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I have recently started re-reading “The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge,” by Carlos Casteneda.
Rocketed to fame in the 60’s when it was written, Casteneda has written a dozen books about his experiences with the Yaqui shaman/sorcerer Don Juan Matus, his experiences with Plant Medicine and explorations into the Nature of Reality, with an emphasis on shapeshifting (nagual)
There is controversy – at first his work was anthropologically acclaimed, then dismissed. His books are still listed as non-fiction, and the use of Plant Medicine was extremely popular in the entheogenic experiments of the 70’s. My take on the holes in his story is that they are necessary koans for development. As the books progress, so too does the knowledge and skill of Casteneda progress. Much of what he writes about is considered lost art.
You can read more about the life and influence of Casteneda, here: Wikipedia – Carlos Casteneda
In the introduction to the book, we hear Casteneda trying to wrap his head around things which nobody can believe.
He tries to retain his “anthropololgical integrity” by taking notes, but the teachings from Don Juan are non-linear, expansive, experiential. I could hear the hushed tones in his writing, as though to say, “You’re not going to beleive this, but – ”
His conclusion in the introduction is that, in spite of how it may appear, Don Juan’s teachings were methodical, guiding the student through a series of experiences which built upon the prior experienced. That taken as a whole, this is a consistent system of teaching, which makes no sense to an outsider, and only makes sense within the context of the experiences of the system. This system is designed to develop the student to the point where s/he can conceptualise, internalise and integrate these experiential teachings.
Shamanism is nothing if not experiential.
Also – the introduction is a justification to his fellow academic anthropologists – as if to say, “I did the field work, this is as well documented as possible!”
Chapter 1 – Finding Your Place
This chapter has stuck in my memory for 30 years!
Casteneda asks Don Juan if he can learn about Peyote. Don Juan asks why. Casteneda says, “To learn.” Casteneda confesses that he wasn’t as interested in the peyote as he was the wide and deep knowledge of plant medicine that Don Juan obviously had.
Don Juan said, “If you were Indian, I would say yes, but you are white so I don’t know.” He said that only certain Indians were attracted to mescalito, and insisted that Casteneda used this name, as it is the name the plant prefers.
“So how can I learn?” Casteneda asks. And Don Juan gives him a puzzle. He says that Casteneda looks uncomfortable where he is sitting. Sure enough, Casteneda had a sore back from sitting on the floor and a lot of tension in his body.
So the puzzle was to find the one place on the porch which gives him energy instead of draining it. “Find your place of power.”
Casteneda rolls around on the floor for hours, frustrated that he cannot feel the difference between one place and the next. He tries different positions, sitting, lying face up or down – and gets no results. After hours, Don Juan checks on him and offers the hint to “use your eyes” to assist your feelings.
Casteneda then has flashes of insight. One spot on the porch is distinctly purple, and another spot is more green in color. He is attracted to the green spot but finds he cannot go to the purple spot. In exhaustion (this has taken the whole night, and dawn is coming soon with no sleep), he lies on the green spot and falls asleep.
Don Juan says, “Good, you have restored your balance.”
Casteneda is confused. “I just fell asleep, that’s all!” So Don Juan tells him to go over to the other spot, the purple one. Casteneda is stricken with hair raising fear, and cannot do it.
Don Juan informs him that the good spot is called sitio and the bad spot is the enemy, and that every sitio has an associated enemy. Being able to find the sitio is the key to well being, and the enemy is life draining. But they always come together, like yin and yang.
As the Wikipedia article above explained, Casteneda spent a lot of his work in pursuit and cultivation of that green light.
It is unclear to me whether the sitio is different for individuals, or if there is one sitio in each place – and if the room is crowded, do we play “King of the Hill” to possess the sitio? Or is there a sitio for me in this room, and a different one for you?
I have meditated on this chapter for over 30 years. I try to feel the places of benefit when I am in a room, but am not always successful. I do know that there are places I find draining and try to avoid them, and in our modern society – these places are myriad! I find the malls and shopping centers to be excessively draining, for example.
When I moved to Australia, I found one sitio on my back porch, and stayed in that spot for most of my first 10 years here. I have struggled to find another place in my house which is as uplifting as that spot.
Where are the places in your life where you feel uplifted, and where do you feel drained?
Chapter 2 – Mescalito plays with Casteneda, and becomes apprenticed to Don Juan
After Casteneda found his sitio, Don Juan decided that it was acceptable to introduce him to Mescalito. He refers to the plant as a male person, and says that he doesn’t like everyone.
As a result, so that they can remain friends, someone else must give Casteneda his first Mescalito buttons. Don Juan explains that if he gave Casteneda the buttons, and Mescalito did not like them, then they would no longer be able to remain friends.
So they drive to a neighboring house with 3 Indian men, where 7 buttons are given. He chews and eats them and describes his Journey. He was confused by light and language, it was intriguing the way his focus changed. Don Juan brought him a pan of water to drink, and he was fascinated with the liquid. A dog came and drank from his pan – he knocked the pan away, not wanting to share his water with the dog.
But then the dog drank the water, and he could see into the dog, see the liquid infuse him with power. He got on his hands and knees and drank the water with the dog, and was infused with the same power. The rest of his Journey was him playing with the dog, rolling, biting, chasing, infused with the light power that they gained from drinking the water.
