About 20
years ago Phyllis and I were travelling to see a massage therapist in
Mid-Wales. Phyllis was driving and as we
came up to a ‘Stop’ sign I pointed out that in the UK this means you need to
come to a complete stop before moving on (not knowing how familiar Phyllis was
with UK road rules). For some reason Phyllis
then fumbled the pedals and kept going through the ‘Stop’ sign, into the path
of an oncoming lorry! Thankfully, the
lorry driver swerved to avoid us and what could have been a nasty accident was
avoided. After this incident I asked
Phyllis what would happen when she, as Grand Master, died. At the time the plan was that Paul Mitchel,
who jointly holds the Office of Grand Master, was to be her successor. She subsequently changed her mind, perhaps feeling
that the role needed someone younger.
In 2009, when
Phyllis was diagnosed with breast cancer the question of succession was on many
people’s minds. In 2014 she decided to
bring people together to talk about succession, with Ben Haggard as a
regenerative thinking resource. I was
honoured to organise this event, which was very popular: we soon had a waiting
list! We found extra accommodation, so
that everyone who wanted to could be there.
Ben led us
in profound discussion and this was followed by Succession Weekend intensives in
other parts of the world. After these in-person Succession Weekends,
Phyllis, Paul and Ben decided to create an online group, known as the
Succession Core Team, to take these discussions further. All those who had attended the Succession
Weekends were invited. Others also
joined later. Many attended these monthly
meetings live and some acted as Witnesses – listening to the recording of the
meeting and offering comments. Ben prepared
the group to hold a space for the process of succession.
While I was
in Arizona it became clear that Phyllis’s life was coming to an end and there
was some anxiety that she might die without naming her successor. At the intensive I was participating in, which
was held in Phyllis’s home, we were delighted to hear that she would join us on
our last day.
During the
Usui II I had been thinking about how succession had happened when Takata
became lineage bearer. Hayashi gathered
his reiki community together in his home and named Takata as his successor. It occurred to me that this day would be
similar, with members of the Succession Core Team and other reiki masters (including
Rachel Goldberg, who assisted Phyllis with the Global Reiki Webinars) present
in Phyllis’s home. So this could be the
day she would name her successor.
Just before
Phyllis came in to the room we had a break and I had gone to the bathroom. On my way down the corridor I saw Phyllis and
some of her carers preparing for her to join us. Phyllis was sitting in her wheelchair, dressed
in a lovely Japanese coat.
 | |
| Phyllis Furumoto, Johannes Reindl and witnesses on 15th March |
After she
joined us Phyllis started talking about how she had been thinking about
deciding on her successor. She then said:
“Johannes in my deliberations and the deliberations of some of the Succession
Core Team, you’re it.”
At first Johannes
was in shock and didn’t say anything. Phyllis
said “You can also say no”, but he accepted her request. Phyllis then stood (which was not easy for
her) and gave him the Japanese coat. She
also gave him a Native American medicine pouch that Takata had given to her.
Johannes Reindl
is Austrian and relatively young (40).
He was initiated by Phyllis as a master in 2017 in Japan. I have known him since we met in Germany about
15 years ago and I think he is a good choice because he is authentic, kind and
has a strong commitment to reiki.
