Does the Church ban a Catholic's use of reiki?

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A friend’s daughter from a good Catholic family is resorting to Reiki to treat a son seriously handicapped after an accident. I’ve always understood that this laying on of hands to bring about healing energy is contrary to Catholic teraching, but I don’t know specifically why.
 
You might find this article interesting:

Reiki: Healing with the Force
christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_Reiki1.html

It is from the Christian Answers For The New Age website. Although the author does not appear to be Catholic, she is very knowledgeable on the occult and related practices. I think this article answers all of your questions concerning the Christian attitude to this sort of practice.

Also, you should read the author’s life story. It is quite interesting and it will give you an idea of her level of expertise in this area.
 
Here’s one from a Catholic source:

ourladyswarriors.org/dissent/reiki.htm

This is becoming problematic because some Catholic hospitals are using it as part of their alternative medicine programs. Get ready to hear a lot of the consequentialist heresy in its defense: “If it makes them better, what’s wrong with it?” and so on.
 
In reading the referenced article, one might be led to believe that accupuncture is also something a Catholic should not use. Does anyone know if this is true or not?
 
Wayfarer said:
A friend’s daughter from a good Catholic family is resorting to Reiki to treat a son seriously handicapped after an accident. I’ve always understood that this laying on of hands to bring about healing energy is contrary to Catholic teraching, but I don’t know specifically why.
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It is the occult. Cathiolics should not engage in it. If they do then they need to go to confession, especially before they receive communion.
 
Wayfarer said:
A friend’s daughter from a good Catholic family is resorting to Reiki to treat a son seriously handicapped after an accident. I’ve always understood that this laying on of hands to bring about healing energy is contrary to Catholic teraching, but I don’t know specifically why.
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It rooted in Hinduism. Run far. Run very far.
 
In reading books about Reiki I found that the practitioner acts as a channel for an energy outside of himself. The problem is that not all energies (also called spirits) are good. Most people who practice Reiki would deny that there are evil spirits. IMO evil spirits exist and can heal the body and those who allow Reiki to be done to them may be innocently opening themselves to the influence of those spirits. Ditto for those who practice it. I don’t deny Reiki can be effective.

Acupuncture is much safer as it deals with the physical stimulation of energy or nerve pathways in the body and doesn’t involve channeling a spirit. I have found it to be safe and effective for me. Even then, I always pray for God’s protection before or during an acupuncture treatment because my acupuncturist has new age beliefs.
 
A good friend of mine is suffering from prostate cancer. He has already gone through “prostate seeding” and radiation…the cancer returned after one year. His PSI level was at 7.8. He began hormone therapy to block the testoterone which “feeds” the cancer…he also began Reiki treatments…he had a very interesting experience when the practitioner touched him…he felt “electric shocks” through out his body. His PSI level dropped from 7.8 to .075 in two weeks…he was on the hormone therapy about 2 weeks when he had his Reiki treatment and went for his PSI levels two days after the treatment.

According to his doctor, it would heave taken about 6-8 weeks or more to get a benefit from hormone therapy, so it is highly unusual to attribute his dramatic drop to therapy alone…she is at a loss…she doesn’t feel she is in a position to discount his Reiki experience…she is only concerned with results.

Does it work? I have not experienced it…I don’t know…did it work for him? He seems to believe so…his PSI is still in check many weeks after his ongoing treatments using Reiki.
 
Claire_from_DE said:
Acupuncture is much safer as it deals with the physical stimulation of energy or nerve pathways in the body and doesn’t involve channeling a spirit. I have found it to be safe and effective for me. Even then, I always pray for God’s protection before or during an acupuncture treatment because my acupuncturist has new age beliefs.
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I have a relative that is a medical doctor and at a family gathering asked if anyone wanted an acupuncture treatment. I didn’t do it, mostly because I was afraid this was somehow a new-age thing. It is good to know it is reasonably safe from a spiritual standpoint. Anyone else have experiences with acupuncture?
 
I use acupuncture to treat spastic muscles in my back and legs. I can be twisted to the side and not able to stand and in a great deal of pain. When I go in for acupuncture after about 10-15 minutes…my muscles begin to relax…and I hear “pop pop pop” up and down my spine and I straighten out. I walk in stooped over and in pain…I walk out standing up straight and the pain has receeded to a manageable level to go back to work.