When he came to, Don Juan asked the Indians to tell him how he behaved. The outward expression of his journey was shocking – he had become an animal, running with the dog, peeing on everything, howling, growling and barking like a dog (and scared the actual dog). Casteneda is embarrassed and wants nothing to do with learning about Mescalito anymore
But Don Juan insisted that the dog was Mescalito and that he had never seen Him play with someone like this. As a result, he decides that Casteneda is the One Chosen to receive Don Juan’s knowledge.
He formally instructs him that going to Knowledge is like going to War – that your eyes must be open, and you must walk with fear and respect.
He starts to inform him about allies, which are tools to help him learn. These are plants – but not the Teacher plants like Mescalito. In my language, I would call them Helper plants.
I think that this book is going to focus a lot on Plant Medicine, which is not exactly my focus. It is deeply entwined with shamanism, but I am not comfortable opening people up to different allies.
I’m also open to the possibility that there can be gentle allies, such as mint tea. I’m currently working with a South American tea of the Holly family, called Guayusa, which contains great antioxidant healing properties. It is only mildly psychoactive (contains caffeine), but is gentler than coffee or tea.
It may be, too, that certain foods are allies. (and, if Chapter 1 holds true, there may be certain foods which are enemies, as well)
In my understanding (I’ve never gotten past the first book) the later books of Casteneda are less plant focused, and more philosophical teaching tools. But in order for them to make sense, I want to understand this first one for context, especially in the light of what I have learned in the 30 years since first reading.
- Chapter 3 – Plant Medicine Allies and The Man of Knowledge
In Chapter 3, Don Juan delves more deeply into the plant medicine of Allies.
He speaks of the difference between an Ally and a Power. An Ally is a tool, an assistant, and a Power is something Greater.
Since learning about this in the long ago, I have looked at plants, animals, substances in relation to their affinity (ally) or enmity to me. For example, I may love the taste of licorice candy, but it is not my ally – true licorice root gives my heart palpitations. Conversely, I have a deep affinity for lemon balm, which I love to drink in tea. I see it as a friend and an ally.
In this chapter, we learn that it is vital how one is introduced to the plant ally. The moment a relationship turns sour, that plant is no longer your friend. This is why Don Juan is careful about how he introduces Casteneda to Mescalito and to Datura, which he calls the “Devil’s Weed.”
I remember trying Datura in the 80’s, seeking a vision. I acquired some of the cleaned plant leaf, and smoked it, as I had heard that ingestion was dangerous. It was awful and nightmarish! Therefore, since Datura and I have had a bad relationship, Datura will never be an ally of mine.
It is remotely possible that if I had paid attention to Don Juan, and followed the sorcery of the plant, I might have gained Datura as an ally. The ceremony which he follows for this plant is complex, involving digging a root and carving it into a little man. Taking the little man, wrapping him in cloth and keeping him and “feeding” him (energy? smoke?) and getting to know him. There was a ceremony with the seeds, the root, the leaf. The intent was to take the root.
The ceremony around this plant took months for Casteneda before he was able to try it, and there were levels of trying it. The first root was the shallowest level, and he could try that right away. It wasn’t pleasant, but it wasn’t the nightmare I experienced, either.
The third root was the deepest experience and bonded the man and the plant for life. Casteneda is not ready for this level in this chapter – it was a preparation that would take at least a year, and growing his own plant. This involved the little man carving, and the ceremonies around it. Honestly, I paid less attention to this, as I will never be able to pursue Datura as an ally.
What it does drive home, however, is that plant medicine is not to be trifled with. When I was younger I tried all manner of things, in freedom and innocence – and not with very much respect. I was lucky, very few of these experiments turned out badly. Now I have learned that respecting the plant as if it were your Mother or Father, or Brother or Sister, is key to developing a relationship with the plant. And Plant Medicine is not something you “take” like a consumer – it is a relationship you develop over time.
Take tobacco, one of the holiest plants in Native American Medicine. How many people develop a harmful relationship to this plant? If this is done without respect, or in addiction, the plant will harm you. How many of us, before smoking our first tobacco, approached the plant, and made an offering or a prayer – to ensure that this would be a good relationship? How many of us continued a prayerful relationship to the tobacco plant?
In the last part of the chapter, Don Juan hints at what it takes to become a Man of Knowledge. Don Juan tells us that not any man can be a man of knowledge, that in order to do so he must challenge and defeat his four natural enemies. Each enemy helps with the enemy before, but then must be overcome in order to grow past it.
The first step to becoming a man of knowledge is to learn and grow, seeking clarity, purpose and intent. This will lead him to the first enemy: fear. “Terrible, treacherous and difficult to overcome. It remains concealed at every turn of the way…and if the man, terrified in its presence, runs away, his enemy will have put an end to his quest.”
The man who runs away will not learn any more, but may become a bully or a harmless frightened man. Fear will have killed his craving for knowledge.
To defeat fear, he needs to stand, to not run away. He must defy fear, and in spite of it he must take the next step in learning, and the next, and the next. It is not that the fear goes away, but that it does not change your action or behaviour. Then, as he stands in the face of fear, the man becomes stronger, and learning becomes easier. Clarity is achieved.
The next natural enemy is then clarity. In clarity, the man becomes arrogant. After all, he has dispelled fear and lived beyond it. But this clarity also blinds. “It forces the man never to doubt himself. It gives him the assurance he can do anything he pleases, for he sees clearly into everything, because he is clear, and he stops at nothing because he is clear. But all that is a mistake; it is like something incomplete. If a man yields to this make-believe power, he is giving in to the second enemy, and will fumble with his learning. He will rush about when he should be patient, or will be patient when he should rush…he will be incapable of learning anything more.”
