Reiki and Religion - Catholicism with Tracey Sullivan, LRMT

The third of a series of interviews around the religions from the World Peace Grids which states:  "May the followers of all religions and spiritual paths work together to create peace among all people on Earth." https://www.reiki.org/world-peace-grid-project

Tracey discusses what it was like growing up Catholic and attending Catholic school, then we lead you in a meditation to help heal religious trauma.

Pam's ICRT Classes: https://www.reiki.org/users/pamela-allen-leblanc#classes
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dFm-19
Reiki session:   https://squareup.com/appointments/book/7dvtqlfp939e8g/LPSC51C92BN20/services
Monthly Reiki share:  http://eepurl.com/hWruP5
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/reikifromthefarm/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/hiddenbrookfarmReikiHorsesOils
Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW5ScR7ObSiPIpgnDkWkiQA
email: pam@reikifromthefarm.com

Tracey's Information
Reiki Integration
Website: www.reikiintegration.com
Email: tracey@reikiintegration.com

Articles:
Guidelines for Evaluating Reiki as an Alternative Therapy https://sites.sju.edu/icb/what-is-the-catholic-churchs-position-on-reiki-as-an-alternative-therapy/
A Response to the Bishops' Statement on Reiki https://www.reiki.org/response-bishops-statement-reiki

The Reiki Business Book is available from tens of thousands of Retailers, Libraries, Schools, E-commerce companies, book retailers, and wholesalers across North America, the United Kingdom & Europe, Australia & New Zealand.   Order it here:  Amazon.com The Reiki Business Bookor Amazon.ca The Reiki Business Book 

thank you to Music from Pixabay for the intro music
Pam Allen-LeBlanc is a scientist, a businesswoman, and a Licensed Reiki Maste

Register for our newsletter!

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Youtube

pam@reikifromthefarm.com

Transcript

Pam: 0:55

On this week's podcast. I'm talking with Tracy Sullivan about Reiki and Catholicism. This idea was born in 2017 when Reiki guided me to begin writing a book about the various religions in the world, peace grids, and to just to help us understand that we're not so different that regardless of the religion that we follow we're not so different. In fact, the book was, is it may still be written. I don't know. It may be written as a result of doing these podcasts and the book is called all roads lead home. And I was shown that regard. Of how we connect with source, regardless of what way. We're all working to connect with source. We're all doing the same thing, regardless of the name that we call God or source or Jehovah or Allah, we're all working toward the same thing. And at our core, we're all love. So I'm really excited about this series, where we're talking about Reiki and religions. And thank you, Tracy, for agreeing to come to and talk with us about Catholicism today.

Tracey: 2:05

Thanks for having me, Pam. I'm so glad you're here

Pam: 2:09

before we get started. I'd just like to let you know what we have going on here. There are online classes in an Asian and European friendly time zone, Reiki level one and two in masters, which qualify you toward professional membership in the Reiki membership association. Those are happening in July. In the middle of July, they starting the 16th, and those classes are an extra day has been added to each class. They're a little shorter day. So they begin very early in the morning in north America. They're evening in Asia and morning in Europe. So they, it makes it accessible for our European and Asian students. And following that July 23rd, is an animal Reiki level one and two class on the beautiful Campobello island, which will be followed by on the 25th, a whale tour where we'll actually go out onto the ocean and see if we can spot some whales. We should be able to that time of year. and and regardless there, I'm sure that we'll see seals and possibly even some rare puffins and razor bells and lots of other and POS and sometimes even great white sharks. So I'm sure we'll see all of that from the boat. And then that's followed by a masterclass and again, the masterclass will be going out on the 25th as well to do the whale tour because they'll already have their level one and two Reiki. In August I have a Kaurna Reiki class, an. Communication class in an Australian friendly time zone, which is actually evenings in north America, very early mornings in Asia and early mornings in Australia. So join us for those, if you would like as well. And then in October, I have a full lineup of hybrid classes here at the farm. I, I should mention the Campobello whale class is in person, but as the class isn't full yet, if you really wanted to join online let us know. And we are anybody who attends the Campobello whale class. I'll be making a donation. For each student to the whale rescue group that exists in Campobello that goes out and gets whales untangled from fishing lines and so on and does their best to monitor the whales and try to help keep them healthy and alive. If you don't already get our newsletter, there's a link to it in the podcast. And if you haven't yet picked up a copy of the Reiki business book I've put a link to the amazon.ca and.com in our podcast so that you can get that on order either in hard copy or E as an ebook. Tracy, what about you? What have you got coming up this summer?

