5 comments about Mending The Past And Healing The Future with Soul Retrieval.

1. I have heard some opinions about Villoldo that he's not authentic enough, that he distills the techniques and ideas too much. However, I feel this book is a good introduction to soul retrieval and other shamanic techniques and ideas. It is well-organized, and laid out in an easy-to-understand and easy to follow fashion. The techniques are easy to learn and try. I think he should explain more forcefully in the beginning that these techniques carry a lot of power and that readers should not use them on others unless they have been trained by a teacher. Other books I would recommend for those who want to learn about shamanism are The Shaman's Body by Arthur Mindell and Keepers of the Ancient Knowledge by Joan Parisi Wilcox. You should also become familiar with Chakras and so read The Chakra Handbook by Sharamon & Baginski. You will also probably end up working with power animals and might like Animal Talk or Animal Speak I forget which it is.



2. Once again Alberto Villoldo shows us the path to healing. I have actually tried to view myself in a future healed state and it really helped me in my healing from recent surgery. I want to take his courses in the future as this is invaluable knowledge as a human being in a physical body. His website is listed in his books. His DVD's are also wonderful.



3. In this book Alberto Villoldo recapitulates neoshamanist techniques used by CG Jung and popularized by M. Harner, Sandra Ingerman and their gang at the 'Foundation for Shamanic Studies' as the best (and harmless) way to introduce Westerners to some form on nonlinear, non-thinking experience. Basically, 'soul retrieval' is a form of active imagination or 'awake dreaming' that leads the 'dreamer' into her subconscious mind. Villoldo's book is no better and no worse than other products on the (increasingly saturated) market - basic neoshamanist imagery techniques spiced with (successful) episodes from Villoldo's own counseling practice.
   
   While I like Villoldo's early books based on his own apprentice stories from Peru, his conversion into neoshamanism and syncretism seem a bit unexpected. Certainly V. never explains why he finds 'journeying' methods more effective than (or complementary to) age old Andean practices, nor does he provide a rationale for blending the two at the end of the book (when he speaks about the pururuna, sacharuna, uiwayruna etc). It seems funny that a man who seems to call himself a 'laika' (sorcerer; something an Andean would never do)and claims to have been taught by some of the best Peruvian native shamans, now teaches Westerners active imagination developed by Jung and Harner... a method that can be called shamanism only with a significant stretch of imagination. To me it seems the man simply had to write another book.
   
   Or that he finds it difficult to stay out of the limelight. Writing books is an addictive business.



4. Mending the Past and Healing the Future with Soul Retrieval is a great book on the idea that people can learn how to heal ourselves and each other. The basis is to learn the three worlds that we all live in and the four directions, and some of the spirits who rule those directions and the Plant Nations, Star Nations, and Stone Nations. If you understand anything about Medicine, this is it in the world today. This book written with the loving help of the Inca Elders is an important means to learn how the world of loving Spirits and Creator can help us all save our own souls. I have recommended it to all of my friends, and relations.



5. I cannot express the beauty and love that went into writing this book. Alberto is truly an amazing writer and gifted shaman. This has to be the best book for helping me with my spiritual growth. Let there be peace in the world and let it begin with me. A book of self healing, peace, and joy!
   
   Aloha.

5 comments about Urban Shaman.

1. Urban Shaman is a great book with a lot of very interesting, effective techniques. I have applied several of the techniques contained within this book to my life and have been surprised at just how truly effective this stuff is.
   
   The seven laws as taught in this book as well as some of the exercises are very useful to know...and very effective when used.
   
   Anyone can take something useful from this book if they actually apply the techniques before judging their worth. This book is a definite must read for anyone who is interested in a spiritual approach to improving their life.



2. This is an amazing little book by an amazing man. I found much in it that felt utterly familiar, and many new wonderful things which I'm pondering, trying, and incorporating into my daily shamanic practices. Some of them I'd already been doing, or had been heading that direction anyway. The teachings and methods described here go hand in hand with much Celtic shamanic practices and teachings that I've been reading elsewhere. Subtle, and an alternative to improperly coopting Native American spirituality practices.



3. Insightful teachings of Aloha. "In Hawaiian the meaning of love is very clear and it provides a useful guideline for loving and being loved. Aloha is the word for love. Alo means to be with, to share an experience, here and now. Oha means affection, joy." {wwwhunaorg}
   
   Serge King has articulated seven principles of Huna:
   
   The world is what you think it is.
   There are no limits.
   Energy flows where attention goes.
   Now is the moment of power.
   To love is to be happy with (someone or something).
   All power comes from within.
   Effectiveness is the measure of truth.
   
   Useful practice for modern shaman students and those seeking ways of exploring new ways of being.



4. I must Say, that this book is among my "most used" books. I read it often because it holds so very many Answers to things that I question, or have that troubles me, or a dear friend, or my Son.
   The "healing" procedures Absolutely WORK (for me). They have, on several occassions that I would have had to "have stiches", otherwise!
   Also, the connections it "opens up" with other beings (and matter) and their Energies, on this Planet, and beyond, are nothing short of Fantastic. You will surely notice a stronger connection with all Animals as a result of reading this book.
   I "Identify" with the "Merlin Falcoln", on the cover of the book. I see one "visit", flying above my head, or my car, or nearby, just "watching" me. ....Life is so Incredible!



5. The information printed within thesepages have absolutely transformed me. I was able to open my heart, see, and believe with confidence and authority that anything is possible. Moreover, he gives you the ablility to begin making your wildest dreams come tru. In addition to his work I suggest that you also check out Abraham-Ester Hicks. I am forever changed and this man has my unwavering appreciation. Thank you for writing this book!

5 comments about Tales of Power.

1. This book is too complicated and not for everyone. It dables too much with drug references that are quite disturbing. Stay away from this and pick up Dr. Phil's autobiography. Thanks. :)



2. If you could only choose to read one of Carlos' books, this has to be the one. For those who aren't familiar with the books, this is the sixth. The first three, expected by most readers at the time of publication to be a "trilogy", describe the first several years of Castaneda's apprenticeship to a native nagual, or shaman in Sonora and other parts of Mexico.
   
   In the first volume Carlos describes the weird rituals and exercises that his teacher puts him through as he trains him in the ways of his line of sorcerers. It concludes with a quasi-scholarly analysis, really nothing more than an outline of the concepts of his teacher's world-view. This book focuses on the concept of living like a warrior and the book is structured as a question and answer sequence between student and teacher.
   
   In the second book, whose time frame has a good deal of overlap with the first book, carlos' activites center around coming to believe that the world is an artifical construction of the human ego, a fantasy that we all choose to agree on. Don Juan batters Carlos with psychotropic drugs to break down his ego and force his consciousness over to the other side of awareness, beyond normal human perception.
   
   The trilogy concludes with Carlos pursuing "stopping the world". This offering portrays the final challenge along the path to becoming a sorcerer. The apprentice will be faced with his own imminent death, and either stop the world, disassembling and reassembling "reality" in a way that ensures his survival, or accept death and enter the eternal realm. Obviously Carlos survives, as he wrote a book about it, and in the process spawned an immense controversy. What was all this bizarre stuff? Was it real? Was there a real Don Juan? A Don Genaro? The debate went on and still goes on, in a greatly diminished form, to this day.
   
   The sixth book continues into the time after the cliff jump in book three, but it does a lot more than that. In this book, Don Juan explains to Carlos how it all works, why he was selected for this task, and what he's supposed to do from this point on. In typical thick-headed fashion, Carlos stumbles on, writing it all down, and seeming to still miss the real essential points that the teacher is making. What's good about this book is that it explains all of the goings on in the first three books, as well as how the sorcerers structure their view of reality. Very powerful stuff.
   
