Ancient Cycle

The First Attention

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, The Fire from Within / By / 21 minutes of reading

Don Juan begins to explain the “first attention,” which he defines as the highly developed, complex awareness that handles our day-to-day world. He states that this attention is responsible for taking an “inventory” of the Eagle’s emanations within our cocoons, a process unique to humans. He differentiates between “reason,” which ignores external impulses, and “self-absorption,” which uses them to agitate internal emanations, shortening life. The new seers, through “seeing,” understand that the first attention blocks the unknown, making us “invulnerable” but also limiting our perception. Don Juan, with Genaro’s help, demonstrates this by opening a door to “weird creatures” that Carlos’s first attention initially blocks from his perception, highlighting how our ordinary awareness acts as a shield against other realities. This experience leads to a hasty departure from Genaro’s house, as Carlos’s “first attention” is overwhelmed by the unknown.

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The Fire from Within – Foreword

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, The Fire from Within / By / 7 minutes of reading

Carlos Castaneda introduces “The Fire from Within” as an account of his apprenticeship with don Juan Matus, focusing on the “teachings for the left side” – lessons given in states of heightened awareness that were previously difficult to recall. He explains that his earlier writings depicted don Juan as a sorcerer and focused on “teachings for the right side,” but this book reveals that don Juan and his companions are actually “seers” and masters of ancient knowledge: awareness, stalking, and intent. Don Juan, as a “nagual,” is the leader of a party of seers, and Carlos himself is the nominal leader of a “new nagual’s party.” Carlos describes heightened awareness as a state of intense perceptual clarity where one can focus with uncommon force, yet it is not easily remembered in normal awareness. He details the ritualistic way he would enter this state and the profound joy and unsettling sadness it brought. The book specifically delves into the “mastery of awareness,” which don Juan presents as a modern version of the ancient Toltec seers’ tradition, refined by “new seers” who are warriors of total freedom, capable of choosing their departure from the world by being consumed by a “fire from within.”

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The New Seers

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, The Fire from Within / By / 14 minutes of reading

Carlos recounts his arrival in Oaxaca where he meets don Juan, who immediately shifts him into a state of heightened awareness. Don Juan begins to explain the history of Toltec seers, distinguishing between the ancient Toltec seers—powerful sorcerers obsessed with their “seeing” that ultimately led to their downfall—and the new seers, who are warriors of total freedom. The new seers, having learned from the mistakes of the old, emphasize stalking, dreaming, and intent, and use their heightened awareness to seek freedom rather than control. Don Juan also explains that “seeing” is a profound form of knowing, not merely visual perception, and that the world is composed of “Eagle’s emanations” rather than solid objects. He emphasizes that the new seers have developed a systematic way to understand awareness that was lacking in the ancient Toltecs, who were destroyed by their own pursuits.

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A Witness to Acts of Power – An Appointment With Knowledge

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, Tales of Power / By / 78 minutes of reading

In this chapter, I unexpectedly find don Juan in Sonora, where he reveals that my true path to sorcerers’ knowledge lies in accumulating personal power, not through hallucinogenic plants or intellectual explanations. We visit a power spot where I am challenged to “see” a mysterious “moth,” which don Juan clarifies is a manifestation of knowledge. Despite my rational attempts to explain away the unsettling encounter, don Juan continually emphasizes the role of personal power, impeccability, and the silencing of internal dialogue in understanding the world of sorcerers. He introduces the concept of the “double,” exemplified by don Genaro’s seemingly impossible appearance, challenging my perceptions of reality and demanding that I embrace the unfathomable nature of existence through experience, rather than solely through reason. The chapter concludes with me witnessing Don Genaro’s “double” in a profound and baffling manner, leaving me with a deep sense of perplexity and a clear imperative to continue cultivating my personal power.

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A Witness to the Acts of Power – The Dreamer and the Dreamed

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, Tales of Power / By / 46 minutes of reading

In this chapter, Don Juan and Don Genaro continued to challenge my rational understanding of reality. Don Juan clarified the concept of the ‘double,’ explaining that Don Genaro had appeared as his double the previous night, an entity born of dreaming that defies conventional physical laws. He emphasized that my struggles with belief stemmed from my reason attempting to confine experiences within its ‘description of the world.’ The core lesson, however, centered on ‘the dreamer and the dreamed,’ a profound notion that ultimately, we ourselves are dreams, dreamed by our own doubles, a mystery of luminous beings that can only be witnessed, not logically explained.

