Latin American magic is closely related to drugs. They help sorcerers and shamans enter an altered state of consciousness. In this state, people seem to communicate with spirits that give them various abilities. Some of them, such as the hero of Castaneda's books Don Juan and the Mexican healer Maria Sabina, even became world famous.
According to some reports, Carlos Cesar Arana Castaneda was born in 1925 in the Peruvian city of Cajamarca. According to others - in 1931 in the Brazilian city of São Paulo. Castaneda himself claimed to be born in Brazil in 1915.
It is reliably known that the boy lost his mother early and was raised by his older sisters. After graduating from elementary school, Carlos entered the Colejo Nasonal de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe and then the National School of Fine Arts. In 1948, his family moved to Lima, where they opened a jewelry store.
After taking a course in journalism and writing at Los Angeles City College, Castaneda entered the University of California, where he received a bachelor's degree and then a doctorate in anthropology.
From the age of 16, Carlos led a hectic life. He had many women, and with one of them he entered into a legal marriage in early youth. A child was born. However, the fickle Carlos left his family and began to wander in search of his spiritual path.
The life of Castaneda was changed by a meeting in the summer of 1960 with a certain Juan Matus. It is he who is the hero of the books about the Teachings of Don Juan. It is not known what is true in these creations and what is fiction, but it can be assumed that Juan taught the writer and scientist the beginnings of Indian magic. Under the name Joe Cordoba, Carlos got a job as a janitor at a cafe in order to be closer to his teacher.
In 1962, he wrote his first novel, The Fissure Between Worlds, which made it wildly popular, especially among drug addicts, since the book mentioned hallucinogens obtained from mescaline mushrooms.
Promotional video:
However, the true life of Castaneda is still a mystery. He is said to have had many masks and names: some, such as John Cortez or Charlie Spyder, were used for everyday life, some, such as Isidore, Balthasar or the Nagual, had a "magical" meaning. Often Castaneda hid his real name and the people who communicated with him had no idea who was really in front of them.
Nobody knew the legendary Don Juan by sight. It was even rumored that Castaneda invented it himself, as well as the teaching he set forth in his books, which described the path to reaching the highest magical levels - the Way of the Warrior.
According to one version, Castaneda died in a car accident in the early 80s. According to another, he became a victim of a plane crash in the early 90s. The third version says that he died quite recently, in our days …
Indian shamans often used mushrooms for their rituals. At the beginning of the last century in the Mexican
In the state of Oaxaca, there was a girl named Maria Sabina. She was from a very poor family. Once Maria Sabina and her sisters were gathering mushrooms in the forest. The girls tried them and began to sing out loud songs … Soon Maria Sabina announced that the mushrooms were talking to her. When one of Mary's sisters fell ill, the mushrooms "prompted" the girl what herbs to use to prepare a decoction that would cure the patient … After that, the suffering began to turn to the girl for help.
When Maria Sabina was 14 years old, she was married. When she was married, she stopped eating "shamanic" mushrooms, claiming that their power does not work if the woman belongs to a man. But her husbands were dying one after another … After her third husband died, Maria Sabina announced that she would never marry again and would devote herself to healing people - apparently, this is her destiny …
In 1955, Maria Sabina shared her magical secrets with a couple of visiting American explorers. They published a number of articles in the press about her healing art. This caused quite a stir. People rushed to collect "wonderful" mushrooms in order to use them for their own purposes. Local peasants first accused Mary of giving out “shaman secrets” to strangers, and even set fire to her house in revenge. But then they began to collect "magic mushrooms" themselves and sell them to foreigners and everyone who wanted to "communicate with the spirits."
Although Maria herself said that spirits only get in touch with those who want to help others, and not solve their own problems, no one listened to the woman. However, the sacred mushrooms did not bring any particular benefit to any of the hunters for them - probably, they could only "speak" with a select few, like the same Maria Sabina …
Maria Sabina passed away in 1985. Oddly enough, the Mexican Catholic Church honors her and does not rank her as a witch. Despite the fact that this woman practiced ancient shamanic rituals during her lifetime, she was very pious …
TRINITY MARGARITA