Tracey: 5:01

So in July, the middle of July, the 16th and 17th, I believe I'm teaching a Reiki one and two, which is in person only. And that's in Cape may, New Jersey. And then in August, I'm teaching a master class, which is a weekday class Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. I can't really think of the dates at the moment, but it's also in the middle of the month of August. And then the following weekend, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, I'm teaching a Kaurna Reiki master class. And then in September, I'm teaching animal Reiki, master And then in October I have a in-person. And online Reiki one and two class. So the master classes in August will be in person and online. Yes. And the animal Reiki will also be in person and online. And so that's my schedule for up through October. I

Pam: 5:59

love it. I love it. And before we go too much further, I'm just gonna invite everybody to join me in a brief invocation and activate U Reiki energy so that you're listening through the filters of Reiki today. So I'm just gonna invite you to close your eyes and bring your hands together at your heart space in Gassho and just breathe in the Reiki energy that surrounds you, inviting your symbols to join you. However you do that. And breathe. Many of you listening, probably have a background in Catholicism or know someone who does, it's a very prevalent religion in our culture. And it has a very interesting history. And sometimes we feel that religion and Reiki don't go together, but nothing could be further from the truth, regardless of the religion that you work within or define yourself from Reiki can enhance. your experience with that religion. And today we're talking about Christianity and the Catholicism branch or the Catholic branch of Christianity. In particular, we invite the Reiki energy to just open our ears, to hear our eyes, to see, and just open our chakras and all of the parts of us so that we can listen with an open heart and an open mind, find learning from each other's perspectives in this series and understanding that regardless of the religious or spiritual tradition we follow, we are all one and all roads do lead home and to God or Allah or Jeh. Spirit source, whatever name, universal energy, whatever name you decide to use. We are all one and just feeling the energy and the light of unity flowing through us and the oneness. We open our heart open to hear the perceptions and perspectives of others. Thank you for being here with us today. Aho and Namaste.

Tracey: 9:15

Thank you, Pam.

Pam: 9:16

Thank you. Tracy. you? I was always jealous. I was raised Protestant and I was always a little bit jealous of Catholics growing up because there were so many really neat traditions. And one of the traditions in particular that I was jealous of is you guys got to go to confession. You could do things wrong. And then, you were done after you confessed them as a Protestant. I had to hold that guilt for the rest of my life. And I always felt that I also always also appreciated that you could go to church on Saturday evening and sleep in on Sunday morning. And I had, I was a Sunday school teacher, so I had to be there at nine 30 teaching. Oh, but aside from my jealousy can you tell us a little bit about your history and what it was like growing up within the Catholic religion? Sure.

Tracey: 10:08

Sure. So probably when talking about the Catholic religion, it's best to start with the church. So the church is considered the original Christian Church. So people that are practiced the Catholic religion their belief is that the original Christian Church is the Catholic church and that began with Jesus himself. And so Jesus, as most people know, had his apostles and one of them was Peter. So Jesus said to Peter, and this is a quote, his quote. You are the rock on which I build my church, the gates of that wall, the gates of that will not prevail against it. So the gates of hell will not prevail against it. That was the star of the Catholic church. So it is so Peter was the, who was one of Jesus's apostles was the first Pope considered the first Pope of the Catholic church. And there has been a Pope Guiding the Catholic church, the head of the Catholic church ever since then, ever since the Jesus bestowed that on his apostle Peter. So that part I've always thought was like really interesting and just like nice to have that direct connection to Jesus. So you know what that, that means for what it means for a Catholic person to live as a Catholic is to be a disciple of Jesus because what he asked his the apostles his original disciples to do is to go out and preach to people and make everybody a disciple. So that is every single person that with ears to hear. So the basic elements of that. Would be prayer, number one going to church, spending time, in the CA the community being involved in the, in your church doing volunteer work or. Maybe like you did Pam teaching Sunday school in the Catholic church, it's catechism. So anybody that was a a Catholic grew up Catholic and went to a public school. They probably had to go to catechism once a week. So that's like a huge part of the Catholic religion is the teaching of the Catholic teachings. And, the other part of that is, is service, service in the name of the the Catholic church or religion service to, your fellow mankind. There's some basic distinctions about the Catholic church that kind of Make it different from maybe Protestant and obviously other religions as well. And one is, the Bible the church the, their teachings are based on the Bible. But not only the Bible, but the Catholic church as well. So I know in Protestant they, their teachings are based solely on the Bible. And not and on the church or the clergy in the church, but it is solely based on the Bible where the Catholic church, the teachings come from both the church and the Bible and the church itself. So the Catholic church is considered to be all inclusive and actually that. I believe that the name Catholic means that universal or all inclusive of everyone. And it is one church and it goes back to that story I told you know, about Jesus and Peter, it goes back to that. That's the origination of it. It's one church where other churches may have a lot of different denominations. The Catholic church. That's true. Yeah. Is one. So another distinction for the Catholic church would be. That you have the Pope. Then you have bishops under the Pope, then you have priests and then you have clergy, men, and only men can fulfill these functions still to this day. So that's, still a distinction of the Catholic church. And let's see, I wrote down a couple other, so you have the sacraments and that's a, that's probably the biggest thing. And probably most people have heard of the sacraments the seven sacraments that are associated with the Catholic religion. So you have baptism that most people have heard of. And the word baptism, the Greek version of baptism means dipping. So right. If you're not familiar with baptism, it has to do with water and it's holy water. So you're either, it's either ripped over the forehead. Usually. A lot of times in the Catholic religion it's like a baby that's being baptized, but anybody of any age can be baptized. And then there's also, a fully immersion into the water. And then there's confirmation. So with baptism, what that is doing is it's cleansing that person of all sin, including original sin. So original sin. I don't know if that is unique to the Catholic church, but it definitely is of the Catholic church and baptism cleanses the person who's being baptized from that original sin in all other sin. And then there's confirmation. And that strengthens the holy spirit within the person. So they can then be better able to share the teachings with other people. And from confirmation you have the holy communion. And usually I went to a Catholic church, so we received totally communion before the confirmation. That's out of order, And that's

