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Carlos Castaneda (December 25, 1925/31? – April
27, 1998) was a Peruvian- or Brazilian-born American author. He wrote a series of books that describe
his training in traditional Mesoamerican shamanism, which
he referred to as "sorcery" while admitting that this term does not appropriately describe the experience. His 12 books have sold
more than 8 million copies in 17 languages. The books, and Castaneda, who rarely spoke in public about his work, have been
controversial for many years. Supporters claim the books are either true or at least valuable works of philosophy and
descriptions of practices which enable an increased awareness. Critics claim the books are works of fiction, and although the techniques described are verifiable these same critics from differing paths state they
are not empirically verifiable works of anthropology overall.
In his books, Castaneda narrates in first person the events leading to and
ensuing after his meeting a Yaqui shaman named don Juan Matus in 1960.
Castaneda's experiences with don Juan inspired the works for which he is known. He was identified by don Juan Matus to have the
energetic configuration of a "nagual", who, if the spirit chose may become a leader of a party of
seers. He also used the term "nagual" to signify that part of perception which is in the realm of
the unknown yet still reachable by man, implying that, for his party of seers, don Juan was a connection in some way to that
unknown. Castaneda often referred to this unknown realm as nonordinary reality, which indicated that this realm was indeed
a reality, but radically different from the ordinary reality experienced by human beings who are well engaged in everyday
activities as part of their social conditioning.
Nagual has been incorrectly used by anthropologists .[citation needed] to mean a shaman or sorcerer who is capable of shapeshifting into an animal form, and/or, metaphorically, to "shift" into another form through
Toltec magic rituals.[citation needed].
Biography
Immigration records for Carlos Cesar Arana Castaneda, indicate that he was born on December 25 (Christmas Day)1925 in
Cajamarca, Perú[citation needed]. Records show that his surname was given by his mother Susana Castañeda
Navoa. His father was Cesar Arana Burungaray. His surname appears with the ñ in many Hispanic dictionaries, even though his
famous published works display an anglicised version. He moved to the United States in the
early 1950s and became a naturalized citizen in
1957. He was educated at the University of
California, Los Angeles (UCLA) (B.A. 1962;
Ph.D. 1973).[1]
Castaneda wrote twelve books and several academic articles detailing his experiences with a Yaqui Indian from Central Mexico. His first three books, The Teachings of Don
Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, A Separate Reality and
Journey to Ixtlan were written while Castaneda was an anthropology student at UCLA. Castaneda wrote these books as if they were his research log describing his
apprenticeship with a traditional "Man of Knowledge" identified as don Juan Matus. Castaneda was awarded his bachelor's
and doctoral degrees for the work described in these books.
His writings have been criticized by a few academics, and are seen as highly suspect in terms of strict anthropological fieldwork. Various critics have tried to reconcile Castaneda’s accounts with his own
personal history and those of his fellow apprentices, with no success. Some hold that this is proof that the stories are
fictitious but others believe that Castaneda made a strenuous personal effort to erase his own personal history, in accordance
with the precepts he learned from the old nagual, don Juan Matus, who had embarked on a similar procedure earlier. Indeed, to
this day, the facts relating to Castaneda’s birth place and age and the nature of his death–some reports state he died of liver
cancer, which is also uncorroborated–remain controversial. Alternatively, evidence suggests [citation needed] Castaneda wrote in the traditional
allegorical style of the storyteller (ethnopoetics) common to many native Indian
cultures.
Some contested aspects of his work are the descriptions of the use of psychotropic plants as a means to induce altered states
of awareness. In Castaneda's first two books, he describes the Yaqui way of knowledge using for asistance the use of
powerful indigenous plants, such as peyote and datura. In his
third book, Journey to Ixtlan, he makes clear that the use of psychotropic plants 'power plants' or substances was not
necessary to achieve heightened awareness although his teacher advised its use was beneficial in helping to free the stubborn
mind of some persons. He states that Don Juan used them on Castaneda to demonstrate that experiences outside those known in
day-to-day life are real and tangible.
In Journey to Ixtlan, the third book in the series, he wrote:
- My perception of the world through the effects of those psychotropics had been so bizarre and impressive that I was forced to
assume that such states were the only avenue to communicating and learning what don Juan was attempting to teach me.
- That assumption was erroneous.
