I have been recently rereading formative books from my youth and I was considering The Teachings of Don Juan next. Can't believe I just found this sub tonight. I am very much looking forward to delving deeper into the past posts.
I am seeking a deeper understanding of the part that turned me away from these teachings. I had come upon the second book, probably 8 years after I had read the first. Forgive my generalities, but this is from close to a decade ago. There was this part that talked about Carlos going and taking the spark back from his children. At that point in my life I had toddlers and I just closed the book and walked away. It is one of the few books I haven't finished. My understanding was that having children you gave away a spark of yourself and Carlos felt he needed to reclaim those sparks to be able to personally attain whatever it was he was focused on.
I am hoping, that after all these years, someone might be willing to work thorough this concept with me. Thank you for your time and consideration.
*Sorry if not the proper flair, just found it appropriate as this is what I am asking, for a shift in perception.
**Edited Flair
11 Comments
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I remember this part as well, certainly odd. Then again, other aspects of the books only make sense to me after reading Dan's thoughts on them. Yet others could be incomprehensible without practicing sorcery.
Thanks for your reply. I think this is why I was drawn to rereading these teachings; to comprehend from where I am now, to understand that which I have owned and integrated, and hear again that which I was unable to grasp or simply rejected before.
That spark would be most accurately described as the certain something that makes some people perennially at odds with the human world.
The source of consternation and ennui.
And if you remember the rest of that passage, he writes that they would actually be better off without it, more at ease in the social order. Less burdened, or perhaps lighter/less troubled.
The path of the warrior isn't for everyone.
Some care more about truth than easy & artificial happiness, only because they're aware enough to see thru it....or past it. If you can't see thru it, no spark of madness (how it seems to most), it's happiness just the same.
But it doesn't last.
Happiness for the warrior (or stormtrooper) only comes in the living moment, after untold struggle.
Thank you for these insights.
I guess, at that time, I was struggling through living the path of a warrior. I thought if these children were born to a warrior, than that is their decision. But I can see how some might be less burdened or troubled without the spark of madness.
I can understand in concept; but to actually make that choice for my children, didn't seem appropriate to me at that time.
If you were actually capable of doing so, rather than just of understanding it in theory, you would of been absolved of the burden of that choice.
Remember, we can't do ANY of this on our own, as the result of a purely egotistical choice. Getting to the point of taking back some of your lost luminosity from your kids wouldn't be functionally possible if you hadn't become a selfless warrior-mystic following the dictums of INTENT more than your own ego.
You would have been compelled by something incapable of making wrong decisions, but still given the choice, to take it back.
If you do darkroom gazing, you can learn to get the energy back from the children, just by hugging them.
But you can do without it!
Just become a spirit obsessed witch!
They can break all of the rules.
Substitute dark energy for what you gave the children.
The holes that caused might even be useful, if you go that route.
For filling with something else.
And, there's cyclic beings.
One of your cyclic beings probably has had no children.
Thank you.
The term spirit obsessed witch, resonates deeply and may be exactly what I have been unknowingly becoming. Well I have been intentionally obsessively becoming and engaging, just without a name for it.
Other energies have been used to substitute/fill, but not dark energy specifically. This nuance is appreciated and will be integrated.
I tried looking further into cyclic beings prior to responding. How is this different from multidimensionality in practice? Is it?
Probably not.
But, some of those terms are connected to the intent of other systems.
Most of which is the intent of attention seeking.
We aren't trying to be saints. Not trying to be better than anyone.
But attention seeking is death to sorcery knowledge.
At least, at first.
I was thinking about this all night. I was attacked by another crazy person, visiting here.
That person has no interest at all in sorcery. They just want to show off the other things they found, which are compeltely the opposite of what we're doing.
But they can't see that, so when shown their "thing", I had to explain how completely wrong that was. And made up to boot!
He exploded in anger.
But why does that happen so often???
And, how come we had a recent visitor who used to mod a 15K facebook Castaneda discussion group, and she turned out to be just as big of an angry, crazy faker as you find everywhere.
That's why...
Because all of the discussion groups are based on fake magic. Especially the Castaneda ones.
But the witchcraft subreddits are 99% fake. The meditation subreddits 90% fake. Everywhere you go, people accept nonsense if it makes them feel better.
It's just expected.
It's rude to point that out.
Everyone is supposed to be allowed to parade around in their private clown pants, and if you point that out you're the bad guy.
Not to mention, the angry men who plague those places always claim their thing is the real thing. They're after imaginary power, not magic.
So it's practically a hopeless cause to encourage people to stick to the real thing.
UNTIL, they start to practice, and a demon materializes right in their face.
Then they start to understand real, versus pretend.
So as a witch, I suggest you accumulate as many "familiar spirits" as you can!
But it seems 3 could be the limit.
One will frustrate you. Like one small child looking for attention, will frustrate you at times to get more.
Two forces the one not to frustrate you, or the other will get all the attention.
Three and they start to behave as a group, not needing you anymore. Like having 3 dogs.
Once you have 3 dogs, you're only needed for mealtime.
If you want to, you can turn your inorganic being into a cat, like witches are supposed to have.
I've done it.
A fully visible cat, who jumps on the bed, and it sort of bumps from her weight.
Sort of.
But the cat is absolutely real looking.
I picked a Siberian Cat, in honor of a precious one I used to know a long time ago, who got greedy for yogurt and plummeted to her death from the 10th story of a frozen Moscow apartment complex.
She was such a wonderful, talkative cat, the old lady neighbors would give her yogurt to get her to visit.
That day she couldn't get out of the apartment, so she used the ledge between windows. Which was frozen over and too slick for a fat Siberian Cat.
Cheshire cat. That's what those are.
The books get FAR more in depth in later publications! They are definitely worth a re-read!
When I first read them I understood this, I watched a marked change in all the people I grew up with after they had kids. I personally chose to stay far away from breeding and for me I'm really glad I made that choice.
My girlfriend at the yime read as far as you got and dropped them for the same reason, she had a young don and daughter as well.
Remembering Castaneda - Please help with perspective to better understand that which turned me away, the OP title. And the original content:
I have been recently rereading formative books from my youth and I was considering The Teachings of Don Juan next. Can't believe I just found this sub tonight. I am very much looking forward to delving deeper into the past posts.
I am seeking a deeper understanding of the part that turned me away from these teachings. I had come upon the second book, probably 8 years after I had read the first. Forgive my generalities, but this is from close to a decade ago. There was this part that talked about Carlos going and taking the spark back from his children. At that point in my life I had toddlers and I just closed the book and walked away. It is one of the few books I haven't finished. My understanding was that having children you gave away a spark of yourself and Carlos felt he needed to reclaim those sparks to be able to personally attain whatever it was he was focused on.
I am hoping, that after all these years, someone might be willing to work thorough this concept with me. Thank you for your time and consideration.
\Sorry if not the proper flair, just found it appropriate as this is what I am asking, for a shift in perception.*
**Edited Flair
https://web.archive.org/web/20210404150800/https://old.reddit.com/r/castaneda/comments/lehrid/remembering_castaneda_please_help_with/