The man who succumbs to the second enemy will become an arrogant warrior or a clown. The clarity which he has earned to this point will never change to darkness or fear again, but his learning will stop there.
To defeat clarity, “He must do what he did with fear; he must defy his clarity and use it only to see, and wait patiently and measure carefully before taking new steps; he must think, above all, that his clarity is almost a mistake…a moment will come when he will understand that his clarity was only a point before his eyes…the power he has been pursuing for so long is finally his. His ally is at his command.” He overcomes clarity with power.
And then he must defeat the third enemy: Power! “Power is the strongest of all enemies. And naturally the easiest thing to do is to give in; after all, the man is truly invincible. He commands, he (takes) risks, and ends in making rules, because he is a master. A man at this stage hardly notices his third enemy closing in on him. And suddenly, without knowing, he will certainly have lost the battle. His enemy will have turned him into a cruel, capricious man.”
“A man who is defeated by power dies without really knowing how to handle it. Power is only a burden upon his fate. Such a man has no command over himself and cannot tell when or how to use his power.”
To defeat the third enemy of Power, he must deliberately defy it. “He must come to realize the power he has seemingly conquered is in reality never his. He must keep himself in line at all times, handling carefully and faithfully all he has learned. If he can see that clarity and power, without his control over himself, are worse than mistakes, he will reach a point where everything is in check. He will know when and how to use his power, and he will have defeated his third enemy.”
When a man has defeated these 3 enemies, there is still the fourth enemy and that is the enemy of Old Age. “If the man sloughs off his tiredness and lives his fate through, he can then be called a man of knowledge, if only for the brief moment when he succeeds in fighting off his last, invincible enemy. That moment of clarity, power and knowledge is enough.”
It is interesting to me personally as I look through my life – I have forged through fear, and become judgemental (clarity). I have been humbled through that clarity, and became cruel (power). I have released that power, and I am now up against the old age, and seeking knowledge against that enemy is a formidable task indeed.
Chapter 4 – More about Allies, and a visit with Mescalito
One of the differences between a Power Plant Medicine and an Ally, is that the Power Plant Medicine can be protective. The Ally can give power but cannot protect, but the Power Plant Medicine (like Mescalito) protects and teaches. Apparently what Mescalito teaches, as a Power Plant Medicine, is how to live properly.
I’ve heard this about Ayahuasca, which seems to be more feminine than Mescalito. That developing a relationship with Ayahuasca, practitioners begin to drop the bad habits. This happens instinctively, in a natural way. It just becomes undesirable to continue to abuse alcohol, or you become more deeply aware of your walk upon the earth, and wish to do so more simply, or more gently.
To be protected and receive the teachings, in relationship with the plant, you carry the plant with you at all times.
The chapter goes on, Don Juan takes Casteneda on a journey to gather Mescalito. They fast, and go out into the desert. They ignore Mescalito on the journey out. When they arrive at a cave, they take the peyote buttons, and meet Mescalito. Casteneda actually sees Mescalito as a person, and talks with him this time.
The last time, Mescalito played with Casteneda in the form of a dog (which deeply intrigued Don Juan). This time, he took the form of a man, and talked to him. Mescalito asked Casteneda, “What do you want?” and admonished him to “Look!” and observe the world around him.
Casteneda went back to Don Juan, and after discussing the journey, they packed up to return. This time, they would gather all of the Mescalito that was on their path. Casteneda’s role was to hold the bag. It was very important that the bag never touch the earth – because the peyote wanted to return to the earth, and if it did, then neither Don Juan, nor Casteneda, could ever use the peyote again.
This emphasizes again to me, that in relationship to Plant Medicine, it only takes one insult, one misadventure, one bad experience, for an Ally to become an Enemy, or a Power to become impotent.
As they traveled back home, the bag became heavier and heavier – not because of the weight of the peyote buttons, but because of the urgency that the buttons wished to return to earth. At one point, the bag became lighter, and Casteneda remarked to Don Juan that this had happened. Don Juan said, “It is because we are no longer in Mescalito’s home.”
The took Mescalito (peyote buttons) home to be dried and prepared for Casteneda’s relationship with Mescalito.
Don Juan admonishes him that he must life a truthful life in order to be accepted by Mescalito. A truthful life, he says, is a “life lived with deliberateness, a good, strong life.”
Chapter 5 – Tending the Datura and the Second Portion
There is more in this chapter about the first, second and third portion of datura.
It has to do with relationship – the first portion is what Don Juan gave Casteneda.
“The second portion is used for seeing. With it, a man can soar through the air to see what is going on at any place he chooses.”
The third portion will be when Casteneda ritually prepares his own root that has been tended and cared for in the ceremonial way.
Note that we do this with our “Middle World Business!” Remote viewing is not limited to the power of a Plant Ally.
Don Juan talks about his initial approach to Datura, which was very similar to my own – he grabbed it, like a kid grabs candy, and it nearly killed him. He tried it again and again, until he had to abandon the path. He says that his approach to Datura meant he could never pursue it as an ally. In his method of introducing Casteneda to the weed as a potential Ally, he is introducing them formally, through ritual and ceremony.
