JOURNEY TO IXTLAN

Rating:
Summary: This book led me to Ixtlan
Review: I haven't read it in years, but it has stayed with me.
I actually took the bus from Mazatlan, Mexico to Ixtlan del
Rio and spent a few days in Ixtlan. I showed this book to
the locals and they had not heard of it. (This was in the mid
l980's). They were beautiful, simple people and not widely read.
Ixtlan is more a metaphor than a reality I realized.
I have read several of the Carlos Castenadas books and
the details of each blur in my mind...but the essence of what
they taught live with me. Its about being in the flow,
about balancing energy, about trusting nature, and so much more!
I read them before I knew a whit about metaphysics. Now
that I am a 25 year veteran and teach this stuff, I realize
that Carlos gave me a wonderful spiritual foundation in these
books. One of my favorite lines of his is: "Follow the Path
With Heart". Just read it, keep your mind open, and be willing
to receive change. It will all be positive, I assure you!

Rating:
Summary: Shamanism
Review: "Journey to Ixtlan" is a long and unbalanced (sometimes repetitive) dialogue between Don Juan, the sorcerer, and his apprentice. Unbalanced to the extent that the apprentice is humble, naive, easily taken by Don Juan's views, unable to effectively counter-argue the teachings of the sorcerer. The reader is taken into a long and fantastic journey through the desert, where he is slowly introduced into the teachings of Don Juan. For him, the world of everyday life is not real as we believe it to be. Reality if merely one of various descriptions, therefore we have to learn how to "see" as opposed to merely "looking," and "stopping the world" is the first step to "seeing." Once the apprenticeship is finished we have learned a new description of the world and are able to elicit a new perception, one has gained "membership." We must break the dogmatic certainty, which we all share, that the validity of our perceptions is not to be questioned. In the long process we must learn to erase personal history, remodel most of our behavior, self-importance must be dropped, we must take full responsibility for our actions, and accept death as the only wise adviser. You become a hunter once you learn to separate the images and see two of everything, you become accessible to power and learn how to tackle your dreams. You become a man of knowledge because you have unravelled the secrets of personal power. A man is only the sum of his personal power, and that sum determines how he lives and how he dies.
Carlos Castaneda, an active member of the New Age Movement, had millions of followers around the world. His writings are supposedly based on personal experience, on his studies on the effects of certain medicinal plants and the teachings of a shaman who used hallucinogens to initiate his students into an occult world. His personal life has remained a mystery, as much as his cult, and his literary success is not actually based on quality but rather on being appealing to human thrist for myth, magic, self-improvement, and the imaginary.

Rating:
Summary: Best of the Castaneda's series
Review: All Carlos' books are exceptional. For first time readers, I would read Ixtlan first, than 'Teachings'. Than just read them all. A great guide to understanding whats important in life. Don Juan insists you are responsible for your actions and take each action as if it was your last.

Rating:
Summary: Puts perspective on things
Review: Although this book may be weird or to far out for some people. I think that there is some useful information in this book. There are simple phrases that have really changed my outlook on life.

Things like "Self Importance" really made me worry less about my problems and enjoy the world instead.

Labeling things and categoring things can really take the meaning out of things. For example, Carlos tries to find out about Don Juans ancestry. Don Juan refuses to have his ancestry to tell him how to live or to label him, therefore he doesn't think it's important.

I like the part where Carlos was whining about his father not getting up in time to go swimming. He whining went nowhere, Don Juan said that "maybe he had trouble getting up". "If you were so strong why didn't you go swimming yourself."

I learned that promises you make to other people are equally important no matter how big or little it is.

Rating:
Summary: moving
Review: Carlos Castenada's works with Don Juan are inspiring.They help a person realize that life is too short for regrets.Life is powerful and awe inspiring when you think about it.we must drink up every moment of life.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Most Significant Books of the 20th Century
Review: Castaneda did the world a favor when he began chronicling his apprenticeship with Don Juan Matus. Whether or not Don Juan was one or three real people is irrelevant since what Castaneda learns is highly relevant to all of us. Learning to "stalk" the self, learning to achieve equilibrium in a world full of petty tyrants (including the petty tyrant of the "self") are among the most trenchant lessons Castaneda provides us. This book is the place to start with Castaneda and you'll even find within it Don Juan doing magical passes 25 years before Castaneda finally admitted there were such things. The books by Castaneda are the most important books in my life and I highly recommend them to anyone who's after an alternative way of looking at life and the human condition.

Rating:
Summary: Life changing
Review: Castenada dazzels the mind with his reiteration of the teachings of don Juan Matus, the master sorcerer. After Reading this and other books in his series I underwent a change in life. One could only hope to attain part of the mastery of don Juans journey into the realm of Power. Casteneda studied for over 10 years, with don Juan to become a man of Power. I highly recomend this book and all other in the series to all those who would like to find the true meaning of the description of the world that they call reality, as well as, those searching for the true meaning of Power

Rating:
Summary: I think, it works
Review: Did you ever try to find your hands in your dreams? I tried. And succeeded. All by myself, without any fancy workshops. And now I am thinking - if this technique works, could all the rest in Castaneda books be true? What do you think?

Rating:
Summary: best novel of the 20th century
Review: I am continually astounded by those on either side of the fence who can't see through the thin veil of trickery Castaneda put around his series of incredible "Don Juan" novels, of which this is the very best. Of course none of this actually ever happened; and of course that's hardly the point. Enjoy this for what it is--a really great allegorical story.

Rating:
Summary: don juan will become your teacher in thought everyday!
Review: i have just finished reading this book and after i was done i felt like i lost a best friend or something, it is hard to explain but it is like i got to know these two people (carlos and don juan). i have been in karate for over twenty yaers and have study different styles and believes and there is just so many un-answered quetions out there that when i read this book it left me with more. it is like the movie billy jack and his conections to the indian spirits as a kid i watched this movie over and over because he was what i wished i could be. i have been to arizona many times and wish to move to superstious mountain area withing the next couple of years. i have been practicing meditation-yoga and have read several books on the subject and they to point to the teachings and studies being more profound in the desert area of new mexico-arizona. as a catholic raised we are taught not to experiment with other believes but having been with several other indian persons from northern ontario canada, and also talking with native arizonian indians i know htere is more to life then what we are told to believe. i whould only recommend this book to people who have an open mind other wise they may think you are on the verge of total colapse if you were to tell them, "yes i do believe this to be non-fiction" peter dunn [e-mail]