Castaneda was a popular enough phenomenon for Time magazine to run a cover article on him
on March 5 1973 (Vol. 101 No. 10).
His fourth book, Tales of Power, ended with Castaneda leaping from a cliff into an abyss, marking his graduation from
disciple to man of knowledge. Some commentators thought this must necessarily mark the end of the series, and were surprised to
find both Don Juan and his eternal apprentice Castaneda returning for many more books in the ongoing saga. Despite an
increasingly chilly reception from literary as well as anthropological writers, Castaneda continued to be very popular with the
reading public. Twelve books by Castaneda have been published, and three videos released. In 1997 Castaneda sued his ex-wife,
Margaret Runyan Castaneda, over her book, A Magical Journey with Carlos Castaneda; but this lawsuit lapsed upon his
death.
Death
Castaneda is thought to have died on April 27 1998 in
Los Angeles. Little is known about his death. There was no public service, Castaneda was apparently cremated and the ashes were sent to
Mexico. Journalist Robert Marshall, writing for Salon, states that Castaneda did indeed die in
1998 from liver cancer and was cremated by a Culver City mortuary. Mysteriously, a number of women from his inner circle vanished
shortly after. Only one of these women has been found. The remains of Patricia Partin, sometimes
referred to by Castaneda as Blue Scout, Nury Alexander and/or Claude, were found in 2004 near where her
abandoned car had been discovered a few weeks after Castaneda's death in the spring of 1998, on the edge of Death Valley. Her
remains were in a condition requiring DNA identification, which was made in 2006. The other women remain missing.[2]
Works
The nine popular works (as opposed to the academic or scholarly works) of Carlos Castaneda are organized into three sets, each
set corresponding to a Toltec mastery: the mastery of Awareness, the mastery of Stalking, and the mastery of Intent.[citation needed] For each mastery there is also a
compendium that describes essential teachings from the overall body of work. The three compendiums were published
posthumously.
Thus, each mastery is described in four works: three works presented in story form and one work compiled as a cross-set
reference:
The Mastery of Awareness
The Mastery of Awareness entails the re-emphasis of awareness from the world of the tonal (every day objects) to the world of
the nagual (spirit). During this stage of development the warrior-traveler endeavors to minimize self importance, and to find and
store power. First and foremost, the student is encouraged to take action and assume responsibility for her or his life.
- The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge (1968)
- A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan (1971)
- Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan (1972)
- Magical Passes: The Practical Wisdom of the Shamans of Ancient Mexico (compilation) (1998)
The Mastery of Stalking
During The Mastery of Stalking the warrior-traveler endeavors to cleanse and retrieve energy and to hone his only link to
spirit, the intuition. The warrior-traveler becomes impeccable by empirically testing this connection and eventually banishing
all doubts, accepting her or his fate, and committing to follow a path with heart.
- Tales of Power (1975)
- The Second Ring of Power (1977)
- The Eagle's Gift (1981)
- The Active Side of Infinity (compilation) (1999)
The Mastery of Intent
Mastery of Intent – Once the warrior-traveler has accumulated enough surplus energy, enough personal power, the dormant second
attention is activated. "Dreaming" becomes possible. The warrior-traveler maintains impeccability, walks the path with heart, and
waits for an opening to freedom.
- The Fire from Within (1984)
- The Power of Silence: Further Lessons of Don Juan (1987)
- The Art of Dreaming (1993)
- The Wheel Of Time : The Shamans Of Mexico (compilation)(2000)
Ideas
Castaneda's works elucidate the mystical world view expounded by Don Juan Matus. The
appeal of Don Juan's philosophy might be summed up in a quote by Don Juan from Castaneda's first book, The Teachings of Don
Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge:
For me there is only the traveling on the paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart. There I travel, and the only
worthwhile challenge for me is to traverse its full length. And there I travel—looking, looking, breathlessly.
Don Juan's teachings are reminiscent of various mystical traditions and supernatural beliefs, and include many practices that
purport to focus one's energy and awareness into a "second attention," leading to higher consciousness and views of
non-ordinary reality outside the bounds of everyday reality. In The Art of Dreaming, Castaneda wrote that Don Juan
contended that our ordinary world –
...which we believe to be unique and absolute, is only one in a cluster of consecutive worlds, arranged like the layers of an
onion. He asserted that even though we have been energetically conditioned to perceive solely our world, we still have the
capability of entering into those other realms, which are as real, unique, absolute, and engulfing as our own world is.
