For many years there has been a secrecy surrounding Reiki symbols. In many Reiki therapy classes, the master would insist that the students memorize the Reiki symbols and not write them down anywhere. Perhaps the fear was that they would be misused if they fell into the wrong hands.

Of perhaps there was a more sinister motive. Traditionally, it has been very difficult and expensive to become a Reiki master. Indeed, some masters charged $10,000 for Reiki III, the master level.

Whatever the reason, it is surprising that some Reiki associations and master shrouded the Reiki symbols with secrecy. Because this ignores one of the fundamental truths about Reiki!

Reiki cannot harm somebody, it can only do good! So an untrained person trying to use the Reiki symbols will not cure you. But you won't be any worse off, because Reiki cannot harm you. Therefore, the fear that the Reiki symbols would fall into the wrong hands is no justification for all the secrecy.

That makes one think that the more likely reason for the secrecy was to control the healing art, and keep it very exclusive and expensive. In any event, Reiki symbols have now been widely published and are no longer a big secret. One of the first to publish them was Diane Stein, who is acknowledged as a very powerful Reiki master and an authority on the healing arts.

She also had her suspicions that the secrecy was more for business than for the betterment of the art!

One of the strange consequences of all of the secrecy surrounding the Reiki symbols is that there is now much debate about which is the correct original form of the four major symbols. Because people were working from memory, and memory can fade over time, different renditions of the symbols have emerged.

Various factions are claiming that their version is the true original. But the very fact that there are variations of the symbols in existence proves the most important point I want to make here in this article.