“Therefore you must keep in mind that a path is only a path; if you feel you should not follow it, you must not stay with it under any conditions. To have such clarity you must lead a disciplined life…but your decision to keep on the path or leave it must be free of fear or ambition. I warn you. Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and yourself alone, one question. This question is one that only a very old man asks…I will tell you what it is:
“‘Does this path have a heart? All paths are the same: they lead nowhere…Does this path have a heart?’
“If it does, the path is good, if it doesn’t it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere, but one has a heart, the other doesn’t. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong, the other weakens you.”
This “Path with Heart” is the core of the book – it is the section which gets quoted and referred to by other teachers.
So Don Juan and Casteneda go to Don Juan’s Datura patch, and Don Juan asks to be alone with his plants. When they return, they prepare it, root, and seeds, and weevils who eat the plant. Don Juan told Casteneda not to eat while the prepared the formula. They spent the night grinding the root, the seeds, and then the weevils, and making a tea/tincture out of all of these in combination. They leached the water from the root extract, until all that was left was a spoonful yellow paste.
Then, after about 24 hours making this, Don Juan pulls two lizards out of a bag. (vegetarians, warning, trigger alert!). One had its eyes sewed shut, the other had its mouth sewn shut. The blind one was placed in Castaneda’s right hand, and the other in the left. Don Juan told Castaneda that he had to control the lizards. Castaneda was nauseated by this, and Don Juan told him to rub the lizard’s heads on his temples.
The lizards had to come from the area of the plants, and they would see the answer to a question. The one with the eyes would see, but could not tell, the other lizard would tell the secret. And it was vital that their “owner” be friends with them (though that is hard to imagine with the sewing shut of their vital senses!), and that the lizards could only be caught by their friend. He must apologise to them for hurting them, and sew them with agave fibre and a “choya” (cholla) thorn.
You smear the paste on the backs of the lizards and rub them on the temples, and they will show and tell you the Truth. Do this ceremony in the presence of your Datura plant.
He did so, and was sent at twilight to the “crack between the worlds,” where he gained information about the question, he saw an image of the question he was trying to solve, and it unfolded in a narrative that he could understand.
When he came back to ordinary reality, ate, and slept, Don Juan questioned him.
Castaneda thought that what he saw and thought were his own thoughts, but Don Juan corrected him, and told him that the lizard with no mouth had showed him, and the lizard with no eyes had told him. Those were not his thoughts, the lizard was telling him the truth.
Honestly, I think I like the way we do “Middle World Business” better. It is less about sorcery, and more about heart and caring.
Today I am reading this:
Salon – the Dark Legacy of Carlos Castaneda
I saw an excellent quote in comments on another article I was reading – how – Castaneda capitalized on the psychedelic era, and that even Don Juan said that psychonauts were taking dangerous shortcuts. That the Power is real, and using plants is like using a crutch to substitute for discipline of mind, emotion, and spirit (the whole medicine wheel, in other words).
And yet the book seems to be largely about plants, plant processes, and dark sorcery with plants and animals.
The article claims that even Timothy Leary thought Castaneda was a fraud.
I just wanted to bring this viewpoint here. I’m re-reading the books because they are classic “shamanic literature,” not because I agree with the practices or have any intention of practicing them.
I hope, in my reviews here to bring the highlights of the books so that you don’t have to read them. The “best of Don Juan.”
The article goes on to elucidate that “Don Juan” was fictional – but as we are exploring in “Way of the Peaceful Warrior” (Shaman Explorations – Way of the Peaceful Warrior Teachers don’t always have to be manifest in physical reality to be real.
In my opinion, even if Don Juan is a complete figment of Carlos’ Castaneda’s imagination – it comes from a deeper self – and represents to me an Upper World figure who taught him something.
The article then reveals that upon Castaneda’s death, his “witches” (not a positive epithet in the Native American tradition) and adopted daughter/lover disappeared, perhaps committing a pact suicide. The daughter’s bones were found in the desert. This sounds like Dark Sorcery, indeed.
It speaks to me of Power Gone Wrong. That Castaneda used his fame to attract followers, and could not resist the Power. He failed in the face of The Third Enemy – Power, and put his own power above those of others, in the name of “teaching” and “helping.”
This teaching business is really quite dangerous. I’ve had people change their lives based on something I’ve taught them – and it’s humbling and frightening to see how powerful that can be.
I’m not certain, after reading this second article, that he defeated the Second Enemy, Clarity, either.
And I wonder about defeating these Enemies – once they are defeated, do they stay down? Or – like an addiction, can they crop up in new forms, so that the lesson is learned again, and more deeply?
Even other psychonauts rejected him. Timothy Leary refused to speak to him; Weston LeBarre (expert on Native American peyote ceremony) called his writings vulgar and false. Richard DeMille (son of film magnate Cecil B.) dedicated a large part of his life to debunking Castaneda’s fraud, calling it plagiarism. These were published in a monograph called “The Don Juan Papers.” Castaneda’s own wife, Margaret Runyan, said that the principles were taken from metaphysician Neville Goddard.
The newest critic is J.T. Fikes, author of “Carlos Castaneda: Academic Opportunism in the Psychedelic Sixties.” He claims that Castaneda may have had Native American contact, but that so many facts are wrong, that it could not have happened the way he said.
Naturally, the scholars would not be understanding of the information gained in shamanic states. It is possible that Castaneda took his own plant medicine, induced his own shamanic states, and wrote about his experiences as factual in consensual reality.
