Walking Between the Worlds ─ Book I: The Interconnection of Reiki, the Elements, and the Human Energy System

By Judith M Campbell

Reserve time in your busy schedule to take care of YOU!  Turn your reading corner into a soothing retreat!  Perhaps light a candle, infuse a favourite essential oil, turn off your communication devices, play some quiet meditation music, have something warm to drink, wrap yourself in a comfy shawl or blanket, put your feed up ... and se

• Language: English
• Publisher: Burnstown Publishing House
• Release date: Nov 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781772570939

Book preview

In Gratitude

TO ALL MY Celtic Canadian pioneering grandmothers —Jane, Agnes, Elizabeth, Mary Anne, and Lila on my mother’s side, and Jean, Margaret, Mary Anne, and Janet on my father’s side—whose strength and endurance allowed them to walk confidently between the unseen world of their faith in something more, and the physical and hard-reality challenges of their visible new world of Canada in the 1800s and early 1900s: raising families without any of today’s conveniences, helplessly watching their children die of diseases we can now prevent with immunization, communing with their fellow pioneers to support one another through tragedy and through celebration … and all the while holding a spirit of hope and gratitude for being guided through each day. Their unyielding strength and the strength of all our pioneer grandmothers and ancestors runs through the bones and the souls of their descendants, who oftentimes feel their presence as we walk between the worlds of ancient whispers and modern society. In gratitude and in love across the centuries to each one, I dedicate this book set on healing.

Thank you!

Judith.

A Celtic Morning Prayer of Affirmation and Gratitude

I open to the Divine, life-affirming energy of nature’s power, beauty, harmony, and light so I can absorb and reveal her abundance in everything I do, with love and gratitude in my heart.

THESE WERE THE ways of our ancestors … who took the time to notice, look up, listen, and embrace the ways of nature and respect her power, beauty, and bounty available for all. It is to their example of the appreciation of nature’s potential that we return in these writings.

Acknowledgements

IWOULD LIKE TO acknowledge the understanding and comfort I have received over many years since the book titled Anatomy of the Spirit¹ by Carolyn Myss was quite literally put into my hands by our leader on a weekend Therapeutic Touch seminar. Her instruction to me was simple: You have to read this, Judith! From Carolyn’s interpretation of the chakras, I have been able to expand my understanding of the human energy system.

I also acknowledge the wise counsel offered by Usui Shiki Ryoho lineage bearer Phyllis Furomoto through her global webinars and her encouragement to Reiki practitioners worldwide to nurture our relationship with Reiki and to trust Reiki for all things. I am trying to do this in my writing.

My thanks are further extended to my personal circle of wise women with whom I have had the pleasure of journeying over several years as their spiritual leader. It is through this experience that I have awakened to much of what I am sharing with you in this book. Some of the book’s photos have been taken on the sacred space of our retreat home at Galilee Centre in Arnprior, Ontario, Canada. The remainder have been taken in other locations in Canada and in Florida by my husband, David Campbell.

Finally, I am most grateful to the Universe for the guidance I received initially as I was teaching this course and, especially, during the past year as I have been preparing it for readers in this format. Timing means everything when you work with the Universe, and I am grateful also for the wonderful team at Burnstown Publishing House for bringing it to press.

To find the Divine in all things is to appreciate the human experience more intensely.

Preface

IT HAS BEEN said that the teachings of Reiki should never be written—only the effect of their teaching. I believe there are many people who are thirsting for the effect of its teachings who will never attend a Reiki class. It is as much to this audience as to Reiki’s committed followers that I feel called to write this book.

Reiki teaches us how to make a connection to Divine energy (light) and how to live this connection! The effect of this kind of living is to experience inner peace.

