taisha abelar

[TrishaRoseJacobs]

http://www.nagual.com/ixtlan/interviews/kvmr-ta.html

She claims she met Castenada's nagual buddy so I'm just going to post this right here in the fraud section. Any thing additional would be a bonus.

[educatedindian]

Real name of Maryann Sirnko.

Claims vs reality http://sociologyesoscience.com/esoterica/castan.html
"Taisha Abelar (and a variety of names for her roles in "the theatre of the real")
One of don Juan's four students. A consummate stalker.
Claimed to have spent over a year living in don Juan's "magical" house in Mexico, and well over a decade as his apprentice. Later changes story claiming to be Castaneda's apprentice only, then in private conversation with Ellis changes story back again, emphasizing an ambiguous "they" who taught her.
-What she was really doing: As a nineteen-year-old UCLA student she meets Castaneda. Receives a Master's degree and Ph.D. in Anthropology at UCLA. Teaches at a community college during the same years she claims to have been in Mexico receiving sorceric training.
In 1974 and 1975 photographs are taken of her performing karate along with Florinda, despite don Juan's dictum against photography. Taisha leaves Los Angeles after Castaneda's death and is never heard from again. Carol tells Ellis she is dead, while Cleargreen publicly states she "is directing the workshops from a distance." Carol later tells Ellis she has visited Taisha at an unknown location. Eflis sends a gift Pia Carol, and Carol returns with a "thank-you" quote so unbelievable that Ellis now believes Taisha is dead, or at least has not met With Carol."

The site also debunks what the other frauds leaching of their fraud leader Castaneda said they were doing vs what they actually were doing during supposed "apprenticeships."

Also found an article with responses to Lisa Alred's article "Plastic Shamans and Astroturf Sundances". Good to see the article got through to most people.
http://people.stu.ca/~belyea/Sept2004/RSD/Co9.htm

And a pretty damned creepy view of Castaneda's inner circle. This woman believes Sirnko/Abelar and the other "witches" committed group suicide.
http://www.magicalblend.com/library/cyberblend/AmyWallace.html
Castaneda Casualties: An Interview with Amy Wallace by Michael Peter Langevin
When Castaneda died, as he almost certainly did of liver cancer in 1998, several female members of his inner circle disappeared, amidst much sinister speculation. Had they all "burned from within," as Carlos described a sorcerer's departure from this earth? Or was this another outrageous hoax from a man whose credibility had come to be questioned by just about everyone other than those still held in thrall by his personal magnetism and incomparable storytelling? Taisha Abelar and Florinda Donner-Grau-two of the three "witches" said to be master apprentices of Castaneda's Yaqui sorcerer mentor Don Juan-were among the missing. Nury Alexander, also known as The Blue Scout and described by Castaneda as an energetic entity rescued from the realm of inorganics (and later legally adopted by him), was gone as well, along with Kylie Lundahl and Talia Bey, two more of the annointed inner circle. Their phone numbers were all disconnected on the same day. All had been regular recipients of large sums of the money generated by the royalties from Casteneda's perpetually bestselling books and his community's well-attended workshops. Was this vanishing act-perhaps even Carlos' death itself-the result of a suicide pact? Or was this mystery further evidence of the nonordinary reality that Castaneda wrote about, evoked incessantly, and seemed largely to live in?
If anyone would be in a position to know, it would be Amy Wallace. Having been introduced to Castaneda when she was 16 by her author father, Irving Wallace, she reunited with Carlos in the early 1990s when he called to tell her he had spoken to her dead father in the dreaming realm. They fell in love, or something like it. Amy Wallace had the king's ear, as it were, and ostensibly, his heart. But, as she tells in her new book, Sorcerer's Apprentice (North Atlantic, 2003), being at the center of the psychic storm that Castaneda alternately calmed and created was a painful, confusing place to be. Sorcerer's Apprentice is a powerful yet deeply troubling book. It reveals Castaneda as cruel and manipulative yet charismatic and childlike in his relationships, mostly with women. It's a story told by a sadder but wiser and very honest woman whose self-image is still not quite sure what hit it. She recently told us some of what she knows:

[educatedindian]

