going through the sub has been quite hard due to terms im not familliar with yet .
so i was wondering after what book did you guys started ur own practice and got around with all the terms and doing them .
im currently on the fourth book , tales of power and i got to this subreddit while reading journey to ixtlan and it got me to reading about tonal and nagual way before it was in the book , which kinda spoiled it for me ... so in order to avoid that again i would like to know when should i start seeing for myself if the practice works and after what book should i do that in order to fully get the terms out of this subreddit .
and just another minor question , i know dreaming is a huge part of don juan`s teaching ... and it seems like weed is a big part of my life , it dosent go together right ? do i need to fully stop or just do it less ?
thanks in advance .
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You can start practicing after the first page, but you'll be confused about what it means to practice, and be caught up in the fantasy of the storyline. Just correct yourself, and try to read ALL of them. Each one is precious, and when you get good you'll need it.
If you consume less than 50mg of THC, you can simply wait until it wears off.
If you don't, it exerts a pull to the green line on the J curve. If you are on the blue, it seems to "help". If you are on the red, it seems to harm.
But eventually it makes no difference, other than to confuse you about what we are trying to do.
We aren't trying to have amazing drug experiences. You're trying to learn how reality forms, so you can clean your link to what forms it. So you can gain some power over that.
thanks for replying , i guess ill finish all of them and then start the wiki of this sub .
That's indeed the best approach. People who haven't read ALL the books, are usually ill equipped to understand the strategies of those who have digested the intent the books relate, and practically applied it over time.
Intent is running the show, with all of us collectively and individually. Don't worry about when and where, just practice inner silence and go where intent leads. As long as you keep your link with intent clean, dust if off every day, you don't have to worry about in what sequence the teachings should unfold for you. If you choose, after Tales of Power, to start practicing, then do that. When I found the books, I had already been living that way, instinctively, in a lot of my life: following intent, silencing my mind, etc. I started with Art of Dreaming, then went back and tore through them; but I begin practicing dreaming right after AOD, as I was reading YWOK, book 1. Beginning to practice WHILE you are reading the books compliments the experience in my opinion. So just follow intent and you will be fine, and if you don't know how to do that, start by practicing inner silence. If, when silenced, you suddenly find yourself standing up and doing Tensegrity, it would be foolish to stop just because you aren't done the books yet. Again, follow intent, and enjoy yourself.
As far as THC - what Dan said below is true, you'll only be able to move your AP so far while high. Marijuana plant has its own position of the AP. You really think yours, or my, singular intent can overcome the intent of the plant itself, of the million of users supporting that position and giving it cohesion? It would be like trying to overturn society. Too much intent you are up against, so you're playing marijuana's game when you use it. You are playing by its rules. That being said, on the flipside, you ARE getting experience of having your AP move (with assistance) every time you smoke, so you are becoming familiar with the simple concept of 'dreaming' , and getting used to having your AP shift. So there's that benefit. Yes, it's not coming from your own will, so in a way it's counter to progress, but you are still getting experience of shifting AP positions, and this can be beneficial long term in dreaming. In short, be smart. And don't waste time dreaming while high. I wouldn't advise that. But if you wanted to read the books while high, or do Tensegrity, or practice proper walking, I don't think there's any major drawbacks to that. Again, you are now in the only cognitive system ANYWHERE that presents a unified vision of how to get real magic in your life. Don't get caught up in hard-fast rules. The second you do, intent will flip the script on you anyway. She's playful like that, flexible, tricky, hard to pin down, and your practice should be too. Enjoy it.
will do ! thank u for the help
Is this mentioned in the books or is it your innovation? As far as I’ve studied the assemblage point are of two types the tonal and the nahual. This is the tonal or the first ring of power. The ring that spins this interpretation system.
The first ring of power is ruled by the nagual or the second attention (because it is fragile and afraid of being discovered any moment or in other words it is an imposed belief shared by others especially in the early stages of birth. This is what makes the internal dialogues. It is the cognitive system also responsible for blocking the seeing of energy as it flows) (The fliers mind).
Also the second attention doesn’t count as an assemblage point in the same context as the first assemblage point is recognized. Because the second attention is in itself boundless and the third attention being the total freedom. Total freedom is facing infinity itself without alignment to the points within infinity. Although it isn’t mentioned Ixtalan is infinity (in my opinion) and ixtalan is mentioned in Castanedas 3rd book and Castanedas benefactor seeks out ixtalan
Therefore my point being there Isn’t a collective agreement imposed when it comes to plants (as far as I know of).
So if you’ve read something please share it here or clarify if it’s your opinion.
They actually didn't really get it quite right.
Power plants give an energy boost (often) in the form of moving the AP to a specific position, but with a high cost to your tonal, due to the tonal being shrunk unusually and involuntarily.
Power plants are only given to people with incomplete energy bodies in don Juan and Carlos lineage, with the exception of burning from the fire within, where power plants boosts and the Earth's boost are employed, from the reading I recall.