I can safely say, now that I am in my seventy-first year, that much of one’s life—with or without realizing it—is about trying to figure out who we are. I think anyone on Facebook would confirm this from the countless posts that appear there! Concurrent with this, life is about searching for something more—something that will soothe the eternal search that gnaws at us endlessly until we have found it. We get so caught up in linear time that we forget our true nature that responds beautifully to the timeless elements and space of the Universe … it is to this timeless place we return in these writings about Reiki, to discover how the world of something more we search for in linear time and space can exist for us easily when we invite it into the way we choose to live moment-to-moment in our daily life … and use it to help us define who we are and why we are here.

If you can relate to any of this, it is my hope that this book set will help you with your own search. It will take you on a journey that may seem at times as though you are walking between the worlds because it will expose you to an inner world that differs greatly from your outer world and the speed of modern, high-tech, societal living.

The torch I will be throwing out to you as you read is the challenge to live this inner world of peace so that your outer world may be peaceful also.

Reiki is Divine energy!

When we place our hands lovingly upon

another, we help them open to their own inner

Divine healing centre. In that moment, the

energy of the Universe that flows through all

living things flows through us to another.

And healing is possible!

Introduction

IN THE MONTHS leading up to press, I shared the title of this book with those who asked what I was writing about these days. The reaction I received was always the same; people loved the title! And then I realized that, after hearing their further commentary, walking between the worlds can hold many different meanings. It could mean walking between the world of work life and the world of home life, for example; or the world of study and the world of play; the world of community and the world of isolation; the world of health and the world of illness; and so on. You will have your own thoughts as well.

The expression walking between the worlds is one that simply entered my mind some time ago when I first began writing this book. I have since learned that it was a common expression among ancient Celts and Druids who lived in complete harmony with nature. Whether nature guided me to Reiki, or Reiki guided me back to nature, I am not certain. However, it was within the context of my searching for something more that my Reiki practice guided me to rediscover the timeless elements and space of the Universe that would awaken my Celtic soul … and revive the sleeping parts of me that I had forgotten … thereby ending the eternal disquiet I felt in the depths of my being.

It seems that my cross-cultural spiritual experience is not at all unique. For example, there is a suggestion on several Internet sites that there was a mixing of Druidism and Buddhism long ago in the pre-Christian era.² American author Frank MacEowen suggests, indeed, that Druidism within the Celtic world extended as far eastward as India and that its influence can be felt within Aboriginal cultures³—or theirs within Druidism—a beautiful mixing of spiritual wisdom.

Reiki as we know it today originated a little farther to the east, in Japan, the ancient practice of natural healing having been long sought after by a Buddhist monk. The irony of all of this suggests the absence of racial and cultural boundaries in the search for authentic spiritual wisdom of the different worlds that existed long ago … and something very cohesive that Reiki offers the world we live in today, as people around the globe practise Reiki while also following their own established religious or spiritual practices and beliefs.

Therefore, the phrase walking between the worlds can open for us many avenues of thought, ideas, and exploration as we draw from this global background of mystical experiences. You are invited to form your own interpretation of the meaning of this expression and see where it takes you.

Many of us have within us a certain interconnectedness stemming from a blend of cultures or beliefs. It is this sense of interconnectedness we have apparently shared over millennia as spiritual searchers and journeyers, that has called me to write about Reiki as it intersects some rather obvious ways of living each day. None of these have been a direct part of the original teachings of Reiki, yet they are the direct result of the evolving practice of Reiki as experienced through the ki of the vital life force of its users.

Reiki is not simply the laying on of hands, or symbols, precepts, or attunements, or a mystical practice that develops from its use as a form of meditation. These are indeed Reiki’s fundamental tools of identity; however, when we place these tools in different hands, they yield different results. For example, Reiki energy opens us:

•To the space of nature wherein we can walk comfortably, with a mindful awareness of her beauty—like the ancient Celts and Druids

•To the space of respect, where we conduct ourselves responsibly, honourably, and peacefully in the world

•To the space of our inner spiritual guidance and mystical insight, the inner workings of the self, and our inner healing

•To the space of our inner healing centre, our health and well-being

•To the space of living a life of mindful awareness and presence. Reiki energy takes us beyond the meaning of mindfulness by healing us of the distractions and ways of being that keep us from living a mindfully present life.

