General > Frauds

Carlos Castaneda

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critter - a white non-ndn person:
Yeh, at a workshop I went to, I met many who when I brought up practicing the techniques in
the books (first four) they said "what techniques".  I know now that the techniques
came from the Dzogchen. As far as I can tell, they are the same, just cloaked and stated to
be something else. 

I never noticed anything about his writing to be mood altering or anything like that.

Yes, the sustained action group formed by one of the people who was part of a group
that Castaneda chose from the workshops. When the illusion broke, he formed that
group.

koyoteh:
was his first book completely fraudulent though?
i dont' remember it being presented as real. I always thought it was a comedic fictional story. But maybe based on some true events that he went through. Wheere peoples names were changed. Even the medicines name was changed.

For me the story was comedic. Not a book about all kinds of knowledge being presented, but about a dumbass who stalked an old native man and was trying to exploit this old man. ANd the old man just abuses him left and right. Kindo of a story like  "leave the natives elders alone or else"  kind of theme. 

and i looked up that don juan character and all the possibilities of who he may have been and none of them were good. Seems this man whom the character was based on , studied the european darks arts of magic and mixed them into some native ways. SO castaneda was stalking a bad medicine man.

true or not true? i dont know. 

I still say yes the book is fake , when it comes to people thinking its completely real and is like a refernce book.

ON another crazy note, i met this crazy huichol peyote man. kind of a similar character to that don juan. There were people there saying that he was actually the man that don juan was based on . ANd yes he was not a good man.
THat might be a little far fetched though.

Sparks:

--- Quote from: cleardreamer on April 17, 2007, 05:07:18 am ---There are a couple of other resources that the original poster might be interested in examining. The film Carlos Castaneda: Enigma of a Sorcerer features documentary style commentary from people who were allegedly close to Castaneda at the height of his career as a "spiritual teacher" (it also features an awful lot of horrible, CGI type movie effects that are hard on the eyes). The general consensus seems to be that he was a manipulative (yet somehow seductive) jerk, particularly where women were concerned. Also, a book by one of the women featured in this film, Sorcerer's Apprentice: My Life With Carlos Castaneda by Amy Wallace might be worth checking out.
--- End quote ---

I just read through this complete topic, since Castaneda, unfortunately, is still widely admired and quoted by neo-shamanists in Scandinavia at least. Since 1915, the film mentioned above has been available in full (1:21:50) on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O5b_v4Ruyg [Carlos Castaneda: Enigma of a Sorcerer]
--- Quote ---Watch the whole documentary before leaving comments.... Castaneda junkies please move right along......this is for people who respect the truth.

Was Carlos Castaneda -- the U.C.L.A. anthropologist whose 1968 book, ''The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge,'' became one of the founding texts of the New Age movement -- a great spiritual leader or a cynical con man?

Directed by Ralph Torjan, once a member of Castaneda's inner circle of students, this digital video documentary piles up plenty of evidence that Don Juan, the Yaqui shaman from Mexico who supposedly trained Castaneda in the ancient Indian ways of accessing alternative realties, was a complete invention on Castaneda's part.

Many of Don Juan's ''teachings,'' the film suggests, were drawn from previously published academic articles, and little in Castaneda's account of his fabled apprenticeship to the master checks out when compared to the available facts.

According to the official birth certificate recorded in the office of Vital Records in Cajamarca, Peru the world's most famous anthropologist and best-selling author, Carlos César Salvador Arana, was born on December 25, 1925. On that momentous day his parents were not married to each other. Because both his parents were single, the address for baby Carlos was that of his father, Cesar N. Arana. Their address was 15 Arequipa Street. César Arana was 32 years old. The mother, "Dona Susana Castañeda," was 24 years old.

Carlos César Salvador Arana (aka Carlos Castaneda) provided various and contradictory versions of his birth and childhood. Those differing versions may indicate he felt some shame at being characterized as a bastard (a stigmatized status in that time and place). I have concluded that the emphasis our author, Carlos Castaneda, placed on "erasing personal history" is partly a symptom of embarrassment associated with being called an illegitimate child. Concomitantly, to boost his self-esteem, he invented more inspiring circumstances and parents. Creating such alternatives to the reality he lived in Peru increased his pride and made him seem extraordinary to others.

Castaneda, who died in 1998, used the celebrity his best-selling book earned him to establish his own personality cult. He surrounded himself with servile followers and made a habit of seducing female recruits.

One of his former lovers bluntly characterizes the group around him as ''Carlos's private harem.''

But as painfully aware of Castaneda's shortcomings as he is, Mr. Torjan makes no secret of having been deeply affected by his time with him. He tries to reclaim what he can from his former guru, offering testimony from several ex-members of the Castaneda cult about the profound, positive effect Castaneda's teachings had on their lives.

Trying to recreate that experience, Mr. Torjan has framed his talking-head interviews against an annoyingly persistent psychedelic background, generated by the popular music visualization program G-Force.

CARLOS CASTANEDA
Enigma of a Sorcerer

Written, directed and edited by Ralph Torjan; music by Mr. Torjan and Robert J. Feldman; produced by Mr. Torjan and Pamela Weir-Quiton; released by Indican Pictures.
--- End quote ---

At least one of the people having their say in this movie is on the NAFPS fraud list, i.e. Robert Moss.

The book mentioned by cleardreamer is still in stock:

https://www.amazon.com/Sorcerers-Apprentice-Life-Carlos-Castaneda/dp/1583942068/

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