Power plants as plants are sentient beings moving infinitely slower than we are (as mentioned in the book the art of dreaming) they are more hooked to infinity and their uses are many.
Consumption is one form of engagement and Seeing is all that is needed to know that. I’ve figured that it is the explanations which is insanity moves time itself.
I find it’s true when I’m silent, time ceases to move its normal route. I was feeling with my energy body. Feeling from within or Feeling the Whole of the inner body.
Yes, exactly - marijuana boosts you to a specific position.
Yeah. I got it. He was confused by how you said that, before.
They smoked in the books plenty, many characters/people, just different plant. So I think it's fair to say the "rules" of plants discussed over the course of the books in general applies to Mairjuana. But that's getting caught up on what many including me would call 'inventory warrior' thinking so if you want to just call it my opinion I'm fine with that. Mairjuana plant doesn't just give AP a 'boost' as says, it boosts you to ap lace, it has a character, a range yes, but a general character That is the position of the AP on the shell where MJ moves you, and as Dan and others have said it's a lateral shift. But it's a place. And they all do that. All of them, shrooms, heroin, coke, they move it to a similar place on the eggshell for all of us. The costs are obvious to most at this point, though.
Not sure where you are getting that.
Carlos smoked a mushroom mixture with some herbs and that's the only smoking ever described except for -
Clara and others smoked cigars.
Carlos and others were given smoke baths, that were called "smoking," but were not like smoking cigarettes or weed.
Tasha took smoke baths using the cleansing Angelica.
Maybe you can give me some examples of what you are talking about?
Sorry 'smoke' = ingestion to me, I don't put much emphasis on whether someone smokes/vapes/uses edibles. I meant to say that Carlos 'ingested' a shit ton of plants, conveying to OP that the general rules of those plants can be extrapolated to MJ plants. And the general rule being: plants can help, and teach, but take a major toll on the tonal. I just don't want OP to think he has to choose between plants and sorcery, he does not. It's not a binary game. Yes, it is a worthy goal to drop any plants eventually, but it is not mandatory.
He asked ", i know dreaming is a huge part of don juan`s teaching ... and it seems like weed is a big part of my life , it dosent go together right ? do i need to fully stop or just do it less ?" My answer was meant to say, "You're fine. Carlos [ignested] a shit ton of plants in the books and you do not need to stop entirely." However, as many people have discussed and I can verify, dreaming is nearly impossible when stoned. But if you sleep it off, and try dreaming later on, sober, your previous marijuana session(s) won't hold you back. In fact, they may help. Hope that clarifies.
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That's great clarification actually.
Thank you for taking the time to do so!
Edit: The sub consensus on power plants is pretty much what you are saying, but also the sub recommends dark room practice, eyes open and sober over power plants.
Total darkness, sobriety, silence, and eyes-open is far more convincing and repeatable than power plants and can be done indefinitely.
Personally, I make sure I'm good and sober before dark room, but I learned that accidentally, the hard way.
😂
I started the right way of walking after don Juan first explained it to Carlos.
I did a tiny bit of Tensegrity when I got to the Magical Passes book.
I didn't do any of the other practices myself until reading the books several times over 20+ years and then reading a bunch of post in this sub.
Please don't do that. I wasted 20+ years by not practicing recap and Tensegrity.
You don't have to wait that long.
Dark room is well explained enough in posts that I'd suggest you start doing that for a bit every night as you read the books and then add more practices as you find time and feel curious and experimental.
i’ll definitely try it , just feels a bit too early since if ill start reading the wiki right now i will just get lost in the sauce with all the knowledge im yet to uncover , while the books could help with that .
thanks for replying 💪
No worries!
Also try not to get to hung up on the first four books he published.
You'll understand why once you get to the books after those.
I personally practice darkroom / tensegrity and a lil bit of recap and I never read the books. I only read the book of taisha but there wasn’t that much information in it. I just started by reading everything I could in this sub and that’s it.
But I’m going to start buying the books, a few people told me to do it as it could benefit me.
I just went to pdfdrive.org and downloaded them for free. Ive never seen a book in any store around me. I'll get the collection someday. My grandparents passed when I was really young, but they left a bunch of like occult books behind. I like to think that gave me a look into their psyche.
ur grandparents sure sound like anyone can learn at least one thing from
the books are so good to me … just feels like going to a whole different realm while reading it
Before even reading the first one, the books just randomly appear at any point of my journey only too go back to where they came from
the strange way of books , i totally feel that
Have you ever tried B caapi vine? or the ayascasca or acacia. You know Castanedas from South America. They really respect the plants. The first book was sort of telling. The reason Castaneda embarked on this path was because of his interest in plants. He later learned how to enter those magical states at will.
The intent is freedom always. You can take just one small thing from the book and do reasonably well with it. If you’re consistent. Fortunately all parts of Castanedas practices that he taught from his apprenticeship connect together. Therefore by practicing and mastering one thing you can take it from there. A good one to start with is “not doing". Find that part and read about it. And try it. It is simply "not doing" but in depth not doing what you’ve been use to doing in a complete sense.
