Who was Carlos Castaneda?
Castaneda was a self-styled shaman and “Nagual,” who claimed to have been the inheritor of a specific sorceric lineage spanning 27 generations, of which he was assertedly the last, and final, leader. Castaneda’s legacy exists primarily in the twelve books that he authored (beginning with the Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, which was first published in 1968); books authored by his companions, Taisha Abelar and Florinda Donner-Grau (see below), which also purported to describe their apprenticeship with don Juan’s band of sorcerers; and a series of public workshops, beginning in 1993, that were devoted primarily to the teaching of “Tensegrity,” a collection of movements Castaneda claimed had been passed down through his lineage of sorcerers and which allegedly originated with the “sorcerers of ancient Mexico.”
Since Castaneda’s books first appeared, many critics have doubted their authenticity. Books and articles have been published over the years attacking Castaneda’s claims from a variety of standpoints (e.g., passages that have remarkable similarities to descriptions by other anthropologists; descriptions of flora and fauna unlikely to be found in the Sonoran desert; the unlikelihood that Castaneda’s purported teacher, a relatively unschooled Yaqui shaman, would be conversant with sophisticated philosophies that sound remarkably similar to those of Nietzsche and Gurdjieff, among others; and basic internal inconsistencies in dates and events among the books). [See A Critical Bibliography of Carlos Castaneda.] Such criticism became so vociferous by the late seventies and early eighties, and Castaneda so steadfastly avoided responding to his various critics, that the climate was ripe for what was to become a pervasive myth about Castaneda: that he himself had recanted the extraordinary tale described in the books. In fact, Castaneda never admitted during his lifetime that the books were anything but his best attempt to describe his training by don Juan and his party to learn to perceive other worlds and “energy, as it flows in the universe.”
Following Castaneda’s death in Los Angeles on or about April 27, 1998, and especially since that death was officially announced on June 19, 1998 (as the result of calls to the press from Castaneda’s putative “adopted” son, sometimes known as Carlton Jeremy Castaneda, after he received notice of the probating of Castaneda’s estate), research and journalistic inquiries into his past and that of his companions–much of which was first published on the original version of this website in 1999-2000– cast greater doubt than ever on many of the tales Castaneda told in his books and the true origin of the techniques and philosophy that he taught. That information, among other things, debunked the stories he told and wrote about regarding the origin of others in his group who were also claimed to have been involved with don Juan and his party. [See, e.g., the Carol Tiggs Chronology.]
Who are “the Witches”? Who is “the Blue Scout”?
The use of the term “the Witches” to relate to the three women Castaneda was eventually to claim had also been disciples of don Juan seems to date to the early nineties, when books by two of these women purporting to describe their experiences with don Juan and his party were published. These three women are Florinda Donner-Grau, Taisha Abelar and Carol Tiggs. All three of them appeared and sometimes lectured at many of the Tensegrity workshops that began in July 1993, and Florinda and Taisha appeared at book signings and gave occasional lectures or radio interviews as well.
Florinda Donner’s The Witch’s Dream was published in 1985. Although it consists mainly of stories she allegedly learned or observed through curanderos in Venezuela, there are references to her having met “a nagual . . . an Indian from northern Mexico” and to a Florinda Matus, who gives her the instructions that lead to her curandero adventures. The book also contains a foreword by Carlos Castaneda that refers to Florinda as “my co-worker” and claims that “both of us belong to the world of don Juan Matus.” In 1991, Florinda Donner’s book, Being-in-Dreaming: An Initiation in the Sorcerer’s World, was published, relating in detail her introduction to and purported experiences with don Juan and his party. The next year, Taisha Abelar’s book, The Sorcerers’ Crossing: A Woman’s Journey, was published, with a confirmatory foreword by Carlos Castaneda.
A Nagual woman, and the name “Carol,” are referred to in some of Castaneda’s earlier works, but lengthy descriptions of Carol Tiggs and her supposed bodily departure for ten years into “the second attention”–beginning at about the same time as don Juan’s party “burned with the fire from within” in 1973–are contained in Castaneda’s 1993 book The Art of Dreaming.
That book also describes, for the first time, the supposed entry of a fourth female personage into don Juan’s world, first as a “scout” or energetic entity that Castaneda “rescues” from another world, a young girl called the Blue Scout. This person was referred to beginning with the first Tensegrity workshop in 1993. She first spoke at a workshop in November 1995. Although she seemed to change names periodically at workshops, her legal name during the course of the workshops was Nury Alexander.
What is the Sustained Action Mailing List?
Sustained Action was an internet mailing launched by Richard Jennings (aka Corey Donovan on this site) on January 1, 1999, to explore and work in depth with the legacy of Carlos Castaneda, as well as to share and diiscuss the revelations Richard was coming across in his investigations of Castaneda and his cohorts. Many on the list were, like Richard, involved in weekly meetings with Castaneda over a period of nearly two years (the so-called “Sunday sessions“), while others on the list had contact with Castaneda and/or his cohorts at other times, had attended multiple Tensegrity workshops (since Castaneda and his cohorts began publicly teaching this material in 1993), and/or had been delving into the “path of the warrior” as described in his books over a period of years. The list was a way for those dealing with the aftermath of Castaneda’s death and the Witches disappearances to process their experiences with Castaneda and his group in light of the information that Richard and others were bringing to light about them.
What is Cleargreen, Incorporated, and what relationship does it have to this site?
Cleargreen, Incorporated, is the for-profit organization Castaneda established in 1995 to organize and promote Tensegrity workshops. For more info on its origins and current status, as well as its deplorable role in hiding the fact that the five women closest to Castaneda committed suicide in the days following his death, including two of the Witches mentioned above, for fear it would negatively impact the “brand,” see here.
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