Arquivos death defier

The Woman in the Church

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, The Art of Dreaming / By Carlos Castaneda / 33 minutes of reading

After being overcome with fear, Castaneda is led back to the church by don Juan to finally meet the death defier. He finds himself kneeling next to the mysterious sorcerer, who now appears as a dark, alluring Indian woman between thirty-five and forty years old. Her strangely familiar, raspy voice mesmerizes him. Overcoming his fear, he offers her his energy as a gift but refuses any “gift of power” in return. She explains that she cannot take it for free and must make a payment. She then induces a shift in his awareness, plunging him into the second attention where the church appears as it did in a much earlier time. She reveals that this is not the past, but her *intent*—a fully materialized dream of the past that he is now a part of. She explains this is the mystery of the fourth gate of dreaming: traveling to places that exist only in someone else’s intent. She also reveals the proper way to see energy in a dream is to point with the little finger, a trick don Juan had withheld as a joke at her expense. After a walk through her dream town, she pulls Castaneda into a second dream—her intent of the present-day town—which feels completely real, though nothing in it generates energy except for her. The experience ends when he feels himself pulled into a black, spinning vortex.

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Flying on the Wings of Intent

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, The Art of Dreaming / By Carlos Castaneda / 31 minutes of reading

This chapter details Castaneda’s climactic encounter with the death defier. After a period of emotional turmoil and a second, deeper recapitulation of his life, Castaneda is taken by don Juan to a church to meet the being known as the tenant. The tenant appears as a woman, a fact that deeply unnerves Castaneda. She communicates that for a sorcerer of her power, gender is a matter of choice, a result of manipulating the assemblage point. Castaneda refuses her “gift of power” but agrees to give her his energy freely. She then pulls him into a dream of the same town but from a different era, a world created purely from her intent, explaining this is the true nature of the fourth gate of dreaming. She reveals a new technique for seeing energy—pointing with the little finger—and teaches him about “twin positions” for achieving total perception. The dream shifts, and Castaneda points at various items, confirming only the death defier herself is energy-generating. The experience ends with him waking up in the real church beside the woman.

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The Fixation of the Assemblage Point

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, The Art of Dreaming / By Carlos Castaneda / 38 minutes of reading

In this chapter, don Juan discusses the manipulation of the assemblage point, leading to a story about the “tenant” or “death defier,” an ancient sorcerer who made a pact with the naguals of don Juan’s lineage, trading “gifts of power” for their energy. A few months later, Castaneda begin to hear a disembodied voice in his waking life, which don Juan identifies as the “dreaming emissary”—an alien, conscious energy from the realm of the inorganic beings that dreamers encounter. The emissary offers him knowledge and flattery, which he ultimately rejects. Don Juan then explains that fixating the assemblage point is the key to acquiring “cohesion,” which is the true goal of the dreaming practices.

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The Tenant

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, The Art of Dreaming / By Carlos Castaneda / 32 minutes of reading

Don Juan informs Castaneda that his formal dreaming instruction is ending, but before it does, the spirit dictates that he must be told about the fourth gate of dreaming. This gate concerns the energy body’s ability to travel to concrete places, either in this world, out of this world, or to places existing only in another’s intent. For a final lesson, don Juan takes Castaneda to the plaza of a small Mexican town, a place historically connected to the sorcerers of antiquity. There, he reveals that Castaneda is destined to meet the “tenant,” the ancient death-defier who has been giving “gifts of power” to the naguals of don Juan’s line for centuries. Overcoming extreme fear, Castaneda is led to the local church where don Juan points out the tenant—who appears as an unassuming woman. Castaneda bolts in terror, shocked by the revelation. Don Juan explains that for such a sorcerer, gender is a matter of choice, a result of manipulating the assemblage point, and that this is the first part of his lesson. After being goaded by don Juan and the dreaming emissary, Castaneda agrees to face his unavoidable appointment.

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The Trickery of the Spirit – Dusting the Link with the Spirit

Ancient Cycle, Carlos Castaneda, Power of Silence / By Carlos Castaneda / 24 minutes of reading

This chapter introduces the “third abstract core” of sorcery, known as the trickery of the spirit, which involves “stalking oneself” or “dusting the link” to the spirit through artifice and subterfuge. Don Juan illustrates this through the story of his own apprenticeship under the nagual Julian, who used jarring experiences—like presenting an “inorganic being” and transforming his physical form by shifting his assemblage point—to jolt don Juan’s awareness and teach him the art of stalking. This art, characterized by ruthlessness, cunning, patience, and sweetness, aims to bring the apprentice into heightened awareness and is exemplified by don Juan being forced into disguise, even in women’s clothes, as a means to achieve this profound shift in perception and self.

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