Reiki and Witchcraft
            QUESTION from Elena on May 30, 2004

Dear Brother Ignatius Mary, First, I would like to thank you and Mr. Meineke. Your web site is the best one I've found on the subject of spiritual warfare. I rejoice in your work, and in your love of God! Then, I would like to thank you and Chris, for his question and your answer regarding reiki. A year ago, I discovered that my former boyfriend and reiki master was a warlock in a satanic cult. Prior to this, I believed that reiki was amazing. I was given the standard line that "reiki could not be used to harm anyone." I was also told that reiki's founder was a Christian minister who sought to answer the question of a student, whom without the answer, had difficulty with faith: "How did Christ heal?" (Now I really see the holes in this, because faith in God is essential.) This story never fully sat right with me--but the connection with Christianity set something in me at ease. When he first performed reiki on me, it felt like sheer bliss. It touched a place of pain inside, connected with an injury (my former fiancee had been physically abusive), that nothing else had reached. How could anything that felt so good cause harm? (Ha, ha.) He offered to attune me to reiki. The morning of the attunement, he claimed that my kundalini was rising. He started to spiral his face over me, and I felt like a dragon was awakening inside, stretching up my midline; and like my arms were becoming wings. (Now, I question what that "dragon" was.) Just before the attunement began, he gave me something called "reiki water," which he claimed he had charged with reiki energy. He'd placed three crystals at the bottom. I did not yet know that crystals could have occult significance. Then, I looked up, and he appeared to be glowing blue. A blue light was emanating from his face; it wasn't coming from the ocean, and it wasn't coming from the "reiki water." I had not seen anyone glow blue before, but it did not particularly scare me. Later, I asked him about it, and he said, "You're the first person who's noticed. That's my true being." Several weeks later, after he and I had begun dating, I was over at his house. He looked scared and started writhing around. He told me that he'd been harassed by a demon for 12-14 yrs., and that it acts up whenever he tries to get close to someone--whenever he loves. He curled up in a ball, in agony, and could not speak. I prayed and sang hymns and the demon went away. I did not yet realize that something evil could be inside of him. He said that the demon sometimes lurks around, harassing him; he claimed that his friend saw it. After this, he would get frightened whenever I asked about it. I suggested talking with a minister or a priest. "They'll lock me up," he replied. "They'll think I'm crazy." Hmm . . . Now I must wonder what was afraid of being locked up. I asked when the problem began. Now, brother, please edit out anything that may not be suitable for public discussion, or that may illicit unhealthy curiousity. He said that, in his youth, he had hung with a crowd that was fascinated by magic. They had a black wooden Ouija board from old Salem. He saw people allow themselves to be possessed, and hellhounds chased them. (Months later, when I asked about this, his story changed.) I asked why he would hang out with people who were into that sort of thing; I'd want to run. "I was always fascinated by magic," he said. Then, he claimed that he renounced it completely, turned in his crystals and his copy of the Necromancer (that seemed scary) and "devoted himself to the light." I asked why he would even wish to read such a book (I did not yet realize what it was--just that it was evil). "To protect myself," was his reply. Several weeks after my reiki attunement, something strange happened, and I wanted to break up with him. As he was giving me a ride back to my car, he turned pale and started to panic because I did not want to be with him anymore. Then, his movements turned stiff: "They're coming," he said. He would not say who "they" were, but he said I should leave. "They'll let me get home safely," he said. The first night I met him, he said, "They're telling me things about you." His eyes emitted a strange glow, but he seemed to be happy. I asked who "they" were, and he made them out to be guides. I thought that he was a bit weird, but well, he didn't seem like he'd hit me (pathetic, but that's at the place where I was inside). So, back to the night where I tried to break up with him: He was acting strange, and I wanted to make sure he was safe. I said I would follow him home. He drove like a maniac. When I arrived, his door was wide open, and he was face down on the bed, with one arm stretched over his head, and the other behind his back, twitching. I