Spirituality/Paganism & Magick: Metaphysical Hygiene

A friend of mine recently joined a small healing group after becoming certified as a Reiki practitioner. The group meets monthly to do healing work on each other, and to do “absentee healing” for those who’ve requested it. Everyone in the group is certified in Reiki, which means that each person has at least learned the basics of hands-on metaphysical healing.

After about three months with the group, my friend reported, “They don’t wash their hands after doing a Reiki session.” Although not surprising, in fact this is par for the course, it’s nonetheless disturbing. Ignoring basic ritual hygiene can be detrimental, both to the healer and to the next person the healer treats.

Reiki, like most metaphysical healing techniques, works on the principle of channeling the ki or chi, the life-force energy that’s thought to be essential to both maintaining good health and to the healing process. During the process, there is an energy exchange, meaning that the degraded energy from the person receiving the treatment is passed through the healer. Although the bulk of this energy is passed harmlessly into the ground, there is usually some residual psychic gunk left attached to the hands of the healer. Therefore, most Reiki teachers will advise their students to rinse their hands under running water after a treatment. If this is not done, it’s very possible to pass this energy on to the next person treated.

This is not always possible, of course. Sometimes, as in the case of an accident or injury, treatments are given in places where there’s no convenient way to rinse. Even in these cases, the practitioner should remain mindful and try to wash the hands as soon as it’s convenient to do so.

It’s been my experience, however, that many professional Reiki practitioners pay little attention to this need for good metaphysical hygiene. They’ll make a great show of throwing the energy off with a flick of the fingers and wrists, but hardly ever bother to rinse, even if there’s a sink in the same room. They act as if this isn’t important, in spite of the fact that all of the books on Reiki, as well as all of the great Reiki masters, have stressed the importance of this aspect of the process.

When you think about it, this is an interesting phenomenon. Here we have people who have bucked scientific thought to believe in the ability to heal by touch. In addition, the Reiki practitioner has learned to believe that healing can be aided by the mental visualization of secret magical Reiki symbols, and spends hours studying and practicing with the different variations on these symbols. Indeed, most Reiki practitioners have spent big bucks for a Reiki attunement, a ritual that “turns-on the Reiki” to allow the receiver to become a certified Reiki practitioner. Yet, after investing so much into learning this system, they dismiss hygiene practices as “not important” or optional.

This dismissing of metaphysical hygiene is in no way confined to practitioners of Reiki, but is endemic to the entire New Age community. Take many Wiccan groups, for example, who use ritual to open a circle and create sacred space. This space is considered very powerful, and affected by consciousness. Therefore, people are warned to leave all personal issues with other members of the group outside the circle. If you’re having an argument with someone, let it be for the moment and enter the circle with the spirit of “perfect love and perfect trust.” If this is not possible, then don’t participate in the ritual.

This concept is so simple that it would be included in any introductory class on Wicca. Yet, I have been present several times at public demonstrations of ritual technique when heated arguments have broken-out during the middle of a ceremony that is supposed to be sacred. Such incidents can actually be dangerous, not only to the persons arguing, but to everyone involved in the ritual activity.

Another case involved a young lady who invoked a Goddess into herself during another public demonstration of Pagan ritual techniques. Although common metaphysical hygiene would dictate that a banishing be performed after completion of the ritual, this was not done. When several members of the group noted this omission and insisted that the group be brought back together for a cleansing, the group’s leaders thought this “unimportant.” Unfortunately, the young lady who’d invoked the Goddess was noticeably changed for several years after the incident, as if she’d been possessed by this spirit.

Reiki, ritual, dream work and all of the other aspects of the New Age are powerful tools that are meant to help us in our evolutionary quest. As with all power tools, great care needs to be taken whenever they are used. An important part of being a Reiki master or Wiccan priestess is understanding and utilizing good metaphysical hygiene.

©Copyright 2003 by AlternativeApproaches.com