Journey To Ixtlan The Lessons of Don Juan

New York,NY: Pocket Books, 1974. Mass Market Paperback. Fine. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. Journey To Ixtlan is the record of Castaneda's initiation into the mysteries of sorcery - of becoming a "man of knowledge" - at the hands of on e of the most remarkable personalities ever to emerge from anthropological investigation: don Juan, the Yaqui brujo (sorceror). Don Juan's profound insight into the deep, disturbing knowledge of huma n nature made The Teachings of Don Juan and A Seperate Reality immediate classics. The two earlier books were concerned with the use of hallucinogens in don Juan's sorcery and recorded Castaneda's ex p e riences, sometimes searing and terrifying, as he underwent the long and arduous apprenticeship of becoming a "man of knowledge." This new volume transcends these experiences to show the reader th e m ea ns by which a "man of power" sees, as opposed to merely looking, and how by his concentrated "seeing" he can, indeed must, "stop the world." Here in the high mountains and in the bright, arid d e ser t, Castaneda reaches for power in a series of startling encounters with the unknown - a confrontation with death and the past in the form of an albino falcon; with the twilight wind that is re al ly pow er; with a flesh-and-blood mountain lion that don Juan attracts by using Castaneda as the bait in a test of courage; with a mountain fog that brings visions and terror. These visons and exp e rie nc es fo rm the lessons of don Juan, the techniques and concentration and compassion of the hunter - the man whi is "without routines, free, fluid, unpredictable" - finding in the world around h im the po wer th at he has learned to see, use and control. The book is in real nice shape..