A Tribute to Helen J. Haberly, my Reiki Master Born October 23, 1928 - June 25, 1999

Helen J. Haberly gave me a Gift of a Lifetime. She gave me a "winning ticket" to the Usui System of Natural Healing. The fruits of that gift are forever bearing. She said, I would come to know those fruits with great intimacy, as I would walk with them and embrace them. This gift would meet me in all the places that needed to be healed, and it would support me in going to all the places I needed to explore. I began by putting my feet on the floor, placing my hands by my heart and closing my eyes. I did not really know where this ticket would take me, I only knew where she had been.

As I looked at her hands in my Reiki class, I had only one question: "are my hands going to get as big as yours?" She laughed and said "no, my hands were always large and I never was comfortable with their size". During her Reiki class, her teacher, Hawayo Takata said "my, what wonderful Reiki hands you have!" Thereafter, Helen was always comfortable with her hands.

Helen said that the journey of Reiki is simple. "Put your hands on...Reiki on; take your hands off.... Reiki off!" Her stories and words rang the truth of her Master, Hawayo Takata. Having been a physical therapist for twenty years, it seemed like a miracle to hear something so simple. "Are you sure this is all that I have to do, I asked”. Helen responded in Takata’s words, "yes, just do it; just do it; just do it, and then you shall know". I, then began the practice of doing it. I began my journey of knowing: knowing myself, knowing my bodies, and knowing others in a way, I had not known before.

As she traveled deeper into the system, her experiences served as a guide in my own exploration of Reiki. Second Degree initiation opened the doors to the sacred symbols. Helen told me to take these gifts and make them companions along the way. "These gifts are an answer to your prayers and are guides to take you into new dimensions. Always draw them with the sacredness with which they are bestowed. They will support you along the way."


The truth of the system was revealed in the wisdom of the symbols. Helen said to trust, for the symbols will support me in my own healing. In my business as a yacht broker, I found Helen's teachings supportive to the hundreds of wounded boats that came for healing and reconstruction and also to the incredible healings in my Reiki practice.

Helen exhibited a quality of steadfastness to the system, both as my teacher, and also as a student. Her undying commitment to service was expressed as she began to travel, to extend service to the world Reiki community of masters and students, and to co-create the master vision seminars.

Helen was the bearer of gifts. The gifts I received began with doing; then I walked with wisdom and non-doer ship. The path of being, then came into focus. I was led into mystery and mysticism. As I journeyed through the aspects and elements of the system, the open path of mastery was revealed. We embraced deeply this journey together, with Reiki as our teacher, We walked with the wisdom of the system guiding our path and explored the intimacies of mastery.

My initiation was nine years ago on the Big Island of Hawaii, July 27, 1990. This was a time when the volcano was in a very eruptive stage, overtaking the town of Kalapana and the famous Black Sand Beach. Refer to the blog posted July 27, 2008 for details of my initiation.

How can I thank this lady, this mother, this grandmother, this great grandmother, this teacher, this master, my Reiki Master, Helen J. Haberly? She is my link to the system and to the lineage. I look at the gifts that Helen gave me and see the magic and the mystery. The greatest misuse of Reiki today, is not honoring the gifts our masters have given. I thank you, Helen, by doing the practices that you taught me: self treatment, treatment of others, self inquiry with the symbols and precepts, honoring the system and lineage, allowing wisdom to bear its fruit through teaching and initiation of students, and to continuously walk the path.

Today we stand before the spirit of Helen J. Haberly, in sorrow that her physical form is no longer present, but jubilant that she has expanded to realms in which she has journeyed throughout her life. The difference today is that she no longer has to return to this plane. We will now meet her in the realms that she has always known as home. Helen, may you always reside in the realms of the universe. You have traveled the path of the Usui System of Natural Healing. We are grateful that we could walk with you.


Your "First Born Reiki Master", Jean C. Ferris
Written and read at her Memorial Service in La Conner, Wa - July 5, 1999