Spirituality Dreaming and the strange story of Carlos Castanada

[Second Summer]

In my late teens/early 20s I became acquainted with the books of Carlos Castaneda. For years I was fascinated with the stories in Journey to Ixtlan, Tales of Power and The Teachings of Don Juan. I was especially fascinated with Castaneda's concept of dreaming which can be described as lucid dreaming except that your actions in the dream have impact on real life.

I have recently come across the Wikipedia article about Castaneda. I thought it might interest some among the more esoterically inclined VV crowd:

Carlos César Salvador Arana Castañeda (December 25, 1925 – April 27, 1998), [1] was a Peruvian-American author with a Ph.D. in anthropology.

Starting with The Teachings of Don Juan in 1968, Castañeda wrote a series of books that describe his training in shamanism, particularly a group that he called the Toltecs. The books, narrated in the first person, relate his experiences under the tutelage of a Yaqui "Man of Knowledge" named Don Juan Matus. His 12 books have sold more than 28 million copies in 17 languages. Critics have suggested that they are works of fiction; supporters claim the books are either true or at least valuable works of philosophy and descriptions of practices which enable an increased awareness.

Castañeda withdrew from public view in 1973 to work further on his inner development, living in a large house with three women who he called "Fellow Travellers of Awareness", and who were ready to cut their ties to family and changed their names. He founded Cleargreen, an organization that promoted tensegrity, purportedly a traditional Toltec regimen of spiritually powerful exercises.

Then he died:

Castañeda died on April 27, 1998 in Los Angeles due to complications from hepatocellular cancer. There was no public service; Castañeda was cremated and the ashes were sent to Mexico. It was unknown until nearly two months later, on 19 June 1998, when an obituary entitled "A Hushed Death for Mystic Author Carlos Castaneda" by staff writer J. R. Moehringer appeared in the Los Angeles Times.[5]

Then it gets weirder ...

After Castañeda stepped away from public view in 1973, he bought a large[7] house in Los Angeles[8] which he shared with three of his female companions. The women broke off relationships with friends and family when they joined Castañeda's group. They also refused to be photographed and took new names: Regina Thal became Florinda Donner-Grau, Maryann Simko became Taisha Abelar and Kathleen Pohlman became Carol Tiggs.

... and weirder:

Shortly after Castañeda died, Donner-Grau and Abelar disappeared, along with Patricia Partin. Amalia Marquez (also known as Talia Bey) and Tensegrity instructor Kylie Lundahl had their phones disconnected and also disappeared. On August 2, 1998, Carol spoke at a workshop in Ontario. The remains of Partin, also referred to by Castañeda as Nury Alexander and/or Claude, were found in 2003 near where her abandoned car had been discovered a few weeks after Castañeda's death in 1998, on the edge of Death Valley. Her remains were in a condition requiring DNA identification, which was made in 2006.

Because the women had cut all ties with family and friends, it was some time before people noticed they were missing. There has been no official investigation into the disappearances of Donner-Grau, Simko and Lundahl. Luis Marquez, the brother of Talia Bey, went to police in 1999 over his sister's disappearance, but was unable to convince them that her disappearance merited investigation.[citation needed] Their opinion changed in 2006 after the remains of Patricia Partin were identified, and the LAPD finally added Bey to their missing person database.[9]

Full article: Carlos Castaneda - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anyone else here familiar with Castaneda's books? Or curious about the above article? Or about dreaming? Any and all comments are welcome.

 

[Blobbenstein]

I read Journey to Ixtlan in the 90s...It was a good read...as to the weird goings on, I think when people can't develop in an interesting way, they just become weird to make up for it. I could go off and kill myself in a wood surrounded by strange bits of paper that look like alien writing, and then they'll say, 'that Blobbenstein, must have had more to him than we thought'.

 

[Second Summer]

I read Journey to Ixtlan in the 90s as well. Yes, it's a great book, or at least that was how I felt at the time.

I was thinking maybe the disappearances of the group members are just what their teachings prescribe. Or that they went "underground" because they were training a new generation of group members, and needed peace and quiet, away from media or clingy, bothersome fans. Away from "energy traps" as Castaneda might have put it.

 

[Clueless Git]

I could go off and kill myself in a wood surrounded by strange bits of paper that look like alien writing, and then they'll say, 'that Blobbenstein, must have had more to him than we thought'.

They might say "Poor sod. Clearly as mad as a fish!".