Table of contents
Introduction – Sorcery Names & Names for Different Purposes; Castaneda World Who’s Who.
In reading about Carlos Castaneda, it can be difficult to follow people’s names, to simply figure out who is who. In Castaneda’s world and mythology, he gave people “sorcery names.” These were considered a great honor among his acolytes. Many of those closest to him legally changed their names to their sorcery names, sometimes multiple times. To help readers, we developed a Castaneda World Who’s Who guide.
Castaneda also instructed members of Cleargreen, the corporation he established in 1995 to organize workshops and Tensegrity training, to use different names for different purposes. So, for example, people like Renata Murez (née Alexis Burzynski), used the name “Angela Panaro” when handling PR.
And in Amy Wallace’s book Sorcerer’s Apprentice: My Life with Carlos Castaneda, which is the most complete source published to date describing the group around Castaneda, the publisher had her use pseudonyms for most of Castaneda’s inner circle. The glossary to those pseudonyms is here.
The following is a key to the personages in Castaneda World–your “program to the players,” as it were.
The first section comprises Castaneda and his inner circle, the members and/or employees of Cleargreen. Their most prominent sorcery name appears first, bolded, with their birth name in parens. If they had a title in Castaneda’s mythology, that appears next. Then any additional names or akas they may have used, are listed after that. Next in brackets there is a brief description of their actual role in Castaneda world.
Included in another section below are names of other people who played important roles in Castaneda’s life and story. That includes people like his editor and estate lawyer, even though they were never given sorcery names. Further below is a listing of other people mentioned in stories about Castaneda or announcements on Cleargreen’s website. This includes characters like the author Victor Sanchez and self-described “nagual woman” Merilyn Tunneshende. There are also sections below for the more prominent Sunday group people and attendees of prior private group sessions Castaneda conducted, going back to the late 1970s.
I. Castaneda and Cleargreen
Carlos Castaneda (Carlos César Arana Castañeda), title “the Nagual,” aka Charlie Spider, Carlos Arana, Carlos Aranha [Carlos Castaneda FAQ]
Carol Tiggs (Kathleen Adair Pohlman), title “Nagual Woman” and “Witch,” aka Elizabeth Austin, Muni Alexander, Carol Aranha, Muni Tiggs Alexander. [For info on her background, when she got involved with Castaneda, and the various claims about her supposedly being in the Second Attention for 10 years, see Carol Tiggs Chronology.]
Florinda Donner (Regine “Gina” Thal), title “Witch,” aka Florinda Donner-Grau, Regina Steiner (married name). [For info on her background, the three books she wrote and their dubious factual basis, as well as on the role she played within Castaneda world, see Florinda Donner Chronology.]
Taisha Abelar (Maryann Martha Simko), title “Witch,” aka Annamarie Carter, Sheila Waters, Ricky, Alphonsina, Anna Maria Cordova, Annie, Madeline Rigo. [For info on her background, when she got involved with Castaneda, her book The Sorcerers’ Crossing, and summaries of her lectures, see Taisha Abelar Chronology.]
Nury (or Nuri) Alexander (Patricia Lee “Patty” Partin), title “Blue Scout,” aka Claude. [For info on her background, when she got involved with Castaneda, and the claims made about her in lectures and books, as well as details about the discovery of her remains in Death Valley, see Blue Scout Chronology.]
Kylie Lundahl (Dee An Jo Ahlvers), title “Chacmool” [For info on her disappearance since 1998, see Missing Women.]
Renata “Reni” Murez (Alexis Therese Burzynski), title “Chacmool,” aka Reni Alexander, Angela Panaro. [Reni became President of Cleargreen, Inc., when Talia Bey and the other leading women disappeared in 1998. For more about her role there, see Cleargreen.]
Nyei Murez (Caren Jeanne Mahoney), title “Chacmool,” aka Clair Baron. [Nyei became co-creative director of Cleargreen with Reni until she “took sabbatical” from Cleargreen in 2018.]
Talia Bey (Amalia Montserrat Márquez Marín), title “President of Cleargreen” [For info on her disappearance since 1998, see Missing Women.]
Tycho Thal (Premajyoti Galvez y Fuentes), title “Orange Scout,” “the Leperchun,” aka Nayely Tycho Aranha Thal. [In real life, Tycho was Carola’s aunt. When she became seriously ill in 1996 her role as a supposed “Scout” for the group changed. By mid-1997, she had received a financial settlement and been exiled from Castaneda’s group.]
