Intercessory Prayer & Laying of Hands

There were countless times I recall waking up as a child late at night or early in the morning and my mother standing over me with her hands either on me or extended over my body while she was praying. There were other times I remember my mother gathering my siblings and I before we started our way to school and anointing our foreheads with oil before we prayed and left the house. This practice did not end with my mother but extended to me as often I was called to lay hands on and pray for others or my mother herself. I knew when practicing this gift, it was very important and an honorable practice to be able to speak over someones life in such a powerful way. SO I took this role very serious.

There were times I remember being in church service and watching and waiting for the Spirit to move and someone to come to prayer or alter call to receive prayer and the laying of hands on their bodies that were ill or hearts that had been saddened and even people coming for prayer to stand in intercession for others that were ill or unable to make it to the service for themselves and this was normal. The other attendees and would look on, also close our eyes and bow our heads in prayer and sometimes also extend our arms or hands in the direction of the person so we could support and send the strength of our collective prayers their way, knowing where two or three are gathered….

Now a days, as I journey through my role and various experiences in the wellness world, this same practice called reiki (ray-key) is practiced regularly by others but minus the prayer. There are various schools of thought/training regarding the founder or use of reiki from Kemetic Reiki to Usui Reiki (my formal training) and then what we call in the church good ole’ laying of hands. I began practicing reiki because I knew there was a great power in touching others physically and often why I was not comfortable with the Southern customs of hugging everyone you meet, even if they are a hugger (let alone the amount of agency it takes away from people to give their consent, all at the behest of “I’m a hugger”).

I see reiki or the laying of hands still a very serious healing modality and when I provide a session for someone, I know energetically it takes a lot out of me. This is why I am very selective about who I agree to provide this service for because as much as you can be speaking life into someone else will being entangled with their energy field, they too are interacting (in a spiritual sense) with your energy field.

There was once a regular reiki client I had that I was providing service for about every two weeks because they wanted to work on aligning their chakras. This particular client I knew pretty well and their life partner too. In different occasions I interacted with both of them and in different ways and occasions they asked me about the other being an issue causing trauma and stagnation to their growth in life. First, let me remind you, I do not offer this service in this way anymore to just anyone. Second, I do not believe it is my role as a practitioner to TELL anyone what they need to do on their journey. I am simply a conduit in that moment for whatever wants to come through or happen.

So here I am, providing a reiki session with the client and as always, I set up the space, do a brief check-in and then we get started. Once I finish we do a debrief and then I clean things up and leave if the client has no questions and is content with their session. This is not guaranteed to be healing work although it is considered a healing modality. It is not an end-all, cure-anything. It is simply another tool to assist in your journey. This particular client was healing from a tone of childhood trauma and I could feel it in my body in various areas. Sometimes I would leave this client and have to lay down and do nothing for the rest of my day and the next day to clear the energies I felt and experienced from their session. But this client wanted more. They wanted me to name their life partner as the reason for their downfall, they wanted me to tell them to burn some sage and put some crystals in their bra and their chakras would be aligned and everything would be better. But that’s not how any of this works. The type of trauma this person was dealing with needed reiki as a tool because it was accessible for them but I recommended highly for us to continue session they seek therapy.

Eventually, this client and I ended our time working together and I never did confirm their life partner as the root of their problems. This same person with deep seated trauma later became a trained reiki practitioner themselves (I did not train them) and there is nothing wrong with that IF it is for the right reasons. This person is now out in the world providing healing sessions others and perhaps spilling their unhealed trauma into someone else’s energetic body. THIS is why it matters who you allow to be in your energetic space and use your discernment.