Healing Through Indigenous Reiki Practices, Charting Your Own Path and Holding Space for Pain With Marika Clymer
Episode Description
Our guest on today's episode is Marika, a Japanese Reiki, anticolonial, earth-based energy healer of @moonhousenw. Marika's work is focused on supporting her clients to develop their authentic energetic healing practice and explore their ancestral, indigenous, and innate healing gifts. Michelle and Marika discuss the gifts that can come with ancestral pain, the erasure of Japanese history and culture in Reiki, cultivating personal power through connecting with your lineage, how the colonizer mentality show's up in healing practices, and so much more. Marika holds a wealth of knowledge in several healing traditions that is palpable and inspiring.
Follow Marika on IG @moonhousenw or visit https://moonhousenw.com/
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“It took me a long time to see my connection to the land, and this thing that we call spirituality as being connected, being that bridge between those worlds. As somebody who grew up in a very white environment, very Americanized, those things are completely separate.” - Marika Clymer
I was expecting to be reconnected with parts of my lineage, only to find that this thing that I was being taught was really just this extremely extractive, reprocessed, rebranded version of what this traditional practice is, as well as the outright erase sure of that cultural container through which Reiki emerged. - Marika Clymer
“I've never felt more connected to my ancestors than when I've been inconsolably in tears, and really actually feeling their pain for the first time.” - Marika Clymer
“I love astrology, but I don't live by it. When I have conviction around something, I am very intense about it.” - Marika Clymer
“My ancestors would not have given me the gift of pain if they didn't think that it was going to change me.” - Marika Clymer
From a Western perspective having grown up in the US, we are very reluctant to taking responsibility for ourselves. We are so ready, trained, and conditioned to give our power over to others. - Marika Clymer
“A lot of the time, we dehumanize people that we look up to because we want them to have all the answers. Through doing that, we deny them the right of flexibility, growth, change, and the right to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes.” - Marika Clymer
“It's one thing if we are given power, but power really isn't given. Power is cultivated.” - Marika Clymer
“I have an ancestor who visits me in my dreams, specifically teaches me about energy healing in regards to water, and I'm not going to be able to read that.” - Marika Clymer
“I don't think Reiki is for everyone.” - Marika Clymer
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Anchor, Breaker, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, and RadioPublic
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If you loved hearing about Marika's journey to discover her ancestral and indigenous spiritual path, check out "Death, Rebirth, Indigenous Wisdom and Unearthing Your Story with Lee Mae Spence" where Lee Mae Spence, a Muskego Ininew Iskwew healer, dig into what it means to unearth your story, heal from intergenerational and epigenetic trauma, navigate the natural cycles of death and rebirth, sobriety, shadow work, and more!
SHOW NOTES
[0:00:06] Podcast begins.
[0:00:32] We are giving one lucky winner a private Akashic Record reading with Michelle Pellizzon! To be chosen, send a screenshot of your podcast review to +1 818-699-9735
[0:01:36] Michelle shares how she came to know Marika Clymer
[0:01:45] The North Node is our private community for capitalism-critical, intuitive entrepreneurs who want to straddle the threshold of being in the business while also being mystical witches. We will welcome new members in June.
[0:04:01] We all use herbs. Many of us have some sort of witchcraft or spell work, some sort of energy healing practice, or even a manifestation practice. But when is it inappropriate?
[0:07:13] Marika was born and raised and is currently residing on an unceded Duwamish land, also known as the Seattle metropolitan area.
[0:07:57] The Duwamish tribe is in a complex situation. They're not federally recognized as a tribe, and they’ve been fighting for their sovereignty for decades.
[0:08:51] Their self-determination was denied because the US government said that the Duwamish people do not exist anymore.
[0:12:39] “The word settler wasn't ever really used in my household.” Marika
[0:14:45] Marika’s mom worked as a liaison between the government and the tribes, so her perspective is much more realistic and pragmatic.
[0:15:28] Marika has always had this desire to create a space for the Duwamish tribe where they are recognized, regardless of what the federal government thinks.
[0:17:02] Michelle shared interesting and sad facts about the LA River, a little bit of history, what it looks like now, and its effect on people.
[0:23:00] Marika shared her entryway to becoming a Reiki practitioner 10 years ago
[0:25:33] “It took me a long time to see my connection to the land, and this thing that we call spirituality as being connected, being that bridge between those worlds. As somebody who grew up in a very white environment, very Americanized, those things are completely separate.” - Marika
[0:26:24] “The moment that I found energy work, that was what I was meant to do for my life.” - Marika
[0:27:55] “My grandmother ended up marrying a US soldier, and they weren't allowed to speak Japanese in the house.” Marika
[0:28:26] “I didn't know that my grandfather has kept my grandmother from learning how to read for about 70 years.” - Marika
[0:32:40] “I've never felt more connected to my ancestors than when I've been inconsolably in tears, and really actually feeling their pain for the first time.” - Marika
[0:34:04] “My ancestors would not have given me the gift of pain if they didn't think that it was going to change me.” - Marika
[0:36:38] It's very paternalistic that someone knows better than us.
[0:37:41] Even leaders can have for themselves their own personal experience.
[0:40:30] We should be elevating individual’s voices, not just influencers, not just people who are already in positions of power, not just corporations or government officials.
[0:42:26] “I'm incredibly intentional about the way that I represent myself or present myself.” - Marika
[0:42:53] “A lot of the times, we dehumanize people that we look up to because we want them to have all the answers. Through doing that, we deny them the right of flexibility, of growth, of change, the right to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes.” - Marika
[0:44:26] “I love astrology, but I don't live by it. When I have conviction around something, I am very intense about it.” - Marika
[0:46:57] “I was really doing my best to dismantle hierarchy between teacher and student.” - Marika
[0:52:51] “Being so soft is sometimes not really what my students need.” - Marika
[0:53:00] If you want to become a healer, you need to practice every day regardless of how you feel. And when you don't feel like doing it is when you need to be doing it the most.
[0:53:17] When we do it every day, we start to become aware of our attachments, and what things are keeping us from our practice.
[0:55:53] We have all this innate healing power within us all the time. We don't need to hold a special crystal in order to gain access. We always had access.
[0:56:44] “It's one thing if we are given power, but the power really isn't given. Power is cultivated.” - Marika
[1:00:13] There is some obligation to learning the actual history before you just decide to do your own “intuitive energy” work practice.
[1:00:59] “I don't think Reiki is for everyone.” - Marika
[1:01:48] There is a distinction between those who want to just do it for themselves and their friends and family and those who want to assume the role of a community healer.
[1:02:17] It takes time to really see if that's who you are and if that’s what you want.
[1:08:26] “I have an ancestor who visits me in my dreams, specifically teaches me about energy healing in regards to water, and I'm not going to be able to read that.” - Marika
[1:09:28] “Those are the things that I can't teach my student. I have to just help them find those for themselves.” - Marika
[1:11:28] Follow Marika on IG @moonhousenw or visit https://moonhousenw.com/
[1:12:24] End of episode.
[1:12:56] Thank you for listening! We’re so grateful to you.
PEOPLE AND RESOURCES MENTIONED
Follow Marika on IG @moonhousenw or visit https://moonhousenw.com/