Bruce Wagner/Lorenzo Drake (Bruce Alan Wagner), title “Element.” [A novelist and screenwriter, Bruce got involved with the group in the late ’80s, regularly attended night sessions with Castaneda’s inner circle, and married Carol Tiggs in 1995. He wrote a few “interviews” and other promotional pieces about the group, even as late as 2007, that purposely omitted mentioning how long and deeply he’d been involved with the group. Bruce’s involvement continued for years with Cleargreen.]
Julius Renard (Tracy Kramer), title “Element” (also Castaneda’s agent). [Head of Toltec Artists, which Castaneda established in 1992 to produce Tensegrity videos, among other things. Married Florinda in June 1994.]
Carola Garcia Arslan (Rene Galvez y Fuentes), title “10-year-old girl,” “Cyclic Being,” “Pathfinder,” “Tracker,” aka Abriella Montana, Carola Alexander. [Niece of Tycho, the Orange Scout, and daughter of one of the principals of Verde Claro in Mexico. She had been in the care of her grandmother but was dramatically brought into Castaneda’s group during the course of the August 1995 three-week workshop. Zaia Alexander was said to be her “mother.”]
Zaia Alexander (Susan Elaine Arslan), title “Cyclic Being” [Lover of Nury Alexander and PhD student at UCLA]
Fabricio Magaldi (Humberto Fontanez, title “Element” and “CFO of Cleargreen” [Fabricio had been Talia Bey’s boyfriend. He and the Moonchild left the group together by the end of 1998.]
Miles Reid (Paulo Rivarola), title “Element.” [Miles was employed by Cleargreen until 2010 when he went on his own offering workshops with his then wife, Aerin Alexander. The two sued Cleargreen, resulting in a ruling that Tensegrity was not protected by copyright or trademark. Miles now offers his own version of Tensegrity training through his Energy Life Sciences company.]
Ellis Laura Finnegan (Amy Wallace), title “Elf.” [Amy was a writer; daughter of Castaneda’s friend, novelist Irving Wallace; and author of Sorcerer’s Apprentice: My Life with Carlos Castaneda. She was in charge of communicating with members of the Sunday group, ran the bookstore at a number of workshops, and also worked unpaid at Cleargreen.]
Halley Alexander van Oosten (Ninette Blake), aka Nina Blake. [A latecomer to the group who became a lover of both Castaneda and Nury. She was highly promoted as a leader of the group right as Castaneda was dying, and had a starring role at workshops in 1998.]
Aerin Alexander (Maria Guadalupe Blanco), title “Pathfinder” and “Tracker.” [Aerin was employed by Cleargreen until 2010 when she went on her own offering workshops with her then husband, Miles Reid. The two sued Cleargreen, resulting in a ruling that Tensegrity was not protected by copyright or trademark. Aerin, who claims speciously to be Castaneda’s only “descendant” because Nury Alexander adopted her and Castaneda had adopted Nury as his daughter. Now offers her own movement workshops through her Being Energy company.]
Brandon Scott (Federico Jeanot), title “Element,” aka Philip [Was still an instructor for Cleargreen as of February 2001 in Anaheim]
Darien Donner (Fabiana Pompa), title “Pathfinder,” “Tracker”
Grant Vospher (Steven Gary Levinson), title “Element” [Did sound for many of the workshops; otherwise basically a go-fer. Worked for Fabricio’s investment company for some months after Castaneda’s death.]
Rylin Demaris (Michelle Stinson)[Only African American member of the group. Got involved when she had some kind of breakdown after receiving the “eye” from Carol at an early workshop.]
Gavin Allister (Heiko Hipken), title “Element”
Leroy Robinson-Welby (Marcos Conal), title “Element.” [A young member of the Sunday group until he was brought into the inner circle, and had relationships with both Carol and Halley]
Wilkie McLaren (Darby Romeo) – Best friend of Nina Blake; writer and publisher of a zine.
Moonchild or Thurney (Barbara Thun)[Italian who was in the Sunday group until being brought into the inner circle. Left with Fabricio by the end of 1998.]
Margarita Nieto (Margarita Nieto) [Art consultant who specialized in Mexican artists]
Constanza Coll (Rosa Coll) [Had been a philosophy professor in Argentina]
Travis McGee (Memmo) [Travis had been with Verde Claro, Cleargreen’s support group in Mexico. He was involved with the inner ciricle in Los Angeles in 1996 and 1997 until he returned to Mexico.]
