The Reiki Cafe 

Hello all,

I happened to run across an interesting website called "The Cross and the Veil - A Catholic Web Resource for Spiritual Discernment". Among the many topics of interest are such articles as: "Reiki and Tantric Magic - Healing or Hell?", "Yoga - Health or Stealth?" and "The Dangers of Energy Work".

I was so surprised to find that Reiki "...is a power paradigm which emphasizes control and domination of psychosexual forces – a kind of occult, psychic masturbation."

I'll post the url on the announcements board for anyone who wishes to see read these *thought provoking* articles.

Reiki Cheers!

Randy

What a sad website. I didnt see the religious tolerance like they were saying.

You know these people are troubled (or are they on a power trip???) when they start saying that Harry Potter is evil. C'mon....

H.

Unfortunately the catholics are not the only group to have these opinions. I have been told I was channeling the devil! with Reiki. I have heard that each group is intolerant of the other and the catholic faith has been called evil and worship idols!

I think we have to be the tolerant ones, however difficult this may be. Teach by example.

Love and Light,
Tracey

Randy,
Now thats a first! I never heard Reiki being described in THAT manner! I think it is because they may think reiki is done in a massage basis, unclothed? I don't know their reasoning behind it.

Namaste
Mark

Dear Randy,

Namaste...

It's been a long time since we last talked. So nice to see your friendly face here!

I would be tempted to refute these fear statements but, really, what would be the point? :) So, instead, I guess I just laughed. Not sure if that is the most spiritual response...but there you have it.

Yours in love and light,
Lesley

Dear Lesley,

Namaste'!

It's good to see you here also!

I understand and agree with what you are saying. When I read the article all I could do was to shake my head.

Dakota is right in saying we must be the tolerant ones and teach by example. Only those who have truly experienced change knows what is in the heart! I wouldn't trade it for anything.

For some odd reason a quote from one of my favorite books of all time just popped into my head. The Prophet by Kalil Gibran: "Let us not say that God lives within my heart, but rather say I live within the heart of God." Hmmmm....

Be well and blessed,

Randy

Dear Randy,

Namaste...

>The Prophet by Kalil Gibran: "Let us not say that God lives within my heart, but rather say I live within the heart of God."

This is lovely and I read it at a most perfect time.

With gratitude,
Lesley

The Roman Catholic church certainly practices energy work every bit as much as we do, however it is only taught to priests. They seem to not trust this aspect to the general population. But during mass the priests smudge and use Frankinsense and Myrrh, they believe they are transforming the host into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. They believe in visions, demonic possession, etc. The sacraments are kind of like attunements in a way. The Charismatic movement of the church does hands on faith healing.

I'm raised in this faith, and I've had many conversations with my mother about the similarities between Roman Catholicism and the Reiki. I pointed out that St. Teresa had many visions and the Bible talks about visions and dreams, etc. All this psychic stuff is what concerns people, and yet the religion is ripe with the same stuff they fear.

Your website sounds like yet another person with too much time on their hands shooting from the hip. Unfortunately there are so many ignorant people who get such a high from negativity. They definitely can use some Reiki.

Namaste,
Starlight

Dear Starlight,

If my memory serves me right, the priest does not turn water & bread into body & blood of Christ, it is a miracle of God that the priest participates in. That is an important difference, especially in understanding where the fear & outrage stems. The church is very carefull about the source of visions, miracles, etc. These are investigated heavily. Claims are examined to determine if the vision comes from self or from spirit. St Teresa was examined & questioned throughout her life, she was not just "believed" on face value. One of the Catholic writers denouncing New Agers is, according to her own words, a former New Ager. So, perhaps there are negative experiences of her own to draw from. A reformed anybody is tough to deal with, one can become quite rabid in the need to keep oneself from the offending ex ( drug, sex, alcohol, food, new age practices, etc) But lets be truthfull, there are people out there with very little knowledge and less than good intentions putting hands on to heal and supposedly contacting spirits. ( Without knowledge even zeal is not good; and he who acts hastily, blunders. PROVERBS 19:2) The church has a long history of suspicion with healers and warns against deliberately seeking spirit contact. There is bible basis for this position. DEUTERONOMY 18:10-21,ACTS 16:16-18. The church supports those gifts after investigation that support a divine source as opposed to psychological imbalance, fraud, evil spirits, etc.
Even non religous persons experienced with contacting spirits warn of the dangers of those who are not spiritually advanced taking on that challenge.
The sacraments are hardly attunements. There is much more involved in officiating at a sacrament than the Reiki attunements.
Part of tolerance is respect. If we want it, we have to be willing to give it.

peace & joy,
holobon

Namaste Holobon,

"Part of tolerance is respect. If we want it, we have to be willing to give it."
How right you are. Religions, however, don't always have that crystal clear. The winner writes the history. The Catholic church "won" over the gnostics and chose to call them heretics. The old gnostic tradion and today's New Age have a lot in common, not least healing and magic.
Let us remember that there's no such thing a free meal. Deep down I think it's about competition and power - not respect in its best meaning. That's why I left the (Lutheran)church. Too demanding, too intolerant, too little love. (I'm being really cruel here, there are of course always exceptions to the rule.)

