More than 50 years after Carlos Castaneda’s first book and 20 years after his death the interest in his legacy is growing. The books on his apprenticeship with the Yaqui sorcerer don Juan Matus contain fabulous stories but most of all an abundance of shamanic wisdom. Although Castaneda himself always refused to be described as a shaman I don’t hesitate about categorizing him in that way, especially when considering the impact that his books have had and still have. He was not working as a healer but he fulfilled and developed other aspects of the shaman’s traditional role, foremost as a spiritual inspirer and wisdom keeper. Furthermore he had a special way of writing that in itself can be characterized as shamanic. Reading Castaneda is mind expanding; the reading in itself might induce an altered state of consciousness. Castaneda didn’t write about shamanism, he wrote shamanism.
When entering Castaneda’s world a certain precaution and a critical distance is recommendable and my book is an attempt to analyze him within a wide comprehensive shamanic context. The books in do contain fantastic life wisdom and point to many possible entrances into shamanism and Dreamtime. Every new reading seems to open up new perspectives into an almost inexhaustible source. We owe Castaneda many thanks for making this magnificent path of knowledge available to the world. From a plain literary perspective Castaneda does fit well into the Latin American magical realism as one of its most enthralling authors.
My book is a textual analysis of Castaneda based on my own experiences of 40 years of shamanic work in the Nordic tradition. My ambition is to provide a guide into Castaneda’s authorship that offers a grand adventure to the patient reader. My hope is that it might work as a manual and a guide to some of the gateways into Dreamtime.
ISBN 9789163990779, Paperback 92 pages. The book can be ordered by e-mail and will cost US $30, £20 or 25 Euros (postage included); within Sweden 160 SEK. When ordering the book, be sure to include your postal address. It is also possible to order the book from Amazon or the Swedish web sites Adlibris and Bokus.
