Blog 7

Watching the movie Other Worlds in class on Monday helped give me a better picture in my head to go with what I’m reading about in The Teachings of Don Juan. I noticed that the Indians took all day to make their hallucinogenic potion in the movie and it was not easily done. It is similar with some of the drugs ingested by Castaneda and don Juan in the fact that they have to go through a process before they ingest the drug. I’m starting to think that the gathering and preparation of the drugs are just as important as the experience they get from using them. This reminds me of the steps taken before communion in many Christian religions. I was at a Catholic wedding over the weekend and before communion was given there were many different steps taken by the priest before the congregation actually took communion.
The devil’s weed took years before it was prepared in the correct way and involved Castaneda growing and taking care of his own plant. (I thought it was hilarious how Castaneda waited until night fall to dance around his plant because he was embarrassed to be seen by other people.)
I didn’t mind the sacrifice of the pig in Other Worlds, because as Danny said in his blog it was done rather quickly, but I was very turned off by the treatment of the lizards by don Juan and Castaneda and couldn’t get the image of them suffering out of my head.
Anyway, back to the topic of preparation time for the drugs. The only drug that they have ingested so far with out altering is the Mescalito, which they pick right from the cactus. Although, even picking the Mescalito became a process as don Juan led Castaneda on a journey for days into the desert to pick from the proper area. Their seems to be a whole ritual in picking the Mescalito since they pass many patches of it on their journey before don Juan decides to harvest some.
The preparation of ingredients for smoking in the pipe was also something that took a long time. I think it took them a year to gather all the ingredients and then the cycle would start all over again. I really like the questions that come from Castaneda’s point of view in the book because many times I find myself wondering the same thing, even if we never get a straight answer from don Juan. Especially when Castaneda kept asking whether the mixture for the pipe would lose its potency after a year and if that’s why they had to gather a new batch every year. I agree with Jill in her blog when she said Castaneda may have set himself up for a bad trip before he smoked. Castaneda went into the whole process so scared it didn’t surprise me at all that his experience was unpleasant. I do believe that after time and more experiences with the smoke that Castaneda will be able to handle its power and the smoke will truly be his ally.In conclusion, the gathering and preparation done by don Juan and Castaneda seem to be as important as the actual taking of the drug.