REIKI ÉTERNEL, AMOUR ET LUMIÈRE

03/01/2026

“Circle of the Great Bear”

In the hush of evening firelight
the mountains lift their ancient backs,
and the river threads silver
through stone and memory.

Above the valley,
within a painted circle of sun and dusk,
the Great Bear watches—
not as beast alone,
but as elder spirit of the land.

His fur holds the color of earth,
the warmth of cedar bark,
the patience of roots
that have listened for centuries.

The pines stand at his shoulder
like young warriors learning stillness.
The peaks bow behind him,
white with old prayers.

Water moves below—
restless, bright, unbroken—
singing against rock,
teaching the language of persistence.

The old teachings say
Bear walks between strength and mercy.
His power is not loud thunder,
but the steady breath of survival.

When he lowers his head,
it is not in defeat,
but in remembrance—
of salmon runs,
of winter moons,
of footsteps long returned to soil.

Within the circle of sky-fire
his spirit glows—
a reminder that all life
moves in sacred rounds:
season to season,
story to story,
child to elder.

Stand firm as stone,
flow true as river,
guard gently what you love.

For the land is not owned—
it is carried in the heart,
as Bear carries the forest
in every step he takes.

02/01/2026

01/20/2026

Lao Tzu /
"Lao Tzu, also rendered as Laozi and Lao-Tze, was an ancient Chinese philosopher and writer. He is the reputed author of the Tao Te Ching, the founder of philosophical Taoism, and a deity in religious Taoism and traditional Chinese religions. A semi-legendary figure, Lao Tzu is usually portrayed as a 6th-century BC contemporary of Confucius in the Spring and Autumn period. However, some modern historians consider him to have lived during the Warring States period of the 4th century BC. A central figure in Chinese culture, Laozi is claimed by both the emperors of the Tang dynasty and modern people of the Li surname as a founder of their lineage. Laozi's work has been embraced by both various anti-authoritarian movements and Chinese Legalism."

01/17/2026

According to the caption of this remarkable photo, it was was taken 100 years today, on January 16, 1926. Read from right to left, it says that it contains all of the Shinshin Kaizen Usui Reiki Ryōhō "reiju-sha" (people who could give reiju, the precursor to Reiki initiations) at that time. Less than two months later, Usui-sensei would make his transition.

I first* encountered this photo in Frank Arjava Petter's groundbreaking 2012 book This Is Reiki (I believe there was an earlier 2009 German edition), and I would like to express my gratitude to Arjava, as well as to Olaf Böhm and Mochizuki Tosh*taka, for sharing their research.

Arjava's caption in This Is Reiki identifies six of the twenty-one men in the photo (please note, I am just numbering them in order that they are in the photo).

1. Back row, far left, Captain Wanami Hōichi (1883–1975, would become Rear Admiral in 1931), fifth Gakkai president (c. 1960–1975)
2. Back row, third from left, Rear Admiral Taketomi Kan'ichi (1878–1960), third Gakkai president (1935–1945, c. 1947–1960)
3. Second row, third from left, Usui Mikao (1865–1926), founder and first Gakkai president
4. Second row, fourth from left, Rear Admiral Ushida Jūzaburō (1865–1935), second Gakkai president (1926–1935)
5. Front row, far left, Captain Hayashi Chūjirō (c. 1880–1940), founder of Hayashi Reiki Kenkyūkai
6. Inset, far right, Tomabechi Gizō (1880–1959)

I don't know exactly who the other fifteen men are, but judging from a 1928 Gakkai list of dai-shihan and shihan, they likely include most of the following:

7. Rear Admiral Eguchi Kaname (1877–1942)
8. Captain Tsunematsu Kenzō (d. 1945)
9. Rear Admiral Imaizumi Tetsutarō (1877–1945)
10. Captain-Engineer Sadanaga Jigorō (d. 1944)
11. Mine Umetarō (1865–1934)
12. Rear Admiral Harada Shōsaku (1874–1961)
13. Rear Admiral Mikami Yosh*tada (1880–1947)
14. Senju Takejirō (1870–1957)
15. Haraguchi Saburō
16. Ōtsuka Kaoru
17. Naval Engineer Yoshizaki Tokuichirō
18. Ueda Matajirō
19. Miyagawa Yoshisaburō
20. Sumida Akira
21. Captain Isobe Ken (b. 1873)

100 years later, the number of people authorized to give reiju / initiations has grown dramatically, from these 21 Japanese men to likely tens of thousands worldwide. Our research into these early Reiki Masters continues, but for now I would like to raise my hands in gratitude to these pioneers of our practice, as well as to all of my fellow historical researchers for our collective efforts to better understand the roots of our practice.

*Edit: It has been pointed out to me that I likely first encountered this photo in Tadao Yamaguchi's Light on the Origins of Reiki, which was translated into English and published in 2007, and I think that is likely correct. Apparently the original photo comes from a relative of Tadao's mother, Chiyoko Yamaguchi. Apologies for the mix-up and thank you to Mari Okazaki for providing some more information about the origin of the image.

01/15/2026

When living with the disease becomes easier than living without its cause...