reiki precepts | honour

Honour your teachers, elders and ancestors

Parts of my inner child used to inflame when I read this, as the way I was taught to ‘honour’ my elders was essentially to blindly respect them. And by respect what was meant was I should listen to what I was told and not cause trouble.

I interpret this differently now and find it inspires me to seek connection in new ways to those of my elders, teachers and ancestors that are living and those that are not. I understand the concept of honour in a much different way now, which feels loving and empowering at the same time.

Generally speaking, we’ve lost sight of the great gifts this precept invites. It’s not as common for us to spend time with aging family or community members [of course this is not true for all]. We have a tendency to look to the media or internet for wisdom instead of conferring with books or our lineage. Once family members have moved on from this life they, their stories and their wisdom seem to quiet down rather quickly.

If you reflect on your family and maybe do some digging around, how has your family honoured one another? What about your teachers? Do you know the lineages of your practices, modalities, hobbies, schooling…? How might you honour elders in your community? What is practiced now, what was practiced before? What feels right to you?

Ways you may enjoy inviting the essence of this

precept into your life and home:

• Hang pictures

• Create an altar

• Tell stories

• Read books

• Meditate

• Offer Reiki

• Find a meaningful place to display the photos or names of your reiki lineage

• Give thanks - in person or in meditation

• Invite your ancestors on walks with you

• Find out who these people are/were - what are/were their names, lives, teachings, joys, sage pieces of advice… and then talk about them with others

• Light candles

• Dedicate a song, practice or prayer to your lineage

I think this practice really lights up when you first take time to define what honour means to you, finding a definition that illuminates your heart.

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What are reiki precepts?

The Reiki Precepts are offered as pillars of contemplation and as a pathway to invite reiki energy to anchor into the heart of the practitioner. They are sayings, mantras or ideals that have innumerable uses, much like the verses of the Tao Te Ching or Yoga Sutras. They are one of the main elements of the reiki system.

To learn more about reiki check out the article HOW REIKI WORKS. [link below]