Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I was disappointed to see that this wasn't a new book, but only a collection of sayings from Castaneda's previous works - with a saying on each page. Nothing here that isn't in the previous books, only taken out of the dramatic narrative. Definintely not for those looking for the latest in the tales. Now I understand Carlos has "passed on" to where ever the heck he may have been headed, so we will not be hearing from him again except, I guess, from these post-mortem compilations.

I have read all of Castaneda's books. I was introduced to them by my husband, a real life Warrior. When I first opened the book, I thought: This is jus a cut and paste work of someone who inherited the rights to his royalties.
Then my husband pointed out at the countless times the book has the word "shaman" in it.
That doesn't sound like Castaneda at all! The only time he used "Shaman" was in "The teachings of Don Juan" and (this is a rough quote from memory) it was to say: "Don Juan was what antropologists call a shamman, but he prefers to be called a sorcerer or a man of knowledge" and never used the S word again in his books.
Waste of money if you already have the books. This is just a water down version, made palatable for New Agers, so that they can buy all the other books.

Excellent compilation for introducing you to the writings of Carlos Castaneda.

Is it fact or fiction ?. Alot of paper has been wasted in trying to answer this question. Personally, I think Castaneda's books should be read as fiction, because only then are they effective in planting a seed of doubt in the mind of the reader. A doubt that may be, just may be, there is more to life than what we experience through the five senses. Erasing personal history, losing self importance, using death as an adviser and other relevant terms are just empty words to the casual reader, but to someone treading a path with a heart they mean alot. What they mean cannot be articulated, but can only be experienced. Castaneda has written beautiful books and this one is my favourite.

This is the 11th book in the Carlos Castaneda series. As I started to read this book, I could not help but think, once again, that this book was put together to further squeeze out more profits from the fame created by the Carlos Castaneda books. The book contains much white space, due to most pages having single quotes. As a result this book took me next to no time to finish, even with 300 pages. Even though I mention that this book is a nice summary, it in no wise compensates for having read the main body of books that Carlos Castaneda wrote.

I am glad that I did read this book in that it gave a good summary of all the Carlos Castaneda books from `The teachings of Don Juan' to `The power of silence'. Quotations are provided from each of these books and at the end of each book a commentary is given. I got a lot out of reading these quotes as it further solidified the teachings given by Carlos Castaneda and Don Juan. I also liked the commentaries in that they provided further insights, summarized and really focused the teachings. I could not help mark the pages with the quotes that I liked and wanted to refer back to. Some of my favorite quotes:

"Whenever the internal dialogue stops, the world collapses, and extraordinary facets of ourselves surface, as though they had been kept heavily guarded by our words." Pg 128

"Any habit needs all its parts in order to function. If some parts are missing, the habit is disassembled." Pg 169

"I am already given to the power that rules my fate. And I cling to nothing, so I will have nothing to defend. I have no thoughts, so I will see. I fear nothing, so I will remember myself. Detached and at ease, I will dart past the eagle to be free." Pg 196

"Self-importance is man's greatest enemy. What weakens him is feeling offended by the deeds and misdeeds of his fellow men. Self-importance requires that one spend most of one's life offended by something or someone" pg 230

"Impeccablity begins with a single act that has to be deliberate, precise, and sustained. If that act is repeated long enough, one acquires a sense of unbending intent, which can be applied to anything else. If that is accomplished the road is clear. One thing will lead to another until the warrior realises his full potential." Pg 244

"Any movement of the assemblage point means a movement away form an excessive concern with the individual self. Shamans believe it is the position of the assemblage point which makes modern man a homicidal egotist, a being totally involved with his self-image. Having lost hope of ever returning to the source of everything, the average man seeks solace in his selfishness." Pg 279

"The thrust of the warrior's way is to dethrone self-importance. And everything warriors do is directed toward accomplishing this goal." Pg 290

"Shamans have unmasked self-importance and found that it is self-pity masquerading as something else." Pg 291

Having some understanding and acceptance of what the above quotes are trying to say is a major step in the right direction to say the least. Without a Nagual, I am pessimistic as to real and lasting change; for me, these insights need to be coupled with Gnosis and the blade of the divine mother.

This is a collection of wisdom gathered from North American natives. It is just as profound as the more well-known eastern paths (Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, etc.). Central is the image of the Warrior: one that sees, not just looks, one whose intentions and goals are clear. A bit like Japanese samurai. They look for the stable and constant, they are not interested in the fleeting. A Warrior is similar to a Nietschzean superhuman in that the striving is a goal in itself; whenver a goal is achieved the Warrior does not dwell but moves on. All actions must be firmly rooted in reality.
As in all paths of wisdom there are seeming contradictions: Warriors should understand what is really going on around them, but should not be lost in introspection. Maybe it is so that a Warrior must have the ability to extract the important from the important. There are many quotes that will help the wanderer.

This book is Alive!
"The Wheel of Time..." embodies the living transmission of the force of intent of the Ancient lineage of Mexico.

For example in the commentary on A Separate Reality, Castaneda relating Don Juan's teachings to the reader describes the Intent of the ancient warriors as being a living force which was created by these warriors at the peak of there power forming a living power of intent in the universe at large. This force of this intent being so strong as to be self sustained, now independent of the old warriors as well as the belief of the the new seekers, is said to by Don Juan to immediately draw in anyone who has even the slightest interest in this warrior's way, without them ever having the hope of pulling themselves out of or fighting off the force of that living intent. The only way out would essentially be to traverse the length of ones own personal path of the warrior.

This Force of Intent then becomes a source of refuge, and incomprehensible support in the life of the seeker of personal power, and as Don Juan says no one would want to fight that force anyways because it was an energetic structure of the epitome of Strategy, personal power, impeccability, lending all the support to the new warrior necessary to face all of oneself and prepare for the ultimate encounter with the unknown aspects of self as well as the universe at large.

On the surface this book appears as a synthesis and re evaluation of the entire works of Carlos Castaneda after thirty years of effort and integration, with quotes of Don Juan from the major books as well as a commentary by Carlos looking back with greater perspective at the time of his apprenticeship which that specific book encapsulates. Also whether conscious or not this forms a final seal to the entire collection of the author not long before his death. (or disappearance)

However as previously stated and as Carlos mentions "The Wheel of Time" took on a life of its own beyond his own control or design. There is something happening behind the scenes with the Intent that has manifested and lives in this book. This force of magic directly from the Shamans of old Mexico works to turn the wheel of time within the reader, certainly guiding this knowledge to where ever and whomever it intends to.

From the author of: Cosmic Consciousness and Healing with the Quantum Field: -a Guide to Holding Space Facilitating Healing, Attunements, Blessings, and Empowerments for Self and Others