Medicine Dreams Wellness

04/13/2026

Message of the Butterfly Moon 4/17/26
Universal Law of Change, stages of life, cycle of transformation, rites of passage:

Egg of gestation and visioning of purpose
Caterpillar of experience, adventure, growth and digestion
Cocoon of evolution of self in relation to the whole
Drying of the wings with patience and struggle to then take flight with strength wisdom and freedom

Message of Mni Wiconi and Bodhisattva

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04/03/2026

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As told by Pete Catches Sr. in 1992.
Image may contain: 1 person
Dustin Jayde Thompson
April 23, 2019
THE BLACK HILLS AND THE SEVEN SPIRITS

"The Black Hills are the center of Lakota people. There, ages ago, before Columbus came over the sea, seven spirits came to the Black Hills. They selected that area, the beginning of a sacredness to the Lakota people. Each spirit brought a gift, a bundle, a color to the Lakota people. The first spirit whose voice was like a giant wind, gave the Lakota people the whole of the Black Hills forever and ever, from this life until the great hereafter life."

"The next spirit that came wearing the red paint, told the Lakota people there is a great eternal fire deep within the bowels of the earth, which we know as volcanoes- the fire, the everlasting fire- so the Black Hills belong to the Lakota people, and from it, that eternal fire in the bowels of the Black Hills is the life giving heat."

"The next spirit that came wearing the blue paint, brought water, commonly what we know of as the 'hot springs.' We went there to these hot springs to get healing, the healing waters of life."

"The third spirit who moved swiftly unseen by the naked eye, brought the air that we breathe. You'll see that- you go to Wind Cave and the Earth breathes air in and out. There is a secret about this here only known to us medicine men, we cannot share openly, it is very sacred. This air is needed for all life for without it nothing can live, nothing. The plants need air all creation needs air."

"The fourth spirit who glittered in the sun, brought the rock people, including all the gold and as I mentioned before the minerals. The Black Hills were stolen and are being exploited because of these."

"The fifth spirit from the root people, brought the sacred medicines. There is a medicine for every sickness here, if we medicine men spend enough time alone here we can find a cure for any sickness such as AIDS because the Black Hills are very sacred, they are life itself. We will have these medicines till the end of time."

"The next spirit who was like a four legged, brought animals, the buffalo, the deer, all the animals from which we get body parts from, food, and medicine. We transform these into our way of life because all life is one, they are us and we are them. This is creation, we are connected by the sacred vein of life - Wakan."

"The seventh spirit that came from above like a winged, presented and dedicated the Black Hills to the Lakota as a whole, gave it to the Lakota forever, for all eternity, not only in this life but in the life hereafter; the two are connected, they are forever tied together. Our people that have passed on, their spirits are contained in the Black Hills. Every spirit we know comes from the Black Hills, this is why it is the center of the universe. This is why it is sacred to us. In this life and the life hereafter the two are together."

"We will never part with the Black Hills, by the power of the holy ones and all creation the Black Hills are not for sale, it is set in stone and nothing will ever change that."

"We cannot sell the spirit, generation after generation our people have looked upon the Black Hills as the heart of everything that is, the center of the world. It is a circle, we began from there and we make a complete circle of life, and we go there after our demise from this world. This is why the Black Hills are sacred to us."

As told by Pete Catches Sr. in 1992.

04/01/2026

Come together once a month to sing and pray with the waters!

This gathering is donation based and includes traditional teachings welcome to all nations and faiths. We all come from water and the main focus of this is to remember that we are stewards of this planet and acknowledge that these water ceremonies are facilitated by women, carriers or the womb and amniotic fluid of life, to step into leadership with this element. All ages and genders are welcome in support to the facilitators and intentions of this prayer and leadership.

These water ceremonies and Earth based/ wellness teachings will be held in person and virtually on zoom (hybrid) in cooperation with Shakti Penelope and Moon Lodge Indiana.
We join in circle with songs, talking circle and prayers. Bring your drum and potluck if you feel called!

