Seichim, SKHM, and Sekhem, Are They the Same Thing?

Seichim, SKHM, and Sekhem are three names for closely related, Egyptian-lineage energy healing traditions, and the honest answer is that their exact relationship to each other is disputed among practitioners. What's well documented: Patrick Zeigler had an experience inside the Great Pyramid in Egypt in 1980 that he describes as the origin point for what became known as Seichim, and later SKHM. From there, the lineage splits into multiple teaching branches, each with its own certifications, spellings, and claims about what's original versus what's been added. What's confirmed and what isn't gets stated plainly below, rather than a tidy history that doesn't exist.

Jason Donaldson practices Sekhem. He is not certified in and does not teach Seichim or SKHM specifically, and no claim here says otherwise. His lineage runs through Juliet Carillo, whose teacher is Gamal, a fifth-generation alchemist in Egypt.

What's documented

Patrick Zeigler's 1980 experience at the Great Pyramid is the point most practitioners and teachers across these branches point back to as the origin of the modern Seichim and SKHM lineages. That much is widely repeated and reasonably well established. From there, different teachers developed their own systems, taught their own students, and in some cases renamed or restructured what they'd learned, which is how a single point of origin produced several distinct-sounding names.

What's disputed

Beyond that shared origin point, the details get murky and contested. Different lineages disagree about which teacher's version is closest to the "original" energy, whether Sekhem as Jason and others practice it descends directly from Zeigler's line or developed somewhat separately with overlapping Egyptian influences, and how much of the difference between Seichim, SKHM, and Sekhem is substantive versus a matter of branding and teacher preference. That dispute won't get resolved here, because doing so honestly would require claiming certainty that doesn't exist in the historical record or among practitioners themselves. Where sources disagree, the fair thing to do is say so rather than pick a version that sounds cleaner.

What they share

All three are channeled, hands-on energy healing traditions with an Egyptian orientation, distinguishing them from Reiki's Japanese lineage while keeping a family resemblance to it: intention setting, hands-on or hands-over-body work, an attunement and certification structure passed from teacher to student. Practitioners across all three traditions describe working with archetypal Egyptian energies, the Neteru, gods and goddesses like Horus, Sekhmet, Thoth, and Anubis, understood as cosmic, star-family energies rather than mythology. For the broader category these sit inside, see energy healing vs Reiki.

What Jason specifically practices

Jason's training and certification is in Sekhem, through Juliet Carillo and her teacher Gamal in Egypt. He works through the soul chakra, about twelve inches above the head, and the earth chakra, about twelve inches below the feet, and describes the work as touching past, future, and parallel lives at a soul or monadic level. Sessions run 90 minutes, $222, online, or in person by request, and include channeled energy, sound, sage, cedar, and Egyptian oils. For the full picture of what a session looks like, see Sekhem energy healing, or for how Sekhem relates to Reiki specifically, see Sekhem vs Reiki.

How to think about this if you're new to the topic

If you're encountering these three names for the first time, the simplest way to hold them is this: they're siblings, not synonyms, and not entirely separate traditions either. They share a family resemblance and, for many branches, a reference point in the 1980 Great Pyramid experience associated with Patrick Zeigler. From there, different teachers took the material in different directions, taught it under different names, and in some cases combined it with other energy work they'd studied. That's a normal pattern in oral and experiential traditions passed teacher to student rather than codified in a single text, and it's not unique to this particular lineage.

What you shouldn't do is assume that because two practitioners both use a name like "Sekhem," they trained identically or draw on identical sources. Ask directly. A practitioner who's confident in their training will have a clear, specific answer about who taught them and what that training involved, the way Jason does with Juliet Carillo and Gamal.

Why this distinction matters if you're researching

If you're trying to find a Seichim or SKHM practitioner specifically, because you trained with someone in that lineage or read about it elsewhere, it's worth asking any practitioner directly which certification they hold and from whom. Names in this space get used loosely, sometimes interchangeably, sometimes not, and a direct question gets you a cleaner answer than a website claim. Jason is straightforward about his own lineage being Sekhem through Carillo and Gamal, not Seichim or SKHM under any other teacher.

What this is not trying to do

The goal here isn't to settle a debate that practitioners within these traditions haven't settled among themselves, or to make Jason's specific lineage sound more authoritative than any other branch by comparison. The goal is simpler: give you an accurate account of what's documented, be upfront about what isn't, and let you make an informed choice about who you want to work with and why. If precise lineage matters a great deal to you, that's a reasonable thing to prioritize, and it's worth asking any practitioner about directly rather than assuming based on which name they use.

Frequently asked questions

Are Seichim, SKHM, and Sekhem the same thing?

They share a documented common reference point, Patrick Zeigler's 1980 experience at the Great Pyramid, and a family resemblance as Egyptian-lineage energy traditions. Beyond that, the exact relationship between the three names and their various teaching lineages is disputed among practitioners, and no more certainty is claimed here than exists.

Does Jason Donaldson practice Seichim or SKHM?

No. He's certified in Sekhem specifically, trained by Juliet Carillo, whose teacher is Gamal in Egypt. He doesn't claim training in Seichim or SKHM.

Who is Patrick Zeigler?

The practitioner most commonly credited with the 1980 Great Pyramid experience that's widely cited as the starting point for the Seichim and SKHM lineages.

Is one of these three "more authentic" than the others?

That's a claim different teachers and lineages dispute among themselves. No side gets taken here, because doing so honestly isn't possible given the disagreement in the historical record.