went to the bathroom and came out to find him on the floor. At this point, he couldn't speak. He wrote on a piece of paper, "LEAVE." I insisted that, no, I cared about him and wanted to make sure he was safe. He kept trying to get me to go, and then . . . Something else spoke through him. It had a different presence and energy, different facial expressions, a contorted smile. It spoke of itself in the plural, and purported to be "beings of light." "They" offered to move the man to "the place he was before," (i.e. the bed) so that I would feel more comfortable; but they claimed he could not feel a thing; that he could not hear or remember anything they spoke to me. I was worried, and I wanted to know where he was. "He's in a safe place, receiving instruction," they insisted. They assured me that he loved me, "His love for you is so great, that during your reiki attunement, a new star was formed." (That remark seemed hoaky.) Then, they placed a hand over his heart, "See, can you see the stars?" They claimed that he and I had loved each other throughout time, in past lives. But, when I said I had another friend I'd felt like I'd always known, though I didn't know why, they looked worried, and their tone shifted: "You have feelings for him?" They claimed that one friend of me who'd died was with them. Another, they said, "We do not know," after rolling the eyes back into the head. Again, when I was worried about where he was, they said, "It's a path he chose, for his healing." Then, he got a strange look on his face, "WE CAN ENTER YOU," and his hand came towards my chest. "NO!" I exclaimed, and I pulled myself back. This conversation went on for hours, with the man flickering back in and out. "How long gone?" he'd write on paper. "Thirsty," he'd write. They'd let him drink. After they were done talking, and he returned, exhausted, he seemed surprised that they'd spoken to me. He swore me to secrecy, saying that people would consider him crazy. I did not know anything about possession yet; indeed, I wondered if he were insane; if this were an act; if I had spoken to other entitities, and if so, what? This went into the back of my mind, for months. I will skip over many other strange things that occured, and I will fast forward to a year ago. I'd broken up with him and traveled for four months. During this time, it felt like he was changing, but I still considered him a friend. When I returned from a four-month trip, I went to visit him. I threw up within a minute and a half of being in his presence. I tried to justify it as not enough sleep, or I'd eaten too many Skittles (candy); but it seemed, when he stood up, that there was a dark form stretching over him, and he was suddenly tall. He also had changed his sentence grammar . . . and he seemed different. "I like the old [person] better," I thought, but I said nothing. I felt like a strange energy was holding me there, and I wanted to leave. Now, I'm going to skip through the next part of the story (what's happened 'til now is background) so I can get to my question. He invited me to his house to give me a back massage (he is an LMT). I was very tired, and I simply felt like crawling into bed. "I'll send you something to wake you up," he said, and I felt a strange energy shoot into me. (He'd also claimed his reiki master had attuned him to something called the Ruby Ray, and he'd sworn me to secrecy about that. He wouldn't tell me what it was.) Then, I went to see him. After some confusing things had happened/ been said, I was lying in darkness, feeling bad. Suddenly, there was a clawing at my chest, and something went inside. Then, a clawing at my solar plexus and it went in. By the time something clawed at my throat, I prayed, and it could not enter. The next day, I went to talk with my current boyfriend, and I told him everything that had happened. He said he could feel it inside of me. Later, it jumped into him, clawing at his chest. (We now know that there was a witch who worked with him who is also part of the cult that has been targeting us, and she had done some strange things to him after his dog died.) Later, when I wasn't present, there was a clawing at his head and a demon jumped into his head. Now, the things made me feel angry. But they told my boyfriend to do things, such as jump in front of a car and die. This scared me. I confronted the reiki master about it; I had a feeling he was making a bargain with a demon, offering it us for some power or "freedom" (more like bondage) on his part. He denied this adamantly, claiming that he loved me and this was the demon trying to hurt him more. He said he wanted us to help us get rid of its influence. At this point, he asked me what I'd do, and I told him the people I would go to for help. (The minister I first spoke to-who