   The remainder of Carlos' writings are very obscure, fastastical, and just downright strange, except for "The Active Side of Infinity", written towards the end of his life.
   
   Don't get me wrong, I love CC, I've been reading him since 1971. I've read every book, multiple times, as well as his wife's book, and books by detractors and debunkers, and a great many articles and papers on him and his work. If you like it, read them all, it's great literature if nothing else. But if I could only have one. This is it.



3. Carlos Castaneda was one of the most controversial writers of the twentieth century. Some in academia branded him a fraud for claiming his stories were biographical rather than fiction, while lauding him as a great novelist for exposing a mass audience to otherwise inaccessible philosophical abstractions they claimed were largely plagiarized. Each of his works is a piece of a larger puzzle, which makes it impossible to critique any one book without addressing the larger context into which it fits.
   
   His first two books, "Teachings of Don Juan" and "A Separate Reality" describe experiences induced by ingesting psychotropic hallucinogenics prepared by a Yaqui Indian shaman from Sonora, Mexico he called don Juan Matus, and accounted for his becoming a guru to a generation seeking short cuts to spiritual enlightenment, as well as his lifelong interest in the relationship between perception and reality, a theme now explored in many popular books on consciousness and quantum physics. Unfortunately, these books remain his best selling works, in spite of Castaneda refuting their importance in his later works. Readers would be best served to skip these and avoid the risk of being turned off to Castaneda and missing the more stimulating works that followed.
   
   His third and fourth works were "Journey to Ixtlan" and "Tales of Power." In Ixtlan he admits to over-estimating the value of his drug experiences, which caused him to overlook the more profound teachings of don Juan which became the focus of future writings. What emerges is a spiritual discipline dating back to the Pre-Colombian Toltec sorcerers of Latin America, culminating with don Juan's departure from our world, effectively ending Castaneda's direct affiliation.
   
   In his fifth and sixth works "Second Ring of Power" and "Eagles Gift" Castaneda suffers strange flashbacks of what seem to be memory fragments of events he is unable to fit into any logical time sequence. In his seventh and eighth works, "Fire From Within" and "Power of Silence," Castaneda succeeds in reconstructing his lost memories, which derive from teachings previously administered by don Juan while Castaneda was in a "heightened" state of awareness.
   
   In books nine and ten, "Art of Dreaming" and "Active Side of Infinity," Castaneda focuses on what he describes as inorganic predators from another dimension, some having the power to imprison humanity in "ordinary reality" so they can feed on the dark emotional energies we produce when succumbing to the negative thoughts they insert into our minds.
   
   In later years several seemingly substantiating works appeared by two of Castaneda's female apprentices, Taisha Abelar and Florinda Donner-Grau. In addition, two scathing exposés were also published by two of his ex-wives. The first, "Magical Journey with Carlos Castaneda" by first wife, Margaret Runyon, offers little corroboration, since her marriage pre-dates the time when the bulk of Castaneda's adventures were claimed to have occurred. While steadfast that Castaneda was a sorcerer, she doubts the existence of don Juan, even claiming authorship of many of the concepts Castaneda ascribed to him.
   
   The second, and more credible work, is "Sorcerer's Apprentice," by well-known writer Amy Wallace, daughter of the late best selling novelist Irving Wallace. Here again, we find little corroboration since the time of the events she describes is well after the period when Castaneda's relationship with don Juan is alleged to occur. What the book does provide is a troubling look inside Castaneda's final years, a picture of descent into what seems sexual addiction and possibly madness, leaving one to wonder if Castaneda was just one cup of cool-aid short of a Jonestown.
   
   Many have asked why I put any stock whatsoever in Castaneda. A story from my autobiography, "The Vortex" may shed some light. A year before Castaneda published his first book I had an experience that would remain a mystery until Castaneda published "Power of Silence" twenty years later.
   
   For a brief time, in my youth, I became a practicing Muslim, meticulously performing the complex prayer ritual five times a day. Then one night, sitting in my car, frustrated and complaining at not being able to find the address of my next sales appointment, something inside me snapped. It was as if some part of me had disconnected from my body and assumed control, lecturing me about my lack of discipline. A profound calm settled over me, rendering me simultaneously detached and engaged. For two days my sales figures soared. It was as if no one could say no to me. On the evening of the second day I decided to put my new state of being to the acid test by visiting my parents. Their behavior was so uncharacteristically supportive I hardly recognized them. It was enough to convince me that I was now living in an altered reality. But by the following morning I had returned to "normal." So distracting had this event been that I completely forgot to perform my Muslim prayers, and in fact, never did so again.
   
   Twenty years later, in a chapter of "Power of Silence" entitled "Place of No Pity" Castaneda describes a very similar experience. In the aftermath of the event don Juan explains that humans are like televisions stuck on a channel called "self-preoccupation," lacking the energy to tune into any of the vast array of other channels available to us. To change channels, he explains, we first need to accumulate energy, by practicing rituals that are deliberate, precise and repetitious. Do this long enough and eventually our stored energy precipitates a shift to a channel where self-importance and self pity become impossible. Once this happens we connect with the force that controls the entire universe, a force don Juan called "intent," and everything can be bent to our will and even more channels can be opened, assuming we remember to keep practicing the rituals that save our energy.
   
   This one realization alone was enough to inspire me to dedicate my autobiography "To Carlos, with gratitude."
   
   Maxwell Austin van Lack, Author of The Vortex: A True Story of Passion and Karma



4. I haven't read all his things but I read his mind unless it's he reading mine! You either have a head for this stuff or you do not. I really enjoyed the few books of his I have read.



5. That might not come from reading this book alone, as it is the fourth most believable of the series. When I was a student, I like many others I know who will confess to having read a Castaneda book or two when pressed, went through a couple of years of Castanedism, reading the 8 classics 2 - 3 times each, and even the later four, quite different books a couple of times. Being someone who likes to give the benefit of the doubt until conclusive evidence proves otherwise, I must admit to only getting suspicious by Journey To Ixtlan, the third book. The second book, A Separate Reality, picks up on the supernormal happenings, but still these are within the realms of possibility, when one considers Spiritualist literature. By Tales of Power, when at the end Carlos throws himself off a cliff and only survives by becoming pure perception, bouncing elastically back and forth between the two inherent realms of all creation, the tonal and the nagual, the game was up. In Carlos' terms, my assemblage point had just experienced a considerable shift into the realms of disbelief. The cocoon had burst. I read the remaining books still interested, but with the growing realization that I'd been had. Bizarre ideas not found in any other spiritual traditions, such as the necessity for people on the path of knowledge to kill their children to reclaim the power they'd lost to them, plus fill in the holes in their cocoons the children had caused, made me wary. This was surely not a philosophy the whole world should turn to, or else we'd be living in a fearful, lonely world with every man for himself.
   
   However, this would be fine if the books weren't made out to be non-fiction. While I have seen these books placed with science fiction books in many libraries, in most European bookshops they're still sold with real, non-fiction 'Mind, Body, Spirit' books. The reason I give this book such a low rating is that an intensive study of his works, the books by his various colleagues, plus Richard De Mille's intelligent criticisms, can only lead to the conclusion that Castaneda, the writer, used Don Juan and Carlos, two fantasy characters, to verbalize his own beliefs, which were culled from his own spiritual and academic experience. That there are not some useful nuggets of wisdom, or advice in these books I do not deny. That is their very attraction, plus the belief that it all really happened, and is a new spiritual revelation. But as these are mixed up with increasingly bizarre assertions and beliefs (by the Art of Dreaming it seems all pretence at non-fiction had been given up), it is doubtful whether a lifetime devoted to these practices (as opposed to say, real shamanic practices) would lead to spiritual improvement. If you must have a Castaneda book in your library, rather get The Wheel of Time, a selection of the spiritual highlights of the first eight books, but consider it rather 'The best of the personal philosophy of Carlos Castaneda' than anything to do with Don Juan or Shamanism. This understanding may not have the romantic mix of wild Mexican deserts, ancient wisdom, wise old men and naive westerners which captures the hearts of so many, but it is a lot closer to the truth.
   
