He did not do darkroom. He did "looking for your greatness".
[-]
u/danl999
20 points2025-10-21 15:54
It's inevitable that more fake darkroom will come along. With most who copy it, claiming they had it first.
Daoists even do pretend darkroom, and call it by that name!
Of course, you can tell they're total idiots who never actually put any time into it themselves, despite "teaching" it.
Because of what they say the purple puffs are.
"Love" or something equally delusional, designed to keep pretenders happy.
That's how meditation systems work too. A very weak internal dialogue substitution technique which produces minimal green zone effects, loaded up with delusional (religious) explanations designed to self-flatter and give a sense of superiority over others.
Naturally you can't sell the real thing.
No one is going to pay for the amount of effort it takes to remove the internal dialogue.
And even if it were far easier, I just don't see many sticking around, once they realize how cold it is when you're actually exploring other realms of reality. Instead of just taking a quick nap and making up stuff about dozing off during meditation.
You can pretend that to be anything that makes you feel good.
But you can't, with sorcery.
[-]
u/PleasantlyUnbothered
1 points2025-10-21 20:40
These types of fakes really hammer home how sinister it can be to be suggestive as to how an experience will occur for someone when you’re purposefully diluting the experience to keep them from ever getting the full experience.
[-]
u/danl999
10 points2025-10-21 21:49
I don't believe anyone who had real magic, would hold back on others.
It's natural to do the opposite. To be so excited to make sure you aren't the last human to get to experience it, that you do everything you can to teach it to anyone who will listen.
But no one will.
If you see a "system" where it seems like they're holding back, it's actually because they don't have anything to show.
I wish it weren't so. I truly do.
But there's absolutely nothing real out there.
At least, so far no one can point to anything.
[-]
u/NumerousExtension916
1 points2025-10-21 16:00
Rinpoche nonsense. Just look at the scammer’s “lineage.”
Yangti Yoga Retreat Center and its “Spiritual Care Clinic”: $100-per-hour mentoring and the option to purchase twenty minutes of “Office Hours with Lama Justin.” (Booked for the next 6 months — and with a $50 cancellation fee!)
[-]
u/outofindustry
3 points2025-10-21 22:21
that's why it's aptly called rimjobche in a certain circle
[-]
u/Ebalaya
9 points2025-10-21 16:14
The author sits in room that is dark, however I didn’t find the mentioning of removing an internal dialogue in the text at the first glance, so is it really a dark room practice?..
[-]
u/TechnoMagical_Intent
7 points2025-10-22 12:04
No.
That’s why the flair is marked “General Knowledge.”
It useful, at times, to help understand what something is by determining what it is not.
[-]
u/anavigatorstales
0 points2025-10-22 02:20
Having read all of the books of Castaneda and his associates, I don't recall them using "dark room" as a technique. Can someone elucidate?
[-]
u/NumerousExtension916
2 points2025-10-22 04:50
Are you ever going to stop pretending?
You clearly didn’t read the books right, and you didn’t read the main posts about the dark room — including the comments.
You’ve found the place where real sorcery is practiced — yet instead of focusing on doing the work, you’d rather chase newcomers and try to reel them in with your delusions.
Thanks for the link. Below are Dan's reply comment from 5 years ago, (the coherent part, at any rate), and my responses in italics:
"It's in "Silent Knowledge" publication."
never heard of it, certainly not published by Castaneda or any of his associates
"And it's also the same technique as "finding your spot"."
that was a test presented by don Juan to Castaneda to determine if he had sufficient energy for the role of nagual. It is a measure of energy, not a technique.
"I suspect it's all over in the books. You just didn't realize it."
this is clearly pure speculation
"The "wall of fog" is from this technique."
the ability to perceive the wall of fog is a measure of personal power, not a technique
"And of course, Zuleica teaches it to him, in Eagle's Gift."
I have read this book several times, and do not recall any reference to Dark Room technique. Please correct me if I'm wrong
"But to me, the most important reason to do it is, it's real magic."
maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but it is certainly NOT part of the tradition of the seers of don Juan's lineage
[-]
u/Emergency-Total-4851
5 points2025-10-22 08:31
How tiresome,
You mean that you spend all this time in the wilderness (given it is what you advise others to do) and you have never visually seen your spot, exactly as described in the books?
"We went into the desert chaparral in the early morning. As we walked, don Juan explained to me that finding a "beneficial" or an " enemy" spot was an important need for a man in the wilderness. I wanted to steer the conversation to the topic of peyote, but he flatly refused to talk about it. He warned me that there should be no mention of it, unless he himself brought up the subject."
I was not aware of the pdf titled "Silent Knowledge", thanks for the link. It may or may not be fake, but doing a word search in it does NOT result in any hits on "Dark Room". So, nope, no precedents there.