lived far away--got hit with a terrible headache the day of the spell, which I'll get to shortly.) I spoke with the minister, and she gave me suggestions, such as Ephesians 6. She also said I needed to talk to my boyfriend about Jesus. I told this to the ex (over the phone), and he seemed frustrated. "Then we'll have to take matters into our own hands," he said. Then, he said, "Wait," and he pretended to look something up. "I forgot about this completely . . ." He kept me waiting for some time, then he said that there was a ceremony that had been given to him by his reiki master, to use if he ever needed it. It was very strong, and it would call upon "the twelve apostles." (I cringe as I write this.) If I'd taken the time to think, I would have remembered that one of the twelve in the Bible was Judas Iscariot, the betrayer; it would have occurred to me that "apostles" could be something else. But I felt urgent, frustrated, and this demon was telling my boyfriend to jump in front of cars. "I'll need your help," the reiki master said. "I'll need you to pick up a couple of things for me, because I'm busy [with work and school]. I have the rest of the materials already, but I'll need one wooden cross, blessed, and holy water." He spoke of it as if it were a recipe. This seemed a bit strange, but I did not worry until he said, "I'll also need your full names, birthdates, addresses, the addresses of your parents' houses, and photographs." The photos set off an alarm: "Why do you need our pictures? This isn't witchcraft, is it?" Now, I'd heard of witches, but at this point, I did not realize they had the power to harm. They were thing of fairy tales. Once, a fellow student of mine, who claimed to be a witch had offered to "bless" my room. This felt wrong, and I'd wanted no part of it; but I didn't realize that the witches of fairy tales, of legends, existed, and that they had been targeting me (and my boyfriend) for almost a year. "I need them to help me visualize you, to focus," he said. I didn't like that idea; he knew what we looked like, but if it would cast the demons out . . . Also, he'd given me a fifty yen coin that he'd claimed had been given to him by his friend, a witch. He'd claimed that it had been "blessed by a holy man," and that it offered protection. He also said it had been through my reiki attunement with me, so it was "attuned to the same frequency" and would enhance my ability to do reiki. (Now I can say, that the strongest healings I ever did with reiki were not from any coin; they were the healings where I prayed to Jesus, where I invited the presence of the Holy Spirit . . . This is part of why I did not think reiki could be bad, because it flowed in me, and others were healed while I was praying to God, to Jesus.) I wore the coin because he gave it to me; but at one point, after I'd shown it to a woman for identification of the Asian script, she held it in her hand, reminiscing, and I felt everything connected with me leave it. It felt like him (the reiki ex), and it no longer felt right to wear. I did not wear it again until . . . In addition to the blessed wooden cross and holy water, the reiki ex wanted the coin back. The only wooden cross I had had been given to me as a child, while singing in the church choir. He did not want that cross. I was raised a Protestant, not a Catholic, and I did not yet realize the value of a blessing on a cross, water, etc. I was not sure how to obtain one. "Tell the priest it's for your sick grandmother, or for your niece's first communion," he said. This seemed wrong. I knew, while praying in church the next morning, that the blessing had to be true--and it had to be for him. "DO YOU HAVE THE CROSS?" He called, urgent, panicked, an hour later. No, I hadn't found one the right size. I called around and found one at another store. He offered to pick it up. "He fought me about going in there," he said (implying that "he" was the demon). We met at a cafe that night. He had the cross in a plastic bag, as if he did not want to touch it. Oh, how I wish I'd held it up! "I've made some major decisions that will affect the course of the rest of my life," he said. "Like what?" "You wouldn't be interested." "I've decided to get a tattoo. It's the Chinese character for 'courageous tiger.'" Then, "It's strange. Today, in school, we learned about acupoints for possession." (He was an acupuncture student.) I gave him a strange look, thinking, "How can I be possessed, when I still possess myself?" "This is definitely a possession," he said, "Manipulation of thought." Then, when I told him that the movie film for Matrix II had burned in the theater, and I had not seen the end, he said, "Watch the end," with an eerie, amused smile, "You'll like it." (If you've seen the movie you'll know what