Pt 2
Q: What happened to the witches when Carlos died, and why didn't Carol Tiggs, whom some saw as the most powerful of the witches and who claimed to be The Blue Scout's mother, go with them?
A: There's lot I can't tell you. It turns out that the witches, including the Blue Scout, disappeared. I was told by a very drunken Taisha Ablelar that she was going to kill herself. Then I was told by Carol Tiggs that she had just arrived at the site of a suicide attempt by the Blue Scout. I believe she didn't succeed then, but it could be possible that she has since then. And one of the things that made me break with the group was that Carol was actually moving into my house, and she was just about insane--as anyone would be. On Tuesday she would say "They're dead! They're all dead" and then on Wednesday, she would say "They're all alive," and she'd get on the cell phone and say to someone, "Oh, I just talked to them," or "No, I haven't heard from them yet." And it was just too much for me. It was like a "suicide missing-in-action."
But then they settled on a party line, and this I can tell you: Debbie Drooz [Castaneda's lawyer and the executor of his estate-Ed.] is in charge of disbursing extremely large sums of money to these women. And she has not disbursed a single check since the day they left. And I understand that while they were making up their wills, she asked them, "Now, you're not going to do anything stupid, are you?" Now, that's a very odd question, isn't it?
Q: Yes. It also seems odd that they made out new wills days within a few days of Carlos' death. It sounds like perhaps a group suicide was planned.
A: Well, when Debbie Drooz asked them about it, they said, "Of course not." And she said, "Then I'll make the disbursals." But none of that happened. And some of their family members died-like Talia's father died and Florinda-who was in constant touch with her family- her father died in his 90s and her brothers couldn't get in touch with her and they were all distraught because they can't reach who they were used to reaching. And, in spite of the myth that Carlos insisted on a total cut-off from family members, that's not true for everybody. In Florinda's case particularly. So it's very dark.
So we have a couple of things to look at here. Either they literally left with millions in cash and had some kind of complex Swiss bank accounts-I don't know about those kinds of things-or they're not here anymore. They had so much money coming to them, and all that money will go to Carol-all of it.
Q: Why didn't she go? Was it five women who disappeared?
A: Well, there was Kylie and Talia, Taisha and Florinda, and then the Blue Scout separately. And it gets confusing for me in some places because I was told for several days or a week that Carlos had left with the Blue Scout. And I thought, physically that's impossible because he was in a coma last I heard, so how could he be moved? She would have to put him in the car and his bodily functions weren't working; he would have to be injected for diabetes, so I didn't see how he could take a long drive with his adopted daughter-and lover. And of course now we know that none of that was true.
Q: Does this leave Carol Tiggs as the new leader of the community or of Cleargreen [Casteneda's business entity]?
A: The idea of Carol leading a group is as absurd as the idea of me redoing your plumbing. She's not a leader type. What she said to me was, "I hate what left and I hate what stayed." Now, if she stayed and the Blue Scout had stayed--at that point, she was still here; she was seen two weeks after they supposedly left town--who knows? They were supposed to be a loving mother and daughter but there was a lot of animosity between them, and it was quite a sight to see. At one point during that two-week period, Carol was wiggling her toes in the pool and saying, "Now I'm in charge! I get to be in charge!" I don't think she wanted to stay and have somebody like Nury still have some power over her while she was still here. And also I don't think she wants the job. She kept saying, "It's like the whole group of them are sucking on my tits like I'm a big sow or something. I just want to be left alone." It was like Greta Garbo time for her. In other words, she's used to being waited on hand and foot, and she still can be, it's just that she has to deal with all their problems.
If she had left with that group, she would be the lowest on the pecking order. She was here, and she would have been there. If she stayed, she would have basically had to have been consulting therapists because of all the people. So the last I heard was that she moved out to be near her mother. She may have left the country or she may be living in the Pacific Palisades with her mother, who takes an extraordinarily laissez-faire attitude toward what her daughter does. She thinks it's all a big lark.

[educatedindian]

