Carlos Castaneda talked about so many different energy configurations and “points,” it amounted to something of a menagerie. David Worrell took on trying to address this phenomenon and catalog the structures and points mentioned, in responding to material raised on the Discussion Pages of the original version of this website.
A Menagerie of Points: Alleged Energy Structures
One poster listed the following:
1. The tentacles of the will described in the story of Genaro at the waterfall and not mentioned at any of the workshops I attended or in the later books. In early books it was said that it was through these fibers that a man was in touch with everything around him.
2. The luminous egg itself
3. The assemblage point
From 1968 to 1984 (16 years) all we heard about was the luminous egg. The assemblage point, this allegedly most vital structure, was introduced in 1984.
And that reminds of what is perhaps the best of Castaneda’s bullshit—the reinvention of don Juan.
He started taking a beating in reviews after Tales of Power in 1974 (his last big success). The Second Ring 1977 got solidly trounced by critics. There was no more don Juan, and it just wasn’t flying for most people, including me.
I actually lost interest in the books at that point in my life and went in other directions (I had been following his books avidly before). I know lots of other people who felt that the books turned into bullshit at that point (I don’t think that, because I think they were at least half bullshit all along).
But he brought don Juan back in The Eagle’s Gift (1981), in all those mysterious memories of the “other self” which suddenly began to came back to him. This device let him continue to keep don Juan in ALL of his books from then on. Yeah, that’s the ticket … I just forgot about it, see. Now I remember everything. Oops, not quite, here’s another book of don Juan stuff. Oops, here’s a little more. etc.
So … from the vantage point of where we now sit, knowing what we now know about the kind of things he would make up … what do you people think of that one?
4. The Eagle’s emanations aligned within and without the luminous egg
Also from The Fire from Within. But consistent with something which in the early books was called “the lines of the world”.
5. The vortices:
a. at the head and perverted into a back and forth motion under the influence of the flyers
b. at the “v” spot
c. at the liver and adrenals
d. at the pancrease and spleen
6. the bars that I said I never got what he was trying to say
7. el condoncito brillante – the sheen that the flyers have supposedly eaten down to the level of the feet
Much of the above is latter day addition, not mentioned until the workshop era. It could be argued that some of the centers mentioned in number 5 correspond to the centers mentioned in Tales of Power, but there is no exact correspondence.
It just occurred to me that neither is there any mention of the womb being of importance in any of the early books. If I recall correctly that idea is first introduced in The Second Ring in 1977
In The Fire From Within and The Power of Silence, it was explicitly stated that heightened awareness was a product of assemblage point movement. In the workshop era the story was switched to state of awareness being due to the level of the sheen of awareness the flyers were supposed to be eating.
“The bars” could refer to two different structures he mentioned when addressing the Sunday class. He said that women had a solid bar of energy in front of them, and that a man had a more delicate sweeping thin structure with a head like a swan. These structures related to “sexual energy” somehow, and were said to be almost universally broken.
Then there was a “beam” which somehow went through the assemblage point and connected to a point at the top of the sheen of awareness (and for almost everyone that involved some point down around the toes).
8. the holes left by reproduction
The concern with these was never mentioned or emphasized after the appearance of the idea in The Second Ring of Power. In fact, it was downplayed. Probably very unpopular.
This reminds me of how they brought out a new energetic thing related to reproduction in the women’s books with tales of the seven year luminous worms which supposedly bind men and women together energetically.
9. a braided cordlike feature mentioned in connection with the holes
Not sure about this one. But he often talked about a “necklace of energy,” or what would ideally be like a necklace, which in many people he said was dragging the ground and looked like huge dread-locks or something. He said it was possible to raise this necklace up and make it tight at chest level.
Dan continued…
“Teapot lid (maybe only on women) “
Can you elaborate on this one? I remember him mentioning it, but never understood what the heck the significance was supposed to be.
This reminds me of some kind of “spike of egomania” that he said he would find and “pull out of us”. This seemed to refer to an actual energetic spike that he claimed he could see and remove from a person, but I’ve forgotten exactly where he said it was (like it matters…)
“Beak of a swan “
“Pointed head syndrome”
I’m sure you are entertaining list members with these terse descriptions Dan. Many of them probably think you were only joking here. But the “pointed head syndrome” was supposed to be an actual energetic thing sort of like having a cone like the coneheads where … someone needs to fill this part in … the “plan” was something like how we were supposed to be able to split it open at the top of the cone, and peel down some kind of fringe, the special fringe which us particularly vulnerable to the flyers. He said if he could split our cones and shed this fringe then we would be inedible to the flyers and could regrow our sheen without fear of them. This really sounded like gibberish, even then–anybody remember if I’m getting this right?
“Itchy spot on side of knee”
Then there was that point on the side of our ribs we were always rubbing trying to vibrate out the “hooks” the flyers supposedly placed down in us.
“Line of energy running up from feet to head which was interrupted in him by hernia or knife wound”
Then there are the giant candle-dripping energy columns on each side of the body, and the energy holes above the head from the Tensegrity videos.
“Spot for assembling another world on side of arm
Anal spot for accupuncture usage”
Yeah, but there were millions of these spots for rubbing on the arms, hands, wrists, legs, ankles, and there are tons of acupuncture points, and yeah, they were into acupuncture and acupressure points. There were a lot of points on the face, a spot between the vertebrae at the back of the neck, spots at the base of the brain on the back of the neck… (maybe these are acuwhatever points too).
The roof of the mouth which was supposed to be important energetically…
“Spots on ground where we could redirect attention “
Was this connected with that “beam” of energy? Didn’t that “beam” supposedly terminate at the spot you mention above where our attention was supposed to be fixated?
“Lines in front of body which can be scooped and backhanded
Beam of energy that comes up from toes (can point towards stars) “
There was also the “cloak of confidence”–allegedly an energy structure that one called from off to one’s right side which would come and descend upon one like a mantle of energy. We were supposed to strengthen our neck muscles to bear the burden of this “cloak”.
Lessee, there is also the third eye place, the bottom of the rib-cage—top of the hipbone thingee, and the three spots on the belly: solar plexus, right over the navel, and below the navel.
There was an important energetic point on the bottom of the foot at the base of the big toe which Clara was tapping on on Taisha. There’s also underneath the chin, those two points which supposedly bring alertness when manipulated.
Woops, I just remembered something from the Eagle’s Gift: the “point of the second attention”–supposedly out in front of the body at waist level, out about two feet and slightly to the right.
Then there were those “angled planes” in front of the body which the first couple of passes from Westwood are supposed to get us to feel.
That’s about all I remember at the moment. It’s a real menagerie of points and structures.
©️ 1999 by David Worrell, all rights reserved
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