Healing comes in many forms, and some of the most popular are practices such as Reiki, and some of the most misunderstood can be witchcraft. These seemingly disparate sets of ideas are employed in my personal and professional practice in various ways. While both involve the use of energy to promote healing, and they have many similar practices, they sometimes go about it in different ways.
Reiki as a modern method based tradition is, at it’s core, a Japanese energy healing technique that involves the transfer of universal energy to the recipient through the practitioner’s hands. The energy is thought to promote relaxation, reduce stress, and promote healing on a physical, emotional, and spiritual level.
Witchcraft is a broad term that encompasses a variety of practices, including ritual magick, spellcasting, and divination. Many Witches use their practices to connect with the natural world and to harness the power of energy for protection, communion, and other purposes, including healing. Some of the most powerful healing techniques I have experienced have been through the lens of modern Witchcraft.
I have worked in a lot of different healing circles and I have found that Reiki and witchcraft are sometime seen as being at odds with each other, usually for religious reasons or imbedded beliefs about what Witchcraft is. Reiki is not a religion and it’s practices are open to everyone and do not require faith, but engagement. Reiki flows through whoever the practitioner is, because of this Reiki has a broad base of appreciators as it is accessible to all. Witchcraft also has a broad base of practitioners that come from many walks of life, and the beautiful thing about Witchcraft, is that it is diverse. For me it is a system of discovery, knowledge, love, and power, touching the natural, elemental, celestial, and even the Underworld. How we do that is different, depending on the practice and tradition, in effect Witchcraft could be considered open to all, and I find it is those who dare to know, that come.
The outer body of both practices can seem different, as aesthetics range from love, light, angels and Buddhas with Reiki, and skulls, thorns, moons, and sometimes many Goddesses and Gods in Witchcraft. I’m being glib to make a casual point, open your social and hashtag Reiki and then Witchcraft, and see the difference. While the image of the two may seem to suggest entirely different worlds, there are a lot of practitioners that will tell you they can be used together to create a powerful healing experience.
I call this Reiki Ritual Healing, and sometimes Reiki Energy Arts, and often assist my clients with both, if they are open. I know many Witches who practice Reiki, or integrate the universal energy into their own, because Reiki, and some parts of the Witchcraft practice I teach and offer, promote healing.
There are a variety of studies out there that speak to the efficacy of Reiki, suggesting that it may be ultimately be good for healing because it helps us relax. While I believe the Miraculous Healing Energy that Dr. Mikao Usui spoke of and practice during his life is more than relaxation, I do find that my clients get a lot out of the assisted meditative state that happens during a session. Other studies have suggested that Reiki can be effective in aiding people in other ways, I now know psychologists, nurses, therapists, doctors, and even a renowned surgeon here in the SoCal area that practice Reiki, or energy techniques.
Witchcraft can also be used to promote welness. For example, Witches can use spellcasting to banish illness or to promote healing. We can work with the Universal Life Force Energy, like Reiki, but through the Earth, plants, stones, and mythic landscapes of guided journeys. We might even employ oracular tools to enhance our intuitive and psychic capacity to help someone find the source of their pain, and lead them to to the place where they can decide on their next steps on the healing journey.
Some people will conflate or wrongly suggest that Witchcraft is a dark or evil practice, and I can speak from my own experience of many, many years in the life of a Witch and healer, it can most definitely be a very healthy, happy, and healing path. Our collective history has many, many people who were doing good things for their communities, horribly punished in the name of religion, and called a Witch, even when they were not. This harmful, persecutorial attitude still lives today, and it is a fear of the unknown, and the other, that is used to make monsters out of great Witches.
When used together, Reiki and witchcraft can create a powerful healing experience that can help to improve physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. If you are looking for a healing modality that is both traditional and modern, Reiki and witchcraft, with the right healing facilitator could be a good option to add to your healing program. Even if it is only assisted meditation to you, there is a lot that can come from the stillness that arises out of meditation.
As there are so many practitioners now that practice both Reiki and Witchcraft, here are some tips for finding a good practitioner:
- When choosing a practitioner ask questions. Don’t just look for web presence, or followers, find someone who can give you concrete as well as spiritual answers to your questions.
- Discuss your goals for healing with your Reiki practitioner. Understand how they will use their modalities to reach your goals, get clearly defined direction, even if the answers are yet to resolve, you want to know how Reiki, Witchcraft, or both can be used for you benefit.
- Be open to the experience. Reiki and witchcraft can work in different ways, so it is important to be open to whatever comes up during your healing session. Again, ask questions, your practitioner should be able to explain both.
- Trust your gut. If you feel drawn to a particular healing modality, trust your curiosity. There are many reasons you may be attracted to the modality, when you are sure of your direction, you have something to work with. Don’t do what feels uncomfortable, in most instances, or work with anyone that you don’t feel safe with.
- Understand that healing can take time. Reiki and/or Witchcraft may affect immediate changes, or assist you in your journey, but a lot of the changes that come about may be subtle at first, working through the Spiritual or energetic first. Again a good practitioner should be willing to hear your story, and help you to understand the processes of their modality, and help you navigate that journey by providing feedback from their experience.
Reiki and witchcraft can both be powerfully healing, if you are open and ready for it.
Scott K Smith
About
I am a Reiki Master Practitioner Teacher in several Reiki modalities, an Ordained High Priest, and Minister in the Temple of Witchcraft. I have done work in the massage and health care field, through events, and private clients, and integrate these experiences into my work.
You can learn more about me at my personal practice website: TheSacredOther.com