Pam: 15:44

confirmation is usually when you're a little older and can make your own decisions,

Tracey: 15:48

right? Yes. So in, typically in a Catholic school or in a Catholic tradition, it's like around eighth grade. So however, I'm remembering that from when I was in Catholic school, so making my first communion in second grade and then my confirmation in eighth grade. So the, the holy communion is the host, which is bread and wine. So it's the bread, the body and blood of Christ is. What the holy communion is Eucharist it's called also. And then reconciliation. And you've already talked about that confession yes. Okay. That's what that is. Okay. So I, it's funny that you were say that you were jealous of that with the Catholic religion, where it was for me, it was like, I dreaded

Pam: 16:43

I looked at you guys and you could go confess, and then, you were guilt free after that. I had to live with guilt, the rest of my life.

Tracey: 16:51

yeah, but you felt so guilty going in there and telling the priest what you did.

Pam: 16:56

and my husband is Catholic and he said that they were little kids and they would make up

Tracey: 17:00

stuff

Pam: 17:04

yes. Yes. And it wasn't respectful

Tracey: 17:05

to my mother Yes, exactly. So it was, I remember going into. It was dark. You really couldn't see there's like that screen. So you couldn't really see each other. And in my church and you had to say, forgive me, father for, I had SINED and then I, yeah, like I disrespected my mother or I lied or I didn't do my homework or whatever. You were just like a little kid and didn't really understand. The whole point of it. I think in actuality, in reality, like the the essence of that is a real important thing for people. And I think if it was taught in a different way it might really help people, but in that, and I'm sure that it does help a lot of people, I'm not saying that it doesn't help a lot of people, but at that age and in the beginning when you're first learning about it I think the essence of it is truly something that is very beneficial. So then the anointing of the sick, that's a sacrament in which okay. The ill are anointed and given spiritual strength. And then

Pam: 18:12

is that like last right? So I've heard of last.

Tracey: 18:14

But they don't call it last rights anymore. Okay. They and my mother explained this to me because my mother used to go to, she volunteered. She was a very devout Catholic. She volunteered going to hospitals giving communion and doing something with the anointing of the sick I'm not sure like exactly what she did, but she did tell me that they don't call it last. And then the last couple, our marriage is like the sixth one, and I think everybody understands what that is. But really the origin of it, of the essence of that is the marriage between, the love that exists between Christ and the church. So a marriage of. Man in a woman in the Catholic church is a replicated after that. That's the symbolism of it. And then the last one is the holy orders and that's when somebody can become a priest or priest or a clergyman or a Bishop. So that's the holy order. So those are like the seven sacraments. And that is like something that is really I think distinguishes the Catholic religion from most other religions. Do you want me to continue on with,

Pam: 19:26

Yeah, absolutely. And, okay. Tell me a little bit about your traditions and some of the things, what it was like growing up.

Tracey: 19:32

Yeah. I did go to a Catholic church. So the tradition in the a Catholic school. So we went to a church on a regular basis. So the traditionally though we would go to church on, on Sunday and I had to always be seen at church. I would go into the back door and stand like in the the entryway until my mother saw me. And then I would take off.

Pam: 20:05

You just had to be seen, you didn't have to

Tracey: 20:06

stay. I I was supposed to, but I did. So I, I have to say that growing up, I did grow up in a very devout Catholic household, but I, myself did was not as devout as my mother and the Catholic school, would've liked, but I think that was the case with a lot of young people. Yeah, I would say so. Yeah. Yeah. So we I guess some of the traditions be besides the the seven sacraments, which are really the the pillars of the the Catholic church, I would say is that we would celebrate so the holidays that they celebrate, you would think that Easter would be one of them, but it's actually considered a holy day. And Not a holiday. Christmas is the birth of Christ. So of course the we celebrated that as a Catholic holiday and then there were some other holy days that Are various states throughout the year. I think there's four main ones that probably most people haven't heard of. Like the assumption and some other, I don't know that much about those. The, a now did

Pam: 21:23

you, and did you do some of the traditional things, like only, Fridays only eating fish and things like

Tracey: 21:28

that, or, oh yeah. Yeah. So on Fridays we did not eat meat and that actually I believe ended where I believe that you can I could be mistaken about this, but I believe that May not be the case anymore. Okay. In, in some circumstances anyways, in my household and most of the stuff that I remember I've learned, from my mother. Yeah. And, as far as like traditions, that's really basically the traditions of the Catholic church or I can't really think of any other ones that we practiced besides the, what we just talked about. Do you have any others that you, that come to mind for you?

Pam: 22:11

No, actually I guess I guess Easter and Christmas were very big in the Protestant religion as well. And so I just, yeah, I was wondering, and I know, so you talked about confirmation, which is the coming of age ceremony and this sort of thing. And so no that's really neat. Now, do you still follow Catholicism, Tracy? Are you not as

Tracey: 22:34

much? No I don't, I haven't been to church in a while no, I, they say in the Catholic church, once you're a Catholic, you're always a Catholics are always welcomed back. So I know I've always felt that, it's my, it's where I came from and I have related a lot of things that I believe now back to the beliefs, as I understand them now as an adult. So I really have a lot more respect for the Catholic religion now than I did when I was a child, because I have. A deeper understanding right. Of, what the essence of it is. I think it's just lost on people many times, for whatever reason, the essence of the teachings. Yeah. I don't know if it's because it's so regimented and I'm not sure why, but as an adult, I look back and I can see the beauty of it really

Pam: 23:37

that Reiki helped with that because I know that it did, for me I know I had to step away from the church for a while and Reiki brought me back to an appreciation of it again. And which is interesting because some people worry, like how do you find Reiki and Catholicism have gone together for you?

