The supernatural and 21st Century.

[Breton1900]

Here we are coming to the end of the first decade of the 21st Century. We know more about the world, ourselves, and the universe than ever before and this knowledge is growing year on year.

Yet many in the West, with all its advantages of technology and universal education, still feel the need to hold to beliefs that the scientific and rational would consider "the comforts of unreason".

What is it about some humans that seems to desire an acceptance of something supernatural?

Nemofish: Re Reiki engergy - What tests? Where have these been written up and peer reviewed?

Spiritmum: Please enlighten me but what is "channeling" and how is it done?

From what I've read, Reiki was invented by a Japanese individual in the early 20th century. As for your hands getting hot, wouldn't that be normal? A Reiki site tells me that "The practitioner gently places their hands non-intrusively in a sequence of positions which cover the whole body". This means that body heat from both individuals is being trapped by the hands - thus your hands get hot.

Lol, Nemo, I've had exactly the same thing.

My dh was ready to scoff when I came home from being empwoered with reiki 1 - then I tried it on him and he freaked - very funny. He doesn't like having reiki because he can't rationalise it yet knows it'lll get him through his next match better than painkillers.

The dds have always loved reiki but ds used to push my away when he was a toddler. Now he asks for it when he's out of sorts - he gets leg pain and ear infections. I don't use it in a preventative way as much as I could.

I've attuned dd1 now so I can have reiki at the end of a long day! She also treats her mates when they fall over in the playground!

I do remember once reading about a study showing that reiki affected the amount of insulin that diabetics need, so I'm careful to find out of anyone has it before treating them.

I acn understand why people question the truth about reiki and think it is a load of cobblers at best and an outright con at worst. But I'm not stupid and I'm not a liar, and I do feel it when my integrity is called into question.

Very funny about the crystal lady and Archangel Metatron. (whispers - I channel too, although I suspect that collective consciousness has a lot to do with what I pick up). I did read someone recently saying that the angels had told them Prince Charles is an alien. Which explains qute a bit actually.

(Tis funny in a way, but also not funny when it results in all of us who do this stuff being labelled as nutters or con artists).

spiritmum wrote: "I do remember once reading about a study showing that reiki affected the amount of insulin that diabetics need"

Where? How? What medical journal published this information?

How can touching someone possibly affect a diabetics' insulin level?

BTW what does "attuning" your daughter entail?

I don't wish to appear uncharitable but Reiki (rhymes with "flaky" ) appears to be just one more example of the superstitious, quasi-mystical claptrap that unfortunately permeates so much of our society today.

Oh, I have no problem with the flake label, rather suits me!

But - as I said, I do not lie and I do not delude myself and others, and would never dream of offering anything to anyone (let alone charging for it, which I do sometimes) if I did not know 100% that it is beneficial. I often treat a friend for a bad back and her husband couldn't understand why it makes her feel better so he asked my dh if I was hypnotising her .

My daughter has a mystery rash right now. Reiki helps her to feel better but here I'll put my hands up and say she also needs something more to stop the itching. She's got Eurax lotion, which contains an anti pruritic but 'it is not yet known how this works'. Which is fine, I don't need to know how it works, I just need to know that it does. Reiki is the same. One day I really do think we'll understand how it works in the same way that we understand radio waves, x-rays and of course electicity and the like.

You can add mystical elements to Reiki, but no more than you do to massage or yoga. Unfortunately when Reiki came to the West the lady who brought it ended up in the States just after Pearl Harbor. It wasn't good to be Japanese just then so she added in lots of cod religious stuff about Mikao Usui (who founded Reiki) being a Christian mystic and going up a mountain for forty days and whatnot. He wasn't; he was a Tendai Buddhist and Reiki comes out of the same school of thought as martial arts such as Tai Chi.

I have tried many different 'alternative' routes down the years, with no real success, and I wasn't expecting anything of Reiki either. I only went for it on a mnetter's recommendation as she used it on her dc who had SN.

I couldn't feel anything; I was attuned to Reiki, then I could. Primarily my hands get hot; I feel my hands get pushed away, or there is a coldness, or nothing. Very rarely I get knocked off my feet. When I receive Reiki I see lights and feel like I've just had several scotches.

I often give people treatments who are very sceptical (I don't charge in this circumstance) and who are stunned by what it does for them, but sometimes I do get someone who wants to 'prove' that I'm a fake and in that case I feel the energy block. Because Reiki is ultimately about taking the energy and healing yourself, if you don't want it then you won't feel it. I know that sounds like a cop-out but that's how it is, because any Reiki practitioner is just a channel and it is up to the recipient to accept the energy.

