Western Universal Reiki

Western Universal Reiki

Although Mrs. Takata had received her final initiations from Dr. Hayashi in 1938, she did not prolifically teach Reiki until she traveled from Hawaii to America in the early 1970s. Once Mrs. Takata arrived in the United States, she began teaching Reiki to anyone she felt was sincere, and with the desire to extend this teaching to as many beings as possible.

Before Mrs. Takata made her transition in 1980; she had initiated some twenty two teachers in the third degree of the Reiki system. Mrs. Takata taught in a very different manner from one student to the next and, as a result, many of the original twenty two Western Reiki teachers have variations on their Reiki symbols, teaching methods and initiation procedures. These methods have been further distorted and fragmented over the last twenty years as the system has been disseminated throughout the western world. Most Reiki teachers in the western world today have their lineage traced to one of these twenty two teachers empowered to teach the Universal Reiki system.

“Prior to Mrs. Takata’s death, a meeting of Takata’s students was called. At this time, Mrs. Takata proclaimed Barbara Ray as her successor in the Universal Reiki System. Barbara Ray, studied with Mrs. Takata from 1978 to 1980, she later formed her own Reiki style which she called, ‘The Radiance Technique’.

Mrs. Takata took it upon herself to teach Reiki according to her students’ abilities and talents. She also tended to teach in an irregular fashion, and as a result, many variations in the Western Reiki System occurred. Today, as Reiki is passed to the next generation of Reiki teachers it becomes harder to encounter an intact Western Reiki System. This also accounts for the many and varied Reiki styles available today.

Since Mrs. Takata’s death other teachers have assumed the title of ‘Successor’, which is -also referred to as ‘Grand Master’. Terms like ‘Master’, “Successor”, and ‘Grand Master’ have become new additions to the Reiki system since it made its transition from East to West. These terms were never used in Usui’s day or as any part of the original Japanese Reiki system.