What is a Reikimaster

· People unfamiliar with Reiki, upon hearing this designation, may get the false impression that "Master" equals "expert". A "Reiki Master"is the same as "Reiki teacher". Just as there are teachers of different levels of knowledge, dedication and competence in other fields, so it is with Reiki teachers (Masters).

· Discussed briefly, under Reiki Levels above, what Reiki Mastership means in terms of what such a person is able to do. Adding to this, a Reiki Master is someone who has received a Master's initiation (from a Reiki Master), and has knowledge of how to successfully pass initiations on to others. Some may consider this to be an oversimplification.

· However, class subject matter (including blending of other healing modalities), teaching methods, amount of class time, post-class availability, etc. vary so greatly that what is described may be regarded as the lowest common denominator. This is not to imply that such diversity in Reiki Masters is negative. On the contrary, there is greater opportunity for each student to be drawn to a Master who is right for him or her, at a particular stage in the student's development.

· Remember that Reiki originated in Japan. Often a term or expression used in one language does not translate exactly into another language. In English, the term "master" has diverse usages. Known martial artists often spoke of Reiki Masters in the same sense as when speaking of martial arts masters. This is an example of a blurring of the usage of this expression.

· A suggestion to anyone who might be confused by the expression "Reiki Master" is to avoid it, at first, in favor of "Reiki teacher" (or at least make this mental translation). And to instead use "Reiki expert" for someone regarded as possessing "a high degree of skill in or knowledge of" Reiki. However, I suspect that there would not be much agreement within the Reiki "community" as to what would constitute such an expert, or even if such a designation would be appropriate to anyone practicing Reiki.