1147 Comes Amazingly to Life

In Spring, 2003, a small Reiki One class was underway. One of the two students, Amanda,* talked about her continued sadness about the World Trade Center attacks, and the strong grief she felt when she was near the site.

We were starting a lesson called “Chair Reiki,” wherein students first stand up and present themselves as a Reiki practitioner, explain Reiki, and begin to briefly do hand positions on a seated fellow student, using ambient Reiki energy in the room. Usually this is a very relaxing experience for all concerned.

However, Amanda, in the chair, began to experience pain in her right temple. Her head became very heavy, and she could not keep it up. I intervened, and we quickly moved her onto the Reiki table. The other student, Genevieve,* was psychically astute, and as we began to offer Reiki, a picture unfolded in the minds of the two caregivers: we saw, close in, a battle scene involving arrows and swords, just in front of a castle with a lacy facade. One man we saw we associated with Amanda, and we watched in horror as he was killed on a set of stone steps, and two combatants then kicked him in the head and body, as if to add insult to injury. Genevieve felt a sense of grief, as if to say, “Oh, the cause is lost!” We took shadowy arrows directly out of Amanda and helped her release the trauma of the battle. Amanda herself saw both an axe and a helmet. Suddenly, from nowhere, I said, “1147!”

Amanda responded. “Those are some of my favorite numbers!”

We finished the session and broke for herbal tea. Genevieve and I drew sketches of the armor we had seen. Genevieve commented that she was surprised to see cloth armor. Later, I researched on the Web. What came together was that seemingly a past life of Amanda or someone connected to Amanda had died in The Second Crusade. The First Crusade had been won by Christians. The Second was a crushing defeat for the Christians by the Muslims. Cloth armor was used then. The helmets we drew were appropriate to the date — 1147.

Amanda believes that “a door was opened for all three or four of us to enter a past time together.” She added that she felt spacey afterward for a little bit of time. “I did feel lighter,” she added, “And over the next few days felt more grounded, connected, and centered than I had in a long time.”

*Name changed