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Carlos Castañeda (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 descriptions of
practices which enable an
increased awareness; critics
claim the books are shams,
works of fiction, and not
empirically verifiable works of
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). 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.
Castaneda claimed to have been
born in São Paulo, Brazil on
Christmas Day in 1931.
Immigration records, however,
indicate that he was born six
years earlier in Cajamarca,
Perú. Castaneda also claimed
that "Castaneda" was an adopted
name, but records show that it
was given by his mother Susana
Castañeda Navoa. 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. 1970).
Castaneda wrote twelve books
and several academic articles
detailing his experiences with
the Yaqui Indians indigenous to
parts of 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 shaman 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 academics, and
are seen as highly suspect in
terms of strict anthropological
fieldwork. Many have tried to
corroborate Castaneda’s stories
with his own personal history
and that of his fellow
apprentices. Considering that
Castaneda described, as part of
his efforts to follow the
precepts he learned from the
old nagual, don Juan Matus, a
personal effort to erase his
own personal history, a lack of
corroboration from others is
not surprising. Indeed, to this
day, the facts relating to his
birth place and age and the
nature of his death remain
controversial. Contradictory
evidence suggests Castaneda
wrote in the traditional
allegorical style of the
storyteller (ethnopoetics)
common to many native Indian
cultures.
Perhaps the most highly
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
requiring the use of powerful
indigenous plants, such as
peyote and datura. In his third
book, Journey to Ixtlan, he
reverses his emphasis on 'power
plants'. 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.
Castaneda later disavowed all
use of drugs for these
purposes. He stated that they
could inalterably damage the
luminous ball of energy
emanations from the body, as
well as the physical body.. 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
do a cover article on Castaneda
on March 5, 1973 (Vol. 101 No.
10).
His fourth book, Tales of
Power, ended with Castaneda
leaping off a cliff into an
abyss, marking his graduation
from disciple to man of
knowledge (actually a leap from
the tonal into the nagual, or
unknown). Some writers thought
this must necessarily mark the
end of his series. They were
very surprised to see he
continued to produce further
books. Despite an increasingly
critical reception 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 was dropped
when Castaneda died.
 Death
Castaneda
purportedly died on April
27, 1998 from liver cancer
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 and are presumed
dead from a planned
suicide. 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
back in the spring of
1998. Her remains were in
a condition requiring DNA
identification which was
made in 2006. The other
women remain missing and
are presumed to be
dead.
Source : Some
of the information on this page
came from a Wikipedia
article and is
licensed under the GNU
Documentation License.
©2008
www.geneticmatrix.com.
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Carlos
Castaneda - Generator
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Biography