   The anonymous ghost-writer at Schuster and Schuster who corrected Peruvian immigrant Castaneda's English for at least all of his earlier works (a sample of his writing from 1969 reveals it was still far from perfect, not like what is in books), giving the books their special character, certainly deserves more credit than he or she gets. But they are not written well enough to succeed as fiction, hence their continued classification as non-fiction, besides the intense academic embarrassment it would cause copyright holders UCLA to have to admit such a dramatic change in classification, from fact to fantasy, after having previously given the author a doctorate for his work! I give this book one star on the basis that any book claiming to represent the truth which is later found to be fraudulent deserves no stars by definition, so I must give the minimum rating allowed. The day this book is reclassified as Fiction, I will up my rating to 3 stars though, as it is a quite entertaining and authentic piece of fiction-posing-as-non-fiction.

5 comments about Mushroom Wisdom: How Shamans Cultivate Spiritual Consciousness.

1. I remember a Terrance McKenna comment that went something like-- "If you want to work with psychedelics, the first place you should go is a library." Unfortunately, back in the 60's there was nothing to speak of in any library. So psychedelics exploded into the spiritual vacuum of social club Christianity, creating a backlash of fear and loathing. Bit by bit, this situation is being rectified with books like Mushroom Wisdom. This book is a must for anyone considering following the arduous spiritual path of working with Plant Allies.



2. Thuis was my first book over the subject. It is good, direct and clear for anyone. I will recommend it to everyone who wants to learn much more over the alternate state os conciousness with the mushrooms.



3. I bought this book because I was looking for a guide on using mushrooms ceremonially. Although, he does touch on this towards the end of the book, he basically just talks about spiritual enlightenment (not that thats a bad thing). He is not the best writer, lots of errors with the grammar and confusing sentence structures. I will continue my search!



4. Praise for Martin W. Ball Ph.D. for his asserted efforts in professing his rendition of such a contentious issue! For far too long society (political and religious) has retained the capital and exclusive rights to abrogate an individual's right to such an innocuous endeavor. The irony is that a beverage that has an insurmountable and prolifically definitive negative data due to the accidental deaths, overdoses, habitual addictions, teenage consumption, criminal domestic violence, diseases, doltish behavior, etc. so forth and ever continuing, of which it is conducive finds itself ubiquitously accepted as a mere nuance of fermented passion. By my interpretation it seems that in society this substance is quite often over shadowed by the debauched science that is shoved down our throats in proliferation about other "drugs." The only thing I can do is deride at the ignorance of the masses, their only flagellation to the negative events spawned by alcohol is, "Drink responsibly." Also, not many criticize the Fed or corporations whom so boldly continue advocacy for the prescription medications that are actually killing us. Herein lies the reason, profit! For the rest of us, especially those of us who abhor alcohol, our natural entheogens-those you can walk into nature and consume without manipulation-are artificially labeled the scapegoat for society's moral declivity. Consequently, there are those of us that will not allow the spiritual substances to become merely a vestige of days gone by.
   
   First and foremost, I respect the author's humble beginnings by his exhortation to the reader that by no means are his claims scientific or isolated to any one spiritual or religious path. For any of his book to be resonant with an individual you will have only had to experience an entheogen in the fashion that he so eloquently describes. I cannot, myself, advocate Dr. Ball's rendition of the revelations of mushrooms, simply because I have never consumed them. However, this has been the most spiritually resonant book I have ever read due to the commensurable effect marijuana has on me. For the past five years I have indeed vectored (metaphorically) individuals that for me marijuana is spiritual. Placing it into the context of the human language is a severe injustice. Our language is eons away from obtaining the evolutionary position of calibrating such profound divination and vibratory emotions. While Dr. Ball tries to ameliorate the comprehension of that convolution, he is severely limited in capability in actually describing the way it makes one feel to experience "The Witness", as he calls it. This is not due to his inadequate writing, it is due to the inadequate complexity of our language. Had I not experienced this effect with marijuana I would indeed have had to emphatically disagree with him.
   
   There are going to be those critics of this book that will say he is trying to guild such an imprudent substance that is detrimental to our state of being. By no means is the author trying to proselytize anyone in the use of illicit substances, he merely is describing his experience with the use of mushrooms by his interpretation. I personally do not advocate the use of entheogens for any social settings or for recreational use due to those events and individuals being the ones that disenfranchises the more prudent behavior of the rest of us that actually use these for spiritual enlightenment. I have to say that from a political position the government, especially the Fed, should not be in the market of abolishing anything on a social level. If drugs (alcohol, crack, cocaine, heroin, prescriptions, etc.) are reviewed for abolition it should be exclusive to only the State in which it is an issue. Here is where we find ourselves getting trumped on the 10th Amendment once again. Not to mention, I have no problem with people drinking alcohol, or doing any other drug for that matter, as long as I can continue to experience marijuana, and, eventually, mushrooms IN MY OWN HOME without its abrogation or criminalization. Also, if an individual is prosperous, intelligent, docile, gratuitous, healthy, altruistic and over all prudent in behavior what is the predication for such a reason to obviate their right to isolate their use in their own home?
   
   The synergy that is revealed with the affinity to the entheogens is solely by experience and may not be for everyone. For you to believe or identify with what the author speaks of you will have had to FEEL, SEE and KNOW of what he references. If you have no profound experience from your use of such items, then this is not the book for you. If there is a wonder about the elucidative and narrative information that your use of these substances has had about your morality, spirituality or life in general, then you should read this. If you have never consumed any of these substances, then do not read the book and subsequently post a review that will be disingenuous to and mitigate the profound reflection of which the author proffers.
   
   I do recommend the book, but beware there are a several instances of grammatical errors both by human and machine; but, do not let that deter you if you are interested in the subject at hand.



5. Mushroom Wisdom: How Shamans Cultivate Spiritual Consciousness, by Martin Ball, Ph.D., 2006
   
   This is a simple and much needed guidebook on the how-tos of entheogenic (Psilocybe) mushroom use, and entheogen use in general, and how to navigate through the experiences. It's a great guide for beginners, as well as a strong tool for remembering some of the basics for even the most hardened psychonauts. I will certainly be referencing this book in the future for my own explorations.
   
   Ball explains in simple language what you can expect on many levels of the mushroom experience, including how to deal with "bad trips," which are not really bad by the way, they're self reflective, and should be looked at and studied as such to help us learn and grow, something I myself have long argued. He also argues against always going after only good trips as well as the perfect set and setting, because the user will not learn near as much about him or herself if they avoid looking into the mirror of themselves or experience these substances in various environments. As Ball states in Ch. 5:
   
   "The advice is that "trippers" should be aware of their mindset when entering into the experience. Is the person depressed, happy, overly concerned about something, having pressing issues on his or her mind? Secondly, is the setting conducive to a good experience? Is the person comfortable with the other trippers? Is the person in a safe and secure environment so as to not feel endangered or exposed?
   
