blog 7

First off, I was not in class Monday (I was really sick...bleh!) so I don't have a response to the movie.

I really can't get into this book. Granted, it's easier to read than the other two books we've read in this class, but I still find myself reading and re-reading every page because I just can't get into it. I guess the whole concept of shamanism doesn't...sit well with me. I would like to go along with the reading, but the "teachings" seem almost dark. The cruelty to the lizards made me cringe. Danny pointed out in his blog that other animal sacrifices were generally humane. The other part doesn't sit well with me is the term "devil's weed." The very name makes me imagine something...well, sadistic and demonic. Don Juan and his teachings on the whole just don't sit well with me.

I looked up the peyote seeds. As Dusty mentioned, they are not illegal, and the first hit I got was sites selling the seeds. I went to Shamanic-Extracts.com where they are $8 for 10 seeds. There is also a wonderful picture. The description of the seeds and the trips they can induce are the same as in the book. "Sometimes you can travel through time and space, or communicate with your own spirit." This part of the website's description fit extremely well with the chapters we just read. Speaking of which, Castaneda's "flying" experience was a little out there for me, and his questions to don Juan would have been exactly what I would have asked. However, don Juan's answers are what I expected: riddles and enigmatic explanations.

http://www.shamanic-extracts.com/xcart/shamanic-products/peyote-seeds.html