The Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda

I thought some of you might find this very interesting. I urge you to read it through. From what I have gathered thus far, these are the ways that were taught to a man named Carlos Castaneda by an old native american man by the name of Don Juan. The ways of the warrior and the sorcerer passed down to generations from the ancients.

www.prismagems.com...

I am well aquainted with these books.
VERY INTERESTING INDEED........they have quite a mass following Ive learned.

I consider them to be recomended reading to anyone interested in the ESOTERIC.

Glad you mention them! Worthwhile reading indeed!

I remember hearing that there was some controversy over Canteaneda's books on Don Juan having to do with the actual authenticity of the character of Don Juan but I can't for the life of me remember where I saw it. I'll try to remember where I saw it.

A former Supermod was related to Carlos Castaneda. Too bad he's not here anymore, he could've explained more on the subject.

That would have been great, but the controversy over if Don Juan was real or not will, I think, always be a mystery as no one except Castaneda has ever reportedly met Don Juan.



[edit on 9-2-2005 by sinatracementshoes]

The practises in his books can be very hazardous, I read through the book twice to get a good grasp on some of the information it held. I found some things like finding Carlos's 'spot' interesting but rather baseless. I also took note on Juan's Datura usage because he associated such things as color with the overall quality of the (datura) expierance which is also bit interesting to me.

Which book did you read? There are 10. The link I provided is a compilation of all 10. I'm about half way through it. These philosophies are most definitely not for everyone. Not that I agree with every bit of it, but I am finding similarities in things that I have learned on my own throughout my life. Not to mention some good techniques for punching through the thick fog of society's ignorance and lifting the heavy weights of awareness suppression. Ultimately, it is up to the idividual reader what they will take from it. What I take from it will not be the same as any other.

Excellent books and I reccomend them highly. I have a thread somewhere on here called Tryptamines and God which may be of interest to you guys as it goes into some similar theories and discusses alot of the neurochemistry involved. Good post, am glad the books are still receiving some readership.

Ahhh yes Castaneda. His books were like a lighthouse for my spiritual development. Personally, i dont care if the characters were real or not, his books are full of the kind of knowledge, that is not found in western civilization, so there was definately a shaman somewhere that gave him all this info. And those books messed up a lot of heads, definately not for the weakl minded. I remember people telling me they started having all this weird experiences when they read his books. What a wonderfull thing the mind is

On the sad note, the books get weirder and freakier by the volume. Still, i think his books are full of answers, at least for myself.

really great books, i agree!
i havent read all ten of them,
but any of those books sure gives you a new "look at the spiritual world",
and a hidden wish that you could meet such a shaman,
and experience spirtual world with him.

so my suggestion is:
borrown them
or
buy them,
doesnt matter,
just read them!

I found the thread I was talking about earlier, take a gander and see what you guys think.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I found the thread I was talking about earlier, take a gander and see what you guys think.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Very interesting to say the least. Great thread twitchy. I understand your frustration. I feel it is pointless to coerce the ones who have adopted belief to come up with logical conclusions based on outside information, for they have adopted logic as well.

www.american-buddha.com...

Journey to Ixtlan

Hey, I am new to the forum and I read the thread on Casteneda. I know there are many who doubt don Juan ever existed, but I think they miss the point. There is a lot of knowledge in Casteneda's book and it is often imparted with a sense of humor......a wink and a smile that leads you on. Whether "real" or not, the characters Casteneda writes of are very much alive and there is much truth to what is passed along. Of course, it is from another culture. I find that it is either something that resonates with you or it does not.

Anyway, a couple of good places to start study of Casteneda should you be so inclined are: Magical Passes: The Practical Wisdom Of the Shamans of Ancient Mexico. by Carlos Casteneda and The Teachings of Don Carlos by Victor Sanchez. What is especially appealing about these books is that they are intended to serve as manuals for practical applications of ideas and concepts found in Casteneda's work.

There is also a book written by another "witch" in the lineage of don Juan. It's exact name escapes me but I believe it is called The Witch's Crossing I wish you all well and I hope this post is of use to someone out there

Yes, his books help unravel a lot of secrets in ourselves".Ahh yes,The world is like an onion there are many layers to it.Toltecs rock, I know because they helped with my spiritual evolution.These books just gave specific details in what I have experienced in my life.I have most of his books and I highly recommend them."If you apply these tactics of living I gurantee one will transform themself."