(viii)
According to Castaneda, the most significant fact in a person's life is one's dormant awareness. The primary goal of a warrior
(also warrior-traveler) is to elevate awareness. To increase awareness in this way requires all of the discipline that
constitutes a "warrior's" way of life. Don Juan often used a warrior metaphor, and he told Castaneda on August 20 1961, "A man
goes to knowledge as he goes to war, wide awake, with fear, with respect, and with absolute assurance. Going to knowledge or
going to war in any other manner is a mistake, and whoever makes it will live to regret his steps" (The Teachings of Don
Juan, 43).
Intent and awareness
Sufficient personal Power leads to the Mastery of Intent and Awareness. Such Mastery is chiefly the controlled movement of
what is known as the "Assemblage Point", or the point where a person's awareness is assembled. It is said to be a bundle or
cocoon of energy emanations, called the "Eagle's Emanations", emerging from the body. When we are young, our luminous cocoon is
not yet rigid and the Assemblage Point flows fluidly. Humans' cocoons are intersected by filaments of awareness, producing
perception, but as people grow and live in ordinary existence, they concretize only a small bundle of emanations, which becomes
their perceived reality (we are "energetically conditioned to perceive solely our world," as noted above).
Excessive attention on only a small area this way limits awareness, which hardens into a narrow world view that excludes
reality outside of normal awareness — non-ordinary reality. Ultimately, Castaneda argues,
everything we perceive and feel and how we act is determined by the position of the Assemblage Point. Conscious movement of the
Assemblage Point permits perception of the world in different ways - non-ordinary reality. The
goal of the warrior is to achieve totality of the self by illuminating all the Eagle’s emanations within the cocoon at once and
aligning them with the greater whole of existence and experience. Small movements lead to small changes in perception and large
movements to radical changes.
Ultimately, most adults can only move or shift their Assemblage Point in dreams, by way of drug use, love, hunger, fever,
exhaustion, through inner silence, or as is preferred, through a purified connection with Intent. The most straightforward or
common form of movement of the Assemblage Point is achieved through an altered state of consciousness referred to as "Dreaming".
Descriptions of "Dreaming" in Castaneda's books and the varied techniques he employs to achieve Mastery of Awareness often
resemble Lucid Dreaming. For example, as a first step in the Mastery of Awareness and
Intent, don Juan recommended that Castaneda try the simple exercise of looking at his hands while he was in a state of ordinary
dreaming and, from there, building up his ability to focus his attention while still in a state of simple dreaming.
In Journey to Ixtlan, a friend of don Juan's, don Genaro, warns that “Intent is not intention.” Our energy body, as a
metaphysical entity, is composed of Intent. Through techniques such as Stalking the Self (recapitulation of one's life
experience, erasing personal history and developing the Warrior’s Mood), "Dreaming" (setting up Dreaming, Dreaming and Ascension)
and handling Intent (changing Awareness, "stopping the world", collapsing the world), the warrior aims at regaining luminosity
that has been lost through the ordinary awareness of everyday life and ultimately harnessing Intent.
Brief descriptions of his books
1. The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge (1968) ISBN 0-520-21757-8. Description of plant "Allies" and way
towards Knowledge: Mescalito (peyote) - the protector of man; seeing beings as liquid colors;
mushrooms- learning to handle, to fly and to perceive one's animal form; datura- female spirit,
hard to handle, gives strength, lengthy procedure. This book was unique in the series in that the last part included a detailed
scholarly "Structural Analysis" of Don Juan's teachings.
2. A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan (1971) ISBN
0-671-73249-8. Discusses the ideas of will, controlled folly, and seeing (as opposed to looking) as tools a
warrior uses to be a Man of Knowledge.
3. Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan (1972) ISBN 0-671-73246-3. Lessons about the warrior's way, or
stopping the world, routines, personal history, self-importance, death as an advisor, not-doing,
dreaming.
4. Tales of Power (1975) ISBN 0-671-73252-8. Description of points of perception in body or luminous cocoon,
tonal (1st attention, known, right side awareness) and nagual (2nd attention, unknown, left side awareness), "dreaming double".
5. The Second Ring of Power (1977) ISBN 0-671-73247-1. Describes events after Don Juan's departure, experiences with
the women warriors of the original nagual's party, 2nd attention (second ring of power), losing "human 'form'", human mold,
dreaming, gazing.
