In the 70s, a shooting star crossed the sky that we could see from every place on earth. It was called Carlos Castaneda. As he dug into the heart of yaqui sorcery, this your american anthropologist open the planet's heads for a whole generation. And the New Age started this way.

Anthropologist, writer and truth seaker,As Idries Shah the Sufi said. See L'enseignement soufi Carlos Castaneda enters UCLA in 1960 at the age of 29. Puzzling fact: no trace of this name in the UCLA records. Was he studying in another university? Did he use another name, like all the characters in his books? Or was he a mythomaniac? A shade of mystery surrounded his early years, his place of birth, his origins, that leads to think so. The paradox is, when he started his "public life" he lost a lot of his international influence. 

Venemous tongues took advantage and whistled that he invented all. Mythomaniac or not, he introduced nagualismSee Nagual's definition below through a coherent, always accessible vision. Along his Stories of power, he develops an demanding action philosophy, that fits perfectly a powerful and brand new theory of knowledge. That seems to be the most perfect description of that kind, explaining a lot of our perception's peculiarities and bugs, and on account of that should deserve the right to be taught at university. UCLA, for instance.

What is nagualism by the way? It is a theory of knowledge assorted with action and behaviour rules. Action + knowledge means a complete philosophical system, that is coherent and operative. What is operativity ? This other castanedian concept deserves a spotlight. As a thing or a concept, being operative is to work properly. A lighter's operativity is to give a light. When the lighter has no more operativity, we throw it away. Recycling. Why don't we do the same with systems?See L'excès rationaliste

According to Castaneda, operativity comes from nagual. This other castanedian word designs both the sorcerer who rules the clan, and the left side of our body (connected with the right hemisphereLisez L'excès rationaliste of our brain). In other words, Nagual is our ability to be a sorcerer. Mind this word, don't get confused with it. In nagualism, sorcery doesn't evoke any devil's sabbat, with black goats and flying brooms. It only refers to our lost powers,See Nos pouvoirs perdus these early powers we forgot long ago, that once enabled us to become gods.See Devenir des dieux

The lack of these powers still creates a big hole in our self integrity, bleeding us white. This vague memory incites the weakest of us to take drugs and/or to commit suicide, trying to fly through a building window. Once upon a time we flew as birds, but the power is gone and they just can't take it. Flying by planeSee A petits feux isn't quite the same. Nagual is looking for total freedom, through life-remindingSee On n'oublie rien and an impeccable behaviour. Impeccability is not holyness, it is  far from that.See below

The warrior's worst ennemies come from inside, as he is the main obstacle on his way. On the road to find out, the warrior will meet four ennemies, so the RuleNobody decided what the Rule has to be. The Rule seems to exist by itself. fixed it. The first ennemy is called the fear. The second one is brightness. The third one is power. And the last will sooner or later defeat the most impeccable warior: it is age. First, win fearSee page and gain courage to go on. Then, win brightness and learn humility. When power come, win it too. And when age come, gently accept it.See Baltimore and More

How an US student manage to become a worldwide hero? It is quite a story. In Mexico, where he was looking for informations about peyotl, young Carlos met a Yaqui sorcerer, Don Juan Matus. Much impressed by his somersaults, Carlos became his pupil. His first book, The Teachings of Don Juan, A Yaqui Way of Knowledge deals mainly with drugs as peyotl and datura.  It brought a diploma of anthropology at UCLA in 1970. Quickly quitting university, the student became a nagual apprentice.

Don Juan, his master and chief-nagual, ruled a sighted sorcerers clan where Carlos Castaneda will live incredible adventures beyond our  perception's usual limits.See Le voyage en alpha Initiated to some non ordinary achievements, he will tell them in many worldwide bestsellers books :  Tales of Power, The Second Ring of Power, Journey to Ixtlan, the Eagle's Gift, The Power of Silence, The Active Side of Infinity, A Separate Reality, and a few others…

A witness of holy quest and mind opening, Castaneda founded the new age movement indeed. We can hardly reduce him to a fashion or a period of time, as today's many truth seekersAs Sufi teacher Idries Shah used to say. Read L'enseignement soufi still use his practices and strokes of inspiration to explore infinity. As we already said, The teachings of Don Juan is the fist book of Carlos Castaneda. It is also the only one that mentioned the use of drugs to be part and parcel of mexican sorcery practices. No surprise!