Donations welcome thru: linktr.ee/Ama_Kimimila or to Shakti Penelope this months home host!

Event Info: Facilitated by Ama of Medicine Dreams Wellness and Shakti Penelope of Moon Lodge Indiana
Date & Time: April 3rd at 6:30pm
Location: Hybrid of Zoom and in person -> Info given with RSVP
**Contact Ama at 304 283 4655 for zoom info and please text me your email address**

03/31/2026

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Today we recognize the importance of Indigenous language preservation, as it comes with identity, culture and connection. Visit tribal websites and use their apps to help in the revitalization of the many different languages.

03/16/2026

Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai

by Frans Stiene.

The Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai is an association that reportedly started in 1922 and still exists today. However....

“Dento Reiki as it was practiced by members of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai before Usui sensei’s death drastically changed after his passing and even more after the end of World War II.” - Hiroshi Doi.

Hiroshi Doi, and also other members of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai to whom I have spoken since 2001, all have said the same thing: many things have changed in this association over the years.

These days the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai focuses mainly on the hands on healing element; however, Mikao Usui also taught the way to satori, remembering our inner great bright light, that we are Reiki.

“So the old Gakkai members said that Usui Sensei taught the way to Satori very intensely to those who had achieved a certain level.” - Hiroshi Doi.

We can also see this concept of satori being pointed out by one of Mikao Usui's students, Kaji Tomita, in 1933.

“Its essence is seeking the harmony of body and mind. When engaged in self-cultivation by doing seiza, forgetting the “self” is of utmost importance. When it comes to self-cultivation, one must discard all thoughts…” – Reiki and the Benevolent Art of Healing by Tomita Kaiji (Published in 1933)

We have to forget the "self" - satori.

"This is because the source of reiki, the agent of this therapy, must be sought in the proper heart and mind. The power to treat disease is thus a by product of becoming a better person. The healing of diseases with this therapy is secondary.” - Tomita Kaij, Reiki and the Benevolent Art of Healing.

As Mikao Usui did, Tomita Kaji states that the healing of diseases in this therapy is secondary, we must first work with the mind, forgetting the "self," I, me mine.

“The mind should be healed first and the body second, so that one can tread the right path of humanity. When the mind is healthy and its path of oneness has been adjusted, then the body will regain its strength itself.” – Mikao Usui, in the booklet Shin-Shin Kaizen Usui Reiki Ryoho Kokai Denju Setsumei.

Of course we can see the same pointed out by Mikao Usui. Thus if we only focus on the concept of hands on healing we only work with a very small element of Mikao Usui's teachings.

“Empty your mind and become selfless.” – Reiki Ryoho no Shihori, a booklet handed out by the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai.

Of course we can still see traces of this forgetting the "self" within old booklets about the system of Reiki in Japan.

But there is more....

“One of my students is an Aikido master, and through his colleague, I got my hands on certain documents that used to belong to a person who had studied Reiki under Usui sensei... Dento Reiki [Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai] does not have Dai Ko Myosymbol. According to the record I got on my own; Usui Senseicalled Shinpi-den student into his room one byone, saying, “You have been working on developing your pipe ofReiki since you had it opened until youlearned Oku-den Koki. But that is not enough, as you werechosen to be a Shinpi-den practitioner. From nowon you must devote yourself to give the Light to as many people aspossible.” And he showed a piece of paper withthree Kanji characters of Dai, Ko and Myo on it, which indicated thebasic consciousness of Shinpi-denpractitioner. Both Koyama sensei and other Shihans [of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai] told me they did not know the above. Because this informationcame from a person who provided me many importantdocuments and information." – Hirsohi Doi.

Within the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai they do not teach or show the dai komyo and yet there are students, like Hayashi and the person Hiroshi Doi is talking about, who were taught the dai komyo by Mikao Usui.This of course makes perfect sense, as Mikao Usui was teaching his students according to their spiritual development.