What remains is that he founded a cult-like group in the hills of California, took in several women as lovers and “witches,” who eventually published their own books. An institute was founded, “The ClearGreen Incorporate” which taught methods of movements called “Tensegrity.” These teachings are still being practiced and taught.
The tales from inside the cult speak of a maddened leader and his doting acolytes. He insisted on name changes, revocation of all former life. He insisted on name changes, revocation of all former life, total surrender and humiliation, sexual interactions, and seeing himself as an all powerful nagual (sorceror) with no respect for the lives of “ordinary people.”
TO BE CONTINUED….
About the only thing I can personally relate to with Castaneda is “Sorcerers don’t allow their pictures to be taken!”
First there is the ancient native admonition that a piece of you goes with each “capture” on film.
Then there is the distinguishment that a Medicine Person does what they do to give to the tribe – but a Sorcerer does what they do for their own selfish advancement. This is a valid but difficult path, and part of the purity which is required would be to protect yourself from other Sorcerers.
Having an image of yourself leaves someone vulnerable to the workings of Darkness. If you are working in Darkness, hair, nail clippings, and photographs leave you vulnerable to other Dark Practitioners.
It is much easier to practice in Light and Beauty. The darkness is needed to define the light – but is not the purpose or goal. Illuminating Darkness is essential to Wholeness.
The Indian Yogic Gurus often offer a photo of themselves to devotees. This is given as a give of love, and to enable the devotee to practice bhakti yoga – the yoga of devotion and surrender. By having the photo of the Guru, watching over your daily Practice, and making offerings, surrender and respect to the Guru, you can receive the blessings of that Guru.
So photos contain power – they are not mere souvenirs of this life.
Another sign that Castaneda’s cult was indeed a cult was that he insisted on total control of the lives of his devotees. He told them where to live, where to work, who to have sex with. He accepted or rejected someone on his own mercurial whims. His affection and attention was random – you never knew when you would be loved and accepted, or excoriated and rejected.
Castaneda would throw you out of the group if you became ill – illness was seen as a weakness that a sorcerer could not afford to have.
And yet he died of liver cancer (self-hatred, anger, deception).
But – from the Salon article, in conclusion:
Without a doubt, Castaneda opened the doors of perception for numerous readers, and many workshop attendees found the experience deeply meaningful. There are those who testify to the benefits of Tensegrity. And even some of those who are critical of Castaneda find his teachings useful. “He was a conduit. I wanted answers to the big questions. He helped me,” Geuter said. But for five of his closest companions, his teachings — and his insistence on their literal truth — may have cost them their lives.
if his books had been presented, as James Redfield’s “Celestine Prophecy” is, as allegorical fiction. But Castaneda always insisted he’d made nothing up. “If he hadn’t presented his stories as fact,” Wallace told me, “it’s unlikely the cult would exist. As nonfiction, it became impossibly more dangerous.
Now back to the “Teachings of Don Juan” foolishness with the Datura and the “little smoke….”
Chapter 6 – Deeper with the Datura
- Preface:
I recently found a strain of Datura growing in a garden in my neighborhood!
White Angel Trumpet:
It shocks me that this potentially dangerous plant is growing right there – where children and teenagers can get to it. When I checked on the shaman sites, it was not recommended by anyone, and if you were particularly adventurous and wanted to try it, they recommended no more than one flower, and to have a Watcher to take care of your body. It was reported that you might forget about your body and walk into the streets. There were stories of people who rearranged their entire apartment while under the influence of just one flower (made into tea), and woke up not understanding what had happened. There were stories of tribal use of this plant as punishment. Someone who had been caught doing wrong would be held and fed this plant as the price for their crime. This would double the danger of the plant, if you believed it to be punishment. For this, it might be flower or leaf. Only the most powerful sorcerers ever had any use for the very dangerous root and stem.My own experiences with the plant were back in the late 1980’s. I had obtained some dried plant to smoke (leaf). I failed in a number of things. I failed to consecrate the herb. I failed to seal my space in a Medicine Wheel. I failed to make offerings to the spirit of the plant, or ask for aid from my own Guardian spirits. What happened was a nightmare. With only a few small puffs of this foul tasting weed, I perceived that a dark, shadowy demonic creature opened the window, invaded my apartment and stabbed me 10 times. Like this Tarot card:
I felt it with my body, and I saw it with my mind. I could open my eyes and realise that it hadn’t happened, but it was a horrible vision. Now – looking back, I can see that the plant was trying to teach me. The 10 of Swords is the inevitable end result of taking up the Sword of Violence – pain, ruin, sorrow. It may have been a warning about the relationship I had started with my first husband. But the teaching from the plant was harsh and difficult – I pursue a path of learning which is much gentler now. And it spooked me from ever trying the “devil weed” again.
I can’t emphasize enough that – the direction Castaneda is headed – is a dangerous one.
In this chapter, Don Juan wants Castaneda to go deeper into his “devil’s weed.”
He wanted him to do the sorcery of the lizard (remember that was a cruel practice), and he asked him to go harvest from his own crop, as he was ready for the next level of Datura sorcery. Don Juan defines the sorcerer’s crop as that which grows between the central plant and following the water flow in the rain to the furthest plant. All the plants in between belong to the sorcerer.
He harvests from male plants for one pouch, female plants for another. They pound roots and add weevils which grow naturally with the plant. It takes hours of pounding and leaching the root, and 2 days of preparation total, during which time Castaneda was told to fast.
