This is the level where the Reiki Network has broken from tradition. Normally Second Degree is as high as you can go in Reiki unless you want to become a Reiki Master and teach Reiki.

One of the problems that many Reiki Masters have observed is that very often Second Degrees have gone to the time, effort, and expense to become Reiki Masters only to find that they are not suitable to teach Reiki. This is evidenced by their own feelings about the subject once they become Masters, or by the fact that they do not attract students. Experience has shown that only about 30 percent of Reiki Masters are actively teaching.

There are also many students who would like to go as far as they can with their Reiki but have no desire to teach Reiki (or so they think at that time). For these reasons many Reiki Masters saw the need for an intermediate stage between Second Degree and Masters'.

The Reiki Network members (and many other Masters and associations) now teach Third Degree Reiki. (Often called “3A” so as not to confuse it with the Reiki Masters who refer to themselves as Third Degrees). This Workshop is a three-day intensive program during which advanced theories and techniques of Reiki are taught. The student also receives a traditional Master's initiation that has a dramatic affect on the students personal growth and life awareness.

The Third Degree student is taught the first of the four Reiki initiations/attunements. This enables the student to experience the joy of being able to initiate someone to higher levels of awareness and development as well as experience Reiki in the hands. The Reiki energy is not permanent because it will only be permanent when all four attunements are performed. The patient can experience the Reiki for a few weeks and even use it to treat themselves.

The Third Degree practitioner is also taught many other applications and knowledge that they can use for personal growth or to help others on many levels.

The Third Degree student, once in touch with the higher levels of Reiki, can use them for the rest of his/her life. The student is then able to make the decision with clarity, whether or not he/she wants to go on to the level of Reiki Master. In the Reiki Network, we choose all our Reiki Master trainees from Third Degrees. As a result, all the “screening” process seems to work very well.