Carlos Castenada, Fact or Fiction?

I'm sure some of you know of this author from the 60's. He was well known for his book The Teachings of Don Juan, which deals with the use of psychotropic plants (datura weed [jimson], mushrooms and peyote). For those of you that have read his works, are they fact or fiction? I don't have much time to go into my points at the moment but I will post something in a bit. If you haven't read his stuff, I would suggest, though the lines between reality and fiction are very blurred.

Ciao

I really don't know who he is, but I do know that you should stay away from datura. Read the Erowid reports, they are quite scary.

Castenada's experiences are true, the conflict is between literary "true" and the subjective crazy ass trips that he retells. Flying is physically impossible for a human without means like a plane, but if you smoke some crazy mushroom mix, your mind can acually precive you as flying with the crows. Castenada got in trouble for lableing his book as non fiction because you cant scientifically prove all of thease mystical experiences castenada claims having. The problem is that castenada is a anthropologist not a shaman, and he had written these experiences as an anthoropolighst, while their essence can only be explained by thoes who buy the ticket and take the ride

read "a seprate reality" it goes further into castenedas experiences, and conversations with don juan, he changes his views on many of the substances

Yeah, I can see that. That does make sense. It's fact in the sense that he was hanging out with Don Juan and learning from him, but those experiences are basically subjective because there is no way to support with factual knowledge (other than the experience itself) to back it up.

Ok maybe that explanation wasn't the best but I think I got it.

My question is, what was the mushroom mix he was smoking? I heard that you can't smoke mushrooms because pscilocibyn breaks down under heat and if you smoked it you would basically burn the drug before inhaling it. Anyway that was the one question I've been wondering haha.

What would psilocybin break down to under the heat stress? Psilocyin perhaps? Just curious but I would never smoke mushrooms...I like to make tea or eat 'em.

Got his books in my library here at home. Have read the the first 4 and considered them more factual than his later works.

Before the European Invasion of North America there existed cultures and spiritual beliefs which made up a way of life so very far removed from anything the invading Christian Spanish, English, French or Dutch had concept of. In fact during the Spanish conquest of Central along with large parts of North and South America, Native Religious Leaders, Shamans and Medicine Men were put to the sword and any form of text concerning Spiritual or Scientific matter were destroyed, thus vast amounts of knowledge was forever lost or kept secret. Information such as how people, without the use of the metal, wheel or draft animals could build large cities and monuments out of stone.

It is when such information resurfaces do modern people either find it possible and amazing, or evil, dangerous or at best imaginative fiction.

My question is, what was the mushroom mix he was smoking? I heard that you can't smoke mushrooms because pscilocibyn breaks down under heat and if you smoked it you would basically burn the drug before inhaling it. Anyway that was the one question I've been wondering haha.[/quote]


Its been awhile since i've read the book and i lost my copy, but i recall Don Juan saying that you had to put the mushrooms in a pouch, and bury them with other ingredients like the bark from some tree and some kind of flowers for a year, thus turning the mixture into some sort of super potent dust. I know its very unconventional to ingest fungi in such a way, but the effects experienced by casteneada im sure are due to the time spent underground and the other ingredients that were used, because what he experiences sounds far crazyer then any mush experiences i've had, and i've had some CRAZY ones believe you me.

Hes as real as jesus christ.

Jesus walked on water so why not believe Carlos flew?

pamaris said:

I really don't know who he is, but I do know that you should stay away from datura. Read the Erowid reports, they are quite scary.

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I did datura once on accident. I was young and stupid, and my friend got some and we made tea out of it. His grandma had some, too. She was going crazy trying to find a ringing phone, and me and him were in his room telling each other about how parts of the room would kill us. Colors changed in ways they shouldn't and I was fucking creeped out.