When people ask me: does Plant Medicine Work? Do herbs really work? I say, “Yes, but it is more energy intensive than Western medicine. There is no ‘Take a pill’ – instead it is a process.” If nothing else, Castaneda has documented that the path of Plant medicine is to be done carefully and with great respect.
The resulting paste was divided into 5 parts, and the paste was applied to Castaneda’s left and right foot (sole), left and right leg (inner thigh), and genitals. Castaneda complained of the awful smell of the mixture.
He started his Journey with the Plant, and embraced the darkness of the night. He could see, he could move quickly – his body was elastic and it was like having 10 mile boots! When he came to, he was 1/2 mile away. He has “flown” there, according to Don Juan.
He questioned Don Juan – how did I get there? “You flew.”
He questioned, did you see me fly? If I had a friend here, would he see me fly? Like when you and I see a bird fly, and agree it is flying, did I fly?
Don Juan would not address the consensual reality of Castaneda’s flight, and would only confirm that he flew.
Castaneda tried again – “If you tied a rock to me, would it hold me down? Would I have flown just the same?”
Don Juan smiled, “If you tie yourself to a rock, I’m afraid you will have to fly holding the rock with it’s chain.”
Castaneda was frustrated with this answer.
This Journey apparently was over in a matter of hours.
Chapter 7 – The Little Smoke
Over a period of time, Don Juan would hand his smoking pipe to Castaneda, so that they would get acquainted, so that they would be friends, and become familiar with one another. This emphasises to me that even inanimate objects must be treated with respect, especially objects which are used in sacrament (like my Drum!).
After some time getting used to the pipe, Don Juan decides that Castaneda is acquainted enough with the pipe to experience “The Little Smoke.”
The plant or substance of the little smoke is not disclosed. It is described as a mixture, with yellow flowers. It is compared to the datura, but the little smoke was not as particular or moody as the datura “devil’s weed.” All that was required was accuracy and exactness.
He mixed up a tobacco pouch of this blend and told Castaneda that this was a year’s supply of the “little smoke,” and that he needed to smoke it all within the year. He said that Castaneda would know how much to smoke each time, and how often he smoked was a personal matter.
Castaneda got argumentative with Don Juan, trying to find out more – would the mixture lose it’s power after a year? Would it no longer be hallucinogenic? What would happen if he kept the mixture after a year? How should he dispose of any he had left? Don Juan had no interest in any of these questions, and got annoyed with Castaneda.
He eventually explained that after a year, the old smoke would be disposed of properly, because a new year’s supply of smoke would be mixed. The disposal was very specific, but Don Juan did not reveal the procedure.
Don Juan claimed he no longer needed to smoke the little smoke, because the little smoke was his ally, and he could call upon it at any time. This is like Alan Watts says about “Hang up the phone if you got the message.” Once you tap into a certain stream of awareness, and train your awareness muscles, you can tap into that stream without the substance.
Later in the book, Don Juan says that this style of plant medicine – using plants to achieve altered states – is the lazy way to do it. Don Juan thought it was appropriate for white men, because they didn’t have access to the natural altered states of awareness that the Indians did.
Don Juan told Castaneda that, if the training went well, the little smoke would be his ally, too.
Without warning, one day, Don Juan fondled his pipe like an old friend, preparing for the smoke. When he loaded the pipe, he did so inside of his shirt, so that none of the mixture would fall to the ground. He handed Castaneda the pipe and lit it. Castaneda was terrified!
The smoke was heavy, like a mouthful of dough. It tasted clean and cold. Don Juan kept feeding him the smoke, until the pipe was empty. He cleaned the pipe of ashes, and with saliva, and put it back in it’s pouch.
Castaneda reports that his jaw got heavy, he could not close his mouth. The flesh started to melt from his face. In terror, he tried to grab a hold of something – anything – to prove that he was real. There was a centre pole in the middle of the room, and Castaneda spent the rest of his trip trying to touch the pole, but his arms became too long, or his body became misty, and he could not touch the pole. He tried to sneak up on it, tried different angles, crawling along the floor, but could not get any closer to the pole.
The next thing he knew, they were in the next room and Don Juan was right beside him. Don Juan sang a traditional Spanish lullaby, and it took all of the terror and violence away from Castaneda. He slipped into a joyous, blissful state. The images started to come, he was flying, and the images flew by without any coherence.
It sounds a lot to me like what we experience in journey – sometimes, when the rhythm is off (alpha rhythms will do this), or if your brain is not ready to make the Journey, you are presented with layers of images which correspond with your emotional and mental bodies – stripping off the layers which lie between you and your journey. I agree with Don Juan that plant medicine is a lazy way to do this, since we all have access to these images – often each night before we fall asleep (if only we pay attention).
The “Little Smoke” sounds a lot like DMT, a cousin to Ayahuasca. It took him out of his body quickly, presented him with his fears, and when his fears were removed with a song – sent him shooting into blissful imagery (though – not a Journey)
He awakens 2 days later with a headache, and extreme tiredness. He begs Don Juan to tell him what has happened. Don Juan said that the Little Smoke took Castaneda’s body away. Castaneda fixates on this and tries to understand – what would other people see? What if he looked into a mirror?
He had slipped out of his body – which is why he could not touch the pole. The pole was corporeal, but Castaneda, under the influence of the Little Smoke, was not.
Don Juan admonished him to learn the skill of using this power, this plant, and to use it as often as he could stand, as it was a vital skill. It would offer him the ability to travel, as well as the skill of invisibility.
