Don Juan Matus

The Active Side of Infinity – The Return Trip

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, The Active side of Infinity / By / 17 minutes of reading

This final chapter of the book details Castaneda’s experience immediately following his jump into the abyss. He awakens in his Los Angeles apartment with no memory of the return trip from Mexico, his body wracked with pain but his mind strangely calm and detached. The jump has shattered his linear perception of time and self, leaving him with quasi-memories and the stark realization that his old life is over. At a diner, he experiences a total unification of his being, as all his fragmented memories from states of heightened awareness become a single, continuous stream. He understands that this integration is a direct result of the jump. He now fully grasps his new condition as a “warrior-traveler,” for whom only energetic facts matter. He feels don Juan not as a person to be missed, but as an impersonal, silent passageway that he must now travel alone. The chapter ends with a strange, mentally unbalanced man screaming in terror upon seeing him, confirming Castaneda’s new, altered state of being and his ultimate aloneness.

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The Active Side of Infinity – The Intent of Infinity

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, The Active side of Infinity / By / 35 minutes of reading

In this chapter, don Juan asks Carlos Castaneda to recount in great detail his initial journey to find him, specifically his encounters with two men, Jorge Campos and Lucas Coronado. Castaneda describes how his search led him to Guaymas, where he met Jorge Campos, a charismatic but deceitful Yaqui entrepreneur who promised to lead him to don Juan for an exorbitant fee. Campos first introduced him to Lucas Coronado, a truculent Yaqui shaman and mask maker. After a series of manipulative events, Castaneda eventually finds don Juan through Lucas Coronado and his son, Ignacio. Upon hearing the full story, don Juan reveals that Campos and Coronado were not mere obstacles but essential parts of a map laid out by the “intent of infinity.” He explains that Campos, the ruthless con man, and Coronado, the sensitive, suffering artist, represent the two conflicting ends of Castaneda’s own being, and that their actions, guided by infinity, were necessary to bring Castaneda to his path as a sorcerer.

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The Active Side of Infinity – Syntax and The Other Syntax

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, The Active side of Infinity / By / 2 minutes of reading

This consists of two poems that explore the relationship between language and the perception of reality. The first poem, “Syntax,” posits that our scientific understanding of the universe—having a definite beginning (the Big Bang), a development, and an end—is not an objective discovery but a mere reflection of the linear syntax of our language, which structures everything in terms of birth, growth, and death. The second poem, “The Other Syntax,” proposes an alternative worldview based on a different linguistic structure. In this other syntax, the universe is understood not through linear events but through “varieties of intensity.” From this perspective, there are no true beginnings or endings, only endless fluctuations of intensity.

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The Active Side of Infinity – Who Was Juan Matus, Really?

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, The Active side of Infinity / By / 15 minutes of reading

In this chapter, Castaneda reflects on his first true meeting with don Juan, realizing the mental image he had constructed was entirely false. The real don Juan is powerful, athletic, and vital. Upon arriving, don Juan performs a “quasi-slap” without physical contact that instantly brings Castaneda into a state of profound clarity and peace. Don Juan then formally introduces himself as Juan Matus, the “nagual” or leader of a 27-generation lineage of sorcerers. He explains that sorcery is not witchcraft but the ability to perceive energy directly, a state of conscious awareness that sets sorcerers apart. He reveals that their meeting was orchestrated by the “intent of infinity,” which he describes as a palpable “tremor in the air,” and that he has been searching for a successor with a double energetic configuration—the new nagual—whom he has found in Castaneda. He describes past naguals as being “empty,” reflecting not the world, but infinity, a quality Castaneda later realizes don Juan embodies perfectly.

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Author’s Note – The Art of Dreaming

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, The Art of Dreaming / By / 8 minutes of reading

In this introductory note, Carlos Castaneda clarifies his use of the term “sorcery” to describe the teachings of his mentor, don Juan Matus, distinguishing it from conventional definitions. He explains that for don Juan, sorcery is about manipulating perception to access other real worlds, a practice called “the art of dreaming.” Castaneda recounts his own experiences learning this art, his interactions with two distinct groups of apprentices, and the challenges of reconciling his experiences in the “second attention” with everyday reality. He states that the purpose of this book is to rearrange and present don Juan’s lessons on dreaming in a linear fashion, made possible by years of dedicated practice, and to ultimately explain the legacy don Juan left to his final students as an act of gratitude.

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Journal of Applied Hermeneutics – Queries about the Warriors’ Way: What is the point of doing all those Practices?

A Journal of Applied Hermeneutics, Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, Nagualism, Warrior Path, Way of the Warrior / By / 4 minutes of reading

In this section, Castaneda addresses two common questions. The first concerns when a practitioner will achieve “seeing,” the direct perception of energy. He explains that while practices are important, the crucial element is to “intend” the outcome—the state sorcerers call “stopping the world,” which is achieved by obliterating self-importance. The second question is about fear over strange physical sensations during Tensegrity. Castaneda recounts how don Juan Matus explained such feelings not as external manipulation, but as natural physiological responses or a product of one’s own victim mentality. Don Juan’s advice was to counter fear by being “impeccable”.

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The Teachings of Don Juan: The Four Natural Enemies on the Path of Knowledge

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, Nagualism, Stalking, The Teachings of Don Juan / By / 10 minutes of reading

Carlos Castaneda presses don Juan to reveal the nature of the “man of knowledge” and the formidable obstacles on the path. Don Juan explains that a man of knowledge is someone who has faithfully navigated the difficulties of learning by confronting and overcoming four natural enemies: Fear, Clarity, Power and Old age.

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The Author’s Commentaries on the Occasion of the Thirtieth Year of Publication of The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan / By / 18 minutes of reading

In this commentary, Carlos Castaneda reflects on the thirtieth anniversary of his book, “The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge.” He discusses the initial challenges of his anthropological fieldwork with the Yaqui shaman Don Juan Matus, highlighting the support of Dr. Clement Meighan and Professor Harold Garfinkel, whose influences shaped his deep immersion into the study of shamanistic cognition. Castaneda explains that his work evolved from mere data collection to internalizing the shamans’ unique perception of reality, which centers on energetic facts like “seeing” energy directly and the concept of the assemblage point. He elaborates on the shamans’ understanding of the cosmos, awareness, and the “definitive journey” beyond death, presenting these insights as a “cognitive revolution” offered by Don Juan.

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Journal of Applied Hermeneutics – The Second Principle of the Warrior’s Way: We Are What Our Inception Is

A Journal of Applied Hermeneutics, Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda / By / 8 minutes of reading

Castaneda presents the second premise of the warriors’ way: “We Are What Our Inception Is”. He relays don Juan Matus’s difficult teaching that one’s energetic makeup is profoundly shaped by the conditions of one’s conception. Don Juan used the term “bored fuck” (B.F.) for those conceived without genuine parental excitement, who are consequently energetically weak and needy. Don Juan’s practical advice for a B.F. was to become a “miser of energy” through abstinence from draining behaviors. The ultimate goal, he explained, is to remake oneself by “intending the inconceivable,” using any available emotional or sensational spark as fuel for transformation.

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