Pt 3
Q: Do you think the other four committed suicide?
A: Yes. Taisha said to me, "Since I'm going to commit suicide, it doesn't matter anymore if I'm a drunk, right?" And Kylie said, "We both know what we're going to do, and there's no other way." She never used the word suicide, but I was worried. She'd gotten bottles of pills and given them to Carlos. She said if ever she couldn't make it, she would take them, and she knew what to do. She was hellbent--she's always talked about suicide. She said, "I know that you've reached that point, too, and that you're to do it." And she was blissed out (this is not in the book; Carol said it). But Talia said "I've never seen anyone look so scared." So they may have done different things or just stuck together, but I suspect they're all gone. Talia's brother was here. Nobody knows if Talia's dead or missing, but if wherever she is is unestablished, part of his estate is part of Talia's estate and it goes to Eagle's Gift [the trust established in Castaneda's will] in her name, so his own home is in danger. So he was really freaked out and in shock. Carlos always portrayed them as rich, but they're not. They don't have the money to hire a detective, but investigations are being undertaken.
Q: How do the remaining group members feel about your book?
A: One of the most damning things in the entire book Carol said to me after Carlos was gone. She said, "You know, you're very dangerous to us." And I said, "How could I be?" And she said, "Because you know too much. You're a time bomb." And I thought, it's a corrupt spiritual organization when you can know too much. It should have been open, truthful, honest, loving--these are my beliefs. I don't think there should be baroque secrets that make somebody a time bomb. So, by writing the book I let off the bomb.
Q: That's right. Are you in touch with Cleargreen? Is Tensegrity [the latest version of Castaneda's teachings] being run by Debra Drooz?
A: It's being run by Reni Murez; she's the person-in-chief there, but they won't answer anyone's phone calls. They might from you if they think they're gonna get a good story, but so many people have told me that they have tried to contact them, and they won't answer any calls.
Q: And yet they're still putting on Tensegrity workshops across the world?
A: Yes, they are. Now, they're getting smaller, of course. But what they do, is they say the witches are directing it from afar, and since there's no proof either way, yet, quite, about all of them, people choose to believe that. Also they have very little information. People ask me, "Did you ever see magic?" And the answer is no.
Q: No?
A: I've seen it in my life. I believe in it. I know it exists, but I didn't see it there. That really blew my mind because I'm a professional researcher and writer, and I've written about the paranormal and spontaneous human combustion. It happens, believe me. I've written 13 books. And I've seen magic. I mean, I've talked to cops who were there and witnessed it! But not from Carlos, or any of the others.
Carlos's books changed the world. He was a great writer and a great performer on the world stage. Whether or not he was a sorcerer is hard to say.
I don't think he had powers or secret knowledge.
Q: Do you think the lost years between his first wife's book and your book were just spent doing the same sort of thing he did towards the end?
A: Yes, he was very focused on workshops during that period. He wanted to go public, and I don't know what his personal reasons were for that. He said it was some energetic need to preserve the lineage. He did try to offer the lineage to Tony Karam in Mexico, and it was very interesting to me that Tony walked away from millions of dollars and hot and cold running women....
Q: So as far as you're concerned, you're basically going on record as saying that Carlos was a good author, a good performer, a good storyteller, but not a magic worker at any point.
A: No. He had one of the most charismatic personalities I've ever seen in my life.... I think what he did was take people, and confirm their fantasies. He would say your dreams or your waking fantasies are actually dreaming awake so therefore all that stuff happened. So some people believed they were living double lives that they were only aware of in a dream context. In other words, only he could tell them, "This really happened."
Q: The ultimate cult leader, the ultimate guru.
A: Exactly, and the only thing they remember is working a job, or going to school, and living a bizarre but regular life. None of them performed acts of magic, although Florinda had the closest to that kind of charisma. too.
Q: Does that, then, imply that Don Juan didn't exist on any level?
A: No one has ever seen Don Juan or spoken to him, and there have been no reported sightings and no reported meetings, ever.

[educatedindian]

And it gets weirder and worse:
Pt 4
http://www.magicalblend.com/library/cyberblend/AmyWallace2.html
....Q:Did the number of the inner circle change over time?
A:Oh God, it was constantly changing. There was a small handful that remained the same, but even people who were in the original group got kicked out. There was an Orange Scout that had the highest honors, The Blue Scout, kicked out. One had a complete nervous breakdown, and now wears a colostomy bag, but still believes in all this. It is so sad, and so heartbreaking, and Carole said such horrible things. She said, "Well, we'll throw her $10,000; that's what Carlos gives when he wants to get rid of people." This is some brutal stuff. The inner circle was constantly changing, and there was this very small, small core of about half a dozen people that remained. Some of them are now gone of course, and now I would say Tracy, and Bruce, and Deborah, but she didn't come to the classes....and I think she got herself in hot water, because she's a lawyer, and she's gonna come in for some very heavy questioning and she's in a very tight spot so she minded her p's and q's when she said, "Are you gonna do something stupid?" It's very weird for Carlos to die and within three days for these women to come in draw out their wills. That's not normal.
Q: Yeah, anymore than keeping the body for, how long before reporting it?
A: Well, they took it to... I don't know how many days. Richard knows all this, and he would be very willing to help, He's good with facts, about how many days before they took him to the crematorium, and the people who were going through the garbage, Rick and Gabby, they went to the crematorium, and they identified the body as appearing to them like Carlos so they took the body right away. He was cremated, and we don't know what they did with it. But they didn't keep the body, but once he died, they got rid of the body; the doctor, wrote out a false death certificate, and that's really illegal. I said, "Why did you say this? Why did you say that?" And I was worried that we might all have AIDS, because we all had sex with him. And she said, "Well, all I can tell you is that it was a noncommunicable liver disease, and someday maybe I'll be able to tell you more. And we know that it was liver cancer, as well as advanced diabetes. But Florinda said, "We think he was a death defier; we think you did it to him." I was accused of killing him on more than one occasion because I had poisoned his past or I.... The whole thing about the antidepressants was weird because I had taken them and then I flushed them all down the toilet. Well, they were like drinking, certain people, and taking Vicodin,
Q: Where do you think he went wrong? Do you think there was ever a moment he could have become something greater, something more noble?
A: I like to think that, because when you love someone you kind of love them forever. I still love him, and maybe there is a part of me that does believe that. I think that having all these women went to his head, and unfortunately I'm starting to learn that it started very early, before the books. He left his pregnant fiancée in Peru, and was fooling around, and he was the roommate of this guy named Alan Cummings, that had come to the readings, while he was writing the first book, and before the first book. And that's how he met Joanie and Lenore, and he was bringing women all the time. So something happened in that family--maybe the story he told about his grandfather saying "You're short and unattractive and you have a handsome cousin, but you have to get women this other way," maybe that really happened. And maybe that scarred him so much that from the moment he could start seduction he did, and then the books helped so much, that I think that probably was an irresistible pull.

