Carlos Castaneda

The ethnologist and author Carlos Castaneda was born in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1931 and passed away in 1998. He studied social anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1968, while conducting ethnographic research on the cultivation and use of hallucinogenic plants by the indigenous people of Northern Mexico, he met Don Juan, a Yaqui sorcerer, and was initiated into the tribe's secrets, apprenticing with him for ten years. This experience formed the basis of his doctoral dissertation (1972) and was published in three volumes: "The Teachings of Don Juan," "A Separate Reality," and "Journey to Ixtlan," in which he analyzes the indigenous knowledge system that entails a different way of life. His other works include: "Tales of Power," "The Second Ring of Power," "The Eagle's Gift," "The Fire from Within," "The Power of Silence," and "The Art of Dreaming."