6. The Eagle's Gift (1981) ISBN 0-671-73251-X. Description of the force that creates, destroys, and rules the universe
(or at least the 48 bands of earth), also source of emanations themselves, description of the Eagle's command to man, the rule of
the nagual, various levels of petty tyrants, and way towards freedom, self-stalking and dreaming, power spots. Note that Don Juan
described the energy-structure/entity called Eagle a thing that is not what we call an Eagle, but rather a thing so vast
as to be incomprehensible.
7. The Fire From Within (1984) ISBN 0-671-73250-1. Step by step (actually chapter by chapter) elucidation of the
mastery of awareness or the new seers' knowledge: everything is energy (the Eagle's emanations or luminous emanations), the
luminous cocoon and Assemblage Point (glow of awareness), the known (1st attention or tonal), unknown (2nd attention or nagual),
unknowable (outside luminous cocoon), petty tyrants as a way to move Assemblage Point and foster warrior's way, twin worlds of
organic and inorganic (more correctly, matter-beings and non-matter-bound beings -- carbon-based/not carbon-based wasn't what was
meant), shifting the Assemblage Point and other bands of awareness, bundles of emanations that are the basis for the different
species source of awareness and forms/molds, the human mold, the rolling force or tumbler (that hits luminous cocoon), the death defier, self-stalking, intent, and dreaming.
8. The Power of Silence: Further Lessons of Don Juan (1987) ISBN 0-671-73248-X. Stories about essentially the mastery
of intent, set into what were called sorcery cores.
9. The Art of Dreaming (1993) ISBN 0-06-092554-X. Steps to mastering
control and consciousness of dreams.
10. Magical Passes: The Practical Wisdom of the Shamans of Ancient Mexico (1998) ISBN 0-06-092882-4. Descriptions with
photos of sorcery-based physical movements intended to increase well-being, a system which became known as Tensegrity.
11. The Active Side of Infinity (1999) ISBN 0-06-092960-X. Recapitulation, making a log of significant life events (as
seen by the spirit), discussion of the mind as a foreign influence or entity.
12. The Wheel of Time: The Shamans Of Mexico (2000) ISBN 0-14-019604-8. Recollection of the mood in which each previous
book was written; significant quotes from each previous book
He also wrote Readers of Infinity: A Journal of Applied Hermeneutics (1996) Number 1/2/3/4.
Significant characters in Castaneda's works
This is a list of characters, claimed to be real persons, mentioned in Castaneda's works. Castaneda makes it clear that these
are not the persons' real names (ostensibly to protect their identity). In denoting their function within each generation of
practitioners, terms are used which can only be understood by reading Castaneda's writings:
Generation of practitioners peer to Castaneda (Compact group for "three-pronged Nagual")
- Florinda Donner-Grau — "Northerly??" "dreamer" for Castaneda
- Taisha Abelar — "Westerly/Northerly??" "self-stalker" for Castaneda
- Carol Tiggs — "nagual woman" to Castaneda's party and originally for all the practitioners in
Castaneda's generation
Generation of practitioners peer to Castaneda (Original group for "four-pronged Nagual")
- Pablito — the "man of action" in Carlos' generation of practitioners
- Nestor — the "scholarly man" in Carlos' generation of practitioners
- Benigno — the "master of intent/man behind the scenes" (or possibly "courier") in Carlos' generation of practitioners
- Eligio — a "courier" (or possibly "man behind the scenes") who ultimately joined previous generation due to Carlos' lack of
ability to follow his explorations of awareness, apparently a manifestation of Carlos not being a four-pronged nagual
- La Gorda — "Northerly" "dreamer" who was originally thought to be the "Southerly" "dreamer", this was apparently a
manifestation of Carlos not being a four-pronged nagual
- Rosa — "Northerly" "dreamer" in Carlos' generation of practitioners
- Lidia — "Easterly" "dreamer" in Carlos' generation of practitioners
- Josephina — "Westerly" "dreamer" in Carlos' generation of practitioners
- Doña Soledad — "Northerly" "self-stalker" in Carlos' generation of practitioners
Generation of practitioners preceding Castaneda
- Don Juan Matus — leader or "nagual man", teacher to Castaneda
- Olinda — "nagual woman" to Don Juan's party of sorcerers
- Genaro Flores — the "man of action" and "master of awareness", benefactor to Castaneda
- Vicente Medrano — "scholarly man" and herbalist
- Silvio Manuel — "master of intent" and purported to be permanently in a state of "heightened awareness"
- Florinda — "Northerly" "self-stalker"
- Nelida — "Northerly" "dreamer"
- Zoila — "Westerly" "self-stalker"
- Zuleica — "Westerly" "dreamer"
- Carmela — "Easterly" "self-stalker"
- Hermelinda — "Easterly" "dreamer"
- Delia — "Southerly" "self-stalker"
- Cecilia/Clara — "Southerly" "dreamer"
- Teresa — "Southerly woman" and "scout" for Cecilia and Delia
- Marta — "Southerly woman" and "scout" for Zoila and Zuleica
- Emilito — "Scout" for nagual Don Juan
- Juan Tuma — "Scout" for Carmela and Hermelinda
All names and attributes belonging to Don Juan's party are presented as in "The Eagle's Gift".
