There are two schools of thought about Reiki symbols. The first says that Reiki symbols are sacred and not to be shared with those who are not initiated into Reiki. It is thought the Reiki symbols will not work, and will be diluted if they are shared with someone who has no knowledge of how to use them. The second school of thought is sharing the Reiki symbols with everyone is really what the energy of Reiki is all about – UNIVERSAL life force. And thus, it should be available to all to share. Seems there is no right or wrong here, just which school of thought you subscribe to, or what your Reiki training has been.
There are still some old Reiki masters who will tell you right off the bat that the Reiki symbols are not to be shared with just anyone, as it takes away from the power of them. There may be sense in this argument if you stop to think about the Reiki symbols themselves. They don't mean anything to someone who has no idea what they are or what they can achieve with them. On the other hand, there are so many self-help books on the subject of Reiki and using the Reiki symbols that you might think you can learn how to do Reiki through using a book and teaching yourself.
If the books dealing with Reiki symbols are to be believed, you should not only be able to learn the symbols, but attune yourself and become whatever level of practitioner you wish. While this sounds simple, there really is a whole lot more to it than just reading a book. Particularly when you get more advanced in levels.
Without getting into too much about the symbols, as in drawing them, we can certainly tell you the names of the symbols used for the lower levels of Reiki energy channeling. If you are just starting, the first level of Reiki requires no symbols to work. It does however need an attunement from the Reiki master who is training you. Level 2 symbols need to be given to you by the Reiki master along with an attunement to the second level. Self-help books indicate you can do attunements yourself. That is still a highly controversial level and a word of caution here. Do energy work with respect and caution.
But, back to the Level 2 symbols. There are three of them – the Power symbol, the Mental/Emotional Symbol and the Distance Symbol. The Power symbol means "by Imperial decree, put all the power of the universe here". The Mental/Emotional Symbol means "God and humanity become one, to create a new habit". The Distance Symbol means "May the Buddha (enlightened one) in me connect with the Buddha in you to promote peace and dignity."
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