A practitioner stands in a dim room, eyes closed, one hand tracing a shape in the air. The gesture is slow, deliberate, as if drawing a door that only she can see. She whispers the symbol’s name, then steps into the space between worlds. This is how shamanic reiki symbols work: not as static marks, but as thresholds.
Shamanic reiki symbols are a hybrid system that combines traditional Usui Reiki symbols with shamanic journeying, power animal work, and spirit communication. They are used to direct energy while also opening a channel to non-ordinary reality, allowing the practitioner to retrieve information, heal soul loss, or call in guardian spirits.
Where Did Shamanic Reiki Symbols Come From?
The system did not emerge from a single lineage. It was forged in the 1990s by practitioners who trained in both Reiki and core shamanism. Llyn Roberts, a Reiki master and student of Michael Harner (the anthropologist who founded the Foundation for Shamanic Studies), began integrating the two in the late 1980s. Her book Shamanic Reiki, co-authored with Robert Levy and published by Weiser Books in 2005, codified the practice.
Roberts drew on Harner’s method of shamanic journeying—using drumming or rattling to enter an altered state—and combined it with the five traditional Usui symbols: Cho Ku Rei, Sei He Ki, Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen, Dai Ko Myo, and Raku. She did not invent new symbols. Instead, she gave the existing ones a second function. In Usui Reiki, symbols are primarily energetic keys that focus and amplify ki. In shamanic Reiki, they also become maps for the journey.
Other figures contributed. Alberto Villoldo’s Four Winds Shamanic Energy Medicine influenced the use of luminous energy fields and soul retrieval. The result was a system that felt familiar to Reiki practitioners but opened a door to the animist worldview of shamanism.
How Do the Symbols Work Differently in Shamanic Reiki?
In a standard Reiki session, the practitioner draws the symbol in the air or on the client’s body, then places hands. The symbol acts as a switch: it turns on a specific frequency. In shamanic Reiki, the same gesture does something else. It calls a spirit.
The practitioner may journey first. She sits, closes her eyes, and follows the drumbeat into the lower world. There she asks a power animal or guide which symbol to use. The answer might come as an image, a word, or a sudden urge to draw Cho Ku Rei over the client’s root chakra. She returns, draws the symbol, and the healing proceeds with the spirit present.
This changes the relationship to the symbol. It is no longer a tool the practitioner controls. It is an agreement between the human and the non-human. The symbol becomes a shared language.
What Each Symbol Means in a Shamanic Context
The five Usui symbols carry their original meanings, but shamanic Reiki adds layers.
Cho Ku Rei (the power symbol) is drawn as a spiral. In Usui, it increases energy flow and offers protection. In shamanic Reiki, it is used to ground the practitioner before journeying, to seal the aura, and to call in the power animal. We have seen it drawn over a drum to charge the instrument before a journey.
Sei He Ki (the mental/emotional symbol) resembles a wave. It heals trauma and balances emotions. Shamanically, it is used to retrieve lost soul parts. The practitioner journeys with Sei He Ki as a beacon, asking it to lead her to the place where a fragment of the client’s spirit is hiding.
Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen (the distance symbol) is a bridge across time and space. In shamanic Reiki, it is the primary tool for past-life healing and for communicating with ancestors. The practitioner draws it, then journeys to the time or place indicated by the symbol’s energy.
Dai Ko Myo (the master symbol) represents enlightenment and the light of the universe. In shamanic practice, it is used to initiate a client into a new level of spiritual awareness, often after a soul retrieval. It is also drawn over the crown of a dying person to guide the spirit’s departure.
Raku (the grounding symbol) is used to seal the session. Shamanically, it is drawn to close the door between worlds, ensuring no unwanted energies follow the practitioner back.
How Practitioners Actually Use the Symbols
The session begins with a short journey. The practitioner drums or rattles for a few minutes, asks her power animal which symbol is needed, then returns. She draws the symbol in the air over the client’s body, sometimes tracing it directly on the skin with a finger or a crystal wand.
Some practitioners draw the symbols on the floor around the treatment table, creating a sacred circle. Others use them on stones placed on the chakras. A common practice is to draw Cho Ku Rei on the soles of the feet to ground the client before a journey.
Distance healing takes a different form. The practitioner journeys to the client’s location, draws Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen to connect, then performs the healing in the spirit world. She may bring back a power animal for the client or retrieve a soul fragment, then draw the symbol again to seal the work.
The symbols are also used for self-healing. A practitioner might journey with Sei He Ki to find the root of a recurring emotional pattern, then draw the symbol over her own heart to release it.
How Shamanic Reiki Differs from Traditional Reiki
The symbols are the same. The difference is in the relationship.
Traditional Reiki treats the symbols as keys. You learn them, you draw them, they work. The practitioner is the conduit. Shamanic Reiki treats the symbols as living entities. They have personalities, preferences, and a will. The practitioner does not command them; she negotiates.
In Usui Reiki, attunements are given by a master to a student, opening the channels. In shamanic Reiki, attunements can also come from spirit. A practitioner might journey to receive a symbol directly from a power animal, bypassing the human lineage. This is controversial among purists, but it reflects the shamanic principle that knowledge comes from the non-human world.
Another difference is the role of the journey. Traditional Reiki does not require an altered state. The practitioner stays present, hands on or off. Shamanic Reiki demands that the practitioner leave ordinary reality. The symbols become the map and the vehicle.
Common Misconceptions
Misconception: Shamanic Reiki is a separate Reiki lineage. It is not. It is an integration of two distinct systems. Most shamanic Reiki practitioners are also Usui Reiki masters. They do not claim a separate lineage; they claim a method.
Misconception: The symbols must be kept secret. In Usui Reiki, symbols are traditionally taught only to initiated students. In shamanic Reiki, many practitioners share them openly, arguing that the power is not in the symbol itself but in the relationship with spirit. The secrecy is a cultural protection, not a universal rule.
Misconception: It is cultural appropriation. Shamanic Reiki draws on core shamanism, which Harner designed as a non-cultural, universal practice. Critics argue that it still borrows from indigenous traditions without permission. Practitioners respond that they work with spirit, not with specific cultural forms. The debate is ongoing. We note that respectful integration requires acknowledgment of sources and a willingness to learn from the cultures that preserved shamanic practices.
FAQ
Can anyone learn shamanic Reiki? Yes, but most teachers recommend completing at least Reiki Level 2 first, so you know the symbols and how to use them in the Usui system.
Do I need to be a Reiki master to practice shamanic Reiki? Not necessarily. Many shamanic Reiki courses are open to Level 2 practitioners. The master level attunement is not required for journeying with symbols.
Are the symbols different from Usui Reiki? The same five symbols are used. No new symbols are added. The difference is in how they are applied.
How does journeying with symbols work? The practitioner enters a light trance using drumming or rattling, then asks her spirit guide which symbol to use. She may see the symbol glowing in the spirit world, or hear its name. She returns, draws it, and follows the guidance.
Closing
The symbols of shamanic Reiki are not shortcuts. They are agreements between the healer and the unseen. To use them well, you must learn to listen. If you are new to this path, start with the traditional Usui symbols and a basic shamanic journey practice. Then let the symbols teach you. For more on the foundational symbols, see our glossary of Reiki symbols. To understand how journeying and energy healing intersect, read our guide on shamanic Reiki practices. And for the full context of energy healing traditions, visit the Reiki vertical hub.