F Lawrence Fleming

Making Sense of the Life and Works of Carlos Castaneda F Lawrence Fleming

The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, purportedly a legitimate work of anthropology describing author Carlos Castaneda's apprenticeship to a Mexican Indian sorcerer, was first published in 1968, and was followed by eleven more books by this author. All of his books achieved a very wide readership. To the dismay of many of his devoted readers, however, Castaneda has been shown to have been a charlatan, arguably the most infamous charlatan of the twentieth century. But what if the Mexican sorcerer, Juan Matus, with whom Castaneda claimed he had studied, were shown to have been a real person? I believe the circumstantial evidence strongly suggests that he was. Might these books not be read or reread with replenished interest and purpose?