No, I do not spend all my time in the wilderness. I recommended spending periods alone there, since I have noticed that it results in accumulation of inner silence, (including awakening the natural ability we have to distinguish favorable vs unfavorable spots to rest or camp). This is not something that can be learned sitting in a room where nothing can harm you.
What about the rest of that nonsense about the wall of fog, Zuleica, and "magic"?
[-]
u/Emergency-Total-4851
4 points2025-10-22 11:55
What is the point in talking anymore... "it may or may not be fake".
Do you imagine that it is not known that "dark room" itself isn't directly named darkroom, just like the j-curve is also a name that Dan made?
You really do feel like playing silly games don't you.
Your "awakening the natural ability to distinguish favorable vs unfavorable spots" is not something that needs to be awakened. Now, being able to see spots, that takes effort, effort that you haven't done.
wall of fog: directionality vs non-directionality (search it on the subreddit)
Zuleica: uses darkness as a teaching method.
Magic: "Don Juan went on to express his profound admiration for the human capacity to impart order to the chaos of the Eagle's emanations. He maintained that every one of us, in his own right, is a masterful magician and that our magic is to keep our assemblage point unwaveringly fixed."
We learn to select other emanations here.
[-]
u/TechnoMagical_Intent
4 points2025-10-22 12:20
Here are the source passages from The Eagle's Gift, detailing Carlos's “darkroom” (a term that developed organically on the subreddit, and isn’t in the books) training:
What you'll find in here is a version modified by one of the lineages allies, to work without a nagual around and when not already in heightened awareness.
As far as other terms not in the books, there are years of posts in here from students of private classes where Carlos presented info that isn’t in his written work.
[-]
u/mathestnoobest
1 points2025-10-22 12:35
when Carlos and La Gorda were closed up in crates for long periods of time, wasn't that something like dark room? the crate-setup would have deprived them of sensory input the same way dark room would.
can't remember which book it was or the full details but that is the closest analogue to dark room that i can remember in the books.
[-]
u/Academic_Mechanic810
3 points2025-10-23 02:47
If you are convinced that is not real, then is not real for you. End of story. Although of course you cannot form any kind of reliable opinion on the matter since you do not practice. In order to express an opinion about something, one has to have knowledge on the subject. Superficial attempts to elucidate such matters are useless and they are wasting your time and energy. This is an attempt to nudge people to amplify their perception. We exist in a perceptual bubble, but like any living organism we are wired to test it's boundaries. Humans were born with a very limited setting, even walking is not acquired unless there is social interaction. So for someone living in the woods alone, walking on two feet might feel impossible, but for us is the most mundane thing. This kind of social interaction in this group is meant to nudge us to develop and enlarge our perceptive bubble. Take it or leave it, is entirely YOUR problem.
[-]
u/FRFRGER
2 points2025-10-22 09:04
[-]
u/oversizedeclipse
0 points2025-10-22 11:08
I searched for this book everywhere but couldn't find it to buy. Where can I find it so I can purchase?
[-]
u/TechnoMagical_Intent
4 points2025-10-22 12:12
It was never available for purchase. It was given out to attendees of the women’s workshop held in Los Angeles, CA in March of 1996:
For years the only available digital copy was a Russian translation.
[-]
u/oversizedeclipse
1 points2025-10-22 14:03
Thanks for the heads up!
[-]
u/FRFRGER
2 points2025-10-22 09:05
[-]
u/Academic_Mechanic810
4 points2025-10-23 02:26
It all resolves in practice. All of Carlos Castañeda detractors never bothered to practice anything that is in the books. If you are curious if this works the best way to resolve it is to try it for yourself, live your own personal experience. Don't base yourself on what other say. Everyone's participation in this group is great at raising curiosity and somewhat come to a consensus that is otherwise extremely hard to encounter. The rest is up to you, me and everyone else that practices. There is no better way to live your life than through personal experience, no one dies believing...
[-]
u/Academic_Mechanic810
3 points2025-10-22 05:03
I am guessing it all stops at a simple curiosity, something "cool" someone discovered it can happen if you stay in darkness for long stretches of time. Therefore not a practice because a practice would need a clear intent. Also it makes sense from a neurological point of view as the effects of a multi-day darkroom emerge from processes corresponding to neurochemical shifts, thalamocortical desinhibition etc. Essentially no better than eating a shroom from time to time...
[-]
u/Responsible_Sock4997
1 points2025-10-22 22:50
Lol
[-]
u/wellhungkid
2 points2025-10-22 23:09
this is actually just a fad. It started on youtube about 5 years ago. it's not dark room.
