My search began, as I can now see, with the beginning of the war in Ukraine. I simply couldn’t find peace within myself because of how this war was reflected in me and because I was unable either to heal it within myself or to help anyone else. And I kept asking myself: if Phyllis were with us now, what would she be calling us to?
Then the war in Israel began, and this inner conflict only grew stronger. I began to suffer physically.
I must say that I was fortunate to meet Phyllis in person only twice: in 2013 at Usui I and in December 2017 at Usui III. But she did something to me that made me respond very strongly to certain calls to serve the community.
So, in early 2019, when Phyllis’s condition became known, I created a Facebook group called Treatments to Grandmaster Phyllis Furumoto. It brought together more than 130 people, and now I realize what an opportunity it was for us to heal and reconcile with that trauma.
And in 2020, a year after Phyllis’s passing, I organized an international group of 10 masters called Phyllis’s Legacy, and we met on Zoom for about three years, staying in awareness of the richness she had left behind.
This time, I had to go through a long journey. In August 2024, while celebrating Phyllis’s 76th birthday, our group gathered on Zoom to listen to one of her messages together. And I remember how I suddenly felt breathless with the realization that I still hadn’t found an answer.
But it was already very close.
A few days later, I found myself in a bookstore. My eyes fell on a book lying on the counter. Without knowing what I was doing, I opened it and saw that it was an art book. On each spread, there was text on the left and an artwork on the right.
In that very moment, I knew what I will do.
I reached out to Reiki practitioner artists I knew. I sent emails to fellow masters around the world, asking for help in finding such practitioners. I shared my idea with Joyce Winough from the Office of the Grand Master of Usui Shiki Ryoho. She offered me strong support — support that continued throughout the entire process.
I also turned to the sources: interviews with Phyllis Furumoto.
I needed to offer the artists quotes they could energetically connect with in order to create their works.
It was an unforgettable time!
Twenty-three Reiki practitioner artists were creating their works, in contact with the energy behind the project!
Later, in response to my post in the Lineage Bearer – Usui Shiki Ryoho group, Johannes Reindl reached out and offered to help with the German translation. He also suggested other translators who joined the large international team — from 12 countries! — and as a result, the project gained a multilingual dimension: eight languages!
I am endlessly grateful to my Reiki destiny for this gift from the community — and to the community itself!
Looking back at the time of my painful search, I now understand that what happened to me was much more than a personal answer to a personal question. It is a message to all of us from Phyllis Furumoto — who saw so far ahead and spoke of things that were hard to grasp or accept as real.
But now the time has come when this wisdom is becoming accessible to us – and I invite each reader (if that’s even the right word, because this book isn’t just for reading — it’s for something deeper) to discover the piece of wisdom that’s meant just for them.
D. Satori, 11.05.25