Castaneda FAQ

Carlos Castaneda was an international best-selling author in the late 1960s and 1970s. Born in Cajamarca, Peru in 1925, he emigrated to the U.S. in 1951. While a graduate student in anthropology at U.C.L.A., he wrote a book that was published by University of California Press in 1968. That book, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, became a bestseller. He followed with further books about his sorcery apprenticeship, including Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan. This, his third book, was the basis for his being awarded a PhD in Anthropology from U.C.L.A. in 1973.
The books resonated among countercultural audiences of the 1960s and 1970s and made Castaneda a millionaire. He ultimately authored 12 books. Castaneda was also a self-styled sorcerer and “nagual.” He claimed to be the last and final leader of a specific sorceric lineage spanning 27 generations. Castaneda died of liver cancer on April 27, 1998.

Carlos Castaneda wrote a total of 12 books, published in 30 different languages. Current estimates put the number of books sold, in all formats, at over 28 million.

After emigrating to the U.S. from Peru in 1951, he lived in Los Angeles, California. From 1973 until his death in 1998, he lived in a compound of four units in L.A.’s Westwood neighborhood.

Carlos Castaneda’s will listed assets worth just over $1 million, but a London newspaper estimated his estate at $20 million. He put all his assets in the Eagle’s Trust, established at the same time as the will. 

Carlos Castaneda died of liver cancer on April 27, 1998, at his home in Los Angeles, California. Deborah Drooz, executor of his estate, said he had suffered from the illness for at least 10 months.

Spalding Mortuary in Culver City, California, cremated Castaneda’s body. According to Deborah Drooz, executor of his estate, the remains were sent to Mexico.

Castaneda’s fiancée in Peru was pregnant when he left the country for the U.S. in 1951. Her daughter with Castaneda was born María del Rosario Arana Lu. The daughter married a Swiss man in 1975 and took his last name, Peters. Castaneda had her fly to meet him in the U.S. sometime in the 1970s. He never had any further contact with her after that trip. Castaneda listed himself as the father on the birth certificate of his former wife Margaret Runyan’s son, CJ Castaneda. The biological father was a different man, Adrian Gerritsen. According to Margaret Runyan, Castaneda had asked Gerritsen to father a child with Margaret. CJ Castaneda subsequently changed his name to Adrian Vashon. Castaneda expressly disinherited him in his final will. Castaneda also adopted a woman named Nury Alexander (née Patricia Partin), who was his lover, as his daughter in 1995.

Carlos Castaneda married Margaret Runyan in Mexico in 1960. They separated months later and divorced in 1973. Carlos Castaneda also married Florinda Donner in Las Vegas on September 27, 1993. Under the name Carlos Aranha, Castaneda also married Carol Muni Tiggs Alexander in Las Vegas on September 29, 1993.

The Witches were the three women Castaneda had been involved with since the early 1970s whom he claimed in the 1990s had also been disciples of his purported teacher don Juan. The three women are Taisha Abelar, Florinda Donner-Grau and Carol Tiggs.

The woman Carlos Castaneda and the Witches referred to as the Blue Scout was Nury Alexander (née Patricia Partin). Castaneda’s book The Art of Dreaming (1993) described an entity who entered don Juan’s world as a “scout” or energetic being. Castaneda claimed he “rescued” this scout in “dreaming.” They claimed she had been born into this world as the child of Carlos Castaneda and Carol Tiggs.

Per Castaneda, a Nagual Woman was the female counterpart of a nagual, or leader of a group of sorcerers. Castaneda, Taisha Abelar and Florinda Donner-Grau said that Carol Tiggs was the Nagual Woman of their group.

Tensegrity is the name Carlos Castaneda gave to multiple sets of movements and series of movements. He also called these “magical passes.” He claimed sorcerers in his lineage discovered the movements in “dreaming.” Castaneda claimed the movements increased energy and raised awareness.

Carlos Castaneda gave those closest to him “sorcery names.” He also advised them to use different names for different purposes, so it can be hard to keep all the names straight. For a complete list of the different names of those closest to him, see this Castaneda World Who’s Who.