There are more video's, but i don't want to hunt them down.
From what i remember there was a "Lore" channel that talked about antarctica and deep underground sea training that requires the participants to do 7 to 30 days in total darkness in order to join a program. Then a bunch of youtubers did the challenge.
32 Comments
and the opposite
https://www.reddit.com/r/castaneda/comments/kx7p0x/white_room_training/?share_id=tJUhfKnQaW008AuJAG4fU&utm_content=1&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1
Really? Spamming us with paywall NYT…shhhhessssh
http://archive.today/2025.10.21-144857/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/magazine/dark-retreat-meditation-sensory-deprivation-spirituality.html
Thx, Techno!
The (admittedly cool!) graphics in the article, combined into one file:
https://odysee.com/@Sorcery_Media:7/darkness_retreat_graphics:7
The graphics from the article, combined into one video:
https://imgur.com/a/Ms1GcAU
He did not do darkroom. He did "looking for your greatness".
It's inevitable that more fake darkroom will come along. With most who copy it, claiming they had it first.
Daoists even do pretend darkroom, and call it by that name!
Of course, you can tell they're total idiots who never actually put any time into it themselves, despite "teaching" it.
Because of what they say the purple puffs are.
"Love" or something equally delusional, designed to keep pretenders happy.
That's how meditation systems work too. A very weak internal dialogue substitution technique which produces minimal green zone effects, loaded up with delusional (religious) explanations designed to self-flatter and give a sense of superiority over others.
Naturally you can't sell the real thing.
No one is going to pay for the amount of effort it takes to remove the internal dialogue.
And even if it were far easier, I just don't see many sticking around, once they realize how cold it is when you're actually exploring other realms of reality. Instead of just taking a quick nap and making up stuff about dozing off during meditation.
You can pretend that to be anything that makes you feel good.
But you can't, with sorcery.
These types of fakes really hammer home how sinister it can be to be suggestive as to how an experience will occur for someone when you’re purposefully diluting the experience to keep them from ever getting the full experience.
I don't believe anyone who had real magic, would hold back on others.
It's natural to do the opposite. To be so excited to make sure you aren't the last human to get to experience it, that you do everything you can to teach it to anyone who will listen.
But no one will.
If you see a "system" where it seems like they're holding back, it's actually because they don't have anything to show.
I wish it weren't so. I truly do.
But there's absolutely nothing real out there.
At least, so far no one can point to anything.
Rinpoche nonsense. Just look at the scammer’s “lineage.”
Yangti Yoga Retreat Center and its “Spiritual Care Clinic”: $100-per-hour mentoring and the option to purchase twenty minutes of “Office Hours with Lama Justin.” (Booked for the next 6 months — and with a $50 cancellation fee!)
that's why it's aptly called rimjobche in a certain circle
The author sits in room that is dark, however I didn’t find the mentioning of removing an internal dialogue in the text at the first glance, so is it really a dark room practice?..
No.
That’s why the flair is marked “General Knowledge.”
It useful, at times, to help understand what something is by determining what it is not.
Having read all of the books of Castaneda and his associates, I don't recall them using "dark room" as a technique. Can someone elucidate?
Are you ever going to stop pretending?
You clearly didn’t read the books right, and you didn’t read the main posts about the dark room — including the comments.
You’ve found the place where real sorcery is practiced — yet instead of focusing on doing the work, you’d rather chase newcomers and try to reel them in with your delusions.
What you’re asking was answered five years ago.
Just to be clear, I’m not sharing this to make things easier for your laziness, but to keep you from confusing others — especially the new ones: https://www.reddit.com/r/castaneda/comments/hp41du/comment/fxp7i37/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button - Read Dan’s reply comment.
Thanks for the link. Below are Dan's reply comment from 5 years ago, (the coherent part, at any rate), and my responses in italics:
"It's in "Silent Knowledge" publication."
never heard of it, certainly not published by Castaneda or any of his associates
"And it's also the same technique as "finding your spot"."
that was a test presented by don Juan to Castaneda to determine if he had sufficient energy for the role of nagual. It is a measure of energy, not a technique.
"I suspect it's all over in the books. You just didn't realize it."
this is clearly pure speculation
"The "wall of fog" is from this technique."
the ability to perceive the wall of fog is a measure of personal power, not a technique
"And of course, Zuleica teaches it to him, in Eagle's Gift."
I have read this book several times, and do not recall any reference to Dark Room technique. Please correct me if I'm wrong
"But to me, the most important reason to do it is, it's real magic."
maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but it is certainly NOT part of the tradition of the seers of don Juan's lineage
How tiresome,
You mean that you spend all this time in the wilderness (given it is what you advise others to do) and you have never visually seen your spot, exactly as described in the books?