•To the space of health and well-being of those to whom we offer its abundant energy. Serving others is the reason many people become interested in this form of energy healing.

And as those who have experienced through participation in Phyllis Furomoto’s global webinars,

•Reiki opens us to the space of interconnectedness of like-minded persons around the world. When several hundred participants engage simultaneously in a few moments of heart-centred, hands-on, Reiki self-care, the sensation of oneness ensues. Therefore, we can safely say that

•Reiki energy creates a space for global healing and a sense of oneness.

And finally, in general, we can say that

•Reiki energy stimulates the space of specialized uses for its healing energy, as a result of the many hands and minds using it to help to heal the world.

My particular version of walking between the worlds amalgamates an exciting interpretation of the evolving, energy-healing practice of the world of Reiki and its interrelationship with the worlds of the human energy system, the natural elements, and the healing power of nature and our environment. This may seem, at first, to be a lot to take in. However, you will see in the retreats that follow in this book, how the combination of these entities creates an astonishing ability to impact one’s world of health and well-being. You may feel, at times, as though you are walking between your previously known physical world and the mystical, yet real, world of something entirely new!

The impact of this mystical reality can be so overwhelming at times that all we can do is stop and give ourselves over to its internal direction and stillness. This is the space, I believe, in which we are definitely caught between the worlds of wonder and opportunity. It is the space of spiritdriven resolve to take care of oneself and one another in a framework of peace, despite increasing global threats and the realities of terrorism—a juxtaposition of peace within an inner or outer world of chaos, the meaning of Anshin Ritsumei … the ultimate goal of our Reiki practice.

You may wish to take a few moments now to consider this subject of space as it relates to the space in which you currently find yourself and how it might be, or is, affected by the energy of Reiki.

I will always remember my first class in public health nursing, in September 1967, when our professor defined health, using the World Health Organization definition as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.⁴ My entire nursing career was spent under this umbrella of understanding. My view began to expand, however, as I realized at some level within my own being that something was missing from this definition. And it is in my retirement years that I have begun to appreciate the essential role that one’s spiritual well-being plays in the interdependent nature of the true meaning of health. Indeed, for anyone to achieve a sense of wholeness, which I view to be the true definition of health, it means that we have achieved well-being within our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual states. Having done so, we can easily find our way socially and every other way, for we will feel complete within our selves. Each of my previously published books is a testament to this understanding, and this one is no exception. I am excited to share with you, in the pages that follow, my continually expanding view of health and the healing potential we each have within us when we engage our spiritual resources in our everyday life.

Fundamental to this sought-after sense of wholeness is the uninhibited flow of heart energy within the body—the energy associated with love, understanding, kindness, forgiveness, compassion, gentleness, tenderness, etc. In energy healing of any kind, it is heart energy that will stimulate healthy living and sustain well-being. In a study by HeartMath® Institute—an organization dedicated to awakening the higher mental, emotional and spiritual capabilities that are dormant within us⁵—researchers have been able to demonstrate a relationship between sustained positive states and the body’s natural regenerative processes.⁶ This is encouraging reinforcement to anyone who has been able to relate his or her own feelings of self-generated love to a feeling of well-being.

You experience heart energy when you open to your inner healing centre, the space in your own body/mind continuum where healing takes place. And by this, I mean that you open yourself to the positive life force of love, the life force scientists are now beginning to monitor.

I refer specifically to the effects of life force that open you to love your life, to love your self—the skin you are in—and to extend this sense of internal love to your love for others, to nature, and to all that makes up your life! This kind of loving and living allows for free-flowing movement of heart-centred energy within the body. Associated with this, of course, is the willingness to let go of those things that inhibit this free flow of heart energy.

