Customer Reviews

Being-in-Dreaming: An Initiation into the Sorcerers' World (Harper Odyssey)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

With this book, Florinda Donner (FD) gives us another view of the sorcerer's world revealed in the works of Carlos Castaneda (CC) - the way of knowledge ; the warriors path. As with CC's books it was a difficult book for me to put down. Unlike CC, however, FD's presentation is much more of a view from the outside, only entering that world for brief periods. Perhaps because FD is a woman, or maybe because she is not a "nagual", her tales of power bring that world to the reader in a unique way. It's the same world, seen through a different pair of eyes. Eyes which, for me, could more likely have been my own.

In one sense, "Being In Dreaming" is more believable than the stories of CC. The tales have a more ordinary, real-life quality, while still being told artfully and with a great sense of adventure and humor. This same real-life quality, however, in a sense makes it more difficult to accept the juxtaposition of such people to our day-to-day reality.

Throughout most of the book, it's easy to think (of the characters in "Being In Dreaming") things like "those people are crazy", or "they're just irresponsible non-conformists". But by the end of the book, our own phantom-like nature becomes clear, and one is left with the haunting realization that it's we, not they, who are not seeing "ourselves and our surroundings for what we really are: breathtaking events that bloom into transitory existence once and are never to be repeated again".

Where CC's works are like high explosives, shattering the ego at it's foundation, "Being-In-Dreaming" is like a subtle, consistent chipping-away at that same foundation. While the ego has the capacity to totally rebuild itself; to simply "forget" the blasts of CC, FD's stories enter the reader's mind and remain, like those small plants that grow in the cracks of huge boulders, eventually cracking them to pieces.

The subtitle, "An Initiation into the Sorcerer's World", is a very good description. Read with caution.

A masterpiece. This book, like Taisha Abelar's "The Sorcerer's Crossing", is very well written and done with the same impeccable spirit as Castaneda's books. Fiction myth or truth; what one gains from the books will depend on the individual and their own sense of magic.

I like this book for the very fact that there are no teachings. Although I enjoy Castaneda's teachings, he can get very bogged down and frustrating. Books are the western way for learning, but "experiencing" is worth more than a thousand words in any book, especially, if one is to receive any training in shamanism, etc, or for that matter medicine, law, psychology, etc. Castaneda writes well, but is still just an intensely involved anthropologist in his projects.

I also wouldn't say this book was a waste of money (buy it second-hand...). And, self-importance is the irony of this book - of any of Castaneda's books. In fact, if I remember correctly, Don Juan constantly reprimands Castaneda for being so self-important.

I enjoyed the stories and EXPERIENCES of this book and the descriptions of the sorcerers. Florinda's descriptions made these people come to life and not remain flat, one-dimensional persona. Who would have thought that Casteneda by any other name, was funny and NOT entirely a self-absorbed person. I enjoyed the unfolding of Florinda's learning experience and her descriptions of dreaming awake.

Go ahead and read the book for its own merit - she writes fluently on a difficult subject.

in my opinion one of the best books in castaneda series-if i may call it that.
as soon as i read the book-(and the other dreaming book by castaneda) i started having vivid dreams. after a while i could actually manipulate the dream. not long after that i was to wake up in dream- still sleep yet and i could see the room clearly from different perspectives. then i started to precieve other things which kind of scared me. i stopped. that was 4 years ago. i re-read the book again this week. i am going to start dreaming.

Writing style and content is exactly the same as Taisha Abelar's "Sorceror in Crossing" book (same writer?) - which I recommend that you read BEFORE reading this one - so that you can follow the method. For those of you who are totally new to the whole Carlos Costaneda thing - especially if you didn't like the Costaneda books - try these out, they're very different!

If you really enjoy these books, you might also like the children's/fantasy books by Jane Yolen called "Sister Light, Sister Dark" (ring a bell?). Or maybe your kids would. Another adventurous writer that delves into mystical matters is Katherine Neville, also well liked (by most) ... especially "The Magic Circle" and "The Eight". I wouldn't call any of these books New Age (ack!) ... which to me means "goopy radiant enlightenment blah blah" - - they are all wonderful! Very grounded, and no wool pulling, but sheer fun & struggling.

Since it has been more than a decade since I read this book (after Florinda's book signing at the Sisterhoood Bookstore in Westwood), I'd forgotten how artfully and eloquently she had presented rare elements of the sorcerer's world. Now that I am reading it again, I find myself experiencing that strange and wonderful world as if it were my very own. Once again, thank you, Florinda. I wish you very well on your own journey.

I loved this book. It not only was a marvelous story, it actually helped me immensly with my dreaming. I told my boyfriend to read it, too, and he did. He did not get as much from the book as I did. I think because a woman wrote this, it made more sense to me (as far as "dreaming" is concerned) than it did to him. But never the less, I loved the book and I want to read it again. Thank you Florinda, for sharing your experiences with us! Valerie

I write this review with the great reverance for its author, Florinda Donner.

As controversial as any book by Carlos Castaneda, no one like Florinda captures that something, the essence of what we find in all Castaneda books. A path of subjugation of the personal self to the greater force, the binding force of the Universe, as it's called in Tensegrity.

The book is not easy to understand. After all - there is nothing to understand, but only to enter into the enticing wonderful world where (quoting the nagual) "we gotta cancel out the self - otherwise the curtain is down". That alone can be practiced for a very long time.

But than again, I wouldn't take this as a text book - it is rather a feat in perception, performed by a very talented adapt, under an equally talented guidence. That said, i was surprised at how well she explains the use of the shifting of the assemblage point to perform the basic tasks from basic moving to doing her graduate work, etc.

It becomes apparent that Florinda was a somnabulist - not many of us are, so we need to do much more than her to get where she was from the start. On that note, i would say that we can start from having her boyish courage, and relentless passion that is such a powerful signature of her spirit.

More from the feminine view of the teachings of don Juan Matus and the Toltec way of knowledge - a great balance to what Carlos Castaneda wrote - especially if you are a woman.

If you've read Carlos Castaneda's body of work and are looking for further descriptions of the sorcerer's world, "Being in Dreaming" is a great way to go. Florinda Donner-Grau is an elegant writer, but she accomplishes this without losing the directness that marked Castaneda's writing. This book is a look at sorcery from the perspective of a woman -- but it focuses more on the abstract aspects of sorcery than Taisha Abelar's book, much more akin to "The Eagle's Gift" and "The Fire From Within."

On the other hand, if you've never read any of these books before, this is an excellent place to start -- especially if you're a woman. The author doesn't assume any knowledge of the world of sorcery, and more or less presents her experiences from the ground up, making it very much accessible to anybody. All you'll really need is an open mind and a surplus of energy, and the very act of reading this book will become a transient act of sorcery itself.