"We went into the desert chaparral in the early morning. As we walked, don Juan explained to me that finding a "beneficial" or an " enemy" spot was an important need for a man in the wilderness. I wanted to steer the conversation to the topic of peyote, but he flatly refused to talk about it. He warned me that there should be no mention of it, unless he himself brought up the subject."
It is a technique, and it was a test.
regarding the silent knowledge publication:
https://www.reddit.com/r/castaneda/wiki/booklist/
I was not aware of the pdf titled "Silent Knowledge", thanks for the link. It may or may not be fake, but doing a word search in it does NOT result in any hits on "Dark Room". So, nope, no precedents there.
No, I do not spend all my time in the wilderness. I recommended spending periods alone there, since I have noticed that it results in accumulation of inner silence, (including awakening the natural ability we have to distinguish favorable vs unfavorable spots to rest or camp). This is not something that can be learned sitting in a room where nothing can harm you.
What about the rest of that nonsense about the wall of fog, Zuleica, and "magic"?
What is the point in talking anymore... "it may or may not be fake".
Do you imagine that it is not known that "dark room" itself isn't directly named darkroom, just like the j-curve is also a name that Dan made?
You really do feel like playing silly games don't you.
Your "awakening the natural ability to distinguish favorable vs unfavorable spots" is not something that needs to be awakened. Now, being able to see spots, that takes effort, effort that you haven't done.
wall of fog: directionality vs non-directionality (search it on the subreddit)
Zuleica: uses darkness as a teaching method.
Magic: "Don Juan went on to express his profound admiration for the human capacity to impart order to the chaos of the Eagle's emanations. He maintained that every one of us, in his own right, is a masterful magician and that our magic is to keep our assemblage point unwaveringly fixed."
We learn to select other emanations here.
Here are the source passages from The Eagle's Gift, detailing Carlos's “darkroom” (a term that developed organically on the subreddit, and isn’t in the books) training:
Zuleica's Instructions
What you'll find in here is a version modified by one of the lineages allies, to work without a nagual around and when not already in heightened awareness.
As far as other terms not in the books, there are years of posts in here from students of private classes where Carlos presented info that isn’t in his written work.
when Carlos and La Gorda were closed up in crates for long periods of time, wasn't that something like dark room? the crate-setup would have deprived them of sensory input the same way dark room would.
can't remember which book it was or the full details but that is the closest analogue to dark room that i can remember in the books.
If you are convinced that is not real, then is not real for you. End of story. Although of course you cannot form any kind of reliable opinion on the matter since you do not practice. In order to express an opinion about something, one has to have knowledge on the subject. Superficial attempts to elucidate such matters are useless and they are wasting your time and energy. This is an attempt to nudge people to amplify their perception. We exist in a perceptual bubble, but like any living organism we are wired to test it's boundaries. Humans were born with a very limited setting, even walking is not acquired unless there is social interaction. So for someone living in the woods alone, walking on two feet might feel impossible, but for us is the most mundane thing. This kind of social interaction in this group is meant to nudge us to develop and enlarge our perceptive bubble. Take it or leave it, is entirely YOUR problem.
I searched for this book everywhere but couldn't find it to buy. Where can I find it so I can purchase?
It was never available for purchase. It was given out to attendees of the women’s workshop held in Los Angeles, CA in March of 1996:
https://web.archive.org/web/20030719063621/http://nagual.com/ixtlan/notes/notes96.html
For years the only available digital copy was a Russian translation.
Thanks for the heads up!
It all resolves in practice. All of Carlos Castañeda detractors never bothered to practice anything that is in the books. If you are curious if this works the best way to resolve it is to try it for yourself, live your own personal experience. Don't base yourself on what other say. Everyone's participation in this group is great at raising curiosity and somewhat come to a consensus that is otherwise extremely hard to encounter. The rest is up to you, me and everyone else that practices. There is no better way to live your life than through personal experience, no one dies believing...
I am guessing it all stops at a simple curiosity, something "cool" someone discovered it can happen if you stay in darkness for long stretches of time. Therefore not a practice because a practice would need a clear intent. Also it makes sense from a neurological point of view as the effects of a multi-day darkroom emerge from processes corresponding to neurochemical shifts, thalamocortical desinhibition etc. Essentially no better than eating a shroom from time to time...
Lol
this is actually just a fad. It started on youtube about 5 years ago. it's not dark room.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=i+spent+7+days+in+the+dark
There are more video's, but i don't want to hunt them down.
From what i remember there was a "Lore" channel that talked about antarctica and deep underground sea training that requires the participants to do 7 to 30 days in total darkness in order to join a program. Then a bunch of youtubers did the challenge.