Why I Practice Sekhem, Not Reiki

I want to say this plainly up front, because people find their way to my site through Reiki searches all the time. I don't hold a Reiki title. I don't practice Reiki. I practice Sekhem and offer Sekhem sessions, an older Egyptian-lineage energy healing tradition related to Reiki, and I want to explain exactly why that distinction matters to me, not just recite it as a disclaimer.

The honest answer: it's what I was actually trained in

I'm a certified master Sekhem energy practitioner. My teacher is Juliet Carillo, and her teacher is Gamal, a fifth generation alchemist living in Egypt, known for his Egyptian oils, which I still use in every session. That's my training, my lineage, and it's specifically Sekhem, not Reiki. I could call what I do Reiki because people search for that word ninety thousand times more often than they search for Sekhem. I'm not going to do that. If I told you I practiced Reiki, I'd be lying about my own training to chase a search term, and that's not who I am or want to be with the people who trust me with a session.

What's actually different about Sekhem

Sekhem is often called Egyptian Reiki, and I understand why, the comparison helps people get oriented. But in the tradition I was trained in, Sekhem works more multidimensionally than what I understand Reiki to offer. It works through the soul chakra, about twelve inches above the head, which holds something like the Akashic record of every lifetime, and the earth chakra, about twelve inches below the feet, which grounds the whole session. You're working with past lives, future lives, and parallel lives, at what I'd call a soul or monadic level, all at once, rather than only the physical or emotional layer in front of you that day.

The energies that show up in a Sekhem session are the Neteru, the Egyptian gods and goddesses, understood as cosmic archetypal energies and star family. Horus the falcon. Sekhmet the lion. Thoth the ibis. Anubis, the way shower of the inner world. I don't choose which one appears in a given session. I'm the channel. I show up, and they do the work. That's a specific, trained framework, not a rebrand of something else. I wrote a full side by side on the Sekhem vs Reiki page if you want the details laid out directly against each other.

What shapes how I feel energy

Sekhem is the tradition I was trained in, but it isn't the only thing behind how I sense energy. I've meditated habitually since 2005. I also practice tai chi, qigong and other internal martial arts, and they inform my energy awareness. That awareness shapes how I sit with someone in a session, and it's separate from the Sekhem training itself.

Why I don't think Reiki is inferior

I want to be careful here, because I've heard other practitioners in this space talk down other traditions to make their own sound more special, and I don't want to do that. I'm not saying Sekhem is better than Reiki. I'm saying it's what I was trained in, and Reiki is a real, documented tradition with its own twentieth century origin and its own trained practitioners doing real work. If someone is specifically looking for a Reiki-trained practitioner, I want them to find one, even if that means they don't book with me. That's not bad for business, that's just honest, and honesty is the foundation everything else I do sits on.

The problem with claiming a title you don't hold

There's a version of running this business where I claim that Reiki title because it ranks better, and count on nobody checking. I've thought about that, and I keep coming back to the same place: the whole point of energy work, in my experience, is remembering who you actually are and what's actually true. I can't build a practice around that principle and then lie about my own credentials to get more bookings. It would hollow out the thing I'm actually offering. People feel that kind of misalignment, even if they can't name it, and it would show up in the room.

What Sekhem asks of me that I take seriously

Calling myself a healer at all can put some people off, because to really help someone is sometimes to not try to fix them, to let them walk the path they came here to walk. Some things aren't meant to be removed. The healing is the walking, not the erasing. That's a strange thing to explain to someone expecting a quick fix, and it's part of why I'd rather be precise about what I offer than oversell it under a more familiar name. Sekhem, as I was trained in it and as I practice it, asks for that kind of honesty at every level, about what it is, about what I can and can't promise, and about my own training.

If you came here looking for Reiki

You're not in the wrong place, necessarily. Sekhem and Reiki share enough common ground that a lot of what draws people to Reiki, hands-on energy work, a calm and grounded session, a sense of connection to something larger, is present in Sekhem too. I'd just rather you book knowing exactly what you're getting: an Egyptian-lineage tradition, taught to me directly, practiced with the training I actually hold. If after reading all this you'd still rather find a dedicated Reiki practitioner, I mean it when I say that's a completely reasonable choice, and the Sekhem vs Reiki page can help you think through which fits what you're looking for.

Frequently asked questions

Are you certified in Reiki at all?

No. I'm a certified master Sekhem energy practitioner, trained through Juliet Carillo in a lineage tracing to Gamal in Egypt. I don't hold a Reiki certification and don't present myself as a Reiki practitioner.

Is Sekhem basically the same as Reiki with a different name?

They're related but not identical. Sekhem, as I was trained in it, works more multidimensionally, across the soul and earth chakras and across past, future and parallel lives, through the Neteru as archetypal energies. Reiki has its own distinct twentieth century lineage and framework. See Sekhem vs Reiki for the full comparison.

Why does this distinction actually matter to a client?

Because you deserve to know what training and lineage you're actually booking, not a search-friendly label. It also matters because the frameworks genuinely differ in how they describe and approach the work, even where the sessions feel similar from the outside.

Would you ever recommend someone see a Reiki practitioner instead of you?

Yes, honestly. If someone specifically wants Reiki-trained work, I'd rather they find a qualified Reiki practitioner than book a Sekhem session under a misunderstanding of what they're getting.