   These are certainly important considerations and one would be foolish to ignore them. However, this is really just advice for having a "good" trip and avoiding a "bad" one. It is not advice for using mushrooms as a spiritual tool." pg. 60
   
   "On the other side is the "bad" trip. Bad trips are where seekers are fearful and fight against the flow of the mushrooms. The environment is uncomfortable; the people are wrong. Seekers feel judged and judge themselves, so they try to stop the experience, but can't. In fact, the more they fight, the worse it becomes as they are beset by demons and hellish nightmare images that they wish desperately to escape.
   
   Ultimately, both experiences are two sides of the same coin. The "good" trip reaffirms the seeker's sense of self. The seeker is with people who don't challenge one and is in an environment that is comfortable and relaxing. All the seeker is doing is reaffirming positive illusions. Similarly, on the "bad" trip, the seeker is being confronted by negative illusions and judgments, but gives them power by fighting against them. The primary instinct is to escape, to return to safe illusions, but if the trip is bad enough, seekers don't know how to get back to the realm of safety, and they suffer." Pg. 61-62
   
   If you know someone who's done mushrooms and had a "bad trip" and says "I'm never doing that again," this is the book to give them in order to help them understand the process(es) of what the neophyte experienced (or what the mushroom delivered). Indeed, mushrooms are a reflection of the self (mushrooms don't produce the thoughts, they're your own subconscious thoughts brought forth), and to polish the self we must look into the mirror, accept it with love and beauty, rather than loathing and disgust. And here Ball also explains much of what can be expected (as far as what can be delivered with the English language) on the heavier "full blown" experiences in which one seems to connect with everything, the divine.
   
   Ball also covers directing the experience so as to gain the most out of it; the pros and cons, the facts of ritual, recognizing patterns, maintaining the "witness" position during your experience, or as I personally call it "the observer".
   
   I also agree with much of the way Ball presents his case of the experience and what to expect, as well as his suggestions in dealing with issues/circumstances that may arise during the experience. As someone who has personally experienced these mushrooms countless hundreds of times, I can attest to his presentation and approach, as I had attempted a similar writing with much less success six years ago. Ball clearly understands much of the deeper meaning behind these experiences, and he's not afraid to discuss it openly.
   
   This is not a book heavy on citations, if it has any at all, other than a suggested reading list. It is a quick read. However, although written by a doctor/Ph.D., it is clearly not written to be heavily academic. It's meant to be, in my opinion, a practical guide, and for this purpose, it delivers. And since I began reading it 3 days ago, I've already recommended it to several others, both neophytes and experienced users.
   
   For those who want a more detailed and heavier academic work, I also recommend Antipodes of the Mind, Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience, by Professor Benny Shanon, Oxford Press, 2002. Though Shanon's book is not a guide, it is the most amazing presentation of the Ayahuasca experience ever written - and its pages have implications on mushrooms and other entheogens.
   
   Mushroom Wisdom might also be a great book for would-be initiates into the Santo Daime, or Native American Church, etc, since it breaks things down into a practical and applicable, not overly new agey approach.
   
   For the beginner or expert, buy it.

5 comments about The Wheel Of Time: The Shamans Of Mexico Their Thoughts About Life Death And The Universe.

1. 'The Wheel of Time' is simply beautiful! As a collection of excerpts from Castaneda's previous works, it does well in preserving the power and force of the philosophy and way of living Castaneda presents to us. It is an excellent and appealing introduction to the Way of the Warrior, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a unique, uplifting, and refreshing read.



2. This is a collection of wisdom gathered from North American natives. It is just as profound as the more well-known eastern paths (Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, etc.). Central is the image of the Warrior: one that sees, not just looks, one whose intentions and goals are clear. A bit like Japanese samurai. They look for the stable and constant, they are not interested in the fleeting. A Warrior is similar to a Nietschzean superhuman in that the striving is a goal in itself; whenver a goal is achieved the Warrior does not dwell but moves on. All actions must be firmly rooted in reality.
   As in all paths of wisdom there are seeming contradictions: Warriors should understand what is really going on around them, but should not be lost in introspection. Maybe it is so that a Warrior must have the ability to extract the important from the important. There are many quotes that will help the wanderer.



3. I have read all of Castaneda's books. I was introduced to them by my husband, a real life Warrior. When I first opened the book, I thought: This is jus a cut and paste work of someone who inherited the rights to his royalties.
   Then my husband pointed out at the countless times the book has the word "shaman" in it.
   That doesn't sound like Castaneda at all! The only time he used "Shaman" was in "The teachings of Don Juan" and (this is a rough quote from memory) it was to say: "Don Juan was what antropologists call a shamman, but he prefers to be called a sorcerer or a man of knowledge" and never used the S word again in his books.
   Waste of money if you already have the books. This is just a water down version, made palatable for New Agers, so that they can buy all the other books.



4. This book is a compilation book for the series on the mastery of intent.. which includes: fire from within, power of silence, and the art of dreaming.
   
   Anyone who shrugs off the compilation books like Ive seen done - is clueless. This book is not a 'Waste of money" to a real warrior, this book is priceless.
   
   Any one with enough awareness will figure this out on their own. :D



5. Carlos Castaneda was told by Don Juan to end the lineage with a 'golden clasp'. In terms of CC's writings that is exactly what this book does. It is a distillation of the most meaningful quotes from Don Juan and is a carefully crafted conclusion to his writings, his final message. No more stories just the abstract.
   Though I have read and re-read Castaneda for 30 years I found this a must read.

4 comments about The World of Shamanism: New Views of an Ancient Tradition.

1. "The Spirit of Shamanism" has been selected for listing in "Religion and Psychoactive Sacraments: An Entheogen Chrestomathy." http://www.csp.org/chrestomathy



2. The Spirit of Shamanism is a psychiatrist's look at the essence of shamanic practices. Robert Walsh covers such topics as the shaman's initiation, accessing the spirit world, healing, psychedelic drugs, and New Age adaptations. Although Walsh looks across the broad range of the shamanic experience, the most interesting sections of the book deal with the topic of his expertise: mental illness and psychological health. He explores such questions as 1) whether shamanic initiation and trance states are psychotic or schizophrenic; 2) the difference between trance states and mental illness; and 3) the effects of music, trickery and the placebo effect on healing.

   On the negative side, Walsh has a poor opinion of anthropologists, yet he relies heavily on the work of anthropologists who are marginal in the anthropological community. Many of his resources are outdated. The book is not very deep, yet this makes it accessible to just about anyone. It doesn't "feel" like it's written by an M.D./Ph.D. -- Walsh slips easily into New Age thinking -- yet, again, it's accessible.

   This quasi-scientific book is good for anyone interested in knowing more about the psychology of shamanism. It's well-written, the chapters are short, and it's easy to understand.




3. The World of Shamanism is the best book I've read on the topic. A totally updated work that builds on his earlier book ((The Spirit of Shamanism) this book explores shamanism as we find it in the world, in the psyche, and in neo-shamanic practices.
   
   Dr. Walsh has mastered the art of writing in a popular manner rooted in rigorous research. There is no doubt about his sources as he carefully provides them in footnotes for the more curious reader. In his even-handed presentation of multiple perspectives Dr. Walsh models the tolerance for ambiguity he notes as necessary for a mature experience of the mystery of the universe.
   
   Most important, with regard to the subjective aspects of shamanic experience, he models "the principle of causal indifference" which reflects an acceptance (rare in our society) that "subjectively identical experiences can be produced by multiple causes" (p. 196).
   
   This is a must read for mental health professionals whose map of the universe includes the potential of non-ordinary states for healing as well as for the layperson trying to dig their way through all the misinformation on shamanism that has piled up in the "new age" market over the years.



