blog eight

The finale of the Castaneda book reflected the author's suggestion from the beginning that he never entirely became one with the hallucinogenic devices (the humito, the Datura, etc.) and that he took leave of them. I thought it was interesting, however, that don Juan continued to believe that Castaneda had not abandoned them; that he was only taking a sabbatical. It is clear, however, through the author's latest experiments with the hallucinogens, that he was uncomfortable with their effects. He notes this in the last line of the first section of his book when he admits that he allowed the first enemy of man to get the better of him (fear). Additionally, Castaneda messed up his experience with the devil's weed when he rubbed it on his forehead, and therefore may have had every right to fear the plant (after all, don Juan had advised him that the plant was fickle and she had been known to lead to a man's death). It seems as though Castaneda never reached the kind of understanding don Juan had hoped he would. He never grasped the bodilessness of transforming into the crow and he never quite understood the concept of "flight." It may be appropriate then that our author abandoned his apprenticeship with don Juan. Don Juan insisted from the beginning that the allies led to knowledge and power (especially in the case of the devil's weed) and that Mescalito would teach a man how to live. Since Castaneda approached the whole experiment from a more scientific point of view, however, I don't think he was ever actually a candidate for the kind of journey don Juan envisioned. I believe he may have simply been at the right place at the very time don Juan was looking for someone to whom he could pass his traditions. Castaneda was never intended to become a great brujo. In essence, I think Castaneda did more for enlightening an audience on the traditions and rituals of the brujos and their "magic" than he did for showing us how these experiences can change a man.