Jean celebrates her anniversary date July 27, 1990 of Master Initiation

The Spiritual Precept: Honor your Parents, Teachers and Elders awakens me this morning.

I find myself drifting into the lovely fluid space that I know as Reiki energy. I am wondering what day is today? I, then find myself at the retreat site on the Big Island, near the town of Kalapana. The volcano is erupting and flowing down the road overtaking the vegetation, the land, homes and eventually the entire town of Kalapana. We have come here for my Master Initiation in The Usui System of Natural Healing. I am joined with Helen Haberly, my Reiki Master and my dear friends, Joyce Winough and Johanna Tilbury. It is July 27,1990.

There is an energy charge of Pele, The Goddess of Fire, as she does her thing of destroying, cleansing and creating right before our eyes. We go each day and night to the volcano edge where the Park rangers have set up a blockade. Hawaiians, kahunas and local folks all are there to offer blessings to the fire. Chanting rings in our ears. The sounds of crackling fire, trees falling around us and the smell of burning asphalt all add to this magical time in my life. Each morning visit revealed where we had stood the night before was gone and no longer existed.
A life changing event is about to happen to me. I watch the fire and lava flow the night before I am to be initiated. There in a mirage of flames, a form that I recognize as my meditation teacher appears and says to me, "Can you come under the barrier and walk into the flames with me? " I then, see this shimmering shape leave my physical form and walk into the fire to be consumed. The next day, Helen and I embark, on this most auspicious day, to find a secluded water fall site that I thought would be lovely for my initiation site. We never find it and are taken off into a dimension that is unknown to both of us and lasts for 2 hours. Our collaborative sharing of this time period were the same in visual and energetic experiences. As we return to the road and discover we can't find the waterfall, we begin to search for a new location.
We make our way to an isolated park on the edge of an old lava flow overlooking the ocean. There is actually a shelf created by lava that makes a wonderful seat for me to sit on. There before me has already been placed a flower lei and Ti leaves stuck in the cracks of the lava, gifted by the unknown, awaiting our arrival.
I sit with my feet on the ground, my hands folded, my eyes closed and Helen draws Sacred symbols on me. I am not the same, I am not the same. I am a Reiki Master!

We drive back to the retreat site to get Johanna and Joyce to take them to the site of my initiation and share the details of the morning. We have lunch and rest for the big afternoon. There is a 2nd degree class arriving. Joyce is taking her 2nd degree along with Kalavati (Julie Kinney), her parents, Gloria and Milton Staackman. My life of teaching begins immediately, as Helen and I teach the class together. She initiates Kalavati and her parents and I initiate Joyce. Filled with the day's experiences, we go into Hilo town to celebrate. We go to the Buddhist Temple, where Mrs. Takata's ashes are interned. We Honor our Teachers, Elders and this system that serves us, guides us and supports us.

Yes, I am not the same, as all of you are in my life because of that day and that experience. Would I have, at that time, thought I would be writing a blog? The last Spiritual Precept: Show gratitude to all living things, has taken me on this experiential trip in time, only to remember and share my life with you. Thanking my teachers, my life and all of you for the richness that fills me. Signing off for now, in this desert town of El Paso that has been carried off in torrential rain and flooding by hurricane Dolly... 18 years later, I once again sit in the tumultuous place of change. What does Reiki have in store for me?

Oh, one interesting note to share with you... over the years, as I revisited that site of my initiation, everytime there was a lei and Hawaiian ti leaves stuck in the crack of the lava, waiting for me! Somethings just give you goose bumps.
Stayed tuned to this blog!