Recently, I began thinking about more about my Reiki Lineage and why it’s important to know.  For many years, I’ve explained this to my Level I students.  Briefly, with a hand out I’ve traced our roots all the way back to Dr. Mikao Usui.  However, I’ve never written or explained in depth what a Reiki Lineage is and why it is important.

What is a Reiki Lineage?

Meriam Webster defines lineage as: “lineal descent from an ancestor; ancestry or pedigree.”  Similarly, I like to think of my Reiki Lineage as my Reiki family tree.  It is the line of teaching that your teacher has been trained in.  It’s pretty neat to be able to see how I’m connected to Dr. Usui. because he is the father of the Reiki that is most commonly practiced thought the world.

Why is our Reiki Lineage Important?

Our Reiki Lineage is important because it reflects the information the Reiki Master will be passing on to her students.  Different lineages may have different philosophies and understandings. This is relevant because and they have different understandings of working with the Usui System of Reiki.

Reiki Masters and their Lineages

Reiki has gone through many transformations since the days of Dr. Usui.  Remarkably, Reiki has endured though all of its travels.  It still thrives today, over one hundred years since it came into prominence in Japan.

Westward Ho –my Reiki Lineage

Hawyo Takata was Mastered by Dr. Chuijiro Hayashi in the late1930s.  Dr. Hayashi was one of Dr. Usui’s original 16 Reiki Masters. It is believed that Mrs. Takata was the first woman ever to be Mastered.  AsReiki  crossed the ocean to the West, it endured a change.  According to one souce, “Mrs. Takata’s original historic account of Reiki had cracks in it”:  http://www.thehealingpages.com/the-different-reiki-branches-and-lineages.  This article references an important book, “Reiki Fire”, written by Frank Ajava Petter: https://www.amazon.com/Frank-Arjava-Petter-Information-Complete/dp/B00HTJMS96 .  Petter was married to a Japanese woman and went to Japan with her in the late 1990s. It was there he uncovered more accurate information about Dr. Usui and our Reiki Lineage.

So what about our Western Reiki Lineage?

All lineages from Mrs Takata would include one or another of the following masters as they were the 22 taught by her. (http://www.reikifed.co.uk/about-us/about-us-overview/28-join-the-uk-reiki-federation/89-about-lineages )

George Araki
Dorothy Baba (deceased)
Ursula Baylow (deceased)
Rick Bockner
Patricia Bowling
Barbara Brown
Frank Brown
Phyllis Furumoto (grand-daughter of Mrs. Takata)
Beth Gray
John Gray
Iris Ishikuro (deceased)
Harry Kuboi
Ethel Lombardi
Barbara McCullough
Mary McFayden
Paul Mitchell;
Bethel Phaigh (deceased)
Shinobu Saito;
Virginia Samdahl (deceased)
Wanja Twan;
Barbara Weber Ray
Kay Yamashita (sister of Mrs. Takata)

Iris Isikuro –the hero of my Reiki Lineage!

Iris Isikuro was Mrs. Takata’s cousin and one of the twenty-two Masters taught by her.  As the story goes, all of Takata’s Reiki Masters had to take an oath that they would teach Reiki just as Mrs. Takata did.  This included charging $10,000 for Mastering.  When Mrs. Takata died in 1980, Iris decided not to abide by this oath.   She Mastered two people, her daughter Ruby and Arthur Robertson.  Ruby never pursued Reiki, but Arthur did. Thankfully, Iris broke the restriction placed on Reiki by Takata.  Dr. Usui wanted Reiki to be shared by all, and Iris beame the conduit for this.  As a result of her courage, it is likely that Iris Isikuro is in your Reiki Lineage.

My Reiki Lineage

Dr. Mikao Usui

 Dr. Chujiro Hayashi

 Hawayo Takata

 Iris Ishikuro

 Arthur Robertson

 Rick & Emma Ferguson

 Margarette L. Shelton

 Kathleen Ann Milner

 Arline E. Rowden

 Roxanne Miller

 Dina Kushnir

 Eileen Marder-Mirman

Donna Miller-Small

I hope this article has given you a better understanding of why is is important to know about your Reiki Lineage.

 

 

 

 

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