A Magical Journey with Carlos Castaneda

Carlos Castaneda burst onto the academic and cultural scene in 1968 when he published the first of four books detailing his supposed apprenticeship with a Yaqui Indian sorcerer named Don Juan. While academic critics contend Castaneda invented Don Juan believers say the fog surrounding his existence express the very ideals that Castaneda attributed to his apprenticeship. Little is known of the Peruvian claiming to be Don Juans apprentice but in addition to leading a generation into a mystical otherworld Carlos Castaneda was also a man. Married to him for thirteen years was Margaret Runyan Castaneda.A Magical Journey with Carlos Castaneda reads partly like a love story partly like a tell-all account of a celebrity writer. Margaret Castaneda concentrates on the years leading up to her marriage in 1960. It was then Margaret and Carlos explored many of the ideas from controlling dreams to using hallucinogenic mushrooms that he claims to have arned from Don Juan.Nevertheless Margaret Castenada believes her husband was indeed a sorcerer and she still loves him. She insists Castanedas academic critics miss the point. Im willing to accept Don Juan as a spiritual teacher and it really doesnt matter if hes not real. But the role she claims in developing the ideas Carlos purports to be Don Juans ought to be recognized she says so she wrote this book.