Tracey: 23:59

Oh, yeah. Yeah. I think that when I started to, I started my Reiki practice, a lot of things within me changed like my ideas about things and my acceptance of things and just my knowledge like inner knowledge of things became more clear. So I didn't realize that when I was growing up but now I understand how much strength that the Catholic of religion gave to my mother. And the reason why I say that actually affected me too, growing up is because it made her who she was. She was a single mom. Five kids. And we were all pretty close in age and it couldn't have been easy for her. I know it wasn't but she had this inner calmness and inner strength that now I know was because of her devout religion being in the Catholic religion. So it made her who she was. She never tried to. Force this religion on us. She, we were required to go to church, but, I went because I wanted to like, please her, my, some of my siblings wouldn't always go there and even as adults, when we started having children, me and my siblings my mother would suggest things like, oh, it would give them something to believe in if you if they were went to, had made their first communion and, do, did all of the things that we talked about, the, all the sacraments. But she was still, she was still opened and kind, and didn't try to force anything on us. So I think that made a huge impact on me too. Just her. And that made me more open to it, as an adult because it, I never felt I never had it in my head. Oh my gosh, this is I can't wait to get away from this. It just was there all the time as like this gentle energy that this is how I see it now. And again, I didn't realize, was very fortunate to grow up surrounded by that energy. Yeah. And even when I, the fact that I went to a Catholic school and it meant like everything was very rigid and a lot of conformity. But again, I look back now and I can feel like the faith of the nuns and the priests. Like I remember like sister Ursula, and sister FICA sitting in the back of the church when we were Back when we were in, like I was in grade school and I, after church, we would go back to the classroom and she would talk about one of the nun. The nun would talk about like having been in, in church. And one time she asked the class, can you, when you're sitting there, can you no. She told us that when she sits in the back of the church, she sits back there and she can feel the presence of Jesus. And, at the time we were like, oh, okay. And we probably chuckled at her, she. Now I look back at her and I can still picture her. And I understand what she's saying. Now. I went to midnight mass with my mother once when she came to visit me in Connecticut. And I was this is after I had taken my first Reiki class, but I hadn't really talked to her about it very much because I, I was like concerned about what she might think about it. So we didn't really talk about it that much, but I'm sitting in midnight mass with her. It was just her and I, nobody else wanted to come, go figure we're sitting there and I'm. Just half listening. I'm just kinda looking around daydreaming a little bit, sitting next to my mother. And something the priest said just stood out to me instead of saying holy ghost. He said, holy spirit. So at that, around that time, I don't, I don't know, maybe 20 years ago, that's a guess they stopped saying holy ghost and it became holy spirit. So that really stuck out to me. So I leaned over and I said to my mother did he say spirit? Because my mother was always like, oh, you don't know a spirit. There's only one spirit. It's Jesus. And the use of the word spirit was somehow like not something that you weren't supposed to do. So that's why when I heard it in the church, I was like, he said, spirit mom, And she said, yeah, they changed that. And right when she said that I looked up at, in the Catholic church, there's like a crucifix with Jesus on it in most Catholic churches. And it's huge, when she said that I was like, oh, and I just sat back. And I looked up at the the crucifix with Jesus on it. And Pam, I immediately thought of those Nu and how they said that they felt the presence of Jesus in the church, because that's what I felt on that day in the church for the first time. So I experienced what they felt and what my mother had felt all those years. And I believe it was my connection to Reiki that had opened me up to have this experience that I had with my, my mother that day in the church. So my experience with Reiki. It gave me like a platform maybe to be able to understand that that deep essence of the practice that I think so often is not felt. So that was a really good experience for me with my mother.

Pam: 29:23

And what did your mom think when you did open up to her about doing Reiki? Was she accepting of

Tracey: 29:29

it? She, at first, just didn't really. Say too much about it. She didn't say anything negative about it. I think that she saw that it was helping me and so I learned that her good friend Doris was somebody who received rape sessions. So after I had been practicing for, I don't know a few years I was talking to her friend, Doris and I was going to be in the Albany area. That's where I grew up. And that's where my mom still lived. So I was going to be there and I asked her if she wanted me to come over and give her a Reiki session. So she said, yes, of course. So it was Doris and Doris's husband. And excuse me and my mother and my brother Jeffrey were all in Doris's like little house and. She's playing this music that she created. It's the CD that her and her husband's brother, they sang in their church. So we're listening to this, mu that they play in their church and I'm like giving everybody Reiki. And my mother is sitting on the couch and, she's just sitting there. I wasn't sure what she was thinking. I was just like leaving it to, Reiki or Jesus to, help her with whatever struggle she might be having. So I gave do Reiki and then her husband, and then we took a break and my mother came over to me and we were chatting and she said to me, and it just like really is it chokes me up every time I think about it. She said to me that is the first time, and she's 80 years old at this time. And been a devout Catholic since she was like, in the womb. So she, she said that this was the first time that she has felt the same spirit that she feels in the church outside of the church. And that was a turning point for my mother because she began to and then I gave her a Reiki session and then. After that I gave her many Reiki sessions, it really, I think was a real, huge healing for my mother on so many different levels. So my mother and I had this real interesting experience of me experience experiencing that in the church, on that Christmas Eve, midnight mass and my mother years later experiencing the opposite thing in her friend's house as I was giving everybody Reiki. So to me, that is the essence of the two things coming together has nothing to do with anything that you're gonna say to somebody. It is all in weeding and allowing the process to unfold naturally. Yeah. And it will unfold naturally if if you allow it to yeah, so that was my most profound experience with connecting Reiki with a religion. So I, I just have so much more respect for the religion now, even though I don't practice it, I understand, what they, why people are devout, and because they're feeling this thing that I failed to feel within that container, but I did attain that through the practice of Reiki and then was able to transfer that and see, and understand have a better understanding if that makes sense. that's