According to Taisha Abelar and Florinda Donner-Grau every stalker-sorceress gets traditionally the surname "Abelar" and every
dreamer-sorceress gets the surname "Grau". Nagual men are Graus and Abelars by turns; naguals don Juan and Elias were Abelars and
naguals Julían and Carlos were Graus. Sorceresses can also take the forenames of their predecessors if they want to.
Mentioned persons of generation of practitioners preceding Juan Matus
- Julián Osorio — leader or "nagual man" to a generation of practitioners, teacher to Juan Matus
- Talía — "nagual woman" to Julían's party of sorcerers
- "La Catalina" — woman sorceress who still remained in the world at the time of Carlos' training, part of Julián's generation
of practitioners (probably a southern woman and a scout to a woman sorceress of Julían's generation)
- Tulío — four men acting to be one being called Tulío
Mentioned persons of generation of practitioners preceding Julián Osorio
- Elias Ulloa — leader or "nagual man" to a generation of practitioners, teacher to Julián Osorio, and to Juan Matus as
well.
Significant event in the lineage
- The nagual Sebastian's encounter in the 1700s with an ancient seer, the "death defier", also referred to as the "tenant". The
tenant re-introduced many old seers' practices to Sebastian's line of new seers which dramatically altered their lineage.
Castaneda stated that the death defier met with every nagual since Sebastian, including with Carlos. The death defier also met
and possessed Carol Tiggs. Capable of taking male or female form, existing or not existing corporeally in this world.
Cultural impact
Many persons were greatly influenced by Casteneda's works in the forming of their own world views and personal philosophies.
They found that the philosophical underpinnings contained in his writing to be deeply meaningful. This is especially so with
regard to perhaps his first four books. In addition to the potential effects that he may have had upon anthopological studies,
the fact that many of his readers treated his writings with this type of earnestness, the factual accuracy of his writings is
perhaps extremely relevant. He firmly and steadfastly claimed that his writings were reports of actual events he witnessed and
experienced. The extent to which this premise was true and could be believed was a matter of great controversy. Large numbers
paid close enough attention to the content of his books in this way and would eagerly await his next installment. Many of those
who had initially accepted that his presentations were honest accounts, at some point began to doubt and eventually concluded
that most of what he wrote were his own fictional creations.
On the other hand, many of such persons maintain that his importance was not dependent upon whether he had been truthful in
his reports of alternate realities. His claim that his writings were non-fiction presented opportunities for persons to suspend
disbelief about what was possible in life. The fact that he helped people to open their minds remained regardless of whether it
had been done with facts honestly recorded or not. People had accepted, or at least entertained the notion, that human beings
could witness and experience alternative realities for themselves. People can get stuck in mental perspectives about reality and
life in general. If his words served only to assist people to learn that they could expand their thinking and imagination, for
this reason alone he would have made a significant contribution among authors. This is all the more so when one adds to this the
consideration that he presented to us a wealth of philosophical ideas, even if they were only contained within forms of fantasy,
allegory and something akin to poetry. Much of what he said was found by many to contain enough of a different kind of wisdom and
intelligence that it helped them in their own personal quests toward higher states of consciousness.