this represents.) Before he drove me the short distance to my car, he touched my collar bone lightly, commenting that I was tense. Then, he gave me a look I've never seen on a human face before. I did not understand it then; it was like, "Goodbye. This is the last time I'll see you the way you are now." But Jesus had other plans for me, praise God! And for my boyfriend, whose love is steadfast. That night, I felt like "energetic ghosts" were being awakened in the house-scary spirits I’d never felt there before. I read the Bible, about Jesus casting out demons. I slept with the cross on my chest. While I was lying in bed, the coin "awoke." Its energy started burning, calling to me (with feeling, not words). "No, I do not need a talisman," I thought. "I need God." The next morning, it was "calling" again. (The coin had always had a strange energy to it. Not long after I'd met the reiki master, and he'd wanted me to come to his house, it had seemed to burn a warning, and I went home instead.) I picked up the coin and held it between my hands. I felt heat pour into it, and it was "active" again. I wore it, for the first time in months. When we met with the ex, to give him the cross, photos, etc., he wanted the coin. Energetically, he seemed to be pushing my boyfriend away and trying to come close to me. He had an almost frantic, possessed look about the coin. The chain on which the coin was on had intertwined with my other necklace, and the coin seemed to be saying (with energy, not words), "DON'T TAKE ME OFF! DON'T GIVE ME TO HIM!" I commented on this, laughing, making a joke about Gollum, my precious. I gave him the coin. He said that the ceremony would take place in an hour. He suggested we wait in the park. (He'd claimed he had to do the ceremony from a distance because he had ADD and needed to focus.) We went to get lunch (thai food) and took it to the park. It began to rain, pour, and then hail in May. A crow munched on the remnants of our food. And the "ceremony" began. I felt a strange energy. My eyes were closed, and I saw colors. Then, I felt like ghosts of the divine, things pretending to be the divine but were not the real thing, were present--something feminine (but not Mary), Egyptian, even, something veiled and not God. I felt like something tried to be the apostles of Christ, one stepping forward as Peter; but it was not Peter. (That morning, I'd been drawn to a medallion of St. Peter. I did not know why; Peter had always represented faith to me. I'd told this to the reiki ex.) Then, when it was done, "he" (but now we know it was "they") worked on my boyfriend. Afterwards, I felt funny, and my chest and belly were still congested. At some point in the ceremony, during which it hailed, a lightning bolt crackled about 300 yards from where we sat. "I'm not clear," I said, "It's not out of me." "I feel great!" my boyfriend replied. "I shook my hands, and it was as if bones and piles of cow manure fell out." I knew something was wrong. I called the ex. "I feel great!" he said. "I feel the best I've felt in years! I've been singing hymns and dancing." This was the beginning of what became a four day spiritual battle, where we were attacked by him and psychic witches. That night, I felt like I was being sucked out of my body and into a bottle. My boyfriend knew we had to do something to stop it. "Remember the medallion of St. Peter?" he said. "That wasn't for [the warlock]; it was for you! This is about faith." My boyfriend gave himself to Christ. We went to the ex's house and prayed outside. It felt like something evil was lurching from behind the door. I drew crosses in the air, and we prayed that God would break all curses and spells. We went to the sidewalk, and the energetic attacks began. I felt an intense stabbing in my head, as if someone were stabbing a knife into me. I called and said I did not want him using our photos or the coin or anything I'd given him in connection with us. He did not return my call until the next day. I will not tell the full story of the attacks here; this is where the grisly stuff begins; the coven made a decision (not that night) to reveal themselves as witches. I say four day; but the attacks, psychic and spiritual, have continued for a year. The next day, when the ex returned my call, he got me to walk away and put a spell on me. He did not want me near my boyfriend or anyone. He claimed that he had not done anything to harm us; that he'd only done a reiki ceremony, dipping the cross into the water. I told him that I knew what reiki felt like and that was not reiki. Then, he said he'd done one thing different. He'd done something on himself--a countercurse. "Get into your car and I'll put it on you now." My boyfriend indicated, "No!" "Why do you want me to get in my car?" I asked. "It's easier for me to visualize you." (And why should I trust him?) I refused; he finally told me to write it down, but no one could be near me. Then, he wanted me to get into the car and put it on myself. I refused. I've felt, that in doing this, he'd taken a risk; and he gave something away. He wanted me to first pray to four "angelic beings." He claimed that they were the names of the four angels who'd "helped Christ when he was tempted in the wilderness." He gave me the phonetics, syllable by syllable, not speaking the names. They sounded demonic, and I did not trust them. I told him I'd never heard of them. I told him that I would not pray to angels I'd never heard of; I would pray to God. He got adamant, exclaiming in a high, mocking pitch, "Catholic Lesson 101, Michael is the archangel that fights demons." Yeah, but I'd never heard of these. He told me to go to a particular bookstore (that has a large occult section) where I could find a book on angels and Michael would be in it. "Would these be in it?" He sounded surprised, and he said he did not know. After the four "angelic beings," he gave me a list (that he called a "prayer") that counted from twelve to one. It began with the "twelve apostles," but had things in it that did not sound Christian, that I would never pray to--such as candlebrass and sorrow. It also had "three holy persons"; when he got to that, he said I had to say that; but to be careful not to say "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” Even with a spell on me, I knew that this was dreadfully wrong! I did not speak it; in fact, my boyfriend recognized it as a spell and I burned it; but I've always wondered if somehow, this information could be of use in countering the spell, in breaking what he placed on us in the park the day it hailed. (He'd wanted me to get the cross to him on a full moon, I noticed later.) Please edit the following, if you do not feel it's appropriate for the public eye: Months later, in the Christian section of a bookstore, I stumbled across a dictionary of angels (including the fallen ones). I'd tried to block the demonic names from the spell out of my mind, augmenting them; but I recognized when I saw one: Totrisi (May God rebuke him, I pray!). The book claimed that he was "one of the angels appointed by God to the sword," and referenced a text called "the Sword of Moses," translated by Moses Gaster. This turned out to be a grimoire, that began with the invocation of four "angelic beings" that sounded quite familiar. (However, it did not include the list of 12-1.) I felt attacked for days, as if evil spirits were near me, wanting me to invoke them. I prayed to God. I’ve believed that a Deliverance counselor could use this information to help us, to fully break the spell. Would you be able to advise us on this? There is much more to the tale, but this, I feel, is important. Thank you. Bless you for your great work. Glory be to God! P.S. Dear Brothers, please forgive me on this. I wrote this letter several weeks ago, but the demons have been messing with me, tempting me not to send it. First, they tried to make me believe that you could be in danger if the satanic cult realized I’d gone to you for help (even though this letter is a neutered version, an introduction). Then, they tried to make me believe I could be in danger. Then, they tried to appeal to my writer’s vanity-making me believe that if I posted this, you would hold the copyright, and I could never tell the story in my own words. So, to alleviate my mind and silence these demons-please confirm for me: If this is posted, can I still use my own writing without infringing on your copyright, or being accused of copyright violations/ plagiarism? I might want to tell my story some day, in a fictional or nonfictional context; and although this is only part of my story, I don’t want to be accused of stealing it. Could you please clarify this for me? If I can, indeed, use my own story, then please post my letter. If not, then please do not post the letter, but only this final portion (the postscript), and please forgive me for the difficulty I am having on this matter. I thought that I’d write the letter anyways, and send it, because I don’t want this to stop me and my boyfriend from receiving help. Also, perhaps someone else who’s been tricked by this cult will receive grace and guidance from your response, as I have received help from others. P.P.S. My ex-boyfriend the warlock claimed that his parents are Christians who are involved in high levels of the Masonic order. There is much, much more-but I don’t want to overwhelm you with this post. I did not, at the time he mentioned it, know about the occult connections with Masonry. (In fact, I have some Masons in my ancestry. I had no idea what this meant . . .)