Pam: 33:00

beautiful. Tracy there's and I think in each of these sessions, I wind up talking about this pie chart that I saw through hay. Through a hay house something that I was doing and it's just, a pie chart, a circle with the, it looks like a pie cut in many slices. And what they said was that you, when you're just learning a religion or a spiritual tradition, you're on the outside of the pie chart and you're working your way in and you think I'm very different because I'm this piece of pie, I'm Catholicism and that's Reiki, or that's Buddhism, or Protestantism or Islam. And, but once you get to the center, you realize. that it's all the same and that it might be a different way of getting there. And Moony, Kai, when I was talking with him about Islam said, it's like you, and I agree to go to a stadium and meet each other at a stadium, but I'm coming through twisty turning mountain trails because that's where I live and you're coming from the flat planes and going up to get there. And so we've had a very different route, but we still get to the same place and we can meet each other. And I remember you, I love your story. I think that's absolutely beautiful. You make me think of a conversation I had with William Rand and. William was raised in a very devout evangelical family. And his sister continued on that route. Whereas William, as we know, went more towards spiritualism and eventually found Reiki and took that and took that all the way. And he said initially he and his sister butted heads and didn't have a lot in common, but the further that they both continued on their paths, they met and he said, now we can have conversations and we get each other, we understand each other. We may have different language to describe, but we really understand each other now. And that's what you're saying to me. And I love that. I think that's just because sometimes I have noticed that sometimes people who follow a specific religion. Feel that Reiki is the opposite or the anti or against the religion. And nothing could be further from the truth Reiki. Isn't a religion. And it enhances the experience with any religion that you that you follow. But let's talk for a minute about the Bishop's letter. There was a letter that was written within the confines of Catholicism that kind of was against Reiki or wasn't pro Reiki. That's for sure. And I know that I was in a class once with a student who. Was raised with a very devout Catholic family. And her father was very devout and was very concerned about her doing Reiki because he felt that it was not that it was a cult or that it was not in accordance with Catholicism and you, and I know that it's in accordance with every religion, but when you don't understand it, maybe that you can come to a different conclusion. And I always thought that this was a generally held this letter from the bishops was a generally held attitude among the clergy. And I discovered that it wasn't I my children are baptized Catholic and we had a Catholic, we had to have a Catholic priest at our wedding in order to bless the ceremony. And please my, my in-laws and I was raised in a family that used to say, don't marry a French boy. Don't marry a Catholic boy. and my husband's family used to say, don't marry an English girl. Don't marry a Protestant girl. there was all this conflict between French and English and between Protestant and Catholic Catholicism. And And we had made a decision to get married Anglican, which we felt was partway in the middle. But in order to please, my husband's parents, we also had a Catholic priest there. So I became, and we used to attend the Catholic church and I loved the ceremony, the traditions. I loved the, I loved that priest in particular. He father Monte Peters, he's just an incredible human being. And he's the one who blessed our marriage and and welcomed me, even though I wasn't Catholic and and never became Catholic, I just attended But I ran into him at a blood donor clinic and he said, what are you doing now, Pam? Because he had moved to a different church and we had moved away and I told him I don't know if your Pope would like it. I said, fuck, doing Reiki. I'm a Reiki master and practitioner. And I'll never forget because he said I didn't tell him that I was Reiki. I just said, I don't know if your Pope would like it. And he says, oh he doesn't like a lot of things. what are you doing? And I told him, that's funny. And he just said, oh, that's fantastic. He didn't have a problem with it at all. And it was later that I discovered that in fact, this letter was just a handful of bishops who wrote it. So tell us a little bit about that Bishop's letter.