In reality, it is rare to find anyone who has learned to continually let go of all forms of negativity that creep into and impact his or her life. Unlike the peace movement of the 1960s, where people blissed themselves out on drugs as a means to find love and peace, we can learn a drug-, alcohol-, and substance-free way to move peaceful heart energy into areas that need healing. By using natural and simple techniques, we can mindfully and physically send our own heart energy into struggling parts of our body and mind, and allow these parts of us to regenerate and heal.

Everything has the capacity to heal. When a limb is cut from a tree, for example, immediately liquid droplets appear on the area just cut, as the tree’s natural healing powers begin to seal the cut. Animals lick their wounds, their saliva providing immediate cleansing properties to help the wound heal more quickly. And humans automatically touch and hold their injuries with their hands to soothe the pain and provide comfort. These examples remind us of the physical healing power throughout nature that we tend to take for granted and that is also available to help heal the mind and free the spirit. The subject matter and purpose of this book is designed to open one’s mindful awareness to a spiritually interconnected way of being, using the energy-healing modality of Reiki in association with nature’s elements and the human energy system.

When your awareness peaks to find your reset button to address all your physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, psychosocial, cognitive, etc. needs, it becomes easier to stop long enough, as our ancestors did, and acknowledge the love that actually exists all around us, to quote a cliché, when we open ourselves to it. In doing so, we connect with our own healing centre. Reiki, used daily with intention as a self-care healing practice, is an amazing way to bring about heart-centred energy healing to the body/mind and reclaim a sense of ego-less love that generates our inner light and liberates our spirit.

On the pages that follow, you will read how and why I believe this is possible.

Before we begin, though, I want to address the skeptics in my audience who disregard Reiki as not worthy of discussion. I’ll begin with religious concerns.

One of the major similarities in world religions is the practice of worshipping and following the teachings of a figurehead, a Divine intermediary between oneself and a Divine Source or way of being, in an attempt to find solace within. In my view, one of the major differences between religion and Reiki is the ability to find solace that comes from meeting the Divine, in the absence of an intermediary and without the dogma and demands that accompany a formal religious practice.

Such simplistic independence within Reiki empowers its user to

•Become aware of the potential that exists throughout humanity to heal the self

•Become responsible for one’s own well-being in all its aspects

•Create a sense of wholeness that sustains health and creates inner peace

Reiki can exist alongside religion because it is not a religion, in my view, nor is it a practice that interferes with religion. In fact, for the deeply religious person, it may accentuate your ability to practise your religion in a more meaningful manner by bringing the process of healing into the reality of your everyday life. It need not be seen as a threat, therefore, to organized religion. If anything, Reiki can be interpreted as an adjunct to one’s faith in the power and unlimited potential of the Divine operating in everyday life, regardless of religious affiliation.

Another negative comment I have heard from skeptics is that Reiki uses symbols. In truth, symbols are very much a part of daily life. We come to associate much that we learn about and love in life through the use of symbols. A kitchen table is a symbol of family. Family is a symbol of warmth and love (or can be). Love is a symbol of belonging. A white dove is a symbol of peace, and so on.

The Reiki symbols are actually words. Just as the word peace connotes the feeling of peace to an English-speaking person, the Japanese kanji used to connote the Divine visually become just as meaningful as we adopt these new words and their definition into our language. According to an article written by William Rand, founder of the International Center for Reiki Training, it is a practice of Japanese Buddhists to sometimes combine ancient Sanskrit with Japanese kanji in their sacred writings and symbols. This practice may have influenced what we know as symbols within Reiki.⁷

Reiki’s word symbols—as I prefer to call them—are considered to be sacred in the sense that they prepare the persons using them to make an easier connection with the Divine. Other examples of this purpose that we commonly see in society are:

•The practice of crossing oneself and using the rosary to connect with the Divine by Roman Catholics

•The wearing of the Christian cross

•Kissing the icons in the Greek Orthodox religion