The Wheel of Time: The Shamans of Ancient Mexico, Their Thoughts About Life, Death and the Universe [Hardcover]

Carlos Castaneda (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1998 | ISBN-10: 0966411609 | ISBN-13: 978-0966411607 | Edition: 1ST

WORLD-RENOWNED BESTSELLING AUTHOR CARLOS CASTANEDA'S SELECTION OF HIS WRITINGS ON THE SHAMANS OF ANCIENT MEXICO

Near the end of his life, Carlos Castaneda gathered together and reviewed his seminal works on his training as a shaman initiate, recorded in a literary career that spans over thirty years. The result is this groundbreaking collection of quotations -- the essence of Carlos Castaneda, drawn from his landmark volumes including The Teachings of Don Juan, Journey to Ixtlan, A Separate Reality, and Tales of Power. Enhanced with an introduction and original commentary by the author, this powerful work illuminates the shaman's life as never before. Castaneda's words explore how the ancient shamans could literally touch and direct the wheel of time -- a profound yet pragmatic tradition that can be felt even in our day.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Deepak Chopra Carlos Castaneda is one of the most profound and influential thinkers of this century. His insights are paving the direction for the future evolution of human consciousness. We should all be deeply indebted to him.

The New York Times Book Review We are incredibly fortunate to have Carlos Castaneda's books. Taken together they form a work among the best that the science of anthropology has produced. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Born in 1925 in Peru, anthropologist Carlos Castaneda wrote a total of 15 books, which sold 8 million copies worldwide and were published in 17 different languages. In his writing, Castaneda describes the teaching of Don Juan, a Yaqui sorcerer and shaman. His works helped define the 1960's and usher in the New Age movement. Even after his mysterious death in California in1998, his books continue to inspire and influence his many devoted fans. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 290 pages
• Publisher: La Eidolana Pr; 1ST edition (June 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966411609
• ISBN-13: 978-0966411607
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,045,868 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Abstraction of Castaneda's Warrior's Way, July 31, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Wheel of Time: The Shamans of Ancient Mexico, Their Thoughts About Life, Death and the Universe (Hardcover)

Castaneda is one of the most fascinating occultists of the past 100 years. Like Blavatsky, McGregor Mathers and Gurdjieff it is always hard to tell what is fact, what is fiction and what is visionary. I read the first book, Don Juan, while still in college and looked forward to every book thereafter. Every book had the strange ability to "zonk" me - to dump me into a sleepy somnolent state that was a cross between some trance state and a deep sleep. I think Carlos was the closest we have in the West to a mythmaker, a dreamweaver. Starting in 1993 Casteneda and other members of his party became slightly more public - Abelar and Donner gave bookstore lectures, later they and others (and even CC, on a couple of occasions) gave workshops on CC's "Tensegrity" system of body movements. Although CC kept referring to Don Juan, it seemed more and more as though he was speaking for himself as well; the student had become the teacher. In that sense the "Don Juan Mythos" embodied in the various books (Ixtlan, Power of Silence, Art of Dreaming etc.) is finally and elegantly replaced by this final work of Carlos', the Wheel of Time, which is spare and abstract. This book has been criticized for largely being made up of select quotes and paraphrases from the "Mythos" but that is not true; each selection from the books has a lucid, poetical introduction in the best Castaneda tradition of spare but beautiful language, followed by a critical commentary or additional observations at the end of each selection. Carlos wanted to go out with a bang, and in this book he has, by creating, without any effort or intent to do so, a book as compelling for modern westerners as the Tao Teh Ching must have been for Chinese when Lao Tse first recorded his thoughts.

40 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spinning the Wheel of Time, July 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Wheel of Time: The Shamans of Ancient Mexico, Their Thoughts About Life, Death and the Universe (Hardcover)

The Wheel of Time was written for those individuals who have been caught up in the web of the Warriors way. By selecting these quotations in such a way, Carlos Castaneda deconstructed the rather numerous Shamanistic trickery associated with his teacher. In this way he insured that no one would be able to fall into the chaos which seems to inflict other travelers into the other side of things. The Wheel of Time was specifically written for practitioners with each quotation an expression of a particular problem which arises within the structure of this path. This book was not intended for speculation. It was intended as an avenue into the unknown which allows the warrior to remain free and unbroken.

64 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Useless book, September 12, 2002

By 

Alen Lovrencic (Varazdin, Croatia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wheel Of Time: The Shamans Of Mexico Their Thoughts About Life Death And The Universe (Paperback)

This is the book of short excerpts taken from first 8 Castaneda's books. There is nothing new in it. The book is made and published after Castanedas death, and that is the only reason why this book is interesting to customers.

You cannot read this book because the excerpt on a page hs nothing common with the excerpt on the next page. Only thing what is possible to do with it is to open book randomly and read what is in the page you opened.

Even more, I would be less critical if someone would take these excerpts and group them by the theme. That would give some purpose to the book. But in this book excerps are grouped by the book in which they can be found.

The way in which the matter is presented in this book is useless.