And anyone can be attuned to Reiki, it's not a gift you are born with. I'm not a healer.

As for attuning dd1, it's only a step up from a treatment. I just ask that she recieves the energy herself. Some Reiki lineages make it very complicated with lots of symbols but I studied through a group that have learned in Japan and it's very simple when taken back to its roots.

What does concern me is that we're in danger of banning anything that can't be 'proved'. Just because we can't understand something, that doesn't make it fake.

I will try and find the reference to the diabetic study but it's in my beginners manual and I don't know if I still have it.

Hi there, you are correct SpiritMum. I am writing a book about 'supernature... the 'supernatural,' call it what you will. So, when science realised earlier this year that the mathematical equation of E8 ( you must CHECK THIS OUT ON GOOGLE IMAGES IT IS MIND BLOWING) is to be found in every living thing now you could call it a 'super natural power' that obviously supercedes us - that is obviously at play, which is why it is lovely to believe that the 'creator' created us 'creative beings' to extend her creativity and joy in 'being.' We are all a little to blindsided and lost if we cannot see beyond our noses (my theory anyway).

PrudencePie: With all due respect E8 is not a mathematical equation it is a nomenclature. See here:

www.e8lie.com/

www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/19/maths_universe_everything/

At the end of the day it has nothing to do with any alleged "super natural" power. Mathematics provides the medium through which, ultimately, all scientific knowledge is assessed and theoretically expressed.

Lind J Dressen and Sangeeta Singh did clinical test re: using reiki and it's effect on things like pain management. Very simple test, using control group. I know nothing of the peer reviewing of which you speak though Breton.

Reiki is gaining more credibility as more research is done. I cannot name names and tell you who what where and so on as I simply don't know.

I know myslef that reiki is very effective with regards to pain management, speeding up the healing time of injuries, stress, anxiety, bereavement and depression. It is also quite useful to 'scan' someones body with your hands and pick up where there are old scars / injuries, and any other trouble spots. This is particularly useful if you have someone on your massage couch who is having a treatment but still making a face.

I know it sounds like toss. When I pick up leaflets in hippy shops about Tibetan rectal sound wave therapy for pets or whatever, I make a little face too. But if you take a look into studies done on Reiki the results are very interesting.

But I will shut my eyes and start rocking back and forth if you start talking about mathematics... tis witchcraft and devilry I tells ye!

That which we are looking to measure must have something to measure it by. In that I mean that before there was electricity, no one knew what it was or therefore how to measure a unit of it. Something had to be 'invented/discovered' to measure it and say 'here is a unit of electricity'. It is all energy at the end of the day, as are we humans (in my reality/belief system).

I see reiki and other forms of energy healing being the same - there is no 'reiki' meter, but it is all energy, that which scientists can measure. I am a reconnective healing practitioner and when I was learning this I was taught that it can be measured and has been studied www.sunzoomspark.com/Reconnection/Science.html and just for info it feels a lot more powerful than reiki (to me anyway). Those who have experienced it have reported many many benefits with their health problems/emotions etc.

Yes, it all sounds like clap trap, but it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

When I learned Reiki I was also cautioned against using it to treat broken bones, as due to the effects of reiki working at a cellular level it may cause the bone to set incorrectly. I was also taught re the insulin levels, and was told it was due to reiki having a balancing effect on the body - therefore is also cautioned with blood pressure too. Reiki apparently causes the body to heal/balance naturally and if the client was taking drugs to do the balancing, then reiki may over-balance due to the effect of the drug.

I may have read the tone of this post in the wrong mannner.

There are many many things in the world that cannot be explained yet, but it doesn't mean that they are supernatural, or that just because some people don't believe it that things don't exist for others. I too am in awe when I look up at the sky or even watch a plant growing, even me taking a breath is a wonderful feeling.

LOL at the Derren Brown prog with the liverpudlian - I can totally understand why he looked as if he was coming across as a cold reader, the guy did himself or any other spiritual mediums any favours. In fact, to me he looked fake.