“Usui Sensei had no standard curriculum, and the length of time of the training depended on the spiritual progress of each student. It is said that he gave one-on-one lectures mainly on the right mental attitude needed for spiritual advancement based on his own experience.” - Hiroshi Doi.

Plus, what was Mikao Usui teaching before 1922?

In an article written in 1928, Shou Matsui, a student of Chujiro Hayashi, who is talking about Churijo Hayashi and Mikao Usui in this article, says, “It has been more than a decade since Reiki Ryoho was founded.” This points out that Mikao Usui was already teaching in 1918, 4 years before the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai was formed. So it is highly possible that Mikao Usui was teaching the way to satori, spiritual practices other then hands on healing and the dai komyo before 1922. This of course also links in with what Mrs Takata rediscovered in Japan.

“When John studied with Takata, he made over 20 audio tapes of her lectures and classes. On one of the tapes she discusses travelling to Japan in order to teach her approach to Reiki. While there, she met some Japanese citizens who were actively practicing and preserving Reiki as they understood it in Japan. Takata regarded their approach as entirely valid, but inappropriate for the West. It was highly complex, required years of training and was closely intertwined with religious practices. She felt these factors would deter students in the West and hobble the spread of Reiki through the world at a time when, in her view, it was urgently needed.” – Hand to Hand by John Harvey Gray.

I do not believe that Mrs Takata is talking about practitioners from the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, who focus more on hands on healing. Maybe not at that time but definitely now, hands on healing is more their focus. So I think Mrs Takata was talking about students who Mikao Usui trained outside of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, maybe even before 1922. Why? Because the system of Reiki was highly complex, required years of training and was closely intertwined with religious practices. However, let me be clear: one way is not better than the other. But to really rediscover Mikao Usui's teachings, we definitely have to go much deeper than just hands on healing on others. This is, of course, also pointed out within the Reiki precepts, the symbols and mantras, the reiju and the meditation practices.

Here is a quick example. The symbol/mantra hon sha ze sho nen translates to, my original nature is right mind. It doesn't point to hands on healing but to a specific state of mind, the mind of satori, our original nature. Joshin kokyu ho translates as pure mind with each breath; again it doesn't point to hands on healing but to the pure mind of satori. The Reiki precepts are a clear description of our pure mind, in this state of pure mind there is no anger and worry, just gratefulness and pure compassion, and that state of pure mind we have to remember dilligently during all we do today.

“This is because, while other forms of Reiki Ryoho consisted merely of hands-on healing, Usui Reiki Ryoho was never intended solely as a healing method.” - Hiroshi Doi.

Rather, as Hiroshi Doi. suggests, Usui Reiki Ryoho was intended as a practice to help us remember our ure mind, find harmony between body and mind, and remember that there is no separation between our “self” and the universe. In this way, with the practices of Usui Reiki Ryoho, we can remember our true self. And it is from this remembering that true hands on healing takes place.

03/13/2026

What's your sign? I absolutely relate to this when looking at my chart. If you didn't know, Medical Astrology is a thing!

Want an astrological reading for yourself or a loved one?
Sign up today thru linktr.ee/Ama_Kimimila
and go to -> Natal Chart Readings

02/25/2026

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What is Reiju?
(Thank you, Frans Stiene!)

Within the system of Reiki we have the reiju, sometimes called attunement or initiation. But what is this reiju/attunement/initiation?

First of all, in Japan there is just one word: reiju. When the system of Reiki moved to the west, Mrs Takata translated the reiju as initiation and it was only after Mrs Takata passed away that some people started to use the word attunement. But these are English words while in Japan there is just the word reiju. And reiju translates as spiritual blessing.