Chapter 8 – The Mescalito Ceremony
Carlos Castaneda is deemed worthy to join in with an Indian peyote ceremony lasting 4 days. This is a male focused group event, where the men go into the ceremony, and the women support them for days, with food, water, tending the fire, etc.
(as a feminist this bothers me. I know that tribal traditions have clear roles for men and womyn, and I wonder how this works in our modern society.)
The first night, he takes 8 buttons. The other men are singing. Each man has “his Mescalito song” that he sings, and all of them sing these songs at the same time. Castaneda does not have a Mescalito song, and feels left out. The singing touched him emotionally and he wantd to weep, but the feeling vanished when the singing stopped.
The men did not speak at all during the day, and on the second night, he takes 8 buttons again. He lay down and rested, and the cycle of songs began again, went all night, and in the morning, he went out to the women to take water. He no longer perceived his surroundings.
During the singing of the second night, he had perceived that Someone or Something was trying to get in. Castaneda could not tell whether the singing was to invite this Entity in, or whether it was to protect them and keep the Entity out.
Castaneda did not have a song, and Mescalito the Being appeared to him again, as he had in the desert, but Mescalito’s back was turned, and He would not look at Castaneda. Castaneda ran out into the desert, into the peyote fields.
He could not get Mescalito to talk to him. As he returned to the house there was a tremor, like an earthquake, which he had again experienced when he had met Mescalito in the desert.
He was exhausted and rested all day; that night he only took one peyote button, and as the men sang, he begged Mescalito to give him a song, his song. Immediately, he heard the song, and repeated it until he knew it, and was able to sing with the other men!
In the Lakota Vision Quest, it is called “Crying for a Vision.” You plead at the cellular level – the whole Medicine Wheel is called into this call, your mind, your emotions, your desire, and your body – every cell – calls for this Vision. Not everyone who calls receives the vision, and a purity of purpose and being is considered good preparation for “Crying for a Vision.”
The next day, Don Juan went with Castaneda and all the other men into the desert and they gathered more peyote. This whole time, they had nothing but water to drink (fasting).
That afternoon was the last cycle. This time, the fresh peyote was used, and it felt alive to Castaneda. He chewed 14 buttons, and the rumble like thunder or an earthquake announced the arrival of Mescalito the Being. He noted that the other men observed this event, too, and this moment of acceptance brought him into a state of trust. They weren’t playing tricks on him.
Castaneda realised, in a flash of wisdom, that the cactus and the entity were independent of humanity, and that Mescalito – as cactus, as Being – existed whether he ate the buttons or not. (Hang up the phone, says Alan Watts)
He sang his song, and cried with his whole being to speak to Mescalito. He asked Mescalito to show him “what was wrong with him, what was missing.”
Castaneda was transported to a field, where his father awaited. His father, long dead, was silent, but Castaneda poured out his soul, his emotions, his fears, his guilt and regrets to his father. It was here that gained a name to call Mescalito, so that he could call him anytime.
When this was finished, he was outside in the peyote field, and he felt Mescalito tell him to eat one more button. Directly from the earth, and Castaneda knelt down and ate the button right off the cactus!
The vision came to him – at first with vivid colours and detail, but as reality dropped away from him it became frightening. He heard the breathing of a monstrous creature, he lost his ego and identity and in fear, was floating in an indifferent world.
He was afraid, and ran to hide under a boulder from this coming monster. He felt that the plants were trying to dissolve him in dripping acid. He collapsed under this boulder in fear.
As his senses returned, he returned to the men, and closed the ceremony. They accepted him as one of them, and they talked and hugged as brothers (though they spoke no word about the peyote experience). He was instructed to never speak of his peyote experience, but –
He tried to with Don Juan. Don Juan said, “You don’t need me anymore, you have Mescalito. You have a song, you have His name, you can call him anytime.”
But Castaneda persisted, against the taboo of speaking of these things. The experience that Castaneda had in the desert was so frightening that he wanted help.
Don Juan told him – you called Mescalito, you asked questions of him (“what is wrong with me? what is missing?”) and he answered you. The answer did not come in a form that you expected – it came as a vision, an experience. Mescalito is not a college professor to lecture you when He teaches – he uses vision and immersive experience to teach.
Castaneda is disappointed and confused. The more Don Juan speaks, the more mystifying the entire experience is. The prospect of learning via these extreme states of experience is overwhelming to him.
Don Juan finally capitulates and tells him that Mescalito took him out of the world of man, and that Castaneda must choose between the world of man, and the world of Mescalito – except that there is a paradox: Castaneda is a man, will always be a man, and it is vital to experience being human in contentedness.
That, said Don Juan, was the lesson of Mescalito’s terrifying experience.
As, in my own practice, I am feeling so much of my personality, my identity being stripped away, I can relate to this ego-blasting experience in the desert. When I look at simple questions like: who do I love? How do I love? What is Love? How can I best live this life I’ve been given? – I am met with something destructive. Perhaps I have never loved – I have only ever used people. Perhaps I have never been loved, and don’t understand what that means. Perhaps “I” am not living this life, but this Life is living me. This dissolution of ego is shattering, destructive, difficult.
But I have faith that it will blossom into a new form, and that which is my Life, will learn and grow into something which is more of a blessing than my former self.
There is much to be learned from extreme states – whether they are induced by trauma, life experience, or in ceremony with Plant Medicine.