[educatedindian]

Pt 5
I think that, if he had realized that he was basically a sexaholic because of reasons of severe insecurity and had sought help or had done something about it, or written about that, I think he could've saved himself....
One of the things I noticed is this: People said of him, "Did he ever stop acting like a guru?" And I said, "When he would fall asleep." And he stopped dreaming in some lucid dreaming, and those moments, he would just say, "Oh sweetie." He would act like an absolutely normal person in the most normal, normal, normal, sweet way that a lover could act at that moment. And then, when he would wake up, if it was a nap, and he would start telling me some bizarre tale about how he murdered people--he was really into telling me about how me murdered people. That was one of his favorite stories.
Q: Yeah, he was working on a love story, that....
A:...it was called Assassins. Carol first told me it was so garbled, I guess by the medications, and it was so horrendous and so ugly that it should be burned and destroyed and no one should ever see it. And then a week later I said, "So what did you do it?" And she said, "Oh, it's a beautiful book, gorgeous; it's going to be published." So we may see a ghostwritten, posthumous, version of that.
Q: Yeah that would be weird, wouldn't that be weird. I'm sure it'll see the light of day. Or somebody will create it just to sell it.
A: I know. People can go on forever. There's a guy who came out with a book saying, " I was Carlos Castaneda; I'm channeling him." And he's probably selling better than I am. I'm taking people's religion away from them. And, on one hand, people are writing me these beautiful letters, but on the other hand, I'm really upsetting people....
Q: Do you think the Tensegrity was stolen from a martial arts teacher that Carlos studied with?
A: I took Howard Lee's class; I took a private session, and when Howard found out that I knew Carlos and that I wasn't just coming to him for information, he was all over me with questions. Because Carlos tried to ditch him and deny him, and they were down the street from one another at one point, and there was a crowd around them, and Howard is tall, and he said, "Carlos, Carlito!" And Carlos hid and cowered, and Bruce covered him like a football player, and Howard decided he wouldn't have any of it, and he broke right into the circle and said, "Carlos, why are you doing this?" And Carlos decided the only way to play it was to break huddle and open his arms, put his arms around him and say "Howard, how are you?" So I think a great deal was taken from his many years of study with Howard. We also know the other women studied karate, but I don't know about the other martial arts....
I believe that Carlos benefited from the martial arts, and took probably most from Howard, and maybe a lot from other people over the years....
Q: How do you think people should remember him?
I think people should remember him as a writer, a fiction writer, who compiled parables, and used some real truths of ancient practices in his work. And they should not believe in the cult's whole group myth. That's very important.
----------------------------------------------
To read excerpts from Amy Wallace's book Sorcerer's Apprentice, go to http://www.sustainedaction.org/Wallace_Book/Wallace_Book.htm.

[Bendigeidfran]

I'm following this topic with some interest, but so far it seems to be very circular - with not very much info as to how Taish Abelar/Maryann Sirnko was fraudulent, or even who she really was. I've done a search on her name, but it just brings up Taisha Abelar again.  I'd really like some more information on this person, as a friend of mine is starting to believe in the rubbish written by this person, and by Castaneda's ludicrous accounts.  

After finding out about this site and others, I'm boycotting Amazon.  Keep up the good work!.

If you're interested in the maintenance of a culture and language in another,European part of the world, take a look at www.notEnglish.com it doesn't like New Agers either!