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A Witness to the Acts of Power – The Secret of The Luminous Beings

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, Tales of Power / By / 37 minutes of reading

In this chapter, Don Juan and Don Genaro initiated a series of challenging tests designed to push me beyond my conventional understanding, culminating in a demonstration of “the secret of the luminous beings.” Through exercises in focusing my will and stopping internal dialogue, I experienced profound perceptual shifts, such as witnessing “the ally” as a moth and “seeing” people as energetic forms. Don Juan explained that all beings are luminous and that our perception is governed by an “assemblage point” that can be moved through discipline and personal power. The chapter concluded with Don Genaro’s astonishing reappearance, which further blurred the lines between ordinary reality and the sorcerers’ world, emphasizing that my reason alone was insufficient to grasp these events and that true understanding lay in direct perception and the cultivation of my will.

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The Tonal and the Nagual – Having to Believe

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, Tales of Power / By / 23 minutes of reading

In this chapter, I met Don Juan in Mexico City, where he appeared in a suit, a deliberate incongruity designed to challenge my perception. He emphasized the warrior’s need for “impeccability” and “humbleness” over self-confidence, asserting that true understanding comes from accumulating personal power rather than seeking convenient explanations. Through the vivid retelling of my dream-control experiences and a symbolic story about two cats, Don Juan introduced the crucial distinction between merely “believing” and “having to believe”—the latter being a warrior’s conscious choice to accept unfathomable realities, particularly the omnipresent nature of death, as a source of power and mystery, exemplified by a dying man we observed in the park.

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The Tonal and the Nagual – The Island of The Tonal

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, Tales of Power / By / 47 minutes of reading

In this chapter, Don Juan introduces the concepts of “tonal” and “nagual” as the two fundamental aspects of every human being, dispelling my anthropological preconceptions. He explains that the tonal is the “social person,” the organizer of the world, encompassing everything we know, perceive, and can talk about, forming an “island” of our known reality. Conversely, the nagual is the indescribable, unknown part of ourselves, existing “beyond the island,” the source of power and creativity that cannot be grasped by reason but only experienced. Don Juan uses various analogies, like items on a table, to illustrate these abstract concepts, emphasizing that the tonal, though crucial for navigating the world, often becomes a “guard” rather than a “guardian,” suppressing the awareness of the nagual. He stresses that true knowledge lies in recognizing and balancing these two aspects, a challenge for any warrior.

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The Tonal and the Nagual – Shrinking the Tonal

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, Tales of Power / By / 26 minutes of reading

In this chapter, Castaneda recounts a disorienting experience in which Don Juan “shrinks” his tonal, causing him to be instantly transported a mile and a half away from an airline office to a bustling market. Don Juan explains this phenomenon as a deliberate manipulation of Castaneda’s tonal—the organizing principle of his known world—by startling it into a state of “shyness” or contraction, thereby allowing the nagual to temporarily take over and perform extraordinary feats. Castaneda struggles to reconcile this inexplicable event with his rational mind, prompting Don Juan to emphasize that such experiences exist beyond the realm of reason and are apprehended only through the body, in what he calls “nagual’s time.” The chapter concludes with Don Juan reiterating the importance of a fluid, balanced tonal for a warrior, and hinting at further explorations of the nagual with Don Genaro.

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The Tonal and the Nagual – In Nagual’s Time

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, Tales of Power / By / 32 minutes of reading

Carlos recounts his Thursday return to the market where don Juan had “shoved” him, only to find the coin and book stands only appear on Sundays, confirming the unreality of his previous experience. Don Juan and don Genaro appear, teasing him about his physical appearance. Don Genaro demonstrates extraordinary feats like standing horizontally on a tree trunk and gliding through the air, which Carlos struggles to comprehend and often experiences with physical discomfort or an altered state of perception. Don Juan explains that these are manifestations of the nagual, a non-rational aspect of reality, and emphasizes the importance of a clean tonal (the rational self) to interact with the nagual without being overwhelmed or destroyed. He clarifies that while his role as teacher is to work with Carlos’s tonal, don Genaro, as Carlos’s benefactor, introduces him to the nagual, demonstrating its boundless possibilities, even if the “how” remains indescribable and outside the realm of rational understanding.

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