4. From a science veiw, this is a very reference book, and covers lot of the basics of the type of practice and ways of the shamans. It is not a how-to book on riturals and so forth, but it is one that you should have one your book shelf. It talks about spirit visions, alter-sate meditations, atro-travels, healing and mudiumship, spirits and beliefs, etc.

3 comments about Weather Shamanism: Harmonizing Our Connection with the Elements.

1. This book is very down to earth and easy to understand with thought provocing facts about the spirits of weather and our connection to Nature. After reading this book, you will never look at a cloud or a storm in the same way.



2. If you are like me and you are secretly or blatantly in love with the weather, then you will adore this book. Nan Moss writes with clarity and passion about her knowledge and experience of the various weather beings, angels, spirits and helpers. She brings you into intimate contact with them and then shows you how to go there for yourself. By the time you have finished reading this book, you will be asking yourself: How can I lightly touch, interact with and learn from these divine forces? And you will realize all the answers are in the book and inside you.
   
   Here are some random chapter headings to show you what you have to look forward to:
   
   "What is Weather? Emotion, Reciprocity and Change."
   Nan Moss: "The climate and the weather have been master teachers of the principle of change in our world."
   
   "The Sacred Nature of Storm."
   Nan Moss: "We have it in our power to cultivate a perspective that is spacious."
   
   "Healing With Weather."
   Nan Moss: " . . honoring the weather brings balance and well-being."
   
   Exciting and intriguing, don't you think?
   
   This book is also filled with other people's stories and experiences. You will receive quite a variety of perspectives and methods, but in the end it will come down to your own perspective and method. However, I will bet that even if you are not on a shamanic path, the next time you are confronted with a graphic weather system, from achingly joyful blue skies to dense and determined pouring rain, you will find yourself out there dancing to it with your understanding, your acceptance and your love. Watch, now! See if you don't get a response back!



3. This book is full of fascinating information, both for people who know about shamanism, and those who are just learning what it is. Gives a wonderful perspective on something we tend to take for granted (weather!), and opened my mind to a new way of thinking about our world, and how we might experience it. Very well written, too.

5 comments about The Second Ring of Power.

1. My dad recommended this to me; he told me he read them as a young adult when Carlos' books were just being published. My library only had this one, so I had to begin on a seemingly already well-traveled joruney. All I can say is this is one book I'll never forget. It was amazing, and yet indeed troubling for me because I've never heard anyone talk about life quite the way he explains it in a Sorcerer's eyes. I love, as a woman myself, that there are females Sorcerers that helped him, because indeed wherever men have been, women have as well. But other than that, I found them to be weird characters, people that don't sound like they live in our world whatsoever. The men, Nestor, Beningo, and Pablito and the women Gorda, Lidia, Rosa, and Josefina are just souls that could confuse any of us average kind, and I truly felt like Carlos- confused and severely curious throughout the entire novel. That's why I don't appreciate them all calling him stupid constantly, I mean, cut him slack. He's learning as they learned. And what things he learned, as well as myself.
   Dad asked me if I believe it, or cast it aside as a really well- written story. I say...maybe. Look at it in my perspective. I'm young, confused, and just starting to get my own 'form'. I believe there is much more out there than can be proven under a microscope, but I need to be level- headed and realistic and understand how pessimistic viewers see it as well. There's no proof what this man wrote is true, but there's absolutely no proof he's lying either. It is eerie how good he is at writing such a story, making it sound so true, but there have been stories that have fooled us before. So I'm not sure. This man has really put me in a bind, and I don't regret it. The more you think, the more broader your mind and soul get. (That's my philosophy at least.)
   I'll tell you this much, this is truly an author I would love to meet, but since that's probably never going to happen, I'm going to read more of him when I have time. I have still many questions, and regardless of if this is a story or not, I want them answered.
   Just a note, try to get his very first book if can, and if you want a book on enjoyment instead of study, don't even pick this up. It's no fantasy novel. It's a whole other world of study that derives basically on shamanism in the vast and mysterious lands of Mexico.



2. Carlos Castaneda was one of the most controversial writers of the twentieth century. Some in academia branded him a fraud for claiming his stories were biographical rather than fiction, while lauding him as a great novelist for exposing a mass audience to otherwise inaccessible philosophical abstractions they claimed were largely plagiarized. Each of his works is a piece of a larger puzzle, which makes it impossible to critique any one book without addressing the larger context into which it fits.
   
   His first two books, "Teachings of Don Juan" and "A Separate Reality" describe experiences induced by ingesting psychotropic hallucinogenics prepared by a Yaqui Indian shaman from Sonora, Mexico he called don Juan Matus, and accounted for his becoming a guru to a generation seeking short cuts to spiritual enlightenment, as well as his lifelong interest in the relationship between perception and reality, a theme now explored in many popular books on consciousness and quantum physics. Unfortunately, these books remain his best selling works, in spite of Castaneda refuting their importance in his later works. Readers would be best served to skip these and avoid the risk of being turned off to Castaneda and missing the more stimulating works that followed.
   
   His third and fourth works were "Journey to Ixtlan" and "Tales of Power." In Ixtlan he admits to over-estimating the value of his drug experiences, which caused him to overlook the more profound teachings of don Juan which became the focus of future writings. What emerges is a spiritual discipline dating back to the Pre-Colombian Toltec sorcerers of Latin America, culminating with don Juan's departure from our world, effectively ending Castaneda's direct affiliation.
   
   In his fifth and sixth works "Second Ring of Power" and "Eagles Gift" Castaneda suffers strange flashbacks of what seem to be memory fragments of events he is unable to fit into any logical time sequence. In his seventh and eighth works, "Fire From Within" and "Power of Silence," Castaneda succeeds in reconstructing his lost memories, which derive from teachings previously administered by don Juan while Castaneda was in a "heightened" state of awareness.
   
   In books nine and ten, "Art of Dreaming" and "Active Side of Infinity," Castaneda focuses on what he describes as inorganic predators from another dimension, some having the power to imprison humanity in "ordinary reality" so they can feed on the dark emotional energies we produce when succumbing to the negative thoughts they insert into our minds.
   
   In later years several seemingly substantiating works appeared by two of Castaneda's female apprentices, Taisha Abelar and Florinda Donner-Grau. In addition, two scathing exposés were also published by two of his ex-wives. The first, "Magical Journey with Carlos Castaneda" by first wife, Margaret Runyon, offers little corroboration, since her marriage pre-dates the time when the bulk of Castaneda's adventures were claimed to have occurred. While steadfast that Castaneda was a sorcerer, she doubts the existence of don Juan, even claiming authorship of many of the concepts Castaneda ascribed to him.
   
   The second, and more credible work, is "Sorcerer's Apprentice," by well-known writer Amy Wallace, daughter of the late best selling novelist Irving Wallace. Here again, we find little corroboration since the time of the events she describes is well after the period when Castaneda's relationship with don Juan is alleged to occur. What the book does provide is a troubling look inside Castaneda's final years, a picture of descent into what seems sexual addiction and possibly madness, leaving one to wonder if Castaneda was just one cup of cool-aid short of a Jonestown.
   
   Many have asked why I put any stock whatsoever in Castaneda. A story from my autobiography, "The Vortex" may shed some light. A year before Castaneda published his first book I had an experience that would remain a mystery until Castaneda published "Power of Silence" twenty years later.
   
