Carlos Castaneda was a brilliant storyteller whose best selling tales, drawing from other great literature and spiritual traditions, communicated useful principles in a way that was vivid and compelling for many. He also lied as casually and often in those books and his daily life as any other con man with narcissistic personality disorder. And he used his fame and storytelling talent to create a cult around him. The members of that cult were made to cut ties with family and longtime friends, and to devote themselves entirely to following Castaneda and his whims.
The information provided on this site is based on the experiences of Richard Jennings and Amy Wallace, both students of Castaneda and members of his cult in the years before his death. It is also based on extensive research into court and other records, and numerous interviews with other cult members, and former cult members, which is thoroughly documented here (e.g., Chronologies). This site is the only comprehensive source of this information.
Table of contents
Site’s Founding and Mission
Site Founded in 1999
This website was created in 1999 to delve into the questions presented by Carlos Castaneda’s teachings and legacy. Castaneda had died a normal death the year before, after long claiming he planned to “burn with the fire from within.” The questions about his legacy included:
1) What was authentic?
2) Was much of the material merely “stories” designed to “trap our attention”?
3) Which practices “work” and which don’t?
4) What may be better described and taught by other energetic disciplines.
The site was also a place to publish the real facts about Carlos Castaneda’s legacy and biography. It also published chronologies of the women he claimed had also been students of his supposed teacher, Don Juan Matus. That information debunked the stories Castaneda and the so-called Witches told about themselves. But the philosophies and concepts introduced by the books continue to influence and impact our culture in many ways. So another aspect of the inquiry here is exploring what is useful in the concepts and philosophies he popularized.
Site Founder
The site was established by Richard Jennings, aka Corey Donovan for purposes of all things Castaneda. Richard had been a student of Carlos Castaneda beginning in 1995. That was when Richard first met Castaneda and the so-called Witches. By fall 1995, Richard was attending private weekly sessions with Castaneda detailed on this site. He also had other interactions with Castaneda and his group, including lunch and dinner meetings.
Richard, a spiritual seeker who had long been fascinated by shamanism, thought he had found his teacher in Castaneda. Richard performed Tensegrity (the growing series of movements Castaneda and his group taught that were claimed to have been handed down by Castaneda’s lineage of “sorcerers”). He engaged in Recapitulation (the process of reviewing one’s life events and reintegrating the energy from those events). Richard also followed other practices taught by Castaneda in private sessions.
Castaneda’s Death and Likely Suicides of the Women Closest to Him
Richard’s complete story will be told in a memoir he is currently writing. In brief, Richard was devastated when his teacher died of liver cancer in 1998. Castaneda had long claimed he planned to “burn with the fire from within,” the magical transition to traveling permanently in other realms. Richard’s sense of loss was compounded by the sudden disappearance of the five women closest to Castaneda.
Richard had grown very close to those women, especially Florinda, Kylie and Talia. He considered them and others in the group around Castaneda to be his adopted family. As Richard pieced together the story of what had happened in Castaneda’s inner circle after his death, it became increasingly clear those women had committed suicide in a deluded attempt to “follow” Castaneda. This tragic revelation is part of unveiling the truth behind Carlos Castaneda’s legacy.
Richard himself was feeling suicidal following Castaneda’s death and the womens’ disappearance. In the weeks immediately following, he even made a trip to Death Valley, the womens’ last reported location. He wanted to see if he could figure out what had happened to them there. His tentative plan in making the trip was ultimately to jump to his death in an effort to “follow” Castaneda and the missing women, much as Castaneda had claimed in his books he had done following don Juan’s departure.
Cleargreen’s Lies
While Richard survived that trip, his sense of loss and devastation turned to shock and, ultimately, anger as the group Castaneda left behind (Cleargreen) continued to put on workshops without acknowledging Castaneda’s passing. When Castaneda’s death finally was made public, Richard was appalled at the nonsensical “explanations” Cleargreen put out. He remains appalled and disgusted by their failure, now going on 25-plus years, to honestly report the disappearance and deaths of their former colleagues, the five women who had been closest to Castaneda.
These were the reasons he started the Sustained Action mailing list in 1999. This website followed months later with written contributions from many of his fellow former Castaneda followers. [The last version of that website can still be found on the “Wayback Machine” here.]
Site Revamped for Its 25-Year Anniversary, with New Material
At 25 years on, this site has been revamped to memorialize what we’ve since learned about Castaneda, his teachings and the cult he built around him. It is also designed to serve as a resource for those who want to learn more about Castaneda and his world. The inquiry into Carlos Castaneda’s legacy is more relevant than ever.
Castaneda’s Ultimate Legacy
Carlos Castaneda was a brilliant storyteller. His best selling tales, drawing from other great literature and spiritual traditions, communicated useful principles in a way that was vivid and compelling for many. He also lied as casually and often in those books and his daily life as any other con man with narcissistic personality disorder. And he used his fame and storytelling talent to create a cult around him. The members of that cult were made to cut ties with family and longtime friends, and to devote themselves entirely to following Castaneda and his whims.
Many continue to quote Castaneda as a supposedly legitimate shamanic teacher and source of mystic truths. This site is therefore intended as an ongoing antidote and reality check for those claims. Borrowing one of the terms Castaneda coined, this site and the work behind it is truly a “sustained action.” In contrast to the way he used the term, however, this action is in the interest of questioning would-be gurus, and the pursuit of self reflection and integrity.
©️ 2024 by Richard Jennings, all rights reserved
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