Science Forums 2

[CraigD]

Originally Posted by Thunderbird

One caveat about reading these books.

Reading about the "warrior" does not make me one, but it does make me aware that they exist.

Another caveat: not only does reading about Don Juan and other sorcerer warriors not make you one, it doesn’t guarantee that they actually exist, other than as imaginary, fictional characters. It’s pretty universally accepted among anthropologists nowadays that they don’t – though if you’re truly initiate into these or other books and the subculture around them, this isn’t necessarily a hard stop barrier. When I read them as a teen in the 1970s, people I discussed them with, including adult academics, generally believed the characters, though not necessarily the precise events, in Castenada’s books were real.

Even walking the Eagle’s Path - a tradition I can personally attest has real devotees, the last time I checked, ca. 1999, though Hopi, not Yaqui ones, with origins that cannot, by definition, date back further than 4/19/1943 – hasn’t to the best of my knowledge brought Don Juan into objective reality – though it’s an intensely interesting walk.