Chastity Hyllion

There are many forms of Reiki being practiced in the US. Some have new symbols. Some have new attunements. Some have unique theories on how the process of an energy session works. Some have unique theories on how the transmission of energy works. Some use other healing systems to add to the Reiki process or support an individual’s process. When reading Medical Reiki by Raven Keys, given the myriad of possibilities, one would expect some new practice or technique which is specific to Reiki when done in a medical setting. Something that advances energy work or produces some form of exceptional healing. The book contains none of that information.

A trademarked practice, which requires that clients which seek a “medical reiki” practitioner must go through an exclusive single system to book a practitioner, that only practitioners who have gone through this exclusive program can use the trademarked title “medical reiki practitioner” and that charge the practitioners to maintain the title. The book appears to provide no actual information on the difference between “medical reiki” and any other form of reiki. Containing a series of anecdotal stories, no empirical information, no explicit techniques and no researched proof that anything in this process provides improved outcomes or care, the book fails in most standard expected outcome measures. Keys states “for me, the word “mystical” has come to equate with “scientific.” Perhaps that reason is why there is no clear defined techniques or research proof that “medical reiki” does anything other than be “mystical.” Of course “mystical” is never defined either and would hardly be considered medical. She does follow this statement by advocating for research later in the book, as stating, “Now I understand that surgeons are scientists, and as such, they wanted to see what Reiki was capable of producing.”