This fact is well-known, as the recent ayahuascaSee page tourism clearly show it. However, Juan Matus will explain later on that repeated use of psychotropic drugs was only fit for Castaneda: "I had to use drugs because you were too stupid to understand otherwise. I need all that crap to open your head. But you are my only drug-user pupil. DrugsLisez Ayahuasca, vin de l'esprit are only helpfull for morons like you."

Could we say all the ayahuasca users are morons? Yes we can!

Anthropologic essays or adventure novels, Castaneda's books are not equally interesting. One day, Castaneda went out of the way with a heart. The great author and writer became suddenly a mythomaniac egocentric erotomaniac fool. Instead of helping his readers' progress, he tried harder to take their money and run. In that purpose, he invented right away kind of mexican yoga he called "magical passes", a quick way to earn easy money. And the moron became a crook.

That is why his last books could well be called "lost impeccability". As to be impeccable for a warior or a sorcerer,In Europe, this word means danger. Elsewhere, they respect the sorcerer on account of his powers, his inner victories and his total commitment. He is the souls and bodies healer. consists to do any job the best he can, without considering any obstacle. By practicing this impeccability in every acts of usual life, the truth seeker receives impersonal help from Living Spirit.See Le Vivant It looks a bit like grace for Christians, except the fact there is no god involved. By the way, it is completely different! Comparison is not reason: let's get out of religious context, which is unproper.

Let's say that the warrior's help resemble what psychoanalyst Carl Jung called synchronicity: something that happens like a miracle, the right thing in the right place, just what you needed and when. For Jung, synchronicity comes from unconscious. For Juan Matus, it comes from warrior's personal power. For the sighted or for any researcher, impeccability is the condition of all interpretations, as well as visions or ruins, artifacts or antique texts. A good understanding means both prudent and open mind.

For the truth seeker, impeccability means not to interfere: in the sight of past events, not to project his 21st century peculiarities.  He must be unbiased, as far as possible, and build his hypothesis with all the resources of his creative imagination as Henri Bergson said, all the resources of his sight as Carlos Castaneda said. Moreover he has to validate and corroborate them with the most impartial mind. That means a lot of qualities, some of them contradictory.See L'excès rationaliste

Above all, please remind impeccability has nothing to do with morality. Castaneda's masters spent a lot of time to show that. One fine day, Carlo was walking around with Juan Matus in the beautiful mexican bush they called chaparral. Then the nagual apprentice pick up a snail on the path and put it in a safer place. Matus protested: a warior never imposes his help to anyone, not even to a snail. Who are we to fix other people's destiny? By moving this snail, Castaneda might have stolen to this bug a meaningful victory.

The pupil felt sorry: "Never mind, I will put it back" said Castaneda. "Please don't, said Juan Matus. You made a mistake already, don't add another one." To err is human, sed perseverare diabolicum.

Don't look for any god nor moral principles in shamanism.  Sorcerers experienced a blind, universal, everlasting Power they call Energy, and an impersonal but reactive principle called Intention. With its own intention, a sorcerer/warrior attracks impersonal Intention, which pours in him flows of Energy. Intention attracks energy like a metal conductorSee La porte de la foudre attracks lightning.See La foudre, cette inconnue When he receives cosmic energy,Lisez Le secret des grandes pierres the warrior is connected with the Whole Cosmos. Then he starts experiencing lucky issues and puzzling synchronicity.

 Each of us has to learn how to attrack luck.

Holiness doesn't help. Impeccability is the answer.