A few years back now I kept thinking of people I hadn't seen for a while. One of these people was a childhood friend's dad. I could see him in my head and he was telling me something. Now I dismissed this but it kept on happening. I later found out that he had died, right around the time I saw him in my head. This freaked the living daylights out of me. This keeps on happening to me and the only way for me to prove that it is real - is that I have had many pieces of information that mean nothing to me - but something to the loved ones who are left behind. This totally blows my mind every single time - (you see I keep doubting it - am I going crazy, etc etc) Is this a supernatural occurence, or is it something that some of us can tune into and some of us can't? You might be a great dancer, mathematician or scientist - but I'm not.

indigobarbie: Thanks for your thoughts. As an alternative to your link to Reconnective Healing I offer the following clip from here:

"Finally, we must dishonor reconnective healing. According to its discoverer, chiropractor Eric Pearl

Reconnective Healing is a form of healing that is here on the planet for the very first time. It reconnects us to the fullness of the universe as it reconnects us to the fullness of our beings and of who we are. It is considered to be able to reconnect us to the universe and to our very essence not just through a new set of healing frequencies, but through possibly an entirely new bandwidth. The reality of its existence has demonstrated itself clearly in practice as well as in science laboratories.

As you probably noticed while reading the above, reconnective healing can cure insomnia, too."

Let us not forget that the British Chiropractic Association has recently dropped a libel case against Dr Singh following a High Court ruling!

I also offer this and this.

Oh and for those advocates of Reiki - I offer this. Like all placebos Reiki works by suggestion and conditioning.

For those who may be interested here is an interesting article on the placebo effect in general.

Thanks Breton , I agree that I wasn't sold on the reconnective healing marketing jargon, however I can testify to how it feels when I work with it - to me it feels like my hands are opposite poles as it feels like magnetic energy between them.

I don't have a clue or even care if it's a form of healing that is on the planet for the first time - I just know how good it feels, and that others said they like it too. Maybe like praising God by singing in church, I don't know.

I didn't read in your posts that you had tried any form of energy work, have you?

indigobarbie: Thanks for the response. No I have not tried any energy work - unless you include housework, gardening, or decorating!

I am afraid I don't share your opinions on these practices and see them as further evidence of what is becoming, IMO, increasingly delusional behaviour.

I can understand superstitions still existing in remote parts of the developing world where education is poor, or non existent, but fail to comprehend why, in a society that is entirely dependent upon science and technology, so many in the West appear to be prepared to abandon reason and place their faith in quackery which is invariably either dressed up in some form of ancient Eastern mysticism or parading as quasi science.

Breton, reading something on a sceptic's website isn't really going to be any different from reading something on the 'isn't reiki wonderful' website; it's subjective.

Lol at rubbing hands on trousers - methinks a charlatan is at hand. Also a bit at the idea anyone praticing Reiki claims to 'manipulate' anything.

I do understand the idea of autosuggestion and the rest but it doesn't account for why reiki works on young children (I've used it on babies) and animals.

And I know nobody who throws out anything that science offers in favour of reiki or anything similar. If I treat someone who has a medical condition then I always ask them to check with their doctor first and make it clear that they must continue with their conventional treatment. And one of the biggest ways in which reiki is used is in cancer support, alleviating the side effects of chemo; a lot of hospices have reiki pratitioners, and IME they usually give up their time for free. So nobody is suggesting that reiki or any other kind of energy healing replaces what modern medicine offers, but that it complements it. And that it has a role to play in maintaining well-being so that illness can be prevented in the first place.

spiritmum: I don't deny that these practices can alleviate psychosomatic problems. What I dispute are the claims made by those who deal in these practices when there is no objective and peer reviewed research to demonstrate their efficacy.

Let's face it, the NHS, much to the anger of many doctors and scientists, does offer all sorts of "complementary" practices because in today's "consumer" driven society, many in the upper echelons of the NHS have felt bound to offer these options. However, anybody knows that being massaged (an extended form of social grooming) or smelling pleasant scents has a relaxing and pleasing effect. There is nothing beyond that though and to allege that there is, is misleading, if not downright fraudulent.

Breton, please may I ask what prompted you to start your post in the first place?

Although in today's times we may be dependent on technology, that's not to say we are better off for it, not in all cases anyway. Sometimes technology removes the need for physical contact or speaking to people like we did in the 'olden days'.

When you say "put their faith in quackery" - some people have had to go seeking for alternate answers as today's scientists or Dr's have failed them. I see nothing wrong with looking elsewhere, when something which you thought could help, cannot. Look at those who have failed to be rid of cancer with chemo but can then heal themselves by eating raw vegetables. Some would say that's going crazy - noone can exist on that. What did we eat before food was GM, or processed or fortified etc

Then we have others who believe that the way you think creates illness in your body - but that's a whole other post entirely. AS is for another time those who believe that you choose your life path before you are born

Some might say that even the belief in God is all quackery too - but each to their own. Of course there are those who wish to do nothing but gain money and fool members of the public, unfortunately there is no way to know who is playing at that game, and who is not. With regards to reiki there was talk of an official qualification that would ensure those who wished to practise were the real deal, can't remember what is was called though.