Tracey: 38:27

Yeah. I think that the gist of it is that the the Catholic church is saying that there's two ways that a person can heal and that's who the grace of God. And that's praying, it direct comes directly from God. And then the other is through apathic medicine. And it needs to be like science based, right? So the, in the letter. What they were saying about Reiki and other holistic modalities, but about Reiki in particular is that it is coming through like the person has somehow has control over the energy. So it's not something that's coming directly from God. And the other thing was, is that they're saying that it has not been proven by science that, this energy field exists. Those were the two main things that I got from that. And then the other thing was that the the idea of the practice. Was somehow came from the religion Buddhism. And in, I think that came from the fact that the, the historical historically there has been some inaccurate information about Reiki put out there until the 1990s when people like Frank William Rand and some, and other people as well, did research continued to do research and found out the facts and Reiki is not based in religion whatsoever. And William wrote a article that is in rebuttal. To what the bishops wrote and he, explains very clearly as and beautifully as we would expect with William well, as William does. Yes. And that, he put it out very clearly about the inaccuracy of the history. And, if they had researched a little bit deeper, they would've found, the facts that Reiki is not associated with any religion and. We know Pam and anybody that does Reiki knows that we are not, we don't have any control over this. when we, it just

Pam: 40:38

flows through

Tracey: 40:40

Yes. And, we teach to understand that you don't have any control over this and when you can actually step out of the whole thing you're, it's flowing better. Yeah. And that's the way it's supposed to be. We are not supposed to be a part of this and in control of it. People

Pam: 40:58

sometimes tell me you're so good at this. And I just chuckle because I say, what. I'm so good at this, cuz I'm good at getting out of the way. I'm good at stepping aside. Yes. And allowing this energy to flow. I don't try to control it. I don't tell it what to do whatsoever.

Tracey: 41:14

So we know, and people that practice Reiki know that this is something that we have no control over and when we think we do, we're just wrong and we just dunno that we're wrong. And then, science as far, I don't know if science can really pinpoint Reiki, but certainly we have the ability. To detect the human energy field. That's just something that we've been able to do. I don't know if they wrote this before this existed. Or if they just didn't do in depth research enough to know that the human energy field has been detected. So those are the main things. Those were the reasons why it was. And at the end of that letter from the bishops, it was I felt as a Catholic of past Catholic, I guess always a

Pam: 42:07

Catholic Yeah. Once a Catholic, always a

Tracey: 42:10

Catholic too. That's. Yeah I felt like it was like a dire warning at the end that, if you practice Reiki, you're not in good standing with the church oh

Pam: 42:19

gosh. And I do understand that upset quite a few nuns who were actually using Reiki in their hospitals, because one thing that I've been so impressed with the Catholic church about is that they created so many hospitals that were open to everyone from every denomination. And a lot of the nuns had put toge had created these hospitals, the schools And and I understood that the nuns were upset that because they had been using Reiki successfully in the hospitals. So my understanding was the nuns just changed the. And

Tracey: 42:52

kept using it. No, that's right. I do. I do remember hearing about that or reading about that somewhere. They TA they did, they changed the name and they just continued to do what they knew inside of them was the right thing to do. And Reiki was practicing practiced in the medical community. Yes. As

Pam: 43:10

You are a scientist from the medical community and so yes.

Tracey: 43:14

Yeah. There is there's Raven keys has the medical Reiki master and they're putting a Reiki masters into the, or yeah. And the medical community is very much accepting of this. I, maybe that letter needs to be updated revised or

Pam: 43:35

yeah. I think so. And, I felt really bad for the girl in the class that I was talking about earlier because her father was not accepting of her Reiki journey. And and it hurt her. It hurt her a lot that this was where she, and it, and I can't help, but think that sometimes our background in religion brings us to Reiki, as a way to deepen as, as it did for you as a way to deepen your practice or your understanding. And as I did feel so bad for that young girl whose father, did point out that, that letter and say, look, you're not, he was very not accepting of Reiki and and it's just, it's a shame, isn't it?

Tracey: 44:20

it is, it really is. I would say that to just let that, like I was saying earlier, let that process happen naturally. Yeah. And, Reiki and even the essence of the Catholic religion, the true essence of it it will happen naturally. I think that the two can merge and find. A unity together. And I don't think it matters like what the person's thoughts are at any given time, because we both know that anybody can change their thought process. And it is the practice of of Reiki and this student of yours, her own. Practice of Reiki and just being who she is and not like engaging with her dad. And just letting that practice that process happen naturally, I think over time. And sometimes I think it takes a really long time. And I'm sure that there are times when it just doesn't happen because the person is just not ready to heal that part of themselves that is looking at Reiki. Like it's something bad, but for, in my own experience, it's just been letting that happen. And I didn't do this on purpose. I didn't say, oh, I'm just gonna let this prac this happen naturally. I just let it happen naturally. and I looking back at it, that was the correct thing for me to do in my life. And, for my mom too, because it really changed both of our ways, my way of looking at the religion, the Catholic religion and her way of looking at spirituality in general. Wow. And that helped her so much in the last years of her. And especially like when she was in the hospital, the last days, weeks of her life were spent with me giving her Reiki and her, receiving so much comfort from it. And I think releasing a lot of grief and maybe guilt that inherently, I think is you just don't realize that you're taking in when you're in sometimes in the Catholic religion, because of all the rules and stuff. And I think my mom being from the generation, she was from. Had a lot of guilt about different things. Like she was divorced and you're supposed to, to, it's not like something that the Catholic religion if they frown upon it. My mother had these things that had happened in her life that really, I think, gave her a lot of guilt. So she ended up dying because of her kidneys failed. And I always thought that and she never had any kidney problem prior to that. So I always, felt it was like all those years, like 83 years of this grief or fear that she held within her, in her cells. And I think that affected her kidneys. That's my but what happened at the end, Pam was, I feel like she was able to heal herself because she had this I'm going off on a little tangent that's. Oh, okay. this is great. so my mom at the end of her life, she had this condition where your urine turns purple and it's very rare. Wow. Yeah, no, not a good sign. It's a, it's like an ominous sign. So her urine turned purple. So of course I'm and her lab work was all off the chart. So of course I was giving her Reiki, like focusing on her kidneys, day after day. And, after a few days, her urine started to turn yellow again. And her her lab work was good. And I thought, oh, she's turned the corner. She's getting better. And do you know that it wasn't like two or three days later that my mom passed away. And what I believe is that she was able to release this fear, this grief, or this guilt that she carried with her for her whole life. And, that urine clearing up for me was a sign in hindsight that she was able to do that and pass over. In a peaceful in a more peaceful way. And in, the conversations that I had with my mother, like on when she was in the hospital led me to believe this too. Like she told me that she didn't realize how her whole life, she just had this nervousness or like anxiety or whatever. And you, would've never known it with my mother. She was like the life of the party. She was so funny. And, she was, she talked a lot and, she could hear laugh was real loud. So I. I didn't know that she felt that way. So I was in my mind putting two to two and two together, and my knowledge of the the way that Reiki can work and knowing like how a person could keep, hold in all like guilt and feeling like they did something wrong for so many years and not even really be conscious of it. And we know that can affect our physical body. So I think that my, I think she was able to because of the practice of Reiki, She allowed it into her life at the time that she did. I think she was able to really come to terms with and understand that the, even if the actual teachings in the Catholic church at one time, in her opinion were like scarier, whatever and made her feel like she was guilty. I think she came to the understanding that the essence of what the Catholic church is, and, if we think it goes back to like Jesus and the apostles, the essence of that is nothing that is going to. Want a person to feel guilty, right? Or afraid or anything like that. If we're a very devout Catholic person that she was for her whole 83 years of her life those last three or however many years, she really made such a transition that was really such a learning experience for me. And a beautiful thing for me to be able to witness as being, her daughter and being somebody that was, very close to her. I'm so like, feel so honored that I was the one that introduced Reiki to her and that we had that connection. So that's

