Title: Carlos Castaneda. 11 books Author(s): Carlos Castaneda Pages: 0 Publisher: Publication date: Language: English Format: DOC, HTML ISBN-10: ISBN-13: Description: List:
01 - The Teachings of Don Juan. A Yaqui Way of Knowledge (DOC)
02 - A Separate Reality (DOC)
03 - Journey to Ixtlan (HTML)
04 - Tales of Power (DOC)
05 - The Second Ring of Power (HTML)
06 - The Eagle's Gift (DOC)
07 - The Fire From Within (HTML)
08 - The Power of Silence (HTML)
09 - The Art of Dreaming (HTML)
10 - The Active Side of Infinity (HTML)
11 - The Wheel of Time (DOC)
Carlos Castaneda (December 25, 1925 (?) - April 27, 1998) was the author of a series of books that purport to describe his training in traditional Mesoamerican shamanism, which he referred to as a form of sorcery. 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 practices enabling increased awareness; critics claim the books are shams, works of fiction, and not verifiable empirical anthropology as claimed.
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 allegedly inspired the works for which he is known. He claimed to have inherited from Don Juan the position of nagual, or 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. Nagual has been used by anthropologists 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, shamanism and experiences with psychoactive drugs (e.g., peyote and jimson weed).[citation needed] Carlos Castaneda's works have sold more than 8 million copies in 17 languages. Oddly enough, even though purportedly the first four books were originally written in Spanish, a translator was needed in order to produce their Spanish editions.
Brief description of books:
1. The Teachings of Don Juan, A Yaqui Way of Knowledge - 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 - Discusses the ideas of will, controlled folly, and seeing (as opposed to looking) as tools a warrior uses to be a man/person of knowledge.
3. Journey to Ixtlan - lessons about the warrior's way, or stalking the world, routines, personal history, self-importance, death as an advisor, not-doing, dreaming
4. Tales of Power - description of points of perception in body or luminous cocoon, tonal (1st attention, known, right side awareness, [possibly the left-brain) and nagual (2nd attention, unknown, left side awareness, [right-brain]), dreaming double
5. The Second Ring of Power - 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 - 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 call
Title: Carlos Castaneda. 11 books