   For a brief time, in my youth, I became a practicing Muslim, meticulously performing the complex prayer ritual five times a day. Then one night, sitting in my car, frustrated and complaining at not being able to find the address of my next sales appointment, something inside me snapped. It was as if some part of me had disconnected from my body and assumed control, lecturing me about my lack of discipline. A profound calm settled over me, rendering me simultaneously detached and engaged. For two days my sales figures soared. It was as if no one could say no to me. On the evening of the second day I decided to put my new state of being to the acid test by visiting my parents. Their behavior was so uncharacteristically supportive I hardly recognized them. It was enough to convince me that I was now living in an altered reality. But by the following morning I had returned to "normal." So distracting had this event been that I completely forgot to perform my Muslim prayers, and in fact, never did so again.
   
   Twenty years later, in a chapter of "Power of Silence" entitled "Place of No Pity" Castaneda describes a very similar experience. In the aftermath of the event don Juan explains that humans are like televisions stuck on a channel called "self-preoccupation," lacking the energy to tune into any of the vast array of other channels available to us. To change channels, he explains, we first need to accumulate energy, by practicing rituals that are deliberate, precise and repetitious. Do this long enough and eventually our stored energy precipitates a shift to a channel where self-importance and self pity become impossible. Once this happens we connect with the force that controls the entire universe, a force don Juan called "intent," and everything can be bent to our will and even more channels can be opened, assuming we remember to keep practicing the rituals that save our energy.
   
   This one realization alone was enough to inspire me to dedicate my autobiography "To Carlos, with gratitude."
   
   Maxwell Austin van Lack, Author of The Vortex: A True Story of Passion and Karma



3. The knowledge of Juan Matus is powerful and these books can be used as something of a manual if you're interested in doing such a thing.
   
   Warning; Castaneda is a fool. An unbelievably annoying fool. All of his books about his apprenticeship with Juan Matus are full of his idiocy, which seems to increase, oddly enough.
   He just cannot accept that there are some things you can't explain with reason, because they are out of the bounds of reason. His academic prowess hinders him greatly, as he thinks there's nothing his mind can't wrap itself around.
   This can be useful tho. Dealing with Castaneda's almost vengeful stupidity the reader is forced to be impeccable in order to finish the books.
   Yeh, he's that f***in dumb.



4. That might not come from reading this book alone, as it is the fifth most believable of the series. When I was a student, I like many others I know who will confess to having read a Castaneda book or two when pressed, went through a couple of years of Castanedism, reading the 8 classics 2 - 3 times each, and even the later four, quite different books a couple of times. Being someone who likes to give the benefit of the doubt until conclusive evidence proves otherwise, I must admit to only getting suspicious by Journey To Ixtlan, the third book. The second book, A Separate Reality, picks up on the supernormal happenings, but still these are within the realms of possibility, when one considers Spiritualist literature. By Tales of Power, when at the end Carlos throws himself off a cliff and only survives by becoming pure perception, bouncing elastically back and forth between the two inherent realms of all creation, the tonal and the nagual, the game was up. In Carlos' terms, my assemblage point had just experienced a considerable shift into the realms of disbelief. The cocoon had burst. I read the remaining books still interested, but with the growing realization that I'd been had. Bizarre ideas not found in any other spiritual traditions, such as the necessity for people on the path of knowledge to kill their children to reclaim the power they'd lost to them, plus fill in the holes in their cocoons the children had caused, made me wary. This was surely not a philosophy the whole world should turn to, or else we'd be living in a fearful, lonely world with every man for himself.
   
   However, this would be fine if the books weren't made out to be non-fiction. While I have seen these books placed with science fiction books in many libraries, in most European bookshops they're still sold with real, non-fiction 'Mind, Body, Spirit' books. The reason I give this book such a low rating is that an intensive study of his works, the books by his various colleagues, plus Richard De Mille's intelligent criticisms, can only lead to the conclusion that Castaneda, the writer, used Don Juan and Carlos, two fantasy characters, to verbalize his own beliefs, which were culled from his own spiritual and academic experience. That there are not some useful nuggets of wisdom, or advice in these books I do not deny. That is their very attraction, plus the belief that it all really happened, and is a new spiritual revelation. But as these are mixed up with increasingly bizarre assertions and beliefs (by the Art of Dreaming it seems all pretence at non-fiction had been given up), it is doubtful whether a lifetime devoted to these practices (as opposed to say, real shamanic practices) would lead to spiritual improvement. If you must have a Castaneda book in your library, rather get The Wheel of Time, a selection of the spiritual highlights of the first eight books, but consider it rather 'The best of the personal philosophy of Carlos Castaneda' than anything to do with Don Juan or Shamanism. This understanding may not have the romantic mix of wild Mexican deserts, ancient wisdom, wise old men and naive westerners which captures the hearts of so many, but it is a lot closer to the truth.
   
   The anonymous ghost-writer at Schuster and Schuster who corrected Peruvian immigrant Castaneda's English for at least all of his earlier works (a sample of his writing from 1969 reveals it was still far from perfect, not like what is in books), giving the books their special character, certainly deserves more credit than he or she gets. But they are not written well enough to succeed as fiction, hence their continued classification as non-fiction, besides the intense academic embarrassment it would cause copyright holders UCLA to have to admit such a dramatic change in classification, from fact to fantasy, after having previously given the author a doctorate for his work! [...], so I must give the minimum rating allowed. The day this book is reclassified as Fiction, I will up my rating to 3 stars though, as it is a quite entertaining and authentic piece of fiction-posing-as-non-fiction.



5. This used to be my least favorite of Castaneda's books. Now I'm re-reading it, and can honestly say that it's far more complex than it seems at first.
   
   In all of his earlier books, Castaneda focused on Don Juan. Now his teacher is gone, and Carlos has to live life, and write bestselling books, without him.
   
   Long ago, I stopped pondering whether or not the books were made up, and started thinking of them as wonderful stories with allegorical meaning. And this is the point: The Second Ring of Power is all about what happens when Mommy and Daddy are gone. Or maybe it's about Carlos opportunizing on his fame to justify the creation of a harem for himself (the Nagual's women). Or maybe it's even more subtle, and about what we all have to face: the fear of not being able to blame anyone else for your lot in life.
   
   Castaneda ends his previous novel, Tales of Power, with these words: "And then I was alone." Now, he has to deal with the second generation of Sorcerers after Don Juan and Genaro, the Second Ring of Power. In effect he is rounding up his new cast of characters.
   
   Does he get away with it? Does it come off as being convincing? I don't know, because I'm not finished with the re-read. I do know that the rest of the books' some with and without Don Juan and Genaro, are very well done.
   
   There is a final allegory in Castaneda that came home to me in dealing with several individuals in my own life. And that is that some of the craziest people we know, personally, have a power about them. Are we all, in a way, sorcerers, and don't know it?

5 comments about Shapeshifting: Techniques for Global and Personal Transformation.

1. John Perkins takes the reader on a spellbinding journey through shaman rich cultures around the world--but particularly those in Central and South America. He shares both his self-doubts and his insights as he "shapeshifts" from economic hitman to a kind of enlightened dream weaver. Written in a relaxed, conversational style, Perkins gives just the right amount of detail and description of his experiences. This is the kind of book that makes one ponder and deeply reflect on life's journey. It really is a "shapeshifter".



2. In "Shapeshifting," John Perkins, author of the bestseller "Confessions of an Economic Hitman," shares lessons he has learned from shamans in the Yucatan, the Andes, the Amazon, the Middle East, and Indonesia. Shapeshifting was a new concept for me, and I was amazed to learn that there are shamans who can supposedly transform themselves on a cellular level into another form, such as a tree, a bat, or a ball of energy. Indeed, many people might be skeptical of these accounts, as well as Perkins' account of his own shapeshift. However, skeptics can still benefit by thinking about shapeshifting at a more metaphorical level. Perkins himself has transformed from an "economic hitman" into an author and activist working to change people's perceptions, and both individuals and institutions can benefit from similar shapeshifts. Indeed, Perkins hopes that indigenous wisdom can help to transform our core institutions into ones that support a sustainable world. Deliberately suspending judgments on what is possible as I read this book, I felt my awareness expand and gained a new appreciation for the power of the mind/ spirit.



