Impeccability of the flyer

Could you explain that a little further? What exactly makes a “bidding” get through?!

Your compendium of notes contains several rich accounts of Carlos Castaneda in the Santa Monica Mountains and the Malibu Hills, most notably a highly detailed story of an expedition he took with a small group of people to a specific "place of power".

Here are all the documented occurrences of these mountains and the specific sights Carlos showed there:

1. The Malibu Canyon "Place of Power" Expedition

The most extensive record in your notes describes an outing where Carlos took the note-taker, their friend Ruth, and several other students to a sacred spot high in the hills above Malibu Canyon. Don Juan Matus had originally seen this exact spot in a dream, and Carlos loved visiting it because he felt completely at home there.

• The Rendezvous: The group originally agreed to meet at Ships restaurant on Wilshire Boulevard in West Los Angeles—a setting the narrator described as delightfully preposterous, waiting for a "sorcerer's apprentice" in a crowded chicken shack.
• The Ring of Boulders: The place of power consisted of a perfect circle of massive boulders surrounding a dense chaparral forest.
• The "Face" Boulder: One of the massive boulders resembled a face pointing west toward the Pacific Ocean. Carlos explained that its westward orientation designated this site as a place of "introspection" (or self-reflection) where ancient Yaqui sorcerers would come to meditate.
• The Manzanita and Mesquite Shelters: In the very center of the chaparral forest, Carlos showed them where sorcerers would build small shelters out of manzanita and mesquite to "bury themselves". This was a technique used to halt the flow of inner dialogue, produce a "psychological death," and practice "not-doing" to "stop the world".
• Demonstrating the "Lines of the World": Standing in the circle, Carlos demonstrated a Yaqui sorcery exercise to feel the energy lines of the universe. He stood with his feet forming a right angle, left arm extended, right arm parallel to the ground and bent inward toward his chest. He rapidly moved the first two fingers of each hand as if plucking a stringed instrument, slowly clenched his fists with great tension, turned his body into a "prizefighter's crouch," and then suddenly released his fists with a "Pop!" to reveal the lines.
• Rattlesnakes and Dental Floss: While in the hills, Carlos explained how he and don Juan trapped rattlesnakes using string. He jokingly advised that dental floss is the absolute best survival tool to carry into the field and that anthropologists don't need heavy gear, just lots of dental floss. He also claimed eating rattlesnakes was "stupendous" and better than whale, turkey, or chicken.
• The Cliff Squeeze for Evil Spirits: Carlos mentioned that there are other places of power nearby, including a specific narrow opening between two sheer cliff walls. Squeezing through this narrow gap rubs off "evil spirits" (undesirable energetic attachments distinct from allies), leaving them behind forever.

The Angelica Hunt in the "Water Canyon"

Following their time at the boulder circle, Carlos drove the group down through Malibu Canyon to a "water canyon" to search for angelica, a favorite plant of Yaqui sorcerers whose dried stalk produces a smoke of great "clarity".

• The No Trespassing Sign: Carlos ignored a prominent sign from the Los Angeles County Water District warning of a $500 fine and imprisonment and led them into the creek bed.
• The Wild Celery Mix-up: They found several green strands, but Carlos declared them useless because they hadn't dried naturally. The note-taker bit a piece of the plant and pointed out, "Carlos, this is wild celery." Carlos laughed and replied, "Of course, wild celery. It's good, isn't it? Angelica is amazing.". UCLA botanists later confirmed the collected specimen was indeed completely harmless.

Carlos’s Warning and the "Twig Curse"

Carlos, behaving like a "plump little gnome" or a "swift coyote," warned the group before leaving: "Leave everything that you found here behind. Do not take branches, flowers, rocks, nothing. It is very dangerous!".

Ruth disregarded the warning and secretly pocketed a twig from the site. What followed was an incredible run of bad luck on their drive home: Ruth became violently ill, they got a traffic ticket for driving on the Venice Boardwalk, they had a bitter argument, their friend's plane was hours late, a massive rainstorm broke out, and their windshield wiper motor burned out on the freeway at midnight. The instant Ruth found the twig in her jacket pocket and threw it out of the window, the rain abruptly stopped and the wipers suddenly began working again.

1. The 1964 Mushroom Specimen

In a September 1968 letter to ethnomycologist Gordon Wasson, Carlos recounted a personal botanical find in the Santa Monica Mountains:

• In 1964, Carlos personally found a specimen of a psychotropic mushroom (a psilocybe variety used by don Juan) growing in the Santa Monica Mountains.
• He took the mushroom to a laboratory at UCLA, but due to their carelessness, the staff lost the specimen before identifying it.

• Don Juan interpreted the discovery of the mushroom in Los Angeles as a positive omen, but viewed Carlos's carelessness in losing it to strangers as classic proof of his "utterly fumbling nature".

• Carlos's Private "Power Spot" North of Malibu

In separate accounts, it is noted that in his later years, Carlos lived "as inaccessibly as possible" in Westwood, but regularly went to "refresh his batteries" at a "power spot" atop a mountain north of Malibu. This spot consisted of the same ring of boulders overlooking the Pacific Ocean first envisioned by don Juan.

1. Scenic Sightings of the Mountains

During the Cal State Redondo Beach seminar in December 2001, a participant noted that the post-rain winter sky was so dazzlingly clear that the islands opposite Santa Monica were etched sharply on the horizon, perfectly mirroring the coastline up past Malibu and the Santa Monica Mountains.