Thirty years ago the University of California Press published an unusual manuscript by an anthropology student named Carlos Castaneda. The Teachings of Don Juan initiated a generation of seekers dissatisfied with the limitations of the Western worldview. Castaneda's now classic book remains controversial for the alternative way of seeing that it presents and the revolution in cognition it demands. In a series of fascinating dialogues, Castaneda sets...

"Ordinarily, events that change our path are impersonal affairs, and yet extremely personal. My teacher, don Juan Matsus, said this is guiding me as his apprentice to collect what I considered to be the memorable events of my life.... Don Juan described the total goal of the shamanistic knowledge that he handled as the preparation for facing the definitive journey: the journey that every human being has to take at the end of his life. He said that...

"Technology can now control the spiritual experience. This is a journey through the high-tech aids for psychological growth that are changing our world, while exploring the safety, authenticity and ethics of this new world. We already rely on technology to manage our health, sleep, relationships, and finances, so it's no surprise that we're turning to technological aids for the spiritual journey. From apps that help us pray or meditate, to cybernauts...

"In 1961, young anthropologist Carlos Castaneda began an extraordinary apprenticeship with don Juan Matus, a powerful and mysterious Yaqui Indian spiritual leader. Don Juan's message became the basis for Castaneda's classic bestselling accounts of his explorations into ancient Mexican spiritual philosophy, which captivated millions of readers. In 1968, Castaneda returned to Mexico, to don Juan and his hallucinogenic drugs, and to a world of experience...

2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl is the acclaimed metaphysical epic that binds together the cosmological phenomena of our time, ranging from crop circles to quantum theory to the resurgence of psychedelic drugs, to support the contention of the Mayan calendar that the year 2012 portends a global shift-in consciousness, culture, and way of living-of unprecedented consequence. The Classical Maya developed a highly sophisticated civilization in the...

An exploration of humans' symbiotic relationships with plants and chemicals presents information on prehistoric partnership societies and the roles of spices and spirits in the rise of dominator societies

Carlos recollects more of the teachings of Don Juan, including the true importance and meaning of sorcery and magic, and the illusory nature of all realities.

"When he signed up for a psychedelic retreat run by a mysterious Argentine woman deep in Brazil's rainforest in early 2018, Ernesto Londoño, a veteran New York Times journalist, was so depressed he had come close to jumping off his terrace weeks earlier.His nine-day visit to Spirit Vine Ayahuasca Retreat Center included four nighttime ceremonies during which participants imbibed a vomit-inducing plant-based brew that contained DMT, a powerful mind-altering...