When I first started practicing Reiki, my amazingly supportive friends would come over and let me practice on them. My favorite story from my early experiences was with my friend, let’s call her Jen. 

Jen had a constantly leaky eye that was apparently very irritating for her. After her session, I sent her a follow up email and asked her to describe her experience. She was very honest and explained that she didn’t know how to respond because she didn’t know what to expect. In the early days, I wasn’t as adept at articulating what Reiki is and how it works and this was a very new experience for Jen. Her feedback was extremely helpful.  At the end of her email, she said “but there was this one thing…” 

Jen proceeded to explain the visuals she was receiving during the session.  She said she saw this vividly colorful waterfall and something green and sparkly coming from the water. When I read that, I grinned from ear to ear then I responded to her email with a link to this article: 

http://www.beliefnet.com/inspiration/angels/2010/06/healing-miracles-of-archangel-raphael.aspx?

“Archangel Raphael’s color is emerald green. Many times when people have asked God to send Archangel Raphael to heal them, they’ll begin to see bright green lights with their physical eyes. You can also visualize emerald green light around the person or bodily area in need of healing as a way of invoking Archangel Raphael’s presence and healing energy. Some people see Raphael’s emerald green light as sparkles, flashes, or waterfalls of color. Raphael knows that if he announces his presence through his glowing green light, you’ll immediately relax and start to feel better.”

I believe Jen’s response was something along the lines of “holy crap.” 

I explain in the Frequently Asked Questions section (which I strongly encourage you to read) that Reiki doesn’t have to be religious/spiritual for the recipient of Reiki energy. I do call upon Angels, such as Raphael, and I couldn’t have received better validation than that.