I’ve been disturbed by my re-reading of Castaneda. There seems to be a lot of dark sorcery, seeking of Power. In my studies since I read this book, I firmly believe that Carlos Castaneda got caught in the Third Enemy – Power. (See: Shaman Explorations – Castaneda – The Man of Knowledge by JC)
I’ve read and watched some videos about his life, and it seems that he fell prey to corruption, and there are rumours that his cult of Witches (as they were called – all women, no men in his school – why would that be? He was taught by a man) became a Death Cult, and that his adopted daughter committed suicide in the desert upon his death. His first wife has disavowed much of the books, saying that they are synergised from other influences, including Neville Goddard, a metaphysical teacher in Los Angeles. She claims that even the name Don Juan Matus is made up – as Mateus was their favourite wine.
So what is the truth of Castaneda and Don Juan?
I believe that there are teachings in here – and perhaps he did, as an anthropology student, have cause to come into contact with some Teachers. The images and teachings are visionary, which means he may have tapped into the Collective Unconscious and Akashic records and relayed some Real Teachings. But it feels to me like these stories are overlayed with a lot of Ego.
In fact, that may be some of the appeal of them – as we all suffer from identification with the Ego. In hearing Carlos Castaneda wrestle with his ego in the face of major Cosmic Questions and Teachings – we can identify with his struggle.
If the reader can separate Castaneda’s ego from the teachings, there is something to be learned, even if it is only a caution about respecting the Powers of Plant Medicine – and by association – other Medicine Powers as well.
I will finish my review of the book, but wanted to include this caveat, as my emotions became very mixed as I was finishing the first book. I intend to continue with the series, but it has dropped lower in the priority list. Even though it is considered a “shamanic classic,” it is tainted by the controversies I have mentioned here.
Chapter 9 – Working with the Devil’s Weed (Datura)
Apparently Don Juan disliked the power of this plant, but encouraged Castaneda to do a test of the weed before smoking again. This test involved torturing the lizards again.
Castaneda prepared the root extract the night before and went out to sit with his plant early Sunday morning. He sat in front of the plant, and found that it gave him a sort of emotional stability just sitting with his plant. He ground the seeds, and the paste and root were ready by late afternoon – so he set about trying to catch his lizards, and failing.
So he sat in front of the plant again, and remembered Don Juan had instructed him to talk to the lizards. He felt silly, but continued to do so until dusk. He lifted a rock, and there were his two lizards, appearing numb or paralysed.
He did the dastardly deed of sewing one lizard’s eyes, and the other’s mouth shut. He recalled that Don Juan had said that once he had started there was no turning back. Castaneda set the lizard with it’s mouth sewn shut free and it scrambled to the northeast.
He drank the prepared brew and rubbed the paste on his temples, and then – without thinking – rubbed it on his forehead (which was forbidden). He realised his mistake, and wiped the paste off, but it may have been too late because he started to sweat, and anxiety took over, and he found himself arguing with himself.
His eyelids became heavy, he felt he couldn’t move – but when he “woke up” he found he was no longer in front of his Datura plant. He saw a clock over his head – that read – not the time it was when he closed his eyes. He witnessed a young man, and heard a voice in his mind describing his actions – not Castaneda’s voice, but an alien one.
If he tried to turn around, the scene blurred. He realised that the voice was on his shoulder. Instead of focusing on the vision – he tried to track the voice.
His question had been about lost objects, and it seems that the young man took them, but Castaneda was tired of the vision and the voice. He concentrated on returning, so he visualised sitting in front of his plant, which he had done many times before. The voice said, “Back!” and Castaneda was back with his plant.
In explaining this to Don Juan, he was scolded for rubbing the paste on his forehead – describing that only the great “brujos” could ever return from such a thing, and that most men would be lost forever.
He asked Don Juan what would happen if the lizard died? Don Juan said that if the lizard with the sewed up mouth died, the sorcery would be ended, and he could not touch “the devil’s weed” for at least 2 years. If the lizard with the sewed up mouth died, Castaneda would have had no guide, and would have been lost into madness.
Don Juan said that he had experienced the latter, and went mad.
In a later conversation, Castaneda asks Don Juan about the testing of the devil’s weed (Don Juan had said that the spirit of the weed itself had made him rub it on his forehead).
Don Juan said that the devil’s weed is like a woman and flatters you and sets traps for you. That it is vitally important to not approach the weed with passion, but to always keep a cool head and follow the procedures exactly.
There are many paths to knowledge, he said, but she will make you believe that hers is the only way. Do not waste your life on one path, especially if that path has no heart.
Ah, now we get to the key teaching of the entire book: The Path with Heart.
How to know if a path has heart?
Ask the question – if you do not ask the question, by the time you realise a path has no heart, it will be ready to kill you.
“A path without a heart is never enjoyable. You have to work hard even to take it. On the other hand, a path with heart is easy; it does not make you work at liking it.”
“I have told you that to choose a path you must be free from fear and ambition. But the (little) smoke blinds you with fear, and the devil’s weed blinds you with ambition.”
He tells Castaneda that the devil’s weed is a bid for power, which is ambition, not just desire for learning, and it has traps and can destroy you.
So I ask myself – why would anyone bother? There is so much beauty in the world just by breathing. What is the attraction to these deeply dangerous substances?
And where is the line? What is friendly medicine with heart? And what is deadly medicine without a heart? Is is dose dependent? Or is it about alliance – this is for this person but not for that one?
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