0408newsletter

Temple of The Phoenix
817 SW Adams, Peoria, Il 61602

April~May 08 Newsletter

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THE TRANCE STATE AS A RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE.
E-MAIL US HERE!

REIKI: A Path of Light and Healing
By: Jenny Purcell-Jones, RN; Level II Usvi Reiki Practioner

REI, Spirit, Sacred
KI, Energy, Spirit, Spiritual Essence

REIKI (RAY-KEE) is a Japenese healing system that facilitates "self-healing" and healing of others through the use of energy and the "laying of hands". The way of Reiki is passes from one person to the next in the form of a lineage tradition or "attonement". Though Reiki is fairly new to the United States (becoming popular in the 70's), it has been used in Eastern medicine since the early 19th century. Reiki was developed by a Buddhist Doctor by the name of Mikao Usui after an intense 21 day meditation retreat on Mt. Kurama. It is said that the completion of his meditation Dr. Usui gained a realization into the way of healing. Many sources say that a great energy appeared over his head and he received the attunement of the Universal healing energy. From this encounter and his personal history, he formulated what is now known as Reiki.

One of the many reasons I enjoy Reiki as a healing art is because it's principals do follow many Wiccan principles. Some of the principles include: Just for today, do not worry-Just for today, Do not anger-Honor your parents, teachers and elders-Show gratitude to EVERY LIVING THING. Though Reiki is not a "religion" it can compliment any faith or philiosophy. There are many theories to the why's and hows of how Reiki works - connecting to the devine energy, opens chakras, activates the hara line, etc... I describe it more like electricity going through a wire. Through my atunements, universal energy passes through the top of my head, flows to my hands out to the person receiving. Reiki is an intelligent energy-many believe from the all-pervading power either named God, Buddha, Nature or The Great Spirit. It is intelligent in that it goes where it is needed - regardless of where the practioner's hands are placed. It can be used on any living being, even some non living stones have been told to me about people using it on their cars, to ensure a safe trip. Reiki can calm fears, tensions and sundues negative energy. It is aslways safe and it's supply is on a forever free-flowing tap. It's benefits last a lifetime and are available 24/7.

Believe it or not, this is a brief insight intro to the powers and philisophies of Rei-ki. I would encourage anyone interested to complete Reiki I for a "taste of the gratification of healing."

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THE
REIKI EXPERIENCE.
WORKSHOP IS THE MAKING!
E-MAIL US HERE!

BRIEF HI-LIGHT OF EVENTS FOR APRIL N' MAY

APRIL 19, SATURDAY, FULL MOON, RSVP
APRIL 22, TUESDAY, EARTH DAY CELEBRATION, RSVP
MAY 18, SUNDAY, NATAVE AMERICAN WORKSHOP, SPIRIT PLATE. RSVP
MAY 25, SUNDAY, SUN DANCE CEREMONY, RSVP

EVERY THURSDAYS, CLASS 6PM
2ND AND 4TH SUNDAY, TEMPLE SERVICE



	The Trance State as a Religious Experience By William L. Smith, M.S. For those of you unfamiliar with the science of trance states, you may be surprised that there is actually some scientific research on the subject out there; you just have to know where to look. I know, because I've done some digging on the subject and have been blessed to have an anthropologist friend who is knowledgeable on the subject. In March 2003, I did a presentation for her Shamanism class. What follows below is a modified version of this half-hour talk I gave then to fit the format of this newsletter. What a trance state is not is a mental illness like Schizophrenia. According to the American Psychiatric Association (1994, p. 285), the characteristic symptoms of Schizophrenia are: Delusions Hallucinations (hearing, seeing, touching, tasting and smelling things that are not physically present) Disorganised speech (frequent derailment of thoughts or incoherence of speech Grossly disorganised or catatonic behaviour Negative symptoms such as having a flat/monotone voice, involition or alogia (the inability to speak) Nor is it Dissoctiative Trance Disorder. This was a proposed mental disorder in 1994, in which someone has involuntarily entered a state of trance that is not culturally accepted as the norm. Someone with this type of mental illness is experiencing clinically significant psychological distress and cannot function normally in society. What, then, is a trance state? It's something that people have experienced for literally thousands of years. If you practise Wicca, you're probably familiar with it when you draw down the moon on a Full Moon. However, in early Christianity it was called a charism and referred, for instance, to someone speaking in tongues. As the early American psychologist William James described it, however, people in a trance did not always speak in tongues. In his Varieties of Religious Experience, he recounts how Quakerism's founder, George Fox, walked barefoot in the dead of winter through Litchfield, England, shouting at the top of his lungs “Wo to the bloody city of Litchfield!” before ultimately reclaiming his shoes from their custodians outside town and going on his way. As Fox noted in the same journal entry that James cites, in the Roman emperor Diocletian's time a massacre of Christians had occurred there and the streets ran with blood. Since at the time I was not in a position to bring a channeller in to the class to demonstrate this point, I did the next best thing, I read aloud for the class the Gnostic text The Thunder: Perfect Mind as it illustrated perfectly, in my opinion, a phenomenon I've seen first hand on more than one occasion. Nowadays, I'd point you online to YouTube and Loreena McKennitt's performance of her song All Souls Night from her CD The Visit and let the lyrics and music speak for themselves. I would also steer you towards Russian psychiatrist Olga Kharitidi's book, Entering the Circle: Ancient Secrets of Siberian Wisdom Discovered by a Russian Psychiatrist. In it, she recounts numerous experiences she has had in a trance state. One of the most memorable opens her book, in which she describes how some shamans from the past summoned her to help bring someone back from the dead. The person who got revived was a lucky stiff indeed! Summing things up, one way to say it is something like this: No, Virginia, you're not nuts if you experience a trance and find out that possession is not nine-tenths of the law when you're drawing down the moon. People from cultures around the world have them and use them to gain knowledge in ways that the Internet scarcely begins to rival, as well as to heal themselves and benefit their communities as a whole. * * * References American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders. (4th ed.) Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association. James, W. (1902/1958). The Varieties of Religious Experience. New York: Mentor. Kharitidi, O., M.D. (1996). Entering the Circle: Ancient Secrets of Siberian Wisdom Discovered by a Russian Psychiatrist. New York: HarperSan Francisco. McKennitt, L. All Souls Night. Found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qQHlWkSM_o. The Thunder: Perfect Mind. Found at: http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/thunder.html. William L. Smith, M.S., is a psychologist living in Galesburg, IL, who is currently completing a Transpersonal Studies certificate online at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, where spirituality is incorporated into the graduate psychology curriculum.