Breton, you'll find that any reputable Reiki practitioner makes no claims as to healing medical problems. I recently saw a reiki website that claimed success with infertility which made me very . In fact if you want to register with one of the reiki governing bodies you aren't allowed to say that reiki can heal specific conditions.

When someone asks me what reiki is I explain. If they then ask if it can help them with xxxx I tell them that I can't answer that, but that reiki is very relaxing and that if the worst comes to the worst they've had an hour's chill out in lovely surroundings. I know what I've used it to help, but I make no claims to others because apart from the ethics it does take away a person's right to decide for themselves if something works for them. As it happens I've virtually 'retired' from working as a reiki practitioner, but only because I found I didn't have the time.

Incidentally there are a number of peer reviewed studies on the benefits of yoga and meditation, and also the healing effects of certain essential oils (stands to reason that if digitalin, aspirin and quinine are plant-based then other plants will have healing properties too). And I do feel a little discomforted by the assumption of the superiority of 'Western' medicine over 'Eastern' mysticism. Why not just 'medicine' and 'mysticism'?

Yes, Indigo, it's like mediums needing to say that their readings are 'for entertainment purposes only'. Yes, okay, for some people getting a reading is a bit of a laugh and there a a minority of charlatans out there; but why should a medium who attends a spiritualist church have to say that what he or she does is 'for entertainment only' when you don't find a sign up outside a church or an Alpha literature saying so?

Actually there is a lot more to massage than social grooming. Most people are unaware of the effects of massage.

Loosening of muscles thereby relieving pain at the site of tense muscles, this can alleviate back pain, tesion in the neck, stiffness, tension headaches.

Helps lower blood pressure.

Increases the speed with which the body deals with toxins and waste products via the lymph glands.

Can improve the condition of the skin.

Can increase the efficacy of some medicines, and so some patients should be closely monitiored by GP while undergoing treatment.

I have a diploma in massage therapy! It annoys me that people think of it as just a 'feelgood' thing, placebo, or lump it in with other 'quackery' while knowing less than nothing about it.

It astounds me that people so keen to dismiss things out of hand that they know nothing about. Study it. Buy a book, have a treatment (cheap taster sessions are usually available) hell, have two so you can compare, but it drives me crackers when people talk about reiki in a mocking tone and go on about 'waving your hands in the air' and then start asking very basic questions. You haven't a clue, you think it's shite because it is outside of your experience. (That's a general 'you').

There are many things outside the realm of normal, outside everyday experience. And there are also those people who try to tell you that only they can see the truth / heal your past lives / cure your cancer. Those people need a slap in my opinion, but please don't tar us all with the same brush.

I know, Nemo. My friend has a diploma too, she needed to study physiology and anatomy and was examined by a doctor for her final exam.

And if it was just 'feelgood' then top athletes, footballers and others wouldn't employ massage therapists to treat them after competeing or to help speed up healing.

I don't mind being thought delusional, I nealy became a priest so I'm used to it. I do object to being thought a con artist.

For anyone who feels I have inadvertently tarred them as being quacks - my sincere apologies.

I am in a bit of a bind here because, like Voltaire, I will defend your rights to your opinions but will argue against you all the way!

S'okay I am good at defending my own right to an opinion!

Btw - I don't suppose you are my ex-boyfriend who now lives in a very rainy northern town? You sound so much like him...

yup, was rushing and apologise for putting equation (not what i meant) but will say with all due respect - for you to prove that mathematics is NOT supernatural - surely we are all a little too arrogant to suppose mathematics is nothing but from nature - sorry must rush off to count my chickens eggs, eggs chickens?

Nemofish: thanks for that - no I'm not your ex bloke! Whatever would my husband think of his mature lady wife!!!!!

spiritmum, I didn't mean to offend. I am also a reiki master, so I therefore don't say for entertainment purposes only as I wholeheartedly don't agree that I should have to

Indigo, you didn't offend, not one bit. I was agreeing with you. I don't attend a spiritualist church but can't see why someone who does should be treated differently from someone who runs or attends a 'normal' church and offers to pray for someone or 'communicate with the Holy Spirit' or whatever.

I believe at the moment complementary therapists don't have to use the entertainment thing, but anyone offering intuitive work could in theory. Think my angel card readings are covered by this.