Araceli Zafra (Irma Arriaga), briefly the “Fourth Chacmool” and Kylie’s roommate. [Was accused of stealing from Castaneda and banished from the group.]
II. Other Key People in Castaneda’s Life
Joanie Barker (Mary Joan Barker) – Castaneda’s lover (from July or August 1960), early benefactor and longtime resident of the tiny apartment over the garage in the Pandora compound. She was a librarian at UCLA and took Clement Meighan’s class on shamanism in Spring 1960. Had grown up in Banning, California, and was very familiar with the nearby Morongo Reservation, regularly attending the annual harvest festival there. She brought Castaneda there. Joanie attended Douglass Price-Williams’s Myth & Ritual class at UCLA in 1970. She had a breakdown of some kind in 1974 and applied for a leave of absence from UCLA. [Castaneda sometimes referred to her as “Don Juan’s first disciple.”]
Ned Brown – Castaneda’s longtime literary agent. [Castaneda claimed Ned had developed dementia and was in a care facility in West L.A. that he used to pass by in the late 1990s.]
Carlton Jeremy (“CJ”) Castaneda, aka Adrian Vashon – Son born in 1961 that Castaneda arranged for Margaret Runyan to conceive with Adrien Garritsen, Jr., and on whose birth certificate Castaneda listed himself as “father.” Castaneda doted on him as a child and they spent a lot of time together. In later years, Castaneda wouldn’t take his calls or respond to his letters. Castaneda ultimately explicitly disinherited him in multiple versions of his will. C.J. was the one who caused news of Castaneda’s death to finally be publicized, after he received notice of probate being opened on Castaneda’s estate.
Byron de Ford – Long-time friend of Castaneda since approximately 1953, who shared an apartment with Carlos and Oscar Rubio while they took English classes and studied at LACC.
Deborah Drooz – Castaneda’s lawyer and executor of his estate. [Castaneda said Deborah had originally been a friend of Bruce’s, and that Bruce had spent a year staying with her (possibly after his divorce from Rebecca de Mornay).]
Angelica Duenas, M.D. – Castaneda’s doctor in the last few years of his life. She signed his death certificate. Also briefly a member of the Sunday Group. Castaneda claimed her grandmother, Doña Alma, was the person don Juan told him to go to in Mexico if he “got in trouble.”
Cecelia Evans (Beverly Madge Ames), aka Beverly Evans, Christina Casablanca, and “la Gorda.” [One of the group’s original women and resident of the Pandora compound until she had a mental breakdown in July 1985. Had been the wife of Frederic A. Guilford whom Castaneda thanked in acknowledgments to The Teachings of Don Juan for his help in “preparing the manuscript.” She filed for divorce from Guilford in August 1967. In later years, Cecelia attended two or three Los Angeles area workshops.]
Professor Harold Garfinkel – UCLA Sociology Professor who inspired Castaneda and whose private group Castaneda was a member of for a time.
Gloria Garvin – Anthropologist and one-time lover of Castaneda whom she first met in 1969. Joanie Barker introduced her to Castaneda. [Gloria’s extensive interview about her relationship with Castaneda can be heard in episode 7 of the Trickster Podcast.]
Michael Harner -Long-time friend who knew Castaneda since 1963 through their shared interest in shamanism, and who continued to defend Castaneda from critics during the mid-1970s and early 1980s.
Marco Antonio “Tony” Karam – Head of Casa Tibet Mexico. Claims Castaneda offered that he succeed him as the “next Nagual” in 1993/4, an offer he had turned down by the end of 1994.
Michael Korda – Castaneda’s longtime editor, who first acquired The Teachings of Don Juan for Simon & Schuster. [Here’s Korda’s perspective on Castaneda.]
Howard Y. Lee – Castaneda’s karate instructor in the ’70s, to whom he dedicated his book The Fire from Within. [Howard’s relationship with Castaneda is summarized here.]
Clement Meighan – UCLA Professor of Anthropology who encouraged Castaneda in 1960 to do field work. He later supported and defended him in getting The Teachings of Don Juan (1968) published. He was a key member of the committee that awarded him a PhD (1973) in Anthropology for his course work, test results, and dissertation–which was basically the text of Journey to Ixtlan (1972) under a different title.
Claudio Naranjo – Introduced to Castaneda by Harner in 1964, they became close friends and colleagues during the 1960s, collaborating (with Harner) mainly in the area of hallucinogens in shamanism.
