The Shared Roots, How Sekhem and Reiki Lineages Connect

Sekhem and Reiki are both channeled, hands-on energy healing traditions, and they share enough structural resemblance (attunement, certification, intention-based hands-on work) that they're often discussed together. But their documented lineages are different, and it's worth being precise about what's actually known versus what's repeated as general lore in this space.

Reiki's documented lineage

Reiki's modern history is comparatively well documented. Mikao Usui developed the system in Japan in the early 20th century. From Usui, the practice passed to students including Chujiro Hayashi, and from Hayashi to Hawayo Takata, who brought Reiki to the West. Most Reiki practitioners today can trace a lineage chart back through this line, teacher to teacher, to Usui.

Sekhem's lineage, and what's disputed

Sekhem's roots are described by practitioners as reaching back to ancient Egyptian healing traditions, older than Reiki's 20th century origin. That claim is part of the tradition as it's taught, but the specific historical chain connecting modern Sekhem practice to documented ancient Egyptian practice is not something that can be verified the way Reiki's 20th century lineage can. What is better documented is a more recent point: Patrick Zeigler's 1980 experience at the Great Pyramid in Egypt, widely cited by practitioners as the starting point for the modern Seichim and SKHM lineages, closely related branches to Sekhem. How directly Jason's specific Sekhem lineage connects to Zeigler's line, versus developing along a related but separate path, isn't something that can be stated with certainty. For the fuller picture of how Seichim, SKHM, and Sekhem relate as names, see that comparison.

Jason's own training is documented plainly: certified by Juliet Carillo, whose teacher is Gamal, a fifth-generation alchemist in Egypt known for his Egyptian oils, which Jason incorporates into sessions.

Where the two traditions overlap

Both Sekhem and Reiki work with the idea of a channeled life force energy, moved through the practitioner's hands with the intention of supporting the client's own healing process. Both use a system of certification that requires training under a recognized teacher. Both describe the practitioner as a conduit rather than the source of the healing itself. That shared structure is likely why the term "Egyptian Reiki" gets used informally to describe Sekhem, even though the two are separate lineages with separate certifying lines.

Where they diverge

Sekhem as Jason practices it works through the soul chakra, about twelve inches above the head, and the earth chakra, about twelve inches below the feet, points not typically part of standard Reiki practice. It draws explicitly on the Neteru, Egyptian archetypal energies like Horus, Sekhmet, Thoth, and Anubis, as active presences in a session, rather than working within Reiki's more standardized present-body framework. Sekhem sessions are described as touching past, future, and parallel lives at what Jason calls a soul or monadic level. For the direct, practical comparison of the two, see Sekhem vs Reiki.

Why this matters if you're evaluating a practitioner

Lineage claims in this field vary widely in how well they're documented, and it's reasonable to ask any practitioner, in any tradition, who they trained with and what that training involved. Jason is direct about his own lineage: Sekhem, certified through Juliet Carillo and her teacher Gamal, not Reiki, not Seichim, not SKHM under a different line.

Where you can read more

For the practical comparison of what a session looks like in each tradition, rather than the historical lineage question covered here, Sekhem vs Reiki covers that ground directly. For the specific naming confusion between Seichim, SKHM, and Sekhem, that page goes further into the documented and disputed history.

Why this avoids overstating certainty

It would be easy to write a more confident-sounding version of this history, one that draws a clean line from ancient Egypt straight to Jason's training with no gaps or disputes along the way. That version would read better, but it wouldn't be accurate, and accuracy matters more here than a tidy narrative. Where the record is genuinely uncertain, it's stated plainly, because a client deciding whether to trust a practitioner deserves the real picture, not a polished one.

What a shared root doesn't mean

It's tempting to read "shared roots" as meaning the two traditions are basically interchangeable, just wearing different names. That's not accurate. A family resemblance in structure, channeled hands-on work, teacher-to-student certification, intention-based sessions, isn't the same as the traditions being identical in content, method, or depth. Two family members can share ancestry and still have genuinely different personalities, skills, and ways of moving through the world. Sekhem and Reiki work the same way: related, but distinct enough in practice that the difference is worth understanding rather than glossing over.

Why lineage gets asked about so often

Lineage questions come up often in energy healing because, unlike a licensed medical field with standardized boards and exams, this space relies heavily on trust in an individual teacher-to-student chain. There's no single governing body certifying Sekhem or Reiki practitioners the way a state licenses a physical therapist. That makes the lineage question genuinely important, not just academic curiosity. It's one of the few concrete, checkable facts a prospective client has to go on, alongside years of experience and, in the end, their own felt sense of the practitioner.

What this means for a session today

None of this lineage history changes what actually happens when you book a session. Whatever the precise historical chain connecting Sekhem back to ancient Egypt, what's verifiable and present is Jason's own training and twenty years of practice, the structure of a 90 minute session, and the specific chakra and archetypal work involved. If you're more interested in the lived experience than the history, Sekhem energy healing covers what a session actually includes, and a Sekhem session, step by step walks through the full flow from booking to debrief.

Frequently asked questions

Does Sekhem come from the same lineage as Reiki?

No. They're separate lineages with separate certifying lines, though they share structural similarities as channeled hands-on energy traditions.

Is Sekhem definitely older than Reiki?

Its practitioners describe it as rooted in ancient Egyptian tradition, which would make it older than Reiki's documented 20th century Japanese origin. The exact historical chain connecting modern Sekhem practice to ancient Egypt isn't independently verifiable, so the claim is stated here as part of the tradition rather than as settled historical fact.

What is Jason Donaldson's specific Sekhem lineage?

Certified by Juliet Carillo, whose teacher is Gamal, a fifth-generation alchemist in Egypt.

Who is Patrick Zeigler?

The practitioner widely credited with a 1980 experience at the Great Pyramid in Egypt that's cited as the origin point for the modern Seichim and SKHM lineages, closely related branches to Sekhem.