Love and light
Brit

People like that are funny. I once saw a baptist pamphlet that talked about how the true Halloween was when pagans put on masks once a year dressing like demons to terrorize christian children.
People like that just say what they want and make a story up to go with their viewpoint which has no bearing in truth.
Also religious tolerance coming from people like that is just a phrase with no meaning. They say that they are religiously tolerant so they feel like they are actually following the words of the Bible.
A recent similar "spiritual warfare" site i saw was the funniest thing ever. They were bashing the X-men for being of demonic visage. So i sent them an e-mail to post explaining how the theme of X-men is actually about how descrimination is wrong and we should all love and accept each other whether different or not. And is symbolism for real life problems such as bigotry and racism.
The response i got was about how that was how satan was disguising himself. He wants us to think that we are doing the right thing when it is very very wrong. That's exactly how he captures our souls and was laughing very hard at the post i made.
I laughed at almost every post i read. Am I Satan?

Yes Cathloics are funny in that sense. Most consider the transmutation symbolic not literal. And the funny thing is they perform laying on of the hands,excorcisms, etc. Which by the way they are now evidently performing more and more excorcisms as opposed to trying to avoid it for purposes of making people think they are wierd(Which was the only reason they became so rare anyways. They were trying to regain popularity in the public view.)
For that matter one of the most revered catholic figures of the modern age was Padre Pio who was known for bilocation. If a Cathloic does it it's okay. If anyone else does it it's then considered an "occult practice" and of Satan.
And i also laugh about the former New Agers/Pagans. They think they automatically knew everything there is to know. IF they didn't have any strange occurence it's a fraud.If they did it's satanic. It's a lack of education , they assume their former sources of learning were the end all be all and never address anything beyond the symbolism. Or in some cases the things they talk about are big no no's so they then take the hipocrits or those that try and do evil and make them the example. "Well i say this and this so i know what ALL of you people do." When in fact they are most poorly educated in these religions.
And it's not just Catholics tho i usually find them funnier. Baptists can be pretty bad too. And the funniest are the ones that claim to be tolerant and all those groups that protest this or that are jes whackos and they aren't like that because they speak Truth not just look for something to do.

Otoharo!

conflagration, you will enjoy reading, "The New Revelation"

finality

Sounds interesting. I might have to steal errr borrow it from a library. : )~

I don't know if this website is endorsed by the Catholic church or not as it sounds very Christian Fundamentalist.

However, with all the pedophiles being exposed, the Catholic church ought to shut their mouths about Reiki or anything. Denial is showing it's ugly face. The people running this website just do not get it.

love and light,

Prosperity

Otoharo!

Prosperity, the person who provides this website is not the one posting. It is a person or persons like you who are stating their perceptions of things. You, too, have that right. That is the kind of website I like. Because, I like to express my views, too. Anbd they are not like anoone's else, very likely. Jump in and enjoy.

finality

Hi Prosperity
I have had a close look at the site, it would appear to be part of a catholic apolgetics web ring. So there will be other site just like it.
It would seem to be about promoting fear and spreading misinformation.
Unfortunatly they do not have a place to post messages on there, so no one can offer there own views.
I do not know if you have looked at any other of the articles posted there.Quite worrying.
I have, personally been called evil and told that I am doing the Devils work, by fundamentalist Christains, so a lot of the arguments on the website are not new to me and i'm sure a lot others of us to.
In the old days, the Catholic churchs way of dealing with people who thought differantly was to kill them(In the name of a god who said "Thou shell not kill". They can't do that these days, so they have to find another way.

Hail Eris

Rob

Hi Randy,

This reaction is not at all surprising, considering the similarity between Reiki and some "pagan" ways of old times (such as the laying-on-of-hands with the purpose of healing).

It appears that although Christ himself did the same, the orthodox Christians of a thousand years ago admonished healing and eventually used the word "pagan" (which initially meant someone from the rural areas) to invoke fear into the hearts of those who dared try this themselves.

And thus began the witch hunts.

The dangers of Reiki?

The dangers of narrow-mindedness more like.

Live long and prosper,

Esin

It's actually pretty friggin sad. Most of these people on these sites if you read their initial posts are people who have just had emotional releases (albeit pretty big ones) and are otherwise experiencing normal Reiki occurences. Such as the tingling sensations etc.
But of course at least the site i saw didn't allow you to actually respond. You could send a post which was then viewed by the nazi moderator and he would decide if your post would get posted or not. And they specifically say if you seek to disagree or refute what they say they won't post your message. So you can't actually address their points and give them credible answers. You just have to deal with being a soldier of Satan ehehehe. It doesn;t really allow conversation or deeper understanding of Catholocism,the Bible or anything remotely God related.
I personally think these sites are to infalte the egos of utter control freaks. I can understand limiting arguments and such. Or inappropriate messages. But there are other ways to do it.

Otoharo!

You make me appreciate Mike more and more!

finality