Douglass Price-Williams – UCLA Professor and founder of cross-cultural psychology who interacted with Castaneda, Taisha and Florinda at UCLA. He conducted an informal dream-telepathy experiment Castaneda had suggested to him in 1974. His very interesting book about his dealings with Castaneda is Life Dreams: Field Notes on Psi, Synchronicity, and Shamanism (2008).
Fausto Rosales, editor at Diana Editorial, Castaneda’s publisher in Mexico.
Margaret Runyan – Castaneda’s girlfriend in the late 1950s and then wife, after they married in Mexico in 1960. They separated months later and ultimately were divorced in 1973. Margaret, who was the mother of C.J. Castaneda, wrote Magical Journeys: My Life with Carlos Castaneda.
Larry Watson -Long-time close friend and colleague, who was in UCLA’s Anthopology School with Castaneda. His interviews about Castaneda are included in multiple episodes of the Trickster Podcast.
Alan Watts – Author and speaker on Zen and other spiritual topics in the 1970s. Castaneda claimed that when he met him, Alan, who was gay, tried to seduce him.
III. Others Whose Names Were Linked with Castaneda
David Christie – Victoria, Canada-based Millenia Press publisher. He published both Jay Courtney Fikes’s Carlos Castaneda: Academic Opportunism and the Psychedelic Sixties (1993) and Margaret Runyan Castaneda’s book. Castaneda sued him in 1997 for libel, seeking to ban the book from being distributed in the U.S.
Ken Eagle Feather – Also known as Kenneth Smith, communications director for a medical science research organization. He claims to have had a 10-year apprenticeship with don Juan beginning in 1973. Author of several books derivative of Castaneda’s including On the Toltec Path: A Practical Guide to the Teachings of don Juan Matus, Carlos Castaneda and Other Toltec Seers (2006) and Toltec Dreaming: Don Juan’s Teachings on the Energy Body (2007).
Harley “Swiftdeer” Reagan – Wikipedia describes him as “an American pretendian and New Age spiritual leader . . . known for founding the Deer Tribe Metis Medicine Society and for developing Chulukua, a martial art, and Chuluaqui Quodoushka, a collection of sexual techniques and theories.” For a time he claimed one of his teachers was Castaneda’s don Genaro. Kylie Lundahl is said to have been involved with Reagan before meeting up with Castaneda.
Victor Sanchez – Author of The Teachings of Don Carlos: Practical Applications of the Works of Carlos Castaneda. [See Castaneda lawsuit against Victor Sanchez]
Tomas – Mysterious individual who didn’t claim to have any relationship with Castaneda but who authored two books published in 1995 presenting a synthesis of don Juan’s supposed teachings from Castaneda’s books: The Promise of Power: Reflections on the Toltec Warriors’ Dialogue from the Collected Works of Carlos Castaneda, and Creative Victory: Reflections on the Process of Power from the Collected Works of Carlos Castaneda.
Merilyn Tunneshende – Self-described “Original Nagual Woman.” She initially penned promotional articles claiming to have been involved with La Gorda, Genaro and others from Castaneda’s books. Those articles appeared in Magical Blend and elsewhere beginning in 1994. It’s unclear exactly what her relationship was with Castaneda and his group, if any, other than numerous letters to them and messages she left on their answering machine. She attended the July 1996 Westwood Workshop where she brought a lot of attention to herself. Castaneda mentioned her in Sunday and Night sessions without indicating he knew her in any way other than from her articles. She eventually wrote several books about her supposed apprenticeship with don Juan and his group, including Don Juan and the Power of Medicine Dreaming: A Nagual Woman’s Journey of Healing (2002).
Her official Simon & Schuster author’s page describes her as “Toltec sorceress and a Nagual Dreaming Woman who has been taught Dream Power, energetic healing, and sorcery in the course of a 20-year apprenticeship in the Mexican desert.”
IV. Sunday Group People
This was a varying group of people from September 1995 through May 1997, amounting to nearly 60 people at some early sessions, especially when some Spanish speakers from other countries were briefly included after a couple of workshops. For the first year the usual attendance was forty-some people. New people were invited and others disinvited during the run of this group. By the end, there were about two dozen regulars.
After the group ceased meeting with Castaneda, it continued on for a year or so, meeting weekly to practice movements, share info about Castaneda and occasional communications from Castaneda’s group, and for other events, like our own version of sorcery theater.
The following is a listing of some of the names of Sunday group people who come up a lot in the notes of Sunday sessions, who became part of Cleargreen, or who did other things Castaneda related after the Sunday group disbanded.