“Not doing" creates a disruption in your routines. Start with the journey to ixtalan if you wish to practice while reading then start from the first book and continue.
But before that finding your spot is crucially important important. So it’s better to find your spot of power in your home. So find the spot from the first book then apply it. Then you can practice "not doing". This is only my opinion and how I’ve started.
Don’t get discouraged because there are a lot of things you will see up the ladder. But you should know you have to sacrifice for freedom.
Reason I asked about the sacred plants are because they are extremely sacred and will automatically humble you allowing you to start from a supportive end. Castanedas books illustrate how to manually get to those stages. It serves as a road map.
Watch it with power plants.
There's really no evidence you can learn sorcery on your own that way or there would be millions of sorcerers, and there aren't.
In the lineage they were basically only used on apprentices who have incomplete energy bodies, because there is a trade-off in the form of damaging the tonal through shrinking it that way.
Dark room is much better, and, frankly, more convincing than power plants and avoids all the pitfalls of power plants, like dependency.
Don Juan mentions in silent knowledge that sorcerers don’t honor agreements they’ve made (in the tonal) without fully knowing what was in store. Eating power plants is a choice but it’s not the only choice.
The men of knowledge never became seers.They preferred to be scientists.
From a different perspective the presence of the plant are enough to facilitate a gateway thereby making it an ally. Don Juan made Castaneda talk to the plant. Sounds ridiculous.
What’s ridiculous was not talking to the plant and being close minded.
Close mindedness is related with arrogance and arrogance will never see itself. casteneda spoke to that plant and felt good. It says a lot about plants.
You are right on about that.
i absolutely loved the way carlos got to don juan simply by his interest in plants .
my plan is indeed not get caught up with all the things that are in the path of seeing for myself the truth behind this .
when u say the “spot” do u mean like the way carlos had to choose a “good” spot to sit on in all the times ?
if so , im yet to know how to find that … like i said in a comment above , i wish to finish all the books before actually practicing with all my will in it .
im at the fourth book , and i know that in the active side of infinity u get alot of information …
so ill let time do his thing .
thanks for replying
Sure anytime. The books explain better. nobody can match the explanations in the books because nobody is Don Juan. So it’s better to read. Too much explanation is indulging so reading is only half the work. Remember
Hi, I am from Brazil, and I've been studying Castañeda books for a while, and the way his books came into my life happened in very magical way.
I started reading the books in the begining of the pandemic, and I found on the books a very strong messege, and it helped me a lot to stay strong in that tugh time.
First time a heard about Castañeda was talking with my mother. She is a very spiritual woman, and she is aways dedicating herself to studying the herbs path, different kinds of therapeutic paths, passing through Umbanda (" syncretic Brazilian religion that blends African traditions[...]) Ayurveda medicine, and many others.
My mother was flerting with the idea of consecrating with Ayhuasca (it is apsychoactive brew used both socially and as ceremonial spiritual medicine among the indigenous peoples [...] maybe, similar to Peiote or Mescalito).
It took long time for me to start reading his books. It happened just before reading important books like The Alchemist and The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho, where the autor quotes Don Juan, and the book "The Tao of Physics" by Fritjof Capra.
Then I start reading the books. It was very easy to buy the first book, "The Teachins of Don Juan", here in Brazil is called "A Erva do Diabo", but the others I had to download and read through a Kindle.
Unfortunately, my mother was getting depressed by consequences of the pandemic on her life. She couldn't work because of the lockdown, and for her, it was very difficult to deal with that.
So I encouraged her to consecrate whit Ayhuasca. That momment, I knew a little about Carlos Castañeda ad Don Juan teachings.
And then she did it.
It was a very strong experience for her, and she still on the process of cure. But the second experience of her helped me to understand about some quotes of Don Juan when he explains about the differente between look and see.
Today I almoust certain that she was deep into the Nagual.
Maybe the Ayhuasca is one of the paths you looking for to start practicing what carlos castaneda has been doing. Some of the paths to start to be "um homem de conhecimento".
I also had experiences dreaming. But it is a little bit difficult for me to talk more about it right now, but I am working on it.
PS: Here in South America, and here in Brazil we still have contact with some indigenous tribes, and also some indigenous knowledges. And recently I had the opportunity to start in my sacred path. Hope I can come back with some good news.
(sorry for my bad english lol😅)
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i think u really got the wrong idea of what the books of castaneda are all about dude .
i dont think ur mom is the nagual and that she can S E E … it takes years of practice to get to the point u can even try to see … i dont think u quite understand what the books are doing , even i dont fully understand it yet … u can see after some readings ? i am reading the sixth book now the eagle’s gift and i cant SEE and not even close to it … most of the ppl on this sub who actually practice this stuff for years some dont S E E yet .