3. Shapeshifting is a great book in my opinion. Perkins has traveled far and wide to work on behalf of indigenous cultures and their wisdom traditions to help sustain these communities and their ancient ways. As founder of Dream Change Coalition, Perkins has done as much as anyone (with the possible exception of Al Gore) to work to change human consumption patterns and corporate hegemony now destroying these cultures.
   
   Shapeshifting tells a powerful tale of healing and wisdom lost on Eurocentric Peoples. Shapeshifting is more than a personal practice invoked by shamans of the jungle and Andes but a practice of human transformation on multiple levels and contexts of awareness. Perkins is engaged in an endeavor to shape shift human hegemony and preoccupation with consumption to create sustainable outcomes for the earth on all those who live on her.
   
   This is a great book by a modern visionary and activist of the highest caliber.



4. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in making changes in their lives and their environment. It makes you stop and think on deep levels.



5. My mentor and friend recommended this book to me twice. The second time, I figured there must be something for me to learn. I'm glad I listened to my gut and to her! I read it cover to cover in one sitting. It's an excellent read, very inspiring and I recommend it to anyone who thinks that they don't have the resources (either internal or external) to change their immediate world or the greater world. The lessons that we can learn from indigenous cultures - their people and their healers - are lessons that are so needed in our world today. And what I love is the idea that each and every person on the planet has a calling and a purpose and you don't have to travel to another country to begin the journey.

5 comments about The Archaic Revival: Speculations on Psychedelic Mushrooms, the Amazon, Virtual Reality, UFOs, Evolution, Shamanism, the Rebirth of the Goddess, and the End of History.

1. first I would like to quote Tim Leary from his skymaster speech "Terence Mckenna means a great deal to me, he's deffinently one of the 5, 6 most impotant people on the planet......I can't even think of any others....lol....(short term memory loss)...by the way the role Terence is playing right now takes not only vision but it also takes f***ing courage!"

   Terence Mckenna is not just a scientist, philosopher, theorist, new age thinker, and shamman, he is someone who took it upon himself, at the cost of his own life, to teach humankind the truth, or something that came closer to truth than any other intellectual or prophet in human history. No one else of the 60's generation will likely go down in history as infamously as Terence will in the changing times we live in and will continue to change. Through the use of psychedelics, Mckenna has delved into the deepest levels of human consciousness and with the rigour and skepticism of a scientist. Deffinently a chalenge to those who think mind altering drugs dullen or stupify the intellect. Terence Mckennas intellect and thought processing speed capacity appear to have been accelerated by his use of DMT and psylocybin if you listen to him on interviews. Here is a person came into the world, underwhent formal schooling and academic training and managed to decondition himself evolving into genuine spiritual domains; surpassing the academic minds and spiritual models of his time and culture. Time-Wave Zero was his project, Novelty Theory his lifes work. Archaic Revival touches upon the ideas of novelty theory in relation to shammanism and extratterestrials, psychedelics and human cultural evolution into the surreal dimensions of hyperspace-spirituality. This is our future, our destiny as a species of absolute evolving consciousness.

   Novelty theory is based on the immediate experience we have with reality in which all things in history and science seem to coincide in ways that not only defy explanation, but continuously addapt to their own conservatives. Terence believed novlety was a universal and necessary constant of not only all living beings consciousness but also a binding and cohesive principle of material/physical nature. Cosmological and evolutionary processes occur in accordance to novelties, physical laws and the behaviour of atoms, cells, populations and genetics behave and abide the way they do because it is the most novel thing to do. Simillar to Leibniz conception of this world as the best of all possible worlds, novelty states that this is not necessarily the best nor the only world but it is possible and exists because it is the most novel world. Another one of Terences discoveries was that self-reflective human consciousness evolved from language that the brain facilitated and expanded from the primate because of their consumption of psychedelic mushrooms. In this less popular model, conspiracies of alien intervention and genetic tampering of "reptilian" with "homonid" DNA to form human speciel consciousness is an intervention not by immediate technology from ET's but by evolving biological implantations of psychedelic chemicals into nature. Aliens do not fly arround in spacecraft as suggested by the modern myth, or as vampires, or as any other ancient view of shammanism, primitvism, religion, etc. rather these beings are products of collective collapse of human consciousness. The upright reptilians of millions of years ago, the dinosaurs, we now know only recently, were wipped out by a comet from outer space ("spacecraft"). An instantaneous annihilation through radiation (also a mutanogen) of a reptilian, upright species of intelligent small-brained but fully utillized neocortex had the effect to the disincarnate catastrophe of their energy. That dinosaur energy had to go somewhere, what better way than to evolve through millions of years, psychedelics, and homonids; and eventually upright sentient human bodies for their incarnation to us the proper phylogeny structure (upright soul-body complex). As outlandish as these novel theories sound they will no doubt become the cutting edge models to describe reality and of our evolution if the wars of today do not annilate us first (radiation). And yet another reflection of the Middle Eastern warfare we face today is no longer a search for language, craddles of man, or Messiahs, but that very fossil fuel (oil) that was their energy now embodied as a complexly knotted perturbation of human consciousness.

   I recommend all members of the human species to read this book and also purchase Terences Alien Dream Time CD with electronica by Space-Time Continuum. To get the whole scope of these ideas I would also reccomend reading Terences friends; Rupert Sheldrake on morphogenesis, Michael Talbot in Holographic Universe and David Bohm on the Implicate Order.




2. I enjoyed this book, as it is so much easier to read than McKenna's other works (some of which are as dry and technical as scientific journals) -- if you are interested in hearing what Mister McKenna has to say, definitely start with this one. The chapters mostly consist of essays which had been published in various new age magazines, as well as transcripts of several interviews with the author, so it all flows rather nicely. Terrence McKenna is widely acknowledged to be one of the world's foremost authorities on the shamanic use of botanical hallucinogens, and unlike Leary and Castenada, he is a true scholar, who apparently is speaking in earnest about a topic he feels is very important. Probably the most significant argument McKenna makes is that the Church and State have colluded in suppressing, penalizing, and attempting to actually eradicate anyone who proposes that the altered perception which occurs upon the ingestion of these alkaloids is, in fact, essential to understanding the true nature of the universe. He states that the Church does not want the average person to have direct access to "God", nor does the State want the average person to be shook out of their complacency and begin to ask difficult questions. These alkaloids are a catalyst which is clearly dangerous to the dominant power structure of our society -- thus they are prohibited. He makes a number of other amusing statements and observations as well. However, several times throughout this book, McKenna started to get rather bizarre (understandable), like when he was presenting computer generated graphs which purported to show exactly when the world would end (and we would all be "transformed into energy beings" or some such), and when he began singing the praises of DMT -- about the effects of which I've heard some rather horrible things (imagine being trapped in a H. R. Geiger painting). If you are serious about studying the multidimensional aspects of the world around you, check out this book, which states that the universe within one's mind is just as interesting, and perhaps even more accessible.



