Ascending to Mastery
by Rev. Jason Storm
Welcome to the next step of your evolution as a sentient being! Beyond the threshold of the pages that follow is a whole, wide new world that will transform your life into something beyond description. There is simply no way to prepare you for what is coming, you will have to experience it for yourself. There is a clearing period for the Master Level but it can be difficult to give any estimates of how long it will take. The best estimate is that it will continue sporadically throughout your lifetime. Just accept it and learn from it.
When you can keep your mind and heart open to everything that comes your way, you will have a much more satisfying and productive time of it. Worst case scenario: you put Reiki on a shelf and don't work with it again. Best case scenario: Enlightenment, Nirvanha, Transcending the need for flesh. Probably you will find yourself somewhere in the middle of the two extremes.
What does it mean to be a Reiki Master? It means, among other things, that you have assumed responsibility for your life and your own spiritual, mental/emotional, and physical evolution and development. It means that you are setting yourself aside from other healers of other systems and saying "This is MY path, and I am an expert at it." It means that you are prepared to teach others and share a transformation of earthshaking proportions with them. It means that you are ready and able to set your ego aside and exist as a person, and not as "Oh Holy Reiki Master, Your Emminence, Ma'am/Sir" :-) It means that you are ready to LIVE and do so proudly, joyously, and responsibly.
There is typically a dramatic life-altering change that accompanies the initiation into the Master Level of Reiki, and it will be most appropriate for you at your stage of evolution. For many people, the need/desire to eat meat is removed utterly from them. It is actually rather common (at least in my experience) to hear that a new Reiki Master is also a New Vegetarian or Vegan. For me, personally, it was the utter dissolution of worry and stress in my life. Reiki Mastery rendered me stress and worry proof! This is wonderful to me, but some of the people in my life find it a little unsettling. Imagine, you're travelling in "The Third World" with this worry-proof guy and everything you both have, your bags, money, all of it, gets stolen, and your companion (moi), says "Don't worry, something will come along. Would you care for a mint?" :-)
Receiving the transmission of the Master Symbol is the catalyst that begins the transformation from what you "are" now to what you will become, a True Master. This is the final step in a long process of opening that you began when you received your First Degree Attunement (some might argue that it began with your current human birth). Understand very clearly, this is not an ending, but yet another beginning!
One analogy I like to offer is that of a houseplant fed on just water and potting soil. It grows enough, and develops roots and leaves, and attains some size. But now imagine putting the exactly PERFECT fertilizer it needs, giving it extra sun lamps, C02, perfect temperature and humidity, and loving it with all your heart, soul, and pocketbook. Imagine the difference that would make. Now imagine you are the PLANT. This is Reiki Mastery.
I believe that Reiki is 100% ABSOLUTELY SELF-REGULATING and it cannot be done wrong (but likewise it can't be done "right" either). I also believe that anyone who tells you it can be done wrong, or can harm, or "you have to know what you're doing" is selling something. Reiki is not difficult, dangerous, harmful, or capable of being done improperly. It absolutely WILL right itself in the body/soul of those who channel it and those who receive it. I believe that this applies equally to learning and being attuned to Reiki as well.
Reiki is the best teacher in and of itself. After all, Dr. Usui learned it by just sitting on a mountain for a couple of weeks then going off and practicing! I think there's a lot to be learned from the story of the origins of Reiki beyond the publicity packet that organizations like Reiki Shiki Ryohotm and other systems would like you to blindly swallow. Use your common sense in considering how the modern practice of Reiki has come about. Ask questions and seek out the answers that satisfy you. Do not EVER just sit back and idly be a disciple of some guru, because I guarantee you that you will lose something that you will never get back.
Reiki is here to set you free, to make you independent, so that you can clearly and honestly see how important and utterly dependent on every other living (and non-living) thing in existence you really are! Approach Reiki (and in fact, life) with an attitude of open, joyous expectation and gratitude and you will truly understand what Mastery means.
I would like to invite you to begin a journal of your Reiki experiences. Write in it daily for one year. Record your experiences, dreams, feelings, "coincidences", psychic activity, and anything and everything that occurs to you. At the end of one year from the day you begin, go back and read your Reiki journal from beginning to end. You will be shocked at what you read. A saga of epic proportions, indeed. :-)
