integrative medicine expectations.
The classes conform to internationally recognized norms of Reiki instruction and include advanced training in Reiki that meet the highest standards of Reiki Master practice. Those who successfully complete the course are certified as proficient in standard Usui/Tibetan lineage as well as proficient and capable in meeting the requirements to practice and/or teach Reiki Shamanism as taught in the book, “Reiki Shamanism: A Guide to Out-of-Body Healing.” Note: We do not offer CEUs, but other agencies might; check with your local certifying organizations.
This shift in our approach to training is not an “end,” but a beginning that broadens and deepens what we have to offer. We will continue our regular Usui/Tibetan Reiki I and Reiki II classes as taught by Annette Waya, and will continue our Karuna Reiki® Master classes so students may become registered with ICRT as practitioners and teachers. Now we offer expanded versions of the classes and training.
We hope you will find what we have to offer of benefit to you, and we offer it in a good way, with prayers for the Earthly Mother and all beings, that we may more fully become as we were meant to be, Children of Earth & Sky.
Thank you, Wado!