Training as a traditional Reiki master is one of the most challenging endeavors I’ve ever undertaken. I regularly quipped, “If I ever make it through this program, we’re going to the top of Mount Kurama for the initiation!” That seemed, at those times, as impossible as finishing the program.
Well, Reiki delivers. Here’s how my Master initiation on May 11, 2019 took place.
Very early that morning I woke overwhelmingly excited for the day, so I went to sit in my morning practice at Kurama Onsen’s meditation room. I’d just finished as Brian entered the space to start his. We determined to set out early to climb the mountain, joined by Brian’s first Master student Christopher Tellez of SF Reiki Center.
Mid-mountain, we stopped and sat in meditation at the Amida Buddha temple. I instantly felt pacified and grounded there, so I was happy to have a few minutes to calm my enthusiasm and have more quiet time with the energy of Mt. Kurama.
A few steps up to Kurama-dera, the mountain’s main temple, we requested a special invocation ceremony, in which the priests pray for blessings of protection, health, prosperity, and the like. As Brian and I marked the end of nearly 3 years of Master training and started planning our future work together at NYC Reiki Center and our non-profit Reiki Centers of America, it seemed appropriate to request this ritual before the Master initiation ceremony.
We also bought a Heart Sutra candle to burn in the temple’s crypt before the statues of the mountain’s three deities – Maoson, Bishamonten, and Kannon. We filled out a prayer card with our intentions to benefit all of our students and clients.
At the top of the mountain, we’d discussed having the attunement either just past the tree-root path at Osugi Gongen, where Usui is thought to have sat for his 21-day meditation, or at Okunoin thought by some to be the most powerful spot on the mountain. We opted for the latter.
There were quite a few people milling about the Inner Sanctum, so we sent Reiki to clear the area, and the people wandered away, just long enough for us to do the initiation!
Et voila, a new Master was made!
We hiked down the Kibune side of the mountain, visited the Shinto water shrines, walked the town, and had a pancakes and coffee luncheon!
I’m so grateful to my teacher Brian Brunius, who literally climbed mountains to see me through to that day!
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