Carlos Castaneda

Carlos Castañeda (December 25, 1925 – April 27, 1998) was an American writer.

According to his birth record, Carlos Castañeda was born Carlos César Salvador Arana, on December 25, 1925, in Cajamarca, Peru, son of César Arana and Susana Castañeda.

Immigration records confirm the birth record's date and place of birth.

Castaneda moved to the United States in 1951 and became a naturalized citizen on June 21, 1957.

Castaneda studied anthropology and was awarded his bachelor's and doctoral degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles

Castaneda's first three books—The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, A Separate Reality, and Journey to Ixtlan—were written while he was an anthropology student at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

He wrote that these books were ethnographic accounts describing his apprenticeship with a traditional "Man of Knowledge" identified as don Juan Matus, an Indigenous Yaqui from northern Mexico.

The veracity of these books was doubted from their original publication, and are considered to be fictional by a number of scholars.

Castaneda was awarded his bachelor's and doctoral degrees based on the work described in these books.

Castaneda married Margaret Runyan in Mexico in 1960, according to Runyan's memoirs.

He is listed as the father on the birth certificate of Runyan's son C.J. Castaneda, even though the biological father was a different man.

In an interview, Runyan said she and Castaneda were married from 1960 to 1973; however, Castaneda obscured whether the marriage occurred, and his death certificate stated he had never been married.

Starting in 1968, Castaneda published a series of books that describe a training in shamanism that he received under the tutelage of a Yaqui "Man of Knowledge" named don Juan Matus.

While Castaneda's work was accepted as factual by many when the books were first published, the training he described is now generally considered to be fictional.

The first three books—The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, A Separate Reality, and Journey to Ixtlan—were written while he was an anthropology student at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Castaneda was awarded his bachelor's and doctoral degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles based on the work he described in these books.

He was the subject of a cover article in the March 5, 1973, issue of Time, which described him as "an enigma wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a tortilla".

There was controversy when it was revealed that Castaneda might have used a surrogate for his cover portrait.

Correspondent Sandra Burton, apparently unaware of Castaneda's principle of freedom from personal history, confronted him about discrepancies in his account of his life.

He responded: "To ask me to verify my life by giving you my statistics ... is like using science to validate sorcery. It robs the world of its magic and makes milestones out of us all."

After Castaneda stepped away from public view in 1973, he bought a large multi-dwelling property in Los Angeles which he shared with some of his followers, including Taisha Abelar (formerly Maryann Simko) and Florinda Donner-Grau (formerly Regine Thal).

Like Castaneda, Abelar and Donner-Grau were students of anthropology at UCLA.

Each subsequently wrote a book about her experiences of Castaneda's / don Juan's teachings from a female perspective: The Sorcerer's Crossing: A Woman's Journey by Taisha Abelar, and Being-in-Dreaming: An Initiation into the Sorcerers' World by Florinda Donner.

Castaneda endorsed both of these books as authentic reports of the sorcery experience of don Juan's world.

Around the time Castaneda died, his companions Donner-Grau, Abelar and Patricia Partin informed friends they were leaving on a long journey.

Amalia Marquez (also known as Talia Bey) and Tensegrity instructor Kylie Lundahl also left Los Angeles.

In 1974 his fourth book, Tales of Power, chronicled the end of the story of his apprenticeship with Matus.

Despite published questions and criticism, Castaneda continued to be popular with the reading public, and subsequent publications appeared describing further aspects of his training with don Juan.

Castaneda wrote that don Juan recognized him as the new nagual, or leader of a party of seers of his lineage.

He said Matus also used the term nagual to signify that part of perception which is in the realm of the unknown yet still reachable by man—implying that, for his own party of seers, Matus was a connection to that unknown.

Castaneda often referred to this unknown realm as "nonordinary reality."

While Castaneda was a well-known cultural figure, he rarely appeared in public forums.

Following that interview, Castaneda completely retired from public view until the 1990s.

In the 1990s, Castaneda once again began appearing in public to promote Tensegrity, described in promotional materials as "the modernized version of some movements called magical passes developed by Indigenous shamans who lived in Mexico in times prior to the Spanish conquest."

Castaneda, with Carol Tiggs, Florinda Donner-Grau and Taisha Abelar, created Cleargreen Incorporated in 1995, whose stated purpose was "to sponsor Tensegrity workshops, classes and publications.".

Tensegrity seminars, books, and other merchandise were sold through Cleargreen.