I have used it to treat a severe cold…I went in with stopped up sinus’ and came out breathing freely…what I experience afterwards however is fatigue by the time I get home…I want to sleep, but when I awaken, I am refreshed and doing well.

I recomend it highly…the sensations during treatment are…“interesting”.
 
I’ve had acupuncture for a bad shoulder before. It was in a strictly medical context: I went to the doctor, he stuck the pins in and also sent me away with a prescription for pain killer. There was absolutely nothing spiritual about it; he talked about nerves and pressure points, but nothing about spiritual energy or spirits.

I think in that kind of context it’s perfectly safe, but I suppose other practitioners of acupuncture could put a religious or spiritual spin on it that could make it dangerous.

I’m not familiar with reiki, but it sounds much more problematic and I would avoid it.
 
Publisher said:
I use acupuncture to treat spastic muscles in my back and legs. I can be twisted to the side and not able to stand and in a great deal of pain. When I go in for acupuncture after about 10-15 minutes…my muscles begin to relax…and I hear “pop pop pop” up and down my spine and I straighten out. I walk in stooped over and in pain…I walk out standing up straight and the pain has receeded to a manageable level to go back to work.

I have used it to treat a severe cold…I went in with stopped up sinus’ and came out breathing freely…what I experience afterwards however is fatigue by the time I get home…I want to sleep, but when I awaken, I am refreshed and doing well.

I recomend it highly…the sensations during treatment are…“interesting”.
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I’ve used it for rheumatoid arthritis and joint pain. The experience is difficult to describe. I’d go in, all tense and in pain, then once the pins were in my entire body just relaxed in a profound way - so much so that I often found it difficult to stay awake. I was so relaxed after the treatments that I found it difficult to concentrate on my work, so I started doing it at the end of the day. 😉
 
Dempsey1919 said:
You might find this article interesting:

Reiki: Healing with the Force
christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_Reiki1.html

It is from the Christian Answers For The New Age website. Although the author does not appear to be Catholic, she is very knowledgeable on the occult and related practices. I think this article answers all of your questions concerning the Christian attitude to this sort of practice.

Also, you should read the author’s life story. It is quite interesting and it will give you an idea of her level of expertise in this area.
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Dempsey1919 said:
You might find this article interesting:

Reiki: Healing with the Force
christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_Reiki1.html

It is from the Christian Answers For The New Age website. Although the author does not appear to be Catholic, she is very knowledgeable on the occult and related practices. I think this article answers all of your questions concerning the Christian attitude to this sort of practice.

Also, you should read the author’s life story. It is quite interesting and it will give you an idea of her level of expertise in this area.
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Very in-depth commentary on reiki – most helpful. Thanks.

My wife also found an editorial response to a question about reiki in “This Rock” magazine. It fairly well summarizes the Catholic perspective:

"
*Christian anthropology holds that man is a union of body and soul such that the soul is the essential form of the body (a point infallibly defined by the Council of Vienna). The soul is a substantial form, not a type of energy. The *Catechism *points out that “it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body” (CCC 365). From a spiritual perspective, it is the soul that is the life-principle of the body, not something else.

Consequently, there is no spiritual “life energy” animating the body. Any energy used as part of the body’s operations—such as the electricity in our nervous systems—is material in nature, not spiritual. The various forms of Hinduism and Buddhism that posit the existence of a life energy (ki or* kundalini*) interpret that energy as spiritual. Since this is contrary to Christian theology, it is inappropriate for Christians to participate in activities based on this belief. "*
 
solayan said:
I’ve had acupuncture for a bad shoulder before. It was in a strictly medical context: I went to the doctor, he stuck the pins in and also sent me away with a prescription for pain killer. There was absolutely nothing spiritual about it; he talked about nerves and pressure points, but nothing about spiritual energy or spirits.

I think in that kind of context it’s perfectly safe, but I suppose other practitioners of acupuncture could put a religious or spiritual spin on it that could make it dangerous.

