17 Types Of Reiki And The Nuances That Make Them Unique

There are many types of Reiki one can explore throughout their spiritual journey to access the universal life force energy and channel it consciously for their greater good.

While they all serve the same purpose, to help the practitioner find healing at the spiritual, mental-emotional, and physical levels, each holds unique methods and elements.

These particularities enable the user to access different manifestations of the divine energy and, therefore, focus it on specific needs.

Whatever your aim, the beauty of each Reiki system lies in its potential to support your spiritual growth. Still, this can only happen once you implement it regularly and for a prolonged period.

How Many Types Of Reiki Are There

There are probably well over 100 types of Reiki systems, with most having a Usui foundation.

Let’s first understand where everything started to shed some light on this evolution.

Countless spiritual worlds exist and act as dimensions where different types of energies and entities reside. Each dimension holds unique characteristics. And, most of the time, they require no material bodies.

Even if the Sephirotic Tree from Kaballah attempts to depict an image of these dimensions, there is no separation between them. On the contrary. They are interconnected and can be accessed by opening energetic portals. But, of course, this does depend on a person’s vibration level and knowledge.

Each dimension holds a manifestation of the universal life force energy that may oscillate according to that particular world’s spiritual dynamic.

This means that the advancements we experience echo in the closest spiritual world. In turn, this evolves in tandem with the one above it, and so on.

Because everything is in constant growth, the following things happened:

• More and more people have become interested in spiritual practices;
• With time, these practices get upgraded with various methods and approaches;
• Old techniques from the Hindu and/or Buddhist esoteric philosophies get re-structured to fit today’s environment;
• And, inevitably, people “discover” and channel new types of information that may result in Reiki systems;

How Did Other Reiki Systems Emerge

The old way of teaching Reiki dates back to Chujiro Hayashi. This is the foundation on which the rest of the masters and grandmasters added their contributions.

Since the very beginning, the traditional Usui Reiki system received several elements that improved both the attunement process as well as the approach to self-treatment and the treatment of others.

This improved and ‘simplified’ the practice, making it more accessible to people.

Furthermore, some Reiki masters became channels of pure energy and information from the divine realms and managed to create new ways of practicing this type of energy healing.

Thus, new Reiki systems were born.

These novel types of Reiki provided access to other dimensions in which the universal energy manifests at a higher vibration.

With time, various methods, meditations, and symbols became part of this mysterious but exciting experience.

And, because Reiki has become more widespread and easier to digest, each practitioner is now a channel through which the universal life force energy manifests. This raises the overall vibration of our world and contributes to better awareness and spiritual growth.

Slowly but surely, we can make small steps towards enlightenment by breaking the chains of ignorance and dissolving low-vibrational mental patterns.

Some people believe that having too many types of Reiki defeats the purpose of healing and balance.

I think we’re all here to explore and evolve. As long as what we do is based on good intentions, it’s our duty to find new ways of creating opportunity. Having options that better fit groups of individuals is a healthier way to progress.

The Usui Reiki System

This is the first very first system from which everything else emerged. Mikao Usui, a Buddhist priest, channeled this type of energy healing in the early 1900s.

He had an authentic desire to find wisdom and enlightenment. This firm will lead him to engage in a time of prayer and meditation. After many days of fasting and spiritual rituals, he eventually received the information we know today as Reiki.

It was a gift for the world. A tool humanity could now use to heal itself and support its spiritual growth.

As a general translation, “Rei” means universal and “Ki” energy.

Even though many variations exist, Usui Shiki Ryoho describes the original teachings of Mikao Usui.

The following years “polished” this type of Reiki, making it more accessible to those interested in placing their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual bodies in a state of healing.

The new approach provided students with three primary levels plus an additional one, the Master-Teacher. Each stage comes with its own methods, symbols, and awareness one can use to access specific vibrations.

This way of doing things introduced the concept of graduality which rapidly suited distinct personality types and backgrounds.

Read more about Usui Reiki >>

The Karuna Reiki System

William Lee Rand introduced this type of Reiki in the 90s. Being fascinated with the original system of Mikao Usui, Mr. Rand developed his own way of teaching and practicing Reiki with the help of his peers.

The Karuna Reiki system offers new meditation, methods of healing, and symbols that connect to high-dimensional divine beings such as angels and archangels. Since practitioners started manifesting Karuna Reiki in the physical world, the whole concept of Reiki evolved to a new vibration level that enabled students to:

• Heal past traumas;
• Cleanse the mental and emotional layers;
• Create strong forms of energetic protection;
• Access new levels of consciousness and spiritual potentials;

This makes Karuna Reiki one of the highest vibrational Reiki systems in existence.

Read more about Karuna Reiki >>

The Holy Fire Reiki System

Another form of Reiki channeled by Master William Lee Rand is Holy Fire. It came into existence around 2014 as an upgrade to the original Karuna Reiki system.

Holy Fire focuses on healing past life imbalances, traumas, and unnecessary attachments. It also helps heal present relationships by removing co-dependency and energetic obstacles from your life.

Alongside Usui and Karuna, Holy Fire has the potential to help you manifest the beneficial and optimum elements in your life. These can be related to physical or material gains as well as accessing divine wisdom and spiritual knowledge.

Gendai Reiki Ho

This type of Reiki is very similar to the original Usui Reiki Ryoho. Therefore, it includes many of the traditional values and principles. However, Gendai Reiki was meant to offer a more systematic approach to everyday life in the 21st century.

Even if there are subtle differences in how Gendai Reiki approaches the practice, you can find the original symbols and most methods within the Usui Reiki system.

Still, Gendai Reiki Ho is and always will be a form of healing as well as a system of spiritual growth. Furthermore, some Reiki teachers claim Gendai has a higher vibration than the original Usui Reiki.

If you want to stay more on the traditional side but also adapt your style to today’s needs, probably Gendai Reiki is where you want to start.

Sekhem Reiki

Sekhem derives from the Egyptian word “Sekhem,” meaning “power of all powers.” Reiki Master/Teacher Patrick Zeigler was the one who channeled it in the 1980s.

Through his ritual of fasting, meditation, and prayer, Patrick received the necessary energy and information that allowed him to build this unique Reiki system. This happened through a representation of the Divine Feminine concept.

Interestingly enough, Patrick and his fellow student, Tom Seaman, were initiated later on by a teacher from India who was already offering attunements for something called Sekhem. He taught them that the origins of Seikhem can be found in Egypt, and the teaching reached Tibet and India more than 1500 years ago.

Sekhem Reiki contains the energy of all four elements: air, water, fire, and Earth. This implies that it can balance most of your inner energy structures while creating an optimum background for spiritual growth.

Alongside the meditations and the symbols it offers, Seikhim Reiki helps you heal past traumas, develop your sensuality and allow you access to the Divine feminine energy.

Read more about Sekhem Reiki here >>

Komyo ReikiDo

Hyakuten Inamoto is the founder of Komyo ReikiDo. It’s a more fluid type of Reiki than Usui, which has a well-defined structure. Specifically, this system incorporates the essential teachings of Mikao Usui without the western format.

Komyo ReikiDo is perfect for those who simply want to feel the energy flowing, heal themselves, and offer Reiki to others without bothering with the energy structure, symbols, or other segmentations.

Tera Mai Reiki

Kathleen Milner founded Tera Mai Reiki as an esoteric school that incorporates Usui Reiki and many other spiritual practices, including Sekhem. She holds a trademark for this system based on attunements and intuition rather than complex healing methods.

Ms. Milner claims she has a special connection with the divine entity, Buddha. Through this entity, she obtained most of the energy and information within Tera Mai Reiki.

Therefore, Tera Mai combines Buddha’s healing energy and compassion with the vital force of the Earth, allowing you to become a channel for both.

This type of Reiki integrates many symbols from Karuna Reiki as well as unique ones belonging to different esoteric practices that one can use for healing and spiritual rejuvenation.

Lightarian Reiki

In the United States, there’s an association that serves one purpose: to help people reach new levels of consciousness so that humanity can evolve from a spiritual perspective. This place is called “The Lightarian Institute.”

The Reiki-related part of this institute focuses on understanding the importance of the subtle bodies, cellular memory healing, and acceleration of awareness toward spiritual growth.

Lightarian Reiki offers 8 levels of ascension, each providing the student with a specific manifestation of the universal life force energy.

Therefore, the Lightarian system goes beyond the Reiki practice and allows you to connect to Divine energy gateways. In turn, it enables you to interact with various Archangels and ascendant Masters, at its higher levels.

Read more about Lightarian Reiki >>

Tibetan Reiki

Master Arthur Robertson, a disciple of Iris Ishikuro, introduced Tibetan Reiki to the world.

This type of Reiki is quite similar to the original Usui system, with a few differences. However, it includes essential elements that enable the practitioner to be more efficient in offering attunements or using the standard Reiki methods.

The Violet Breath through the Dumo Reiki symbol (Tibetan Dai Ko Myo) was quite a “game changer” because it immediately cleanses and activates the crown chakra and the primary energy channel Sushumna. This allows the receiver to channel the universal life force energy more efficiently by quickly increasing their vibration.

Another addition is the Serpent and Dragon of Fire. These Reiki symbols help stimulate the student’s Kundalini energy while enhancing the life force energy’s flow through the body.

Money Reiki

Even though the name is quite compelling, and many might rush to find a quick win, the story is obviously different.

Money Reiki is about stimulating your financial potential and helping you dissolve those blockages that keep you still.

Stephanie Brail channeled this type of Reiki in the early 2000s. It’s a system that supports healing spiritual misunderstandings regarding money’s energy.

You most likely won’t win the lottery. Still, you may receive wisdom and guidance on how to position yourself in situations that will bring financial benefits. This might involve finding the willpower to change your job, the opportunity to learn something new, or even moving to another place.

Money Reiki is, at the end of the day, a spiritual practice. Therefore, you should consider it only when you’re ready to improve your relationship with money’s energy and eventually harmonize it with your life.

Read more about the Money Reiki system >>

Jikiden Reiki

Jikiden Reiki represents the essence of Usui Reiki without external influences. Therefore, it generally translates as “direct transmitted energy.”

This form of Reiki is widely spread throughout Japan. It includes the traditional methods, such as Byosen and Hatsurei Ho. However, it focuses less on the modern approach but on the original teachings, principles, and Reiki hand positions.

Jikiden Reiki promotes mental and emotional stability by channeling the universal life force energy without the complex idea of spiritual evolution.

Violet Flame Reiki

Master Ivy Moore channeled this Reiki system in 2000 through the help of an extension of the divine entity known as Quan Yin, the goddess of compassion and forgiveness.

Even though Violet Flame Reiki contains more Yin-oriented energy, it allows the practitioner to integrate both the Divine masculine and feminine concepts.

This form of Reiki focuses on opening the heart towards kindness and compassion by removing the ego, thus healing the emotional layer of the student. One of the divine entities that could support your efforts is Archangel Haniel, the promoter of love, faith, and joy.

Violet Flame complements the original Usui Reiki system by adding new methods and meditations for cleansing and healing the mental and emotional layers.

It includes 4 levels, the last one acting as master/teacher. Each stage contains 10 unique sacred symbols that help heal your energy channels, subtle bodies, and the chakras with their generated fields.

Read more about Violet Flame Reiki >>

Angelic Reiki

Master Kevin Core channeled this type of Reiki through the guidance of Archangel Metatron.

Angelic Reiki combines knowledge and methods from the original Usui and the Shamballa Reiki system.

As the name suggests, it creates a bridge between you and the Divine realm of angels and Archangels. This link takes place in accordance with your awareness level.

It is considered that the attunements for this system come directly from the “Mighty Sarim”, a conglomerate of 30 Archangels.

Angelic Reiki will significantly increase your overall vibration. This means that it can help stimulate your emotional, energetic, and spiritual structures and align them with the manifestation of divine energy that this system connects to.

Read more about Angelic Reiki >>

The Grand Master Reiki System

Although it doesn’t belong to the original lineage of Usui Reiki, the Grand Master Reiki system enhances the vibration and knowledge of traditional teachings.

The Grand Master Reiki system is vast. It includes 16 additional levels above the Usui master/teacher. Levels 5 and 6 are considered the most important as they represent the conjunction between the master teacher level of Usui Reiki and the rest of the higher levels of Grand Master Reiki.

Each level has unique Kanji-like symbols that represent a spiritual concept. Even so, they can be very well used in self-treatment, meditation, and the treatment of others.

Every symbol of the Grand Master Reiki system connects to a particular level of energy that allows you to heal and grow from a spiritual perspective.

It also includes specific methods. Among them, you’ll find the “energetic surgery” and “light beam of energy through the master symbol.” These can help guide the universal energy toward particular needs.

Read more about the Reiki Grand Master system >>

Quantum Reiki

This is more of a blend of spiritual practices rather than a system in the true sense.

Quantum Reiki was developed by Shaman Axel Carrasquillo, or as he prefers to be called – Master Antojai.

After a severe trauma that influenced his emotional health, he looked for ways beyond allopathic medicine to heal his PTSD syndrome.

He succeeded, and now Quantum Reiki is his brainchild offered to the world for humanity’s spiritual evolution.

Quantum Reiki focuses on accessing emotional trauma by creating a bridge to the subconscious. This way, the practitioner will surface the root of the problem faster than with other types of Reiki.

Once the trauma surfaces, the universal life force energy immediately starts healing it.

Allegedly, Master Antojai claims that Quantum Reiki accesses the highest vibrational energy possible within the divine energy spectrum. Therefore, the healing sessions and the connection to the divine consciousness are swift.

Shamanic Reiki

Generally speaking, Shamanism is a spiritual practice involving connecting and invoking nature’s spirits to aid you on your life’s journey. However, whether it’s for personal healing or raising awareness of the spiritual world, Shamanism has many variations around the globe.

One of them is Shamanic Reiki.

This Reiki type enables the practitioner to blend the use of universal life force energy with one of nature’s spirits. These include the energy of water, wind, fire, Earth, animals, plants, etc. Therefore Shamanic Reiki has the potential to guide the practitioner toward focused healing.

Shamanic Reiki has many meditations and methods that help you connect to your own spirit and its connection with Mother Earth.

Additionally, you learn how to identify your own power/spirit animals and how to harmonize with them throughout your life.

You’ll also learn distance healing and how to heal different physical and emotional imbalances from a Shamanic perspective.

Read more about Shamanic Reiki >>

The Shamballa Reiki System

The “best” for last!

Shamballa Reiki was channeled in the ’90s by Master John Armitage, also known as Hari das Melchisedek. He achieved this through the contribution of the Count of Saint Germain.

Although it has a long history, Shamballa Reiki acts as a system of spiritual ascension rather than a healing modality.

It’s one of the most complex Reiki systems out there. However, its structure is similar to the original Usui Reiki – 4 levels, the last one being master/teacher.

Shamballa Reiki contains all of the Usui Reiki symbols and unique ones used in DNA healing, manifesting abundance, and raising consciousness.

It also holds new methods of cleansing and protection as well as access to incredible pure energies from higher levels of the universal life force energy. Such examples include the Mahatma Energy, Christ Consciousness, Shamballa Energy, and the Silver-Violet Flame of Saint Germain.

The master/teacher level goes beyond that. It offers access to the elements of Sacred Geometry and the sacred wisdom present behind each symbol.

Read more about Shamballa Reiki >>

A Final Thought On The Different Types Of Reiki

Even though this article only scratches the surface of what each type of Reiki represents, I’m confident that it describes the most popular ones while touching on their main distinctions.

The takeaway is that Reiki enables us to raise our vibration, and each system does so in its own way.

I like to look at Reiki as a concept similar to the Flower of Life. It’s a vast spiritual canvas available to all of us. We have the opportunity to explore it in our rhythm and grow our awareness and consciousness as we see fit.

There isn’t any “good” or “bad” form of Reiki. The different approaches simply unite practitioners and divine beings to stimulate spiritual growth and support humanity in its evolution.