Finding Your Primordial Lineage

Many Reiki students spend time collecting lineages from different teachers. This may stem from a desire to feel more connected to their practice, and often at the foundation of this is the notion that the shorter the lineage the better it is. Is this true?

From a practical perspective the shorter the lineage, there is a possibility that the teachings are closer to the original teachings of the system yet there is no pure transmission of teachings within the system of Reiki. Tied up in an understanding of Reiki lineage there is no guarantee that what a teacher passes on to a student adheres to any strict understanding of what the teachings are. That is to say, we don’t know what someone really teaches and there are no Reiki police out there keeping an eye on things.

Then what is a lineage within the system of Reiki? What is your lineage? 

I see my human lineage as a collection of life experiences that give me my unique understanding and way of being at this exact moment in time. I am in the lineage of all that has touched me and transformed me. It is leading me somewhere, and I choose that direction in each moment of my life. And here I am, right now.

As a Reiki teacher, it is the same, simply more specific to the teachings themselves, and it also gives my human lineage direction and purpose. My lineage is my understanding of the Reiki teachings that have developed through practice and research. These two elements of practice and research from a Buddhist perspective can also be called compassion and wisdom. Compassion being a practice in motion, and wisdom giving a foundation to this motion. By applying these two elements we exist in a true practice, one that taps into the primordial nature of things. 

Primordial is a beautiful word. For me, it conjures up a time immemorial, when all animals, the earth and the heavens function as one breathing being of acceptance and deep peaceful love. This time, is timeless. 

All humans exist in this primordial energy, this original source or essence of being; this ultimate truth. A part of being human is the call to know this essence, to experience what it means without all the crazy shit we experience in our everyday lives. To let that all go and know our true selves.

We can’t do this without space. Without an empty space where deep thoughts and free-flowing experience can enter and dance together, where the dualities are given the opportunity, the potential, to become One. In Oneness, all is actually that empty space of potential; primordial essence.

The womb is often used as a metaphor for space. It is the home of pure potential, and when the dual elements of life force dance together, a being of Oneness – a mirror of the Oneness of our universe – is created. You and me.

Our primary purpose as Reiki practitioners is to fulfil our human contract to remember and embody that primordial essence within ourselves. We delve deep into our practice, peeling away layers of conditioning and ego, uncovering the essence that resides within. By immersing ourselves in the system of Reiki and using its tools and techniques diligently, we embark on a profound journey of self-discovery. In this process, light is freed and we gradually become a guiding light, supporting others as they unravel their own primordial lineage.

These elements bring us to the realm of the Great Mother. The pure primordial energy of the womb. In Japanese Shintoism, the Great Mother is Amaterasu. She shines bright light onto the world from the Heavens, to feed the Earth and for all things to grow by. This is primordial energy; dancing duality giving birth to Oneness.

A Reiki teacher’s true lineage is their conscious connection (through the practice and experience of the system) to that primordial essence within themselves, their inherent Great Mother energy. The more one knows oneself, the greater the offering to the world, and the more mutually beneficial it is received. Because the world recognises its kin.

The Dalai Lama once said that “Since the cycle of existence has no beginning, there is no sentient being we can point to and say, ‘That person has not been my mother in the past.”

In the timelessness of primordial energy, you are all my mothers and I am yours. We all live the lineage of pure light and potential.