Pam: 50:50

beautiful, Tracy, what a beautiful, and I'm picturing you, having the ability to do Reiki for this wonderful obviously for full very strong and very devout woman. I'm just picturing the two of you sharing that at the end and what an absolutely beautiful. experience that must have been

Tracey: 51:12

it. It was I'm just very, of course I was like devastated, and I'm so like grateful to be able to look back on that and see. Even all the way back to that experience I had like in midnight mass I had just, the whole thing is I just feel so grateful to have had this recognition of that deep essence of love that is there in the religion. Okay. Even though there's so many like bad things that may surround it and that's something that, I always try to remember for the people that are still like really devout Catholics and, when all this stuff started happening with priests and it started happening a long time ago when it came to light, I just. So bad for the people that were like devout Catholics, because they still work yet. They had this thing that was bad that's been impacting their whole belief system. Yeah. Yeah, it's I felt bad for my mother when all that started happening and I actually, talking about religious trauma I never experienced any myself, but one of our relatives in my family did experience religious pro trauma with one of the priests in the church. Yeah. Yeah. So for my mom, it was like a, pretty devastating. Like how do you keep your faith and experience this? It's like a real lesson in, what is the essence of this? It has nothing to do with the human beings involved. It is all about the energy, as, I guess we would describe it or, God or Jesus as somebody in the Catholic religion would describe it.

Pam: 52:57

And it is difficult. And I have to admit that one of the things I always with my husband being Catholic and my in-laws and I always pay attention to the Catholicism, the Catholic religion, the Pope I've always been fascinated by it. And the Pope is the Pope now is so impressive because there are some pretty awful things that have happened in the history of the religion. And I think there's probably awful things that happen in the history of every religion. No matter what it is. No, no religion. Is perfect. No person is perfect. And one of the things we talk about first heaven, second heaven, third heaven here on the first heaven where we live. There are always people who are trying to help others and people that are trying to take advantage and those are going to exist within any system within any, within anything. But one of the things that within the Catholic and Protestant religions that within the Christian religions that is hard to take there's a few things that are hard to take, but one of them is the residential school systems that have existed here in Canada. And I believe they existed in the United. As well to a certain extent with where native American children were taken from their families and brought to places where, and they weren't always treated very well at all. And so a group of native elders from Canada went to Rome and asked for an audience with the Pope. And not only did he give them an audience, but they were supposed to be there a set length of time and he spent much longer. And not only did the Pope apologize to them and say that look that was wrong. But he is now planning a trip to Canada and he will be here and meet with the elders from various tribes and with a formal apology. And I don't know, I just. That's big. I think it is. I think it's impressive. And I know that that the Catholic church has been ravaged because of some of these things that are coming to light that we're not right. And that are now just coming to light. And and, but I like what you say, just, about the essence of it, because there is always going to be, there are always going to be people that interpret things in a way that work for them or interpret things in a way that isn't healthy. And, I think, and I think there's religious trauma. You talked about that type of religious trauma, but I think that most people have experienced some form of religious trauma regardless of their religion, just thing, whenever they come across things that. Are not in accordance with, with them and with source and with spirit. And we're going to come across these within people are fallible and even within Reiki, we're not absolutely.

Tracey: 55:55

Yeah,

Pam: 55:56

goodness knows. We're not all perfect. And so we can't expect our religious leaders to all be perfect either. And so I feel I talk about religious trauma and it's comical. My religious trauma is because I could always hear God and the God that I. Heard was very kind. And I and I remember once over hearing some people that were counting the collection for my church, and they said, we've gotta get rid of this minister. He's talking about love and kindness, and it just doesn't fill the collection plate enough. We need somebody to talk about fear and damnation that fills the election that fills the collection plate more. And I, and so this is the source of my religious drama, is hearing this. I was just like, oh my gosh. And like what, that's, how it works. I was just a kid and. And so it, I find it comical. My religious trauma is something like this when other people, especially our native American friends and people who experienced abuse and things like that they have some really deep seated religious trauma. But what that does though, is that actually brings me to to wrapping up and our prayer, because I actually wanted to lead us on a prayer today. Nice. That. It just goes into religious trauma and sometimes it can be you may have trauma because you are a Reiki practitioner, but somebody in your life might not accept that because of their religious backgrounds or understandings and that can create difficulty or trauma within you. So I really had wanted to lead us in a prayer that helps release some of that before we do though. Tracy, is there anything else that we haven't covered? I loved our talk me too about this. Yeah. Is there anything else you'd like to say about Catholicism before we go into our final prayer,

Tracey: 57:53

I guess just, to reiterate to like when you come across somebody that is very devout Catholic or devout in a religion to just to remember, to feel that compassion for them, for what they might be going through. As far as all like the negative impacts that are on these religions nowadays, that's one thing that I would just reiterate to have compassion for these people because a lot of times I've noticed people are like, how can you practice that? And the person is already probably feeling some guilt about what other people in their religion did yeah, that, that would be the only thing or some journal

Pam: 58:33

struggles and some religious trauma of their own. And and yeah. So just remembering that all roads lead home. And yes, the road we've chosen is Reiki. And yet, other people may choose a completely different road and we're still gonna wind up at that stadium. that's, we're

Tracey: 58:52

no matter all the houses on the way, invite everybody along.

Pam: 59:00

Love that. I love that. Thank you, Tracy. I'm just gonna invite everybody today to once more close your eyes as we go into our final prayer to release religious trauma from you, and anything that you may have experienced in, in, in your life. And because it is very rare to find somebody who hasn't experienced some form of religious trauma. So I invite you to close your eyes, take a deep breath and bring your hands into Gassho once again, just activating your Reiki energy, connecting with your symbols. And then place your hands comfortably on your body, wherever you feel, guided and breathe. And today we just acknowledge all of the different forms of connection with source with God, the divine being ALA, Jehovah Jesus, the holy spirit, life force, energy, universal energy, whatever name that you use, we acknowledge and respect that we are all the same unified in our purpose of going home to source the source of all that is. And I believe it's possible to go home to source while still living in this lifetime and on this planet to come from a beautiful place. And there are so many ways to get there. And we honor that and we honor and respect people from all walks of life, from all religions, all cultures, all preferences. And I invite you to just ask yourself for a moment, if you have ever experienced any religious trauma or any discord as a part of your spiritual or religious upbringing. And if you have where it might exist in your body, it's usually the first place that comes to your mind. When I ask that question and just ask yourself if this religious trauma that exists within me, how to shape, what shape would it have and what color would it be? And does it leave me with a feeling of heaviness or guilt or shame or blame or grief or any of these other dents and heavy emotions? And finally ask yourself today, if you're ready to let go of this trauma. That exists within most of us. And that may be affecting you. And I invite you to imagine that it's a beautiful, warm, sunny day and that you're walking through a trail in a beautiful forest as you, and as you walk along and you breathe into yourself, you breathe in the life essence of the forest and the energy of the earth flows up through the bottoms of your feet. And today we will go into a spiritual baptism to release all of this trauma, guilt, grief, shame, blame, anything at all that troubles you, or has troubled you in the past as a result of your religious or spiritual. Experiences, any feelings of non-acceptance not belonging, any of that. And so you walk in the forest until you come to the edge of the forest and in front of you as a beautiful river, this is the river of peace. I invite you to walk down to the river and if you're guided, you make up your hands and take a drink of the beautiful life. Giving waters, these waters flow from the highest mountains in the highest spiritual heavens, and they're completely pure life affirming. Beautiful. I invite you to step into the waters and lie down. And as you do just feel the water. holding you. You're being held in the arms of the earth. And at the same time, a beautiful beam of light appears from the highest heavens and it shines down upon you and all around you. I invite you to stay here and to just release this burden. And some of you may notice that it's dissolving into the waters. Some of you may notice parts of it lifting into the heavens, but whatever it does, I invite you today to just let it go and will remain here for a few moment. And the energies of peace and grace move in to fill the void that is left behind. And the light of grace flows through you and the light of acceptance and unification. As you realize that we are all one, we are all working. to connect with source in our own way, whatever way that may be. It's the way that's right for each and every one of us. And so we accept all others that we meet on the path, regardless of how they are working to get there. And I'd like you to invite you to stay in this space as long as you feel guided and as long as you need and when and when you are ready, you may choose to. I'd like to thank you all and to thank Tracy for telling us about Catholicism and to thank you all for just releasing that trauma that may exist for you and for being open to accepting the perceptions and perspectives and opinions and experiences of others, many blessings as you go forward into this week. Amen and Namaste. Thank you, Tracy.