Related authors
- Two other authors, Taisha Abelar (born Maryann Simko) and Florinda Donner-Grau, (born Regine Thal) have also written books in which they claim to be from Don
Juan Matus' party of Toltec warriors. Both Abelar and Donner-Grau were endorsed by Castaneda as being legitimate students of Don
Juan Matus, whereas he has dismissed all other writers as pretenders. The two women were part of Castaneda's inner circle which
he referred to as The Brujas and both assumed different names as part of their dedication to their new beliefs. They were
originally both graduate students in anthropology at UCLA[3]
- Donald Barthelme parodied Castaneda's books in his The
Teachings of Don B.: A Yankee Way of Knowledge, in which he substitutes "brujo" with "brillo."
- Anthropologist Victor Sanchez claims to have received similar teachings from the
Wirrarika people in Mexico.[4] He admits that Castaneda's books have been an inspiration for him. While he has met Castaneda, he
emphasizes that Castaneda does not endorse his work.[1]
- Martin J. Goodman claimed to have spent 2 days with a "reconstituted" Carlos, or
Carlos' double, after the death of Carlos in his book "I Was Carlos Castaneda".
- Ken Eagle Feather claims to have met Don Juan Matus, inspiring him to write several
books.
- Don Miguel Ruiz is known for bestselling book The Four Agreements. He has
been called the Paulo Coelho of the Toltec.[citation needed]
- Armando Torres claims to have been a favored with several long didactic conversations with
Castaneda, several of which he relates in his book "Encounters with the Nagual: Conversations with Carlos Castaneda." (originally
in Spanish). Among other things, he reveals the "rule of the three-pronged Nagual," which explains the special rule pertinent to Castaneda due to his "distinct energy configuration" of three energy-compartments instead of the
normal four for a nagual. At the end, Torres claims to have gained a mentor and joined a party of naguals unrelated to that of
Castaneda.
- Theun Mares is a nagual from South Africa who published
several books on Nagualism and teaches very much the same thing as Castaneda, only from the perspective of a Natural Man, proving
through subtle hints that in fact the Path with Heart is the only one worth pursuing, Mr. Mares takes the reader from being a
timid person to being an Enlightened Warrior of the Spirit.
- Graham Kane first read Castaneda in 1975 and proceeded to plunge into the system of sorcery
as outlined by CC, learning lucid dreaming and eventually following the instructions of "The Art of Dreaming" when it was
published. His book "Toltec Dreamer" was published in 2002, outlining his struggle to come to terms with the teachings,
specifically centering on the lucid dreaming aspect.
- Jon Whale [2] Learnt to move
assembalge point from Don Gernaro apprentice, Harley Reagan, and then did 10 years
clinical research outlined in his book Catalyst of Power
Books by other authors
- Florinda Donner[-Grau]. Shabono: A Visit to a Remote and Magical World in the South American Rain Forest by (1992)
ISBN 0-06-250242-5 This book was originally published before Witch's Dream in 1985.
- Florinda Donner-Grau. The Witch's Dream. 1st edition 1985 ISBN 0-671-55198-1; current re-print(1997) ISBN
0-14-019531-9
- Florinda Donner-Grau. Being-In-Dreaming: An Initiation into the Sorcerers' World (1992) ISBN 0-06-250192-5
- Taisha Abelar. The Sorcerer's Crossing. 1st hardback edition 1992. 1993 edition
ISBN 0-14-019366-9
- Victor Sanchez. The Teachings of Don Carlos ISBN 1-879181-23-1
- Richard de Mille. Castaneda’s journey : the power and the allegory
(1976)- ISBN 0884960676 - Capra Press, Santa Barbara, CA.
- Richard de Mille (ed.). The Don Juan Papers: Further Castaneda Controversies
(1980) - ISBN 0915520257 - Ross-Erikson, Santa Barbara, CA. / (1990) ISBN 0534121500 Wadsworth Pub. Co., Belmont, CA.