3. I just recently finished this book, and i can say it has been one of the most profound pieces of literature i've ever had the pleasure of reading. The topics explored in the book (which are, i might add, VERY extensively explored) ask the reader to look outside of the narrow field of spiritual and philosophical vision that constitutes our cultural typic, and question things one might not have ever thought of questioning. McKenna seems very frank and straightforward through the whole book, not dancing around subjects or refraining from certain phrases that some would be self-concious to use (ie. get loaded).
   Instead of seeming to be written exclusively for futuristic scientists with an affinity for psychedelic drugs, the book seems to be aimed at the much wider crowd of anyone with an open mind and a vocabulary. The ideas described vary in topic from UFO abductions to a 15th century manuscript, and everything in between. most of the chapters have some common thread connecting them, the only exception being "The Voynich Manuscript." im not really sure where he was going with this chapter in relation to the rest of the book, but its interesting nonetheless. anyway, the book is nothing but a collection of speeches, essays, interviews, etc conducted by him over the years, and is really meant to be an introduction to his philosophy. His other books: The I Ching, and Food of the Gods, though i havent' read them, have been reviewed to be much more technically worded, hard to read, and aimed at students of mathematics and anthropology/ethnobotany. The Archaic Revival is more or less easy to comprehend, but he does use some terms over and over again that the average person wouldn't know (ie. phenomenology, entelechy, gnosis), so have a dictionary close by if you want to get the most out of the material as possible.
   Terrence McKenna has some very bizzarre ideas for sure, and not everyone will relate to all of the ideas expressed in his writings, but i think that most ppl can find something about it they find interesting, and for the psychedelic crowd, McKenna's ideas sound like solaces from beyond, as he so easily verbalizes concepts that otherwise seem impossible to explain. His ideas of social reform and reverting to imitating plants as the role models of human life and civilzation, rather than animals, are so insane that they make more sense than anything i've ever heard. As far as his idea of the end of human history and the transcendence of physical existence into cyber-spiritual entities, all happening by the year 2012, i think he was a little off with the exact figures of time, as im writing this on Oct. 30, 2005 and it doesn't look like the world is going through a historical apocalypse in the next 6 yrs., but oh well--when you're dealing with the entirety of history, you can give or take a couple thousand years w/out compromising the legitimacy of your idea. plus, who knows, maybe on Jan. 1, 2012, we'll all be sitting around watching our bodies dissapear and our souls externalize.
   I would reccommend this book to just about everyone, although i imagine it would be very hard for a 13 yr old to read, but im sure there are some very intelligent 13 yr olds out there who could comprehend it. for the open-minded, the book should be fascinating and engaging in its freshness, and for the rigid western thinkers--it should at least crack the shell and expose the possibilities of what's really out there. if anything, i'd say this is a book of non-denominational hope, derived and reported back from the past, and in McKenna's case--the future.



4. _The Archaic Revival: Speculations on Psychedelic Mushrooms, the Amazon, Virtual Reality, UFOs, Evolution, Shamanism, the Rebirth of the Goddess, and the End of History_ by ethnobotanist Terrence McKenna is a rather interesting collection of essays and interviews revealing McKenna's often rambling thoughts on the various subjects mentioned in the title. McKenna's basic theme seems to be that the hallucinogenic plants have beneficial effects and can result in mind expansion which ultimately will aid society and bring about a utopia. Oddly however, the book rather hypocritically begins with a warning in which the publisher and author note the harmful effects of these substances and their illegality. Whatever one's personal beliefs are about the justice behind so-called drug laws, the fact remains that the hallucinogenic substances and plant products mentioned by McKenna in this book are illegal and possibly dangerous and that ingestion of these substances can result in possible difficulties with the law as well as potentially harmful side effects.
   
   These essays and interviews show McKenna at both his best and worst. On the one hand he argues for an "archaic revival" and a restoration of the principles of shamanism based on his inherent belief that the indigenous peoples of the earth have something to offer modern civilization. However, I disagree with him when he turns to feminist political correctness and rails against Western civilization and Christianity (monotheism). McKenna's central argument is that the hallucinogenic mushroom has co-evolved with man in a symbiotic relationship. Echoing the theories of maverick psychologist Julian Jaynes, McKenna argues that primitive man was not fully conscious (did not possess self-awareness) until he underwent an appropriate transformation. This transformation involved the ingestion of hallucinogenic mushrooms. McKenna then goes off on a tangent in which he suggests the rather bizarre idea that the spores of these mushrooms are in fact interstellar travelers. Here, he mentions the pan-spermia theory of Cyril Ponnamperuma and Francis Crick (co-discoverer of DNA) that life originated in outer space and traveled to earth that way in the form of prebiotic molecules. In much the same way, McKenna suggests that the mushrooms constitute "intelligent organisms" and that they too are interstellar travelers. McKenna's theories developed over time as he traveled the world beginning with India (where he grew discontented over disagreements with the caste system) and eventually turning to the primitive shamanism (Bon-Po) of Tibet. McKenna eventually made his way to the Amazon where he experienced the use of hallucinogenic substances among the shamans there. Indeed, he discusses both the role of ayahuasca and the hallucinogenic psilocybe mushrooms. McKenna also has some rather strange theories on UFOs, regarding them as a sign of the coming world crisis. His theories on UFOs may owe a debt to the famous Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung whose depth psychology serves as the foundation for much of McKenna's theories and who observed the UFO phenomenon as a coming indication of changing world conditions. McKenna attempts to link the UFO and the extraterrestrial to the hallucinogenic mushrooms and hallucinogenic substances in general. He argues that after smoking DMT he experienced a unique phenomenon which he believed involved making contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence. Indeed, the phenomenon of alien abduction and ultimately the allegation of sexual encounters with aliens offers a unique embellishment of the UFO myth and a reverberation in the collective unconscious. McKenna also discusses what he believes constitutes the "end of history" in 2012, the ending date of the Mayan calendar. McKenna believes that with the help of the psychedelics the history of the planet will undergo drastic changes possibly allowing for an aversion of the coming ecological catastrophe. Other essays focus on the Voynich manuscript, perhaps composed by Elizabethan magus John Dee and its links to Rosicrucianism, virtual reality and the role of the virtual in the coming transformation of man's consciousness, and the history of the hallucinogenic mushroom in literature before R. Gordon Wasson discovered it, including references to the works of Lewis Caroll, H. G. Wells, and John Uri Lloyd (writer of the bizarre novel _Etidorhpa_, Aphrodite backwards). McKenna argues for a coming archaic revival brought about by renewed interests in the psychedelics which he believes will usher in a utopia.
   
   While McKenna's theories are certainly bizarre and interesting at the same time, they are also naïve in certain respects. For example, McKenna's ultimate faith in the transformative powers of the hallucinogenic plants must be questioned. Whether or not these substances provide access to altered mind states, I believe it is rather naïve to attribute to them the powers of a panacea which will eliminate all social ills. McKenna's theories on virtual reality are equally interesting given the promise of these new technologies; however, again I believe he is somewhat naïve in believing they will truly transform mankind. Nevertheless despite these criticisms, this book did provide much food for thought on the various topics mentioned in the title.



5. Oh, man. With music as our spirit's guide, we ate some mushrooms and journeyed inward throuhout the galaxy. The human body/mind is a spaceship designed for interstellar space travel. Thats the secret hidden power of human beings which others are trying so hard to conceal. Enlightenment is only a few grams of shrooms away, combined with the right music and setting, the surest way to transform into and experience God. To experience The Other within us, to go to a place so far beyond yet so close, to experience whats been felt by so many others throughout the Aeons, words cannot describe. Our physical bodies and Earthly affairs are obsolete. Many ancient civilizations understood this, thus they have no need to be here. They took death as something beautiful. Life here is only temporary. McKenna's book speaks mostly on these topics and much more. First class info from one of the worlds greatest thinkers!