The Office of the Grandmaster
The word Office refers to a position of public function. In Reiki words, the Office of the Grandmaster (OGM) refers to an energetic entity that was founded in 1993 and continues to the present. Energetically the Office holds the essential stream of energy that flows through this Spiritual Lineage and serves as a business entity for the work of Johannes Reindl, Paul Mitchell and Joyce Winough.
What does the Office do?
Phyllis Lei Furumoto and Paul David Mitchell have been recognized by masters and students of Usui Shiki Ryoho served by the lineage of Mikao Usui, Chujiro Hayashi, Hawayo Takata, and Phyllis Lei Furumoto as having a unique place in the circle of masters of the system. They serve the community of Usui Shiki Ryoho and the greater Reiki community by offering seminars and workshops for specific current topics or specific groups of students or masters. Most of their offerings are open to any Reiki student and/or master. Their understanding of what a Reiki practice is and what the gifts and challenges of such a practice are, come from their studentship with Hawayo Takata, their accumulated experiences throughout the years of their own practice, and their observation of the practice of many hundreds of students and masters.
The Office of the Grandmaster informally began when Phyllis Lei Furumoto and Paul Mitchell started to work together in the beginning of 1993. In their early work together they presented and offered the master intensives to the Reiki-Community. Then later in the year 1997 the Office of the Grandmaster became a legal entity when Phyllis and Paul formed a corporation in the US. Already before forming this corporation Phyllis and Paul were talking about inviting Jane Cherrington to become a part of the Office of the Grandmaster to share the work together. Sadly Jane Cherrington died that year.
Over the years Phyllis and Paul were exploring and talking about expanding the Office of the Grandmaster. One experiment out of this was the OGM-retreats where they invited the Reiki Community to become a member of the OGM for the time of the retreat. The first OGM-retreat was held in Seattle, Washington in 2008, many retreats followed almost every year in different places. In these retreats the participants of the retreat are holding the energy of the OGM and are stepping into the entity of the OGM together for the time of the retreat.
In the process of succession Phyllis wanted her successor, Johannes Reindl, to become legally part of the OGM.