- Jay Courtney Fikes. Carlos Castaneda: Academic Opportunism and the Psychedelic Sixties (1993)
- Daniel C. Noel The Soul of Shamanism: Western Fantasies, Imaginal Realities (New York: Continuum, 1997)
- Robert J. Wallis. Shamans/neo-Shamans: Ecstasy, Alternative Archaeologies and Contemporary Pagans. London: Routledge,
2003. ISBN 0-415-30203-X
- Amy Wallace. The Sorcerer's Apprentice: My Life with Carlos Castaneda (2003)
- Filming Castaneda: The Hunt for Magic and Reason" by Gaby Geuter (2004) ISBN 1-4140-4612-X
- Kelley, Jane Holden. YAQUI WOMEN: Contemporary Life Histories (1997)
- Edward Plotkin The Four Yogas Of Enlightenment: Guide To Don Juan's Nagualism & Esoteric Buddhism (2002) ISBN
0-9720879-0-7
- Armando Torres Encounters with the Nagual: Conversations with Carlos Castaneda (2002) Spanish (2004) English ISBN
968-5671-04-4
- Neville Goddard. "Awakened Imagination" by heavily influenced the work of
Castaneda.[citation needed]
- Alice Kehoe, Shamans and Religion: An Anthropoligical Exploration in Critical Thinking. 2000. London: Waveland Press.
ISBN 1-57766-162-1
- Graham Kane: Toltec Dreamer: A Collection of Memorable Events from the life of a Man-of-Action (2002 UK) Little Big
Press. ISBN 0-9543630-0-0
- Martin Goodman: I was Carlos Castaneda: The Afterlife Dialogues (2001 New York) Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0-609-80763-3
www.randomhouse.com
- Jon Whale: The Catalyst of Power: The Assemblage Point of Man (Paperback) ISBN 1899171738 Findhorn Press (March 1, 2001)
- Merilyn Tunneshende: Don Juan and the art of sexual energy; The rainbow serpent of the Toltecs (2001, Rochester, Canada, ISBN
187918163-0
Other Creative Works
In popular culture
- A great, loving parody of Don Juan ("Don Long-Juan") is the basis for Gilbert
Shelton's comic book "The Faboulous Furry Freak Brothers: The 7th
journey - A Mexican Odyssey" (Freak Brothers no. 4).
Criticism
According to Robert J. Wallis in his 2003 book Shamans/Neo-Shamans: Contested Ecstasies, Alternative Archaeologies, and
Contemporary Pagans:
- At first, and with the backing of academic qualifications and the UCLA anthropological department, Castaneda’s work was
critically acclaimed. Notable old-school American anthropologists like Edward Spicer (1969) and Edmund Leach (1969) praised
Castaneda, alongside more alternative and young anthropologists such as Peter Furst, Barbara Myerhoff and Michael Harner. The
authenticity of Don Juan was accepted for six years, until Richard de Mille and Daniel
Noel both published their critical exposés of the Don Juan books in 1976 (De Mille produced a further edited volume in 1980).
Most anthropologists had been convinced of Castaneda’s authenticity until then — indeed, they had had little reason to question
it — but De Mille’s meticulous analysis, in particular, debunked Castaneda’s work.
- Beneath the veneer of anthropological fact stood huge discrepancies in the data: the books ‘contradict one another in
details of time, location, sequence, and description of events’ (Schultz in Clifton 1989:45). There are possible published
sources for almost everything Carlos wrote (see especially Beals 1978), and at least one encounter is ethnographic plagiarism:
Ramon Medina, a Huichol shaman-informant to Myerhoff (1974), displayed superhuman acrobatic feats at a waterfall and, according
to Myerhoff, in the presence of Castaneda (Fikes 1993). Then, in A Separate Reality, Don Juan’s friend Don Genaro makes a
similar leap over a waterfall with the aid of supernatural power. In addition to these inconsistencies, various authors suggest
aspects of the Sonoran desert Carlos describes are environmentally implausible, and, the ‘Yaqui shamanism’ he divulges is not
Yaqui at all but a synthesis of shamanisms from elsewhere (e.g. Beals 1978).
As early as 1973, a Time Magazine article had questioned
- ... the more worldly claim to importance of Castaneda's books: to wit, that they are anthropology, a specific and truthful
account of an aspect of Mexican Indian culture as shown by the speech and actions of one person, a shaman named Juan Matus. That
proof hinges on the credibility of Don Juan as a being and Carlos Castaneda as a witness. Yet there is no corroboration beyond
Castaneda's writings that Don Juan did what he is said to have done, and very little that he exists at all.
Serious analytical criticism of Castaneda's books did not emerge until 1976 when Richard de Mille published Castaneda's
Journey: The Power and the Allegory, in which he argues:
- "Logical or chronological errors in the narrative constitute the best evidence that Castaneda's books are works of fiction.
