Hey there, I recently read Journey to Ixtlan and now I’m on to the Power of Silence. I’m having trouble getting into the book. I might be missing some of the wisdom or something I’m not sure. Just finding it hard to connect with. I hate giving up on a book that so many people seem to be getting something out of.
Do you guys feel distanced and detachment when reading his work, or are you sucked into and enthralled by it?
Do you have some advice for me?
Thank you
83 Comments
I would suggest starting with A Separate Reality, but only because that’s what’s worked before.
Your capacity to get into it, is likely directly linked with how driven you are to evolve and expand your perception/awareness of the universe beyond this reality (and to the hidden aspects of this reality).
To what degree of imprisonment you feel inside your own skull.
Also, to how well your station in life “guilds the cage,” ie. lets you conveniently gloss over all that we’ve lost. What has degraded in us as a species.
Put it is possible that as time marches on future generations will find it harder to connect to the narrative, as it was written by Castaneda, because it could feel dated?
And maybe that’s why we’re here… to continue that process of modernizing aspects of the narrative.
Thank you for that explanation. I have put A Separate reality on my order list👍👍
First time I heard about Castaneda, was when I saw the book in library in display, A Separate Reality. I read the book same day, and after that I read what I could find from library. I believe second one I read was Teachings of Don Juan, after that in random order.
Now I started reading them again after 15 years, thanks to this wonderful sub. But now I read them in order, this time.
I recommend Journey To Ixtlan. It has many prescriptives for practice at living ones life well: Losing self Importance and Disrupting the routines of daily life, to name two.
You really got into a very abstract and difficult to understand book. Why not go to the others that are much easier to digest like "the art of dreaming" or the "tales of power" or " seperate reality"?!
Also think about why you need to read and like that book? Truth is you can't force yourself to get hooked into it.
The things that are discussed in the books are quite foreign to the normal human and that's because they happened when Carlos and the others had their assemblance points moved. When I read them the first time it was like reading Chinese, I couldn't understand what I was reading, especially in the difficult books like the power of silence, the fire from within and the Eagles gift.
You can also real Florida Donners books and Taisha's books that I find easier.
Thank you I will start with a simpler one then. I didn’t know there was an order. Much appreciate your help. Maybe I’m just not ready for the knowledge yet. I’m going to give it another good try though. 👍
this advice will probably be rejected by most of the people here, but i suggest starting with the book 'The Art of Dreaming', that will get you hooked, probably result in you having an experience/feeling that you have some proof this is real, then you can return to other books and study them with renewed vigor and begin with the real work.
just don't get too obsessed/distracted with the dreaming aspect of this. that's just the hook to give you the energy/encouragement to keep going with the rest of this.
The Art of Dreaming was his first book I read and it had me enthralled.
Came to say this
Hello, I wrote it on my order list. It seems I started with the wrong ones! Thanks👍
Go away?
This isn't a profit making business, unlike everywhere else.
We're only trying to save a very old, very precious technology developed over thousands of years, in Mexico.
And dead weight in the subreddit only harms that effort.
Especially those who like to post to get attention, before they actually have anything worth posting.
In other subreddits or religions, they welcome all comers eagerly!
Because they want your money.
But not here.
And there's no chance you'll be willing to do real work to learn real magic.
So there's nothing for you in here.
Even out of each 100 who came here over the last 5 years (9000+), only 1 in 100 was actually willing to do real work to learn. Despite how amazingly fast this technology lets you beat even "The Buddha".
The other 99 of 100 probably believed they would, but didn't realize that it's unlike any other "system" out there, because it's real, and takes actual unpleasant work.
HOWEVER, some other magical systems will get you to the "green station" on this J curve map.
Closed eye magic of beginner's levels.
Which includes "Enlightenment".
Find something that produces real effects, ignore the religious narrative they try to brainwash you with (they're all false), and use their technique until you can remote view.
Or have "visions" if you prefer.
Once you can do that on a regular basis, ask yourself if you'd like to do that with your eyes open, and then walk right into those visions, shirt, shoes, and all.
And come back if the answer is yes.
I appreciate all the info you’ve given to us Dan I really do I just don’t understand how you tell this person to go away, yet respond in kind to a person on another post specifically asking how to make millions by using sorcery….?
