"My one dream, my only [Reiki] Master!"
- illuminateyourspir
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
To continue Women's History Month, we have an exclusive interview with the shop's longest standing employee, Reiki Master Sheri!
Lolly: Today, we are talking to our resident Reiki Master, Sheri Godman-Lumley! Good afternoon, Sheri, how are you?
Sheri: I’m very well thank you, how are you?
Lolly: I’m doing good, I’m doing good. Happy to see you! We catch each other sometimes - not all the time - but sometimes. So, this was a nice little Friday surprise! You are Illuminate’s longest-standing employee, is that right?
Sheri: I believe that is true!
Lolly: How long have you been here?
Sheri: I started the summer of 2012 and I have loved it ever since.
Lolly: Wow! And that was only the year after they opened.
Sheri: It was the year after they opened, yes. I was trying to remember the exact date but I don’t. I just remember I was here working with the public when Plymouth had the art festival.
Lolly: Oh, yeah, that’s a good one. Have you always done Reiki here, or did you start with another role?
Sheri: No, it was always Reiki. I started with Reiki.
Lolly: So how long have you been doing Reiki?
Sheri: I actually started Reiki in 2009. That’s when I got introduced with friends and started getting certified.
Lolly: What kind of Reiki do you practice?
Sheri: I practice and teach Non-Traditional Usui Reiki. Non-traditional means we can use tools like crystals to add to or enhance the healing process. I am certified as an instructor in Traditional Reiki, but I prefer Non-Traditional. I am certified in Holy Fire 3 World Peace Reiki, Holy Fire Karuna Reiki… I’m also certified in Sekhem-Seichim Reiki. That one I’m not teaching quite yet, but all the rest of them I do teach. I also do Soul Retrievals, and am certified in Past Life Regression for Karmic Issues. I’m certified intuitive practitioner through Sacred Balance. So, all of those things work together in my healing sessions. I use all the modalities. We call it a Reiki session, but I do use them all.
Lolly: So you teach them individually, but you also do Reiki sessions for people who just want to receive Reiki and don’t want to learn Reiki?
Sheri: Correct.
Lolly: That’s when you incorporate all the modalities.
Sheri: Yes, in my healing sessions.
Lolly: And you do have a medical background because you majored in Psychology, right?
Sheri: So I have a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology because that was supposed to become my Master’s degree, though life happened with children and things. But my medical background started when I was 18 at a neuro-psychiatric clinic and then from that point on, for 25 years, I worked for a local hospital as a medical assistant while I was putting myself through school.
Lolly: Wow! So you’re deep in the medical background… So I’m wondering… Would you have done one without the other? Do you think that if you weren’t already kind of focused on the mind helping the body in the way that psychology does, would you have gotten into the practice of reiki?
Sheri: That’s a really great question. I actually - unknowingly, unconsciously, I should say, I think all the things on my path that have occurred throughout my life and how they happened and unfolded were purposeful for this. I had zero idea about energy healing. I had no knowledge of it. And… I was the person to go-to, that my family and friends would come to for emotional support. And then when I was in the medical field, then it was the medical support. And I just kept getting led to all these different, other paths. It’s exciting! Somebody can do without having any of this background, yes, absolutely, they can do Reiki. And Reiki is the birth right for anybody if they choose to want to do it. I will leave that there. But everything I have lived through and have had the fortune of experiencing has all been for this, for sure.
Lolly: Amazing, yeah. So when can we book an appointment with you?!
Sheri: I’m available pretty much seven days a week! Afternoons and evenings, anytime they want, they can call the shop and they can book an appointment!
Lolly: Now, I know you don’t really do readings, but do you have a favorite deck?
Sheri: Haha, you’re right. I do not do true readings, though a lot of messages come through for the person’s highest good in my sessions. I don’t get messages through cards, necessarily. They can be symbolic or metaphorical, sometimes literal, or from their spirit guides, angels, loved ones - their team. So, not considered a reading, but yes, I do have two favorite decks, actually. They’re oracle decks. I’m getting used to my Angel tarot deck.
Lolly: The reason I thought I could ask you this question is because I’m like, “Well, Sheri loves Angels, I’m sure she loves Angel cards.”
Sheri: I do, I do, but you know? My very first deck was a faerie deck. That, and then this mermaid and dolphin deck which is the ocean part of me. I get so much information from those, it’s crazy! So those are my favorite decks.
Lolly: The faeries and the mermaids! I love it. Well, thank you, Sheri. This was super informative. I learned things about you that I didn’t know, so I hope other people do, too!
Sheri: Absolutely!
Lolly: I can’t wait for my next session.
Sheri: Me too!
