25 May
Book excerpts, Carlos Castaneda, Power of Silence

The Trickery of the Spirit – The Four Moods of Stalking

This chapter, “The Four Moods of Stalking,” details don Juan’s instruction on the fundamental principles of stalking, emphasizing its four core moods: ruthlessness, cunning, patience, and sweetness. Through a vivid recollection triggered by a specific technique, the narrator recalls a pivotal early lesson in heightened awareness with don Juan and his companions, Silvio Manuel and Vicente Medrano. This lesson, which involved a surprising “test” of being tied up like a dog, revealed the narrator’s “indulgence” rather than the desired stalking traits. Don Juan explains that stalking is the art of breaking routine behavior to move the assemblage point, a feat that requires impeccability and goes beyond personal gain, ultimately leading to direct, “silent knowledge” of intent, which can only be truly commanded and utilized, not fully articulated or explained in words.

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25 May
Book excerpts, Carlos Castaneda, Power of Silence

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

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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