My guess is that, the advanced practitioners can LITERALLY see your true intentions via Silent Knowledge. It doesn’t make any sense to me since I can’t see yet, but it is baffling to me too!
I can also guess is that the other guy must have demonstrated actual ambition instead of bitching and moaning about having to read a book, which is a huge red flag for this subreddit. If you can’t take the time to read through multiple books, what chances do you have to do anything else in life?
You're overestimating the power of these people. They are not doctor stranger or something. It's just human preferences and probably the fact that Dan made money from sk.
Yeah they’re not Dr. Strange…but if the claims are true, then they’re FAR better and useful than he could ever be
Only one way to see if it’s an overestimation, and that’s just practicing while maintaining inner silence consistently
I bet you that if Dan had that much ability to see about you" in sk he would not push me away but use what I said to learn and progress.
He just gets inspiration from second attention and uses it.
That’s not a matter of the question, the whole point of what I asked is the first thing that’s said on this sub is that people looking to make money from sorcery are bad players, why even entertain them? Dan literally went on a spiel
About how he made 8 million in sales through the aid of sorcery….consistency is important, but also it seems that anyone who criticizes Dan is seen as an attacker (there is a difference between criticism and an attack) and is swiftly
Blocked or banned.
You know what, Dan is a big boy, he can defend himself, I’m just a shameless glazer trying to fight their own laziness lol
I’ll give you a hint to look at the timeframe of which he did that, and exactly why and how he made 16 million according to the story
Big yikes. Someone showing genuine interest and your take away is "bitching and moaning" - very advanced.
He’s just going to tell you to go away now; that’s his schtick
Its probably bc this person is not hooked in all this while the other has a motive that correspondends with some money success Dan had.
I tell people what they need to hear at the time, even if it's not popular.
Same as Carlos did. I watched him teach in private for close to 4 years.
The inner circle was pretty much terrified of him. Which you can find in the workshop and lecture notes if you look around, or in Amy's book.
He seemed to be arbitrary and angry much of the time. There was a saying in private class: One wrong question can get you tossed out.
I suppose it's the "ruthlessness" that develops when you regularly remove self-pity from yourself.
At any rate, I'm totally mellow compared to Carlos.
And I never actually intend for anyone to go away. I'm just hoping to wake them up, or if that's not possible because they're seeking attention and have no actual interest in magic, make them go away quickly so they don't contaminate others with bad intent.
Other magic groups or religions want as many to join as possible, because everyone wants more friends and more to give them the feeling they're in the right place. So they don't have to do actual work. They feel the happy group will just pull them along. Get a free ride from more people.
And their leaders smile on them for bringing more people, because that brings in more revenue from new people who haven't run out of willingness to hand over cash yet.
People want a cozy cult.
That's the opposite of how sorcery is learned.
Don Juan and the lineage made life very uncomfortable for the apprentices, sending demon dogs after them, magical objects trying to bite them in half, witches who could leap across a street (Cholita can leap even further), even farting at them with so much force that they were blown back in the air a few feet.
"Nice" is for fake magical systems where it's really just a little church-like community.
You are not Carlos, my dude. Can the cosplay.
I never said I was.
But I am a private class student of his, as are two others in here.
And he did confide in me while he was dying, that he'd failed to teach anyone at all.
Pretty much told Jadey (one of the other 2) the same thing.
Out of the entire workshop crowd, and his inner circle, not a single person learned real magic.
Before he confided in me that he'd failed, he tried to sell his house to me, and then later tried to get me to go away with Florinda when she left.
And since the organizations he left behind all went bad, as he predicted in Amy's book, it was pretty much just me for a decade or two after he died.
And the two allies he left us, which followed me around and blackmailed me into coming here.
Everyone else gave up, even if they kept taking money from people to teach what he'd created, plus some fake stuff they made up.
But after 5 years now on reddit, with plenty of help from people in here who have succeeded, we've almost rescued this from the guru trash heap of history.
So if you are too lazy to look around and understand what's going on, that would seem to indicate that you don't actually want magic, or can't see that it's clearly in here and nowhere else.
Why hang out here at all?
