If you don’t feel ready for 2nd Degree, please don’t do it.

You already have everything you need as a qualified Reiki practitioner with your 1st Degree. You know and live the Principles, the Ethics and the Contra-indications. You are qualified to practice Reiki on yourself and to offer Reiki to others. You have been given enough knowledge to successfully run your own practice. If you have the courage, you will also have answered your own questions Who am I? and Why am I here? on your own personal spiritual Journey.

If you wish to undertake 2nd Degree because it is on the way to getting your Masters, then please stop and think first. The saddest person in the world is often the person who was in too much of a hurry to reach their destination, rather than appreciating their Journey. Don’t try to pack a lifetime quickly into a weekend as you reach for yet another certificate for your collection. If you don’t know how, all your certificates are merely pieces of paper; admittedly expensive pieces of paper, but that is all they are because you still don’t know how.

The race to collect certificates reminds me of an old Danny Kaye movie called The Court Jester, where Danny Kaye is made a knight overnight. While it is a very funny movie, it is still so sad when a man of principle is rushed willy-nilly through training that would normally have meant so much to him and have taught him so much about himself. Yet the training, the companionship of fellow knights, the vigil, the whole marvellous, mystical, meaningful ceremony, is turned into a whirling nonsense by a King’s impatience.

The people I feel sorriest for in this world are the impatient ones who experience their Reiki training as some sort of race where the prize is their Master’s certificate. They are usually very nice people with lovely energy or they wouldn’t be attracted to Reiki in the first place, but sad inside because somewhere, somehow, they know that something is missing. How distressing it must be to have come so close to discovering your personal truth and still be so far from experiencing Usui’s secret methods of inviting happiness.

Reiki is not a race. It is not a religion. It is not a collectible, not a curio, and certainly not a certificate. It is Reiki, and Reiki is.

Now, having said that, do you know why you want 2nd Degree? (and don’t tell me why, this is YOUR Journey. I am no more than a facilitator, sharing knowledge where I have it.) If you feel that 2nd Degree is right for you now, then so be it - and please read on.

2nd Degree Reiki is an incredible, joyous, laughing, loving, extension of your Reiki energy.

You will learn three Reiki symbols and how to use them, how to scan for imbalances, how to interpret energy flow, how to pass energy from one person to another across a room, across a continent, across a world … and you will still be amazed when it happens, because everyone who successfully completes their 2nd Degree is surprised by the power and magnificence of the energy available for their use. See the 2nd Degree Companion for a full list of what you will experience.

In your 2nd Degree training, you will:

1. Develop a greater understanding that Reiki is an individual spiritual experience, especially the mind/body link.
2. Develop a greater knowledge of how Reiki energy can be used intuitively to sense and scan.
3. Consider the philosophical and metaphysical ramifications of intuitive work.
4. Learn and become proficient in the use of the three Reiki symbols.
5. Develop an understanding of the use of, and experience how energy can be focussed, using these symbols in group work.
6. Consider the philosophical and metaphysical ramifications of the increased power inherent in using these three symbols.
7. Be aware of your greater responsibilities as a Reiki practitioner.

I strongly recommend that you take your 2nd Degree training as part of a group (because it’s just so much more fun sharing with like-minded people!) and also that you read at least the Little Miracles section of the Second Degree Companion before you decide to continue.

Bright blessings