Traditionally in Japan there were slightly different forms of reiju depending on the teacher and also on the student. It is even said that Mikao Usui would just sit opposite the student without any physical ritual, visualisation, etc... he would "just" remember his own inner great bright light, his True Self.

"Some pure and gifted meditators create a field of bliss around themselves through their spontaneous luminous power, and use their pure elements to help others attain the same level and join with them in the same mandala and same mind."
- Thinley Norbu Rinpoche

This "just" sitting reiju is called 入我我入 nyūga ganyū in Japanese, which is in reality mind to mind. We could translate it as, “I am in you and you are in me”. In essence, it is realising that we are interconnected already. This "just" sitting, is non-doing. Remember that Mikao Usui taught some of his students the Dai Komyo which points to this state of mind of interconnectedness - nonduality.

“Usui Sensei taught Shinpiden students one on one and he showed them the kanji dai kômyô, which indicated the consciousness of a Shinpiden practitioner.” – Hiroshi Doi Spain 2015 seminar

Of course doing this is not as easy as it sounds, "just" sitting. We need to have had the direct experience of our own inner True Self, our great bright light, the experience of “I am the universe and the universe is me”. Not just intellectually but a deep embodiment. Plus, we have to be able to stay with this awareness during the whole reiju. But as it takes two to tango, the student needs to be ready for this "just" sitting ritual as well. How do we truly receive? To truly receive the student needs to be empty, just like if we want to pour tea in a cup, the cup needs to be empty. What does the student need to be empty of? Empty of the concept of and reaching for "I."

I need to receive something, I need to be purified, I need to be opened up to be able to channel Reiki. All of these "I's" need to be dropped. Then we can realise that there is nothing to receive, no giver, and no receiver. Only then are we in the right state of mind for the "just" sitting ritual.

"Even though a hundred people might participate in an initiation, they do not all have the same experience. Each person experiences the initiation according to their own level of skill and personal development. Actually receiving the initiation depends on the person's mind, not on their bodily participation. As I mentioned, it depends on their ability to let go of their limited self-image." - Lama Thubten Yeshe

And so, as not every student was in that right state of mind which Mikao Usui was teaching within the system of Reiki, he started to borrow a more physical ritual from esoteric Japanese spiritual practices. However, even if the ritual is super simple we have to realise that it is not just the physical ritual that does the trick. What is most important is the state of mind of the teacher and the state of mind of the student. We can see this state of mind very clearly pointed out within the meditation practices taught within Mikao Usui's teachings, within the symbols and mantras, and within the Reiki precepts. For example, the meditation practice joshin kokyu ho, which translates as: pure mind with each breath, points to this pure mind of emptiness, nonduality. No giver - receiver and something to give. The symbol/mantra hon sha ze sho nen, which translates as my original nature is right mind, also points to this same state of mind. And if we look deeply into the Reiki precepts, we also see this state of mind of emptiness, nonduality, no giver - receiver and something to give.

“The authentic mind seal is transmitted in every moment. If the disciple deeply observes the way the master walks, eats, speaks, and performs each act of daily life transmission can take place continuously. The ceremony of transmission is just a formality. True transmission is available to each disciple in every moment. This is real Zen, not just in books but in the living reality of relationship and daily life. The master does not transmit his own awakening to the disciple as such. He only helps her realize the awakening already present within her. The expression to “transmit the mind seal” is essential symbolic.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

So what does a reiju do? The real essence of a reiju is not to give the student something, or open up something, or purify them. No, the real essence of a reiju is that the student becomes aware of their own inner great bright light, their True Self, that they are Reiki, right now, right today.

Within the booklet Reiki Ryoho no Shiori, which is handed out in the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai in Japan, we see a section called “Strict Teachings of Mikao Usui.” Within this section we find a wonderful poem, which encapsulates the essence of reiju in a nutshell: “Kumo wa harete nochino hikari to omounayo Motoyori sorani ariake no tsuki”“ Do not think that the light appears only after the clouds [confusion, thoughts, ego] have cleared. The light of the moon [Great Bright Light – that we are Reiki] has been shining in the sky from the very beginning.”

