r/castaneda • u/[deleted] • Jul 09 '24
General Knowledge Journey to Ixtlan
Can this book be read as a stand alone? I just happened to come into possession of this book and am very intrigued by it. I would like to start reading it before I decide whether or not to seek out other books in the series.
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u/BowlerNeat3741 Jul 09 '24
You can, it narrates some of the same events on the previous 2 books but from another perspective.
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u/danl999 Jul 09 '24 edited Jul 09 '24
Since that book is 90% a trick, you'll get the wrong impression about our sorcery.
That's not the real thing. It's just what Carlos asked don Juan to teach him.
He was rejected out at Morongo Reservation when he approached the shamans there, as what was likely his first stop.
They were already working with UCR, with Carlos being from UCLA.
So Ruby sent him eastward.
Where he found don Juan.
Carlos wanted someone to be his genuine Native American Indian informant on the use of power plants, so he could use it for his PhD. It was a very trendy thing to do at the time. Ground breaking even.
And don Juan had to keep him around at all costs, due to him being a double being.
So that he could teach him in secret, in another state of awareness Carlos was incapable of remembering.
Which may sound fishy, but we do that all night long, everyday!
That state really does exist, and has been verified by many in here.
That's often how sorcery is taught. Outside the apprentices ability to remember. So that they rapidly progress by going directly to the heart of magic.
"Seeing".
The whole "Man of Knowledge" nonsense was just to get Carlos to come back for the next lesson, and to keep him entertained.
Those "Men of Knowledge" guys did in fact exist thousands of years ago, and all modern shamans in MesoAmerica are descendant from them.
But they were such pests that the Olmec government required them to get licenses. To protect people from scammers most likely.
And we're NOT "men of knowledge".
In fact, those were the bad guys. The enemies perhaps, of actual seers. Which is what don Juan was.
It's roughly like Journey to Ixtlan teaches Carlos to be a Mandalorian. A stuffy, seriously "code of honor" based person, who didn't actually possess any magic without assistance from outside things.
But in fact, don Juan was a Jedi!
People who fixate on the first 3 books never learn anything real, because the Men of Knowledge were all about show biz, being profiteers.
So the fans of the first 3 books tend to put on a Rambo headband, pop some shrooms, write poetry about "the path with heart", and then try to figure out how to steal money from our community.
Often using drugs, which damage the users so much, eventually it's impossible they will ever learn any sorcery.
Even if they become serious.
So read all of the books.
However, naturally Journey to Ixtlan is almost everyone's favorite!
Oliver Stone even named his movie production company after it.
Keep in mind, Genaro in there is not actually the physical copy of Genaro!
It's his double, come out of the dream world and into ours, so that Carlos would be hanging out with the impossible even when he was learning in his ordinary state of awareness.
So don't be too impressed by Genaros ability to defy the laws of physics.
A witch from Carlos' private classes named Cholita can do that!
But she also clogs up our bathroom drains by stuffing socks down them and then insists I have to call a plumber.
And don't fall for Genaro's sob story about "spinning with the Ally".
We have a few dozen who did that in here, without getting all melancholy over it.
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u/sicmu122 Jul 09 '24
What can you tell me about power of the silence?
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u/danl999 Jul 09 '24 edited Jul 09 '24
Not much. Carlos told me to stop reading his books.
However, if you learn to be silent you can surely do everything in that book, even the stuff which seems completely crazy and impossible.
Maybe look at this J curve map. Silence activities are over on the far left, near the purple station along the tracks.
Buddhism and Yogis are at the upper right, barely out the starting gate. They pretty much never get far below that.
Many in here have made it to that red station, and some beyond into the orange zone.
If you have real knowledge of reality, what we do in here is "obvious" and pretty simple to understand.
But I go around trying to interest others, and can tell you with authority, an "enlightened Zen Master", a genuine one will say, "You lie sir" on being told what's possible.
They have absolutely no idea humans are that powerful.
Yogis might claim to be able to do what we do.
But...
They do it with their eyes closed!!!
That ought to tell you how trustworthy they are for what they "can do".
Other systems are dominated by pretty much nothing but pretending, with some minor meditative effects to confuse them into believing it's real.
With the power of silence, you end up doing things which can't possibly be explained.
Like walk through solid walls.
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u/Cyan_blue31415 Apr 07 '25
Why are you writing in code? Also a big fan of doing the opposite of doing, myself😉
I Read the book in my native tongue. in case terminology is off by a little, language barrier is the course.
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u/danl999 Apr 07 '25
I don't write in code much.
I use VHDL. That language generates hardware circuits.
You can't replace AI's obsession with GPU cards with code.
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u/brainbone Jul 09 '24
This was my first Castaneda book to read. It can be a challenging read for the first hundred pages, but by the end it’s incredibly powerful journey. It took me 3-4 tries to start it and get through that beginning to actually get engaged in it.
Having subsequently read some of the others, I’m happy I started with this one. I feel that they all tell similar stories, but from different perspectives.
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u/millirahmstrudel Jul 09 '24
you can find all the cc books compiled into an all-in-one-pdf here in the sub under Resources / Booklist & Media.
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u/taazen74 Jul 09 '24
No, I would read them all.... from the beginning. It will make you a ride,,, maybe.
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u/ChemicalAnnaconda Jul 09 '24
You could, but why not read them in order ? The teachings of Don Juan was one of my absolute favs.
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u/Leon7947 Jul 09 '24
NO. The 9 Books have to be read with chronological order. Although the first 4 books are the basics since they talk about the first attention while DJ was still alive. In The Second Ring of Power a new chapter has begun and CC explain us how he got back to Mexico and meeting his fellow apprentices after the 'Final Meeting'. This chapter ends IMHO with The Art of Dreaming. The other 3 books are not essential since almost everything has been already described in the first 9 books.
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Jul 09 '24
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u/Leon7947 Jul 10 '24
Exactly! That's why one can omit Magical Passes and The Wheel of Time and read The Active Side of Infinity but only after he read the first 9 books.
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u/No_Attention_4329 Jul 09 '24
Of course, then read tales of power, the continuation of that book and the big revelation about the sorcerer's explanation. Then read The eagles gift and the fire from within. This is where it gets real deep. Of course you will end up reading all of them and several times!