My mother has a brother who is five and a half years younger than her. My grandmother spent a lot of time watching me, and he would play with me and make me laugh when he came home from school. We were tight, very close, all through my growing up.
When he got drafted, I was two and a half. I could not understand where he was, or why. They told me he was in the war. When I asked when he was coming home, my mother and grandmother would not answer me, and would cry but try to hide the tears.
The home was empty without him. One day he came home in uniform. They told me not to touch him or I might mess up his clothes. I had to wait. He was on leave but I did not understand he would have to go back. He was a gunner on a Huey in Nam. When he came home for good, I ran to him and never let him go. I was about four and a half, and it was just like you see on T.V., my running to his arms with tears of joy!
My childhood was spent visiting my grandparents and hanging out with my uncle. He was changed. Quiet. Spent lots of time watching World at War and shows like that on T.V. I didn't understand the footage of death was real. War was beyond my comprehension. But out of love for my uncle, I stayed by his side and spent time with him.
One of the facts about the war in Vietnam was it was humid. Very moist and damp. What got my uncle through the war was fantasizing about someplace dry, the desert. One day, he got excited about an offer he had made to buy some land in the desert. He bought it from some man named Dee. I saw the papers with my uncle's name on it. He would own the land but have to pay the taxes on it every year. Dad went with him to check it out. I couldn't wait to go. When uncle bought a trailer, and put it in grandma's front yard, I looked in every drawer and marveled how the table could make into a bed!
Eventually the trailer and I made it to the desert. And that is where my heart expanded with love for this wondrous land that made my uncle happy, and that he was more than happy to share with the rest of us.
I learned to shoot, to ride a motorcycle, to hike, what to do around rattlesnakes, how to drive a car with a stick shift, how to cook, and how to build an outhouse. Much of the time was spent trying to avoid the heat, and relaxing with a good book. Sometimes it was cold and blustery, and it was a struggle to keep ourselves warm. Every long weekend and school holiday, we were there.
At night my uncle showed me the stars. He knew the constellations, and even ones with letters and numbers, something like M-36. We looked through telescopes, watched satellites, admired the milky way, and filled with wonder. My favorite constellation of all is the Pleades. Always liked it. Never knew why, but when I looked, I felt like everything was going to be okay. (Often times when I was on call, in my residency, when I would be called out of the call rooms and walking to the hospital, I would look up in the night, find my place, and trust that everything was going to be okay.)
Uncle is a UFO-ologist. He studied and read books and magazines. My parents and he went to a convention that was called Giant Rock. I rode on their shoulders and tried to figure out what was the draw for all those people? Mom said she saw someone who wasn't from this planet there once. She looked and she just knew. And she knew he knew she knew but she couldn't explain it.
Frankly, that part of growing up used to scare me. My sister and I hated it at the fire when the grownups would start to talk about extraterrestrials. I decided I wanted nothing to do with it, I could live my life just fine, because it made no difference on my simple life whether what they said was true or not. I was born to live my life and sought to do the best I could to live it. On this planet!
I got religion. And uncle always teased me over it. We agreed to disagree. He would talk about wanting to see other galaxies, about how eating and going to the bathroom was a total waste of time. And how he longed to experience space travel. He talked about telepathy. And even once in high school knew of a girl who said she was from Venus. Seriously.
Just this weekend, I went back to the desert with my family. For the first time in over twenty years. Due to my training and my education, I had not been able to go. Around the fire, Uncle talked about Utopia--one where all the bad people would be put away, and where they would eventually not be able to procreate, and ultimately go extinct. He talked about free energy of the Universe and tapping in to it. And about not having to eat, instead being able to live off of light energy. 'Plants live off the energy of the sun' was his point. He is so close to what is going on, and yet so humble not to know it just yet.
Uncle has no faith in what he can't see. He wants to be psychic so badly, but it does not work for him. He is very mental. But his dreams and aspirations prepared me for my life's work, and opened my heart to the possibility that life outside the earth might exist. His credibility held the space for me to come around in my place as a starseed, at my own time, with my own work to accomplish.
Uncle has a terrible case of psoriatic arthritis, with psoriasis. And diabetes too. He asked me how to cure his psoriasis. It troubles him. By the fire, I did Reiki. I checked and balanced his chakras. I knew that the skin and a systemic disease reflects life purpose. I gave Reiki, and got the sign to attune him. I did, without teaching him just yet. I did it to 'open him up' in his psychic development. 'If your hands start burning, or you have psychic dreams or flashes, don't worry, it is okay' I advised. The next day, I sent programmed Reiki healing to him. And as we sat, I talked to him, as he said, 'let's play psychiatrist' and lay on the chaise like a patient. Gently, I probed about his past, about his moving from the old country at eight years old. And I guided him with just a hint, about what his purpose is in his mind, if he has an opinion or anything? I know. And I am honored. But the most gracious and most effective, in my experience, is the gift of letting someone 'figure things out for themselves'.
Sometimes a hint is enough to get a lot of things going. And with a healer who understands that florid psoriasis and diabetes are the body trying to capture the attention of the person, and give a message about life and how to get in balance...sometimes just a nudge is all it will take. We tend to trust others like ourselves when we seek help. He asked for mine, and I was honored.
If it were not for him, and all the time he put into my development, paving the way so many years ago, Reiki Doc as you know it would not exist. He is a stepping stone, a scout, that showed me the way.
I want you to consider the fact that your having interest in energetic healing and Reiki indicate that you are in fact a Starseed on assignment for the greater good. And to take the time, like me, to reflect and give thanks for those that paved the road as spiritual scouts for you. I want you to remember them as you walk your path, and know that the plan is perfectly in place and proceeding without a hitch for your part in it.
Namaste,
Reiki Doc