Keep in mind, Carlos tried what we're doing in here before the paid workshops.
In the 80s he tried to teach for free in a public park, most likely in Santa Monica.
He had to give up on teaching by that method, because of all the asshole hecklers like you.
I can't fathom what motivates them, but likely in the end it's mostly mental illness.
And we're going to stand up to them now, instead of going for paid workshops with armed guards, as Carlos had to do.
So that no one can say we're in this for the money.
Your kind comes along 3 times a week, and has for the last 5 years.
Making you good practice to figure out why magic was buried alive by modern society.
Even don Juan was puzzled by how it happened.
I was responding to Dan - or is this a sock puppet of his?
No, it's an ID that ends up being used on linux when I change machines. I haven't been able to get rid of it.
But I see you truly are an asshole, with a chip on your shoulder.
What interest do you have in Carlos?
Drugs?
Self-flattery?
Mostly chuckling at your antics at this point, Dan-o
I’ve been here a long time… I mostly stay because Dan makes me laugh and we all need a good laugh now and then
I'm going to block you from viewing anything I created. That helped out with the followers of Tata Kachora who used to do organized attacks on this subreddit. So you'll find all the posts I made missing. And you can fuss around bothering others in here.
lol - wouldn’t expect anything less
Everyone should know that Dan responded to me using a sock puppet by mistake - he has since deleted his little faux pas, but I took pictures for posterity 😂
I appreciate your insightful response and tough love👍Thank you
There's more hope for you than Gazelle guy and cheesy man.
I wrote a post about them specifically, in the advanced subreddit.
Trying to ask the question, how do you make people who are only pretending, wake up and realize that.
Without a giant tantrum over it.
One or two is no problem, but we get an ENDLESS stream of pretenders.
It's actually all very simple.
If you don't want real magic, go anywhere else.
Buddhism, Hinduism, Qabalah, Magick, Bardon, Astral Travel, or even Chinese "Sage" writings.
All ugly make believe. Which is obvious if you just look at their results, and compare it to the posts in here and the books of Carlos and the witches, and what real people will tell you about what's going on for them right now.
In this subreddit. Where no one wants your money.
But pretenders (you're not) are after something else.
Self-soothing most likely. Something they can think about, to make their horrible life seem hopeful.
And instead of that involving hard work to learn real magic and make it grow daily, they try to establish a reputation using pretending among a group that seems to be practicing what they've chosen for their pretending.
Those are the worst we get, because they prey on self-pity.
And self-pity is all that stops humans from becoming the magic creatures they evolved to be, before money, agriculture, and cities.
Teachings of Don Juan is pretty accessible and a good story. You could try that one?
Thank you 🙏
You might find it easier to listen to the books. They are all on YouTube and I listen while I'm on long drives. It makes it a lot easier to get through them all, over a year for me, but I'm grateful I've put in the time.
There are continuous moments of realization that I'll have when a passage I've heard comes back into my mind that is dealing with my present circumstance. Working through my own personal control has been worth it.
Oh they are free that’s great! I’ll start on YouTube there then. Many have recommended a separate reality.
In the wiki here, all of the books are available. Of course, it obviously is much nicer to have a copy of the books for sure.
https://archive.org/details/carlos-castaneda-all-books-in-one-complete_202311/mode/2up
Wow thank you!!!😊
Maybe it's just not for you. There are other paths to follow.
Yes perhaps, but I want to try harder!
I was pulled by his books like nothing else from the get go. I've read the series probably 10 times now, and books that I felt were the best the first couple times around I don't have find as useful today. That being said, Tales of Power has incredible information in the second half of the book. Work your way through it, as eventually you hit a streak of rich knowledge that ties so much of the non-heightened awareness teachings together.
I’m reading this one now thank you👍
Cool. The ending affects me deeply each time I've read. Share your thoughts when you've completed it.
I was advised to read the books twice once for myself once for my energy body. Read the magical passes, practice the passes, this was the starting point I was given. If the passes don't change your mind, you are missing the point.
read all his books plus the books of Taisha Abelar, Florinda Donner G.
Thank you, who are the other two??
Sorcerer's Apprentices of Juan Matus, ( kind of companions of Carlos C.)