If no one has discovered these errors before, the reason must be that no one has listed the events of the first three books in
sequence. Once that has been done, the errors are unmistakable."[5]
The most damning instance of this, according to de Mille, is Castaneda's relations with a witch named 'la Catalina.'
- "In October 1965 Carlos-One went through an ordeal so unexpected and disturbing that he sadly withdrew from his
apprenticeship and avoided Don Juan for more than two years. The ordeal was a night-long confrontation with a powerful enemy who
had assumed don Juan's bodily form though not his accustomed gait or speech....
- Curiously, when Carlos-One begged don Juan to explain what had happened during the "special" event, 'the conversation began
with speculations about the identity of a female person' (Castaneda's emphasis) who had snatched Carlos's soul and
borrowed don Juan's form. The lady was not named, and the reader was left to wonder whether the galvanizing impersonatress was in
fact a certain 'fiendish witch' called "la Catalina," who had been mentioned briefly on 23 November 1961, four years earlier. At
that time don Juan had said he was harboring certain plans for finishing her off, about which he would tell Carlos-One 'someday.'
Poor Carlos-One had to wait ten years to learn about those plans in Tales of Power, but Table 2 reveals that Carlos-Two,
traveling a parallel time track, carried out those plans with moderate success in the fall of 1962, when he met the magic lady
six times in a row, once as a marauding but indistinct blackbird, once as a sailing silhouette, and four times face to face "in
all her magnificent evil splendor" as a beautiful but terrifying young woman. Reacting to those encounters, he felt his ears
bursting, his throat choking, his hands frozen, his body chilled, and his arms and legs rigid. The hair on his body literally
stood on end. He shrieked and fell down to the ground. He was paralyzed. He began to run. And he lost his power of speech.
- Here we are asked to believe that a flesh-and-blood anthropologist who enjoyed this tumultuous supernatural affair with a
glorious witch in 1962 did not recall her name in 1965, did not make the connection between the last meeting and the previous six
when sorting through his field notes in the safety of his apartment, did not put it all together when naming her in his first
book, but found the memory "as vivid as if it had just happened" on 22 May 1968, a few pages into his second book. Even if we
could credit this uncharacteristic amnesia, we would still have to account for don Juan's equal failure to name 'la Catalina' in
1965. The puzzle is easily solved by switching from the factual to the fictive model. The abrupt, unsatisfying ending to The
Teachings is not a symptom of ethnographic battle fatigue, for our campaigner has already survived six such battles with colors
flying. It is only a serialist's preparation for the next episode, a cliffhanger that makes us hungry for another book.
- On these showings, one thing is certain. The Teachings of Don Juan and Journey to Ixtlan cannot both be factual reports.
[6]
See also
References
- ^ de Mille, Richard, Castaneda's Journey, The Power and the Allegory
(Lincoln: iUniverse.com, Inc., 2001 [1976]) 27.
- ^ The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda page 4 from Salon magazine April 12, 2007
- ^ The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda, Salon
magazine, April 12, 2007
- ^ Victor Sanchez. The Toltec Path of Recapitulation. (Bear & Company: Rochester, Vermont 2001), p. 7, ISBN 1-879181-60-6
- ^ de Mille, Richard Castaneda's Journey: The Power and the Allegory','
Capra Press, 1976, pp. 166
- ^ de Mille, Richard, "Castaneda's Journey," 1976, pp. 170-171
External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
- Carlos Castaneda's Don Juan's
Teachings, a 117,500 word book compiled from Carlos Castaneda's ten books
- Carlos Castaneda's Tensegrity, site maintained by
ClearGreen Inc., the direct apprentices of Carlos Castaneda, who also inherited his estate and currently conduct Tensegrity
seminars and classes
- Nagualism, collection of information, interviews
and forum discussion on Carlos Castaneda, Nagualism, and Shamanism
- Sustained Action, a website devoted to
analysis and discussion of evidence and controversy about Carlos Castaneda
- Sanchez
Interview with Victor Sanchez focusing on Castaneda)
- The Skeptic's Dictionary on
Castaneda
- Yaqui Nation Website
- Pasqua Yaqui Indian Website
- The dark legacy of
Carlos Castaneda, by Robert Marshall from Salon Magazine April 12, 2007
- [3], Genaro's
Hat, a discussion group
- (Italian) Carlos Castaneda: an italian site honoring the Nagual
- [4], Blog with book, texts,
links.
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