I’m not familiar with reiki, but it sounds much more problematic and I would avoid it.
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I haven’t posted on Catholic Answers Forum for quite some time. I’ve just been browsing, and the thread about Reiki caught my eye. I don’t want to get into any arguments about it. But I do want to stop the untruths about it from spreading among otherwise intelligent Christians.

Reiki does NOT channel spirits. Reiki practitioners tap into the energy that comes from God/The Source/All That Is/The Origin of All That’s Good/However else you like to refer to our sentient Divine Deity. Occult practices are not inherently part of Reiki. Some pracititioners claim that using crystals or music or artwork, etc., enhances the flow of energy. Some also claim that they receive intuitive messages from spirit guides who help them direct energy where it’s needed most.

All that said, Reiki, pure and simple, does not depend on any occult, other-worldly, involvement by the practitioner or the recipient. The energy transported during Reiki has actually been scientifically measured (just FYI for those who purport that it’s a figment of the practitioner’s imagination).

The most important factor in Reiki is the intention that it be for the recipient’s highest good. There is NEVER anything harmful as far as intention or outcome with Reiki. If there is harm intended or harm observed, the practice was NOT Reiki. It was something else.

If you want to argue about “staying away from”… healing modalities, please get the facts straight first. Reiki is not an occult practice and its use isn’t a sin. It’s a healing technique, based on the same principles as accupunture.

I don’t believe in a God who would ban somebody from his church or send somebody to hell for working for the greatest good of his creation. I’m a Reiki practitioner, and what I do only strengthens my relationship with the same God the rest of you forum members worship.

Thank you for letting me clear that up.

JLN
 
jln said:
I haven’t posted on Catholic Answers Forum for quite some time. I’ve just been browsing, and the thread about Reiki caught my eye. I don’t want to get into any arguments about it. But I do want to stop the untruths about it from spreading among otherwise intelligent Christians.

Reiki does NOT channel spirits. Reiki practitioners tap into the energy that comes from God/The Source/All That Is/The Origin of All That’s Good/However else you like to refer to our sentient Divine Deity. Occult practices are not inherently part of Reiki. Some pracititioners claim that using crystals or music or artwork, etc., enhances the flow of energy. Some also claim that they receive intuitive messages from spirit guides who help them direct energy where it’s needed most.

All that said, Reiki, pure and simple, does not depend on any occult, other-worldly, involvement by the practitioner or the recipient. The energy transported during Reiki has actually been scientifically measured (just FYI for those who purport that it’s a figment of the practitioner’s imagination).

The most important factor in Reiki is the intention that it be for the recipient’s highest good. There is NEVER anything harmful as far as intention or outcome with Reiki. If there is harm intended or harm observed, the practice was NOT Reiki. It was something else.

If you want to argue about “staying away from”… healing modalities, please get the facts straight first. Reiki is not an occult practice and its use isn’t a sin. It’s a healing technique, based on the same principles as accupunture.

I don’t believe in a God who would ban somebody from his church or send somebody to hell for working for the greatest good of his creation. I’m a Reiki practitioner, and what I do only strengthens my relationship with the same God the rest of you forum members worship.

Thank you for letting me clear that up.

JLN
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You mention accupuncture. There is a hard science to that, based on points along meridians. Is there hard science for where the Reiki person must touch for each illness? Science for where the energy comes from?

And how do you anwer this post made by Wayfarer
Christian anthropology holds that man is a union of body and soul such that the soul is the essential form of the body (a point infallibly defined by the Council of Vienna). The soul is a substantial form, not a type of energy. The Catechism points out that “it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body” (CCC 365). From a spiritual perspective, it is the soul that is the life-principle of the body, not something else.
Click to expand...
Consequently, there is no spiritual “life energy” animating the body. Any energy used as part of the body’s operations—such as the electricity in our nervous systems—is material in nature, not spiritual. The various forms of Hinduism and Buddhism that posit the existence of a life energy (ki or kundalini) interpret that energy as spiritual. Since this is contrary to Christian theology, it is inappropriate for Christians to participate in activities based on this belief. "
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This holds that there is no spiritual energy concept compatable with Catholic teaching.
 
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