We are already the light we have just forgotten due to the clouds of anger, worry, fear, attachments etc... The reiju does not remove the clouds, no need, the light still shines behind the clouds no matter how dark it is.

In a way we could say that the reiju is like a finger pointing to the light of the moon. But most of the time we get distracted by the physical elements of the reiju - the finger - that we forget to see where the finger is pointing at, our own inner great bright light.

The kanji of ju in reiju is the same as the kanji of ju in julkai (to receive the precepts) within the Zen tradition.

“Ju in jukai means to receive, to transmit, to awaken to one's own nature.” - Teaching of theGreat Mountain – Zen Talks by Taizan Maezumi Roshi

Here we can see the same concept as in reiju: to awaken to one's own nature. That we are the great bright light already.

“To receive jukai is to transmit. And to transmit, means to realize your true nature.” - Teaching of the Great Mountain – Zen Talks by Taizan Maezumi Roshi

When we look at these words like reiju or rituals, often we see very dualistically, that we receive something or open something or purify something. But when we practice a spiritual teaching, we need to see these words and rituals always from their ultimate truth: a non dualistic perspective. Like to transmit, we think now we “give it” - dualistic. But in Zen you see that it means to realize our true nature - non dualistic.

So how many reiju do we need? To be truthful, we need them again and again. Not just a few times. Why? Because even if we remember our inner great bright light for a second or a day, due to our confused habits we start to focus on the clouds again after this initial experience of our essence.

We can clearly see this if we look at the Reiki precepts. If after a few reiju, we have for the rest of our life no more anger and worry, and we are forever grateful and true to our way and our being, and we have a compassion which does not change according to circumstance, then no need for more reiju. But if we are honest, that doesn't happen. So we need them again and again and again, until we can maintain the Reiki precepts in all we do today. In many modern practices the reiju has become about doing something to the student. But when we look at the teachings within the system of Reiki we see that this is not in line with the Reiki precepts, or the symbols and mantras, the meditation practices etc. When the student finally learns reiju, they must mirror it to these pointers; else why put these practices within the system of Reiki in the first place?

And the more we practice and embody Mikao Usui's teachings, then one day we might realise that we are reiju. Then everything we do in life becomes a reiju - spiritual blessing.

“During an initiation we are introduced to an aspect of ourselves that already exists within us but that we have yet to recognize, and it is the activation of this recognition that we call “empowerment” or “initiation.” This is the real meaning of abhisheka.” - Not for Happiness A Guide to the So-Called Preliminary Practices Plagiarized by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse

If you find reiki philosophy interesting and would like to learn more, please check out our Reiki Membership on patreon.com/medicinedreams/memberships . Classes are currently full but you are encouraged to sign up on our waiting list by filling out our interest form here:
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In Light,
-A. Kimimila of Medicine Dreams

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02/11/2026

Have you ever heard of occultations of the moon?

02/09/2026

Thanks for the info from Healing Energy Tools:

"🔥 Mark Your Calendars! 🔥 On February 17, the sky will put on an unforgettable show with a Ring of Fire Solar Eclipse 🌞🌑
This rare annular solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes directly in front of the Sun but appears slightly smaller, leaving a glowing ring of sunlight around its edges. Unlike a total eclipse, the Sun isn’t completely covered, creating that stunning “ring of fire” effect.
🌍 Where can it be seen?
The ring phase will be visible mainly over Antarctica and parts of the southern Indian Ocean, with a partial eclipse visible from parts of southern Africa, South America, and nearby ocean regions.
Even if you’re not in the direct viewing path, this cosmic event is a beautiful reminder of the incredible dance between the Sun, Moon, and Earth. "

02/08/2026

So much gratitude for these monks who have walked thousands of miles for peace.

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09/01/2025