Lance Billitzer, later Brian Boudwah when he was working at Cleargreen [Had been a camera operator at Paramount Pictures]
Carlos Carlucci, later “Bruno”
Thorton Chavez
Rosa Coll, later Costanza (see under Cleargreen Group)
Marcos Conal [see Leroy Robinson-Welby under Cleargreen Group]
Keith Fisher – Friend of Amy Wallace who did sound at some of the Workshops
Leigh Goldstein
Paul Gutsmuths, now Felix Wolf – Former husband of Victoria Gutsmuths. Wrote a book on what he calls his “apprenticeship with” Castaneda, The Art of Navigation: Travels with Carlos Castaneda and Beyond (2010).
Victoria Gutsmuths – Castaneda seduced her and set her up in an apartment in Westwood. Her name when he claimed she was a “cyclic being” of Reni’s was “Giovanna.”
Daniel Lawton – His father was Harry Lawton, a writer and historian who frequently visited the Morongo Reservation. Daniel thinks he likely saw Castaneda there when he tagged along in the 1960s. Published the Nagualist Newsletter from 1994-1995 until Castaneda’s group asked him to stop. Now a major contributor on the r/Castaneda subbreddit on Reddit.com.
Virginia Lee – Did not react well to Castaneda’s advances so was dropped from the group.
Richard Jennings (aka Corey Donovan on SA) – Founder and webmaster of SustainedAction.org
Dana Marcoux – Dropped from the group after he told Castaneda that Castaneda’s path was only one of his spiritual activities.
Madeleine Pincu – An engineer, originally from Romania
Rachel – Attended briefly. Was brought to live at the Pandora compound until her boyfriend Joseph “rescued” her. Castaneda told us he thought Joseph might have killed her because she didn’t use the plane ticket Kylie had bought for her to visit her mother. The truth was she had merely left town, not wanting to become one of Castaneda’s lovers.
Darby Romeo – later Willkie McClaren, see Cleargreen Group above
Salter Brothers, Adam and Michael – From Toronto, Canada. [Were attending UCLA and/or living in the Westwood area and frequently encountered Nury Alexander and others from the group. Their mother, concerned they might be involved in a cult, tracked down Melissa Ward, who confidentially shared what she knew. That led to Melissa receiving a threatening letter from Deborah Drooz.]
Kathleen Seligman – Had also been, with her husband, part of an earlier private group with Castaneda
Ralph Torjan – Canadian citizen who overstayed his visa. Directed the amateurish documentary Carlos Castaneda: Enigma of a Sorcerer (2004)
Francois Villaire – from Quebec [Was kicked out of the group when it came out that he was secretly married to Castaneda’s doctor Angelica.]
David Worrell (aka Jeremy Donovan on SA) – Contributor to SustainedAction and longtime co-moderator of the Sustained Reaction discussion pages on Tapatalk.
V. Attendees at Prior Private Sessions with Castaneda
Not a complete listing, but some of the more notable individuals who were invited, or who played a role in Castaneda world later:
Gaby Geuter – Author of Filming Castaneda: The Hunt for Magic and Reason, attended private sessions in 1993.
Carlos Hidalgo – In 1992, with Marivi de Teresa, opened “Casa Amatlan” in Mexico City as a place for Castaneda to lecture and to practice his movements.
Barry M. Klein, aka Runyan Wilde – Hosted one or more events at his home where Castaneda spoke.
Al Linton – First met Castaneda when they were both students of Howard Lee. Interacted with Taisha, Nury, Margarita Nieto and Kylie in those classes as well, but was closest to Taisha, whom he knew as Annamarie. She invited Al to private classes with Castaneda in the late ’80s/early ’90s.
Greg Mamishian – Gaby’s husband and co-protagonist in the events described in her book
Oliver Stone – Film writer and director. Interview about his experience with Castaneda is included in the Trickster podcast.
Marivi de Teresa – In 1992, with Carlos Hidalgo, opened “Casa Amatlan” in Mexico City as a place for Castaneda to lecture and to practice his movements.
Melissa Ward – Met Florinda at event at Barry Klein’s in Spring 1993, then Castaneda at a later event there. In about September 1993, was invited to Castaneda’s private sessions with his group through summer 1994. Was invited to a number of social events with the group and a sorcery theater performance at Tracy Kramer’s.
Janet Yang – Oliver Stone’s producer and partner in Ixtlan Productions. Interviews about her experience with Castaneda are included in the Trickster podcast.
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