I have read all of his books, they are excellent. A few other good books are the warrior athilete and the way of the wyrd. In the way of the wyrd, the part that sticks out most is when the guy is going through the woods and is scared, he stands on his head while crying and a deer walks up to him and asks him why he's crying. I don't know why I think of that part when that book comes to mind, maybe it has something to do with bambi. LOL

What does everyone think of it's secrecy .. ?

how many .... naguals.. do you assume there are running around?

I have to say I am impressed with the positive feed back that CC has gotten here. I live in 'Fanta Se' New Mexico, one of the many places that those interested in such topics tend to congregate. I have herd a lot of negitive stuff about CC on the streets around here, but that means little to me compared to the thoughts of those here on ATS.

I have read the first book years ago and passed on the rest after hearing some negative comments. After reading what you all had to say I think I will give the books another chance. Thanks for your input people.

Taken from the Book, Encounters With The Nagual

In one of the bookstores we visited, we came across a copy of one of his books, called "A Separate Reality". It was on the fiction shelf, which annoyed him(Castaneda) a lot. He commented that people are so wrapped up in their everyday existence that they cannot even conceive of the mystery that surrounds us. When we encounter something unknown, we automatically classify it in a comfortable category and then we forget it.

There is more in those books then a lot of people give credit for, .. and then there are those who get a lot more out of them ... yet keep very very quiet... as if they were huntin' wabbits..

I've read his books (most of them, anyway) ca. four times and have practiced many of the exercises Don Juan made CC do. (Just without the drugs.)

They do work!

That's why I don't believe the stories of Don Juan are fiction -- first of all, the concept of Tonal, Nagual and all these other things (the emanations of the eagle) are so weird, and I've heard of them nowhere else before or since... I find it hard to believe that someone could just invent those things. Second, as I said, the exercises do work... some a bit better than I bargained for, complete with "allies"...

Once, when I still lived in Sedona, I went on a solitary full moon walk around midnight, feeling all Castaneda-like, practicing heightened awareness, power walking and the like. I went without a flashlight (which basically no one ever did) so my eyes could adjust to the moonlight and the experience would be more "authentic." Ha.

I came to a spot near the trail that was just plain earth, with a convenient boulder in the middle to sit on. As Don Juan says, "Find a place of power and then see what happens." This felt like a place of power to me, so I stayed there. The spot was completely open on the left, front and back, and there were two small bushes (maybe 2 feet high) on the right, with ca. 10 feet of space between them.

So I sat down and waited. I didn't stare (as Don Juan says you shouldn't) but let my eyes slowly shift from side to side to take in everything around me. All of a sudden I heard a sneeze from behind the first bush that sounded very human... and even if it had been a coyote or such, the bush would have been barely big enough to hide a full-grown coyote behind it.

Trying not to get frightened (one of the deadly sins in Don Juan's book), I just kept sitting there, folding my arms in front of my belly to protect my center (as Don Juan had taught), keeping my eyes on the bush without staring.

Nothing for a few minutes.

Then all of a sudden there was a very loud noise from the second bush that sounded (I can't describe it any other way) like an elephant stomping hard on the ground. The noise sounded like it had been made by a very large, very heavy animal/thing, but as I said, the bush was only 2 feet high and very narrow...! No way any prankers could have hidden behind the bushes, and since both of them were ca. 10 feet apart, it also couldn't have been the same thing/animal that sneezed and stomped... I would have seen it cross the distance between the bushes.

In true Castaneda fashion, I got up from my boulder and started this protective "dance" Don Juan describes. I also started doing weird things (also Don Juan) to throw the "things" off balance.

Next thing, I heard people coming down the trail. I could discern about three different people, one woman and two men, talking to each other, but I couldn't understand the words. They were carrying no flashlights, which I found very, very strange... few tourists would go out there in the middle of the night (it was about 1:30 am by then), and basically NO ONE would go without a flashlight. All of a sudden, I had the very strong feeling that these were not real people, and that, if I let them come closer and catch up to me, I'd be dead.

I jumped up and ran down the trail as fast as I could... I even lost my way for a while in the dim moonlight, and then went home. Quite a trip. Call me crazy, but with everything that went on there, I still believe that those were "allies" and not real people, and I realized that I was a little bit out of league trying to deal with those things. But it was definitely a great experience, and now I believe every word Castaneda wrote.

(Oh, to clear that up, by the way, I have never in my life taken drugs!)

[edit on 4-2-2008 by sylvie]