When I was in my early teens my mother found the books and was captivated by them. She would speak to my older brother about them quite often. When I was 22 I fractured my skull in a car accident. After getting out of hospital I chatted to my mother about my shifted perspective and she suggested two books one of which was a Carlos Castaneda - A Separate Reality. Because I had studied some of the hard sciences and had some of the prejudices that come with the territory, I felt I wouldn't be interested, but a year later, by chance, I took the book out of the bookcase and was totally hooked. It was thanks to my head injury that I was able to digest the stuff. It was magical.
There are plenty of people out there who don't need the shift I had to get straight into the books. I met a guy who was twenty who had got into them a year or so earlier by reading one of the late books in the series.
As others are saying, start with a separate reality and see how you feel. I hope you enjoy it!
That’s very encouraging to read thank you for sharing. A separate reality o, I’ve been recommended so many to start with now I’m going to make a book list and order one at a time. Much appreciate your help👍
Total pleasure.
trust your instinct
I’ll do that👍
maybe read first Armando Torres
No. That's not a good idea.
why?
https://www.reddit.com/r/castaneda/wiki/inventories/
"And mixing outside stuff is like mixing different jigsaw puzzles into a giant pile on the floor; really stupid, if you have any actual interest in putting together the puzzle."
dear Emergency -Total-4851 I am totally agree with you about to not mix different puzzle, so I suggest to you too to read Armando Torres or just check out what I am talking about
I promise you, others here have read Armando Torres and will disagree heartily with you. You are mixing different puzzle pieces by reading Armando Torres. Just search Armando Torres on the subreddit and you can ask opinions of anyone on an older post.
Ok I will do
I find this: .... on the end of the discussion about Armando Torres the question was:
Was Armando Torres a friend of Carlos?
https://www.reddit.com/r/castaneda/comments/b91kak/was_armando_torres_a_friend_of_carlos/
Torres, rather than remain a sincere student of sorcery, chose to write a bunch of books for the sole purpose of turning a profit.
And in order to make them more profitable, he had to invent stuff….and then got sued as a result.
Hi Technomagical, I am almost finish to read a book after Armando Torres and I will not reccomend to anyone that want to practice sorcerer path. He seems to use the name and certain knowledge of Castaneda while is speaking about curandero through all his book. ( He is also a no good writer).
So before I make another scandal here can you tell me if Norbert Classen is a respectable author from your point of view? Thanks
Stick with Castaneda, Florinda Donner, and Taisha Abelar. The reasons aren't pragmatically apparent to you now, but trust the experience of those who have been at this for several decades when we say that other "Toltec" authors will NEVER help you learn sorcery.
Ever.
However, if all you want to do is educate yourself about this, academically, then go right ahead and read Norbert Classen.
Ok thanks, I already finish to read Norbert Classen. I like to research academically before I start antropologia course.
In the mainwhile I am practicing some exercises explained in Taisha A. Florinda D.G. and Castaneda books, so is interesting to follow your groups here.
Hi hi, long time I am not writing anything- I am just practicing on my own- so I want to ask you if Renata Murez from cleargreen and the courses they offer are certainly reliable or not.
thanks a lot
That's more complicated to answer.
Simply by associating with Cleargreen you are "technically" establishing a track record of intent that links them directly to Castaneda, and thus to the lineage.
But most of what they're now teaching, or rather what they're emphasizing, is more than a little problematic.
It's sliding more and more into religion territory in their hands. 😧
And we know that that virtually never turns out well in the long run!
If you want to look for stuff that backs up your point of view, go ahead. I'm not interested in discussing it with you, because DAILY I see all of reality changing completely around me. I have seen all of reality covered with a blue-green colorblind test as an example. All sober all wide-awake, just like Dan says here.
my dear I think you misunderstanding me.
If you look the main question of KokotheG and the difficoult he is having trouble getting into the book and if you look the advices from few others, we all are suggesting him to start read something a little bit more readable about Carlos apprenticeship. So if Armando then also remains difficult to read , try Taisha Abelar or Florinda Donner Grau. ( but also Norbert Classen is very interesting) < my point of view is " start from the beginning" .
so if Armando torres is not good , Wow, poor him
Why are you wasting my time? You cut out Techno's commentary on purpose from the post on purpose, why was that? Super cagey behavior.
calm down, i don't know what you're talking about, i didn't cut anything from anyone and now just take a deep breath before you speak.
may the force be with you
Yes you did. Your picture deliberately avoids the section that Techno commented on years ago for some reasons of your own.
speak to the administrator immediately
or you could just not be an asshole instead but i guess that's not an option
these comments went beyond the limits of cordiality
without a specific reason, the personal importance of some users did not stand the test.
quote mining huh? definitely a sophist here, not very philosophical.
My advice - be so curious that you cannot help but to keep learning.
The first time I even considered Carlos' work, I was at a thrift shop. I walked to the book section without anything in mind, and asked to be shown something. I wanted to be inspired, let my instincts take the lead. It works really well with books, they speak to you from the shelf!
So, I stood at the wall of books and unfocused my eyes. I stared at the wall for a moment, and only one out of a hundred books began to sparkle. I looked at it, and it was an old copy of A Separate Reality. I had never heard of Carlos before. I admired the coverart and thought this was exactly up my alley.
Then a woman's voice hissed in my ear loudly, "Carlos Castañeda raped women...!" Then another woman's voice hissing with her, "Carlos is a LIAR! He ran a SEX CULT!"
I stared at the cover of the book, considered the women's voices, and thought, "...I don't think that's true?"
That actually made me SO curious! Why am I being tricked to NOT read this book? I never have voices tell me such things. Plus, it was not any voices I was familiar with. They were nasty, tricky voices -- trying to mislead me! I kinda think it was put there to see if I WOULD listen and ignore Carlos. Like a barrier to knowledge.
I thought, "There must be some truth to his work, to have such vitriol follow him even in death! It is attached to even his books in a thrift shop!" I was impressed!
I knew that if it was real, I would be given another sign to read his work. So I did not buy that book, and I waited a few months. Forgot about it and then one day I heard the term "wheel of time" two different times. I never hear that phrase, let alone two times.
That's always my cue, so I waited for the third time and later that night I was recommended Carlos' audio book for Wheel of Time. (Which is funny, bc that's his last I believe). I knew it was time, so I began listening.
As I listened more, I knew why the dark voices were trying to turn me away. So, my advice is just keep your mind open and if something is trying to get you to stop, that may be a sign that you need to keep going :)
You should be a writer, thank you for that👍🙏
Just read them in order. I feel it is imperative to read “The Art Of Dreaming” last.
I’m trying to remember a quote from carlos castaneda and which book it appeared. It was was about changing from one’s current reality to a new reality reality.
It was something like: It isn’t the view of a new reality that that creates new knowledge, it is the brief window of stepping between reality.
The actual quote is probably much different, but this the rough way that I remember it. I greatly appreciate any suggestions for it.
I began out of sequence with Journey to Ixtlan. Then went to Seperate Reality. And then Teachings of don Juan. So, first 3 books in reverse order.
I think Journey to Ixtlan is the easient to get into, but most folks would benefit from starting from the beginning.
As a side note, after reading the first 3, I simply could NOT get myself to read book 4, Tales of Power.
Every time I went to read it, I got a page or 2 and stopped.
Re-read the others and then The Second Ring of Power when it came out.
Finally read Tales of Power and found it magnificent and absorbing. Full of unique ideas and concepts.
Personally, although he may have lost readers with them, I found books 6 to 8 ( The Eagle's Gift (1981),
The Fire from Within (1984) & The Power of Silence: Further Lessons of Don Juan (1987 ) to be even more awe inspiring than the first 3, even nudging Tales of Power in scope.
They openned up a whole new world of wonder and possibilities.
They also tie in perfectly with the 2 books of Taisha Abelar (A sorceres Crossing & an unpublished manuscript to be found online) and Florinda's 'Being In Dreaming'.
Are they worth it?
To me they have helped shaped my worldview and opened my eyes, heart and soul to infinite possibilities of deed, thought and imagination.
Thank you, that was interesting to read. It is exactly these kind of responses that makes me want to get into it deeper, and see if i can learn something form them. I have power of silence and fire within so i will give silence another try soon.