Certified Reiki Master

My friend recently posted that she's now a certified Reiki Master and has started offering sessions for 175/hr.

Personally, I believe Reiki is pseudoscience, but it got me wondering: if there is this universal healing energy that is accessible to all, do you think it's ethical to monetize and charge for it?

Hi LTK. My answer to your question is influenced by the experience I have had with Reiki, so to describe that first - while my acceptance of its effectiveness is evidenced by the fact that I am a level 2 initiate in the Reiki system, I do not think Reiki is a standalone methodology that always solves all health problems; living is more complex than that, and there's certainly a place for both conventional Western medicine and other alternative systems. After an accident in the 1990's that left me with bursitis in my elbow that my physician informed me would cause lifelong pain, I saw a Reiki practitioner weekly for a period of months; as of today, I am pain free. But if I had something like a broken bone, or cancer, or a rash, you can bet I'd be dialing my doctor before my Reiki practitioner.

So, to your question - yes, I do believe it is generally permissible to monetize a sharing of healing energy. The practitioner is devoting their time and energy to help a client improve his or her well being, instead of devoting that same time and energy to, say, bricklaying or computer programming. However, that said - I also think it's incumbent upon the healer to consider the client's ability to pay. Hollywood celebrities, high-end professional athletes, and business tycoons might be able to afford $175 per hour; bartenders, accountants, cab drivers, electricians, and participants in the gig economy cannot. Most other Reiki practitioners could not afford that. In most cases, $175 and a day or two of time is all it takes for someone to become a Reiki level 1 practitioner and treat themselves for life.

If compassionate healing, rather than wealth accumulation, is a healer's dominant aim, s/he has to accept what that means. It means not scalping your client for all they've got for your service, no matter how desperate they may be or how competent the healer is. It means doing some pro bono work whenever practical. Many alternative health methods, and particularly Reiki, are rooted in a sharing of heart-based energy; it is my belief that when the primary motive becomes profit, the value of the healing is diminished.

Yes, next question.

Anything someone is willing to spend money on can be monetized
Whether or not it should, eh. I think if you're willing to spend money on it, what's the difference between 1 and 175 an hour

I myself am certified in Texas but haven’t picked up the renewal fees in quite some time. I guess it’s ond of those for life things when ya think about it - anyhow - I charged . I also gave small sessions to my family friends - set shoulders toes that type of thing for free. It’s up to you and your balance really - where ya draw your lines ...

Edit : I no longer do it for profit so - I don’t re-certify

If there indeed be any such healing energy "accessible to all", any master of it I believe would do ethically well revealing its secrets to the broader public so that the "accessible to all" bit actually becomes what it says and the magic can at last be accepted into medicine as anything else that has proven effective under scrutiny is.

An objection one could raise is that regular medicine is no more accessible to all than sorcery. That is fair enough. While I appreciate the basic argument that noone should be required to work without compensation, I don't think there is a case to be made as to why it be ethical to render health a commodity, up for purchase by those who bear the necessary material fitness. The restrictions in medical accessibility shouldn't in my opinion thus come from an entry fee, but rather from the intellectual challenge building such knowledge poses and the material costs of the production and maintenance of relevant equipment and drugs. By my moral sensibilities, the same should be the case with any magical skills alleged to chase the same effect.

To me, this question is offensive.

Not because "I can't capitalize on this," but because "a faith's cleric or their healer should be duly compensated for the work that they do to support their communal needs."

e.g., I charge for Reiki and Reiki teaching so I can eat, no so I can get stinkin' rich.

LTK wrote: My friend recently posted that she's now a certified Reiki Master and has started offering sessions for 175/hr.

Personally, I believe Reiki is pseudoscience, but it got me wondering: if there is this universal healing energy that is accessible to all, do you think it's ethical to monetize and charge for it?

Well, as others have said, yes it is ethical.

No matter what you do, time=money. If I hire someone to come over and blow bubbles then I have to pay them for their time. If I agree to pay $175/hr for bubbles... yeah I might think that's exploitative for what it is. I don't make $175/hr and I work in IT. But I took a salary in a competitive field so companies are free to say no and hire the guy charging them less for the same thing. Market forces.

If I can't find anyone else who is willing to blow bubbles for less than $175/hr. I have to decide, as a consumer, if I'm willing to pay that. Now if you're the one blowing bubbles and you know you can charge that much because you're the only bubble blower in town then I would think you were totally taking advantage of people. BUT.... if they're still willing to pay then it's more of a grey area because they shouldn't be paying that much or willingly going along with that valuation of the bubble blowing services.

If McDonald's suddenly changed the price of the Big Mac to $50 there would be outrage and very few sales.

Now I think where it gets unethical is where medicine is already going. We need medical services to survive but it's also a business. If you can't afford to pay ethically they're still supposed to save your life. How far does this extend? Not sure. Not a doctor. But I do know they overcharge people simply because they know insurance is paying for it. And so insurance turns around and overcharges people for the insurance. There's sometimes expensive equipment involved and every time they use the equipment they basically charge you for them buying it. So some of these costs are justified.

But... if you're saying you can heal someone with energy they too have access to and you really have no over head costs and all they're really paying for is your time and you can't even prove that you're actually doing anything that helps them more than the placebo effect... then paying more for that than (just for the sake of comparison) an exotic dancer who actually takes their clothes off and dances on people's laps... isn't slightly mad (imho) and seems more of an exploitation of their belief in the healing power of that energy... which you can't prove is even real or explain how it works. But if you think your time is worth $15/hr then the reiki healing is worth $15/hr (because there's no other overhead). If you think your time is worth $25 same thing. But if you think you're worth more than what an average doctor (who went to school for 8 years and completed residency and had to pass MCATs and has to pay for all that education + malpractice insurance) makes then I personally feel that's far too excessive to be ethical.

Now if anyone would like to pay me reiki malpractice insurance then I'll gladly sign off on charging people more

LTK wrote: My friend recently posted that she's now a certified Reiki Master and has started offering sessions for 175/hr.

Personally, I believe Reiki is pseudoscience, but it got me wondering: if there is this universal healing energy that is accessible to all, do you think it's ethical to monetize and charge for it?

Reike is a system of control, no different than any other religion. Those that are willing to pay others to provide this service, that they are otherwise fully capable of performing themselves if its is a universally accessible energy, are just lazy. There is no moral dilemma in this choice. Those that choose to pay benefit and those that will take advantage of that monetarily benefit as well. However I would always keep in mind, when engaging in any such activity, that the truly noble Master, knowing what he does, would choose to teach the student to do this themselves, rather than charge them over and over for the privilege.

VixensVengeance wrote: Reike is a system of control, no different than any other religion. Those that are willing to pay others to provide this service, that they are otherwise fully capable of performing themselves if its is a universally accessible energy, are just lazy. There is no moral dilemma in this choice. Those that choose to pay benefit and those that will take advantage of that monetarily benefit as well. However I would always keep in mind, when engaging in any such activity, that the truly noble Master, knowing what he does, would choose to teach the student to do this themselves, rather than charge them over and over for the privilege.

You do realize the reasons that religious and spiritual roles were routinely "granted" to community members who typically were different than the rest of society, right? Because if not, we can have a whole other thread about the reason the norm wasn't cis-het neurotypical able-bodied clergy for millennia of human history.