Reiki practitioners use a Reiki Master Symbol when conducting a healing or performing an attunement. There are different symbols and additional symbols used in the various Reiki systems. The Usui Reiki symbols are the ones that were revealed to Mikao Usui when he completed his 21 day fast.
Many people believe that the Reiki symbols need to remain secret. Still, other people are quite willing the share the symbols. However, these people won’t explain how to use the symbols until the student has paid for a class. There are Reiki masters that require a fee to heal and perform attunements. Other masters believe that the healing power is within everyone. These masters will teach someone how to tap into that power but only after being paid a fee. Actually, it’s a Reiki tradition to charge a price.
Legend says that Mikao Usui initially conducted healings in poor sections of Kyoto, Japan for free. He used Reiki to help homeless people get jobs so they could go back to work and get rid of the begging lifestyle. Usui was highly disappointed when many of those he had helped gradually went back to begging. He questioned the beggars and meditated about things. Finally, he arrived at a solution.
It became clear to him that by donating his help for free, the people didn’t appreciate the value of the treatments. This makes perfect sense because most people protect something they’ve paid for but aren’t as eager to take good care of something that was free. Usui closed down his practice and started traveling all over Japan teaching Reiki. He made it clear that Reiki should never be simply given away.
During his travels, Usui understood that the Reiki symbols shown to him at the end of his fast on Mount Kurama were meant to help others learn Reiki. When a student reached the Master level, he or she was awarded the Reiki Master symbol, also called the Usui Master symbol. Master Mikao used other Usui Reiki symbols to show his students how to concentrate on parts of Reiki energy.
Reiki masters tend to debate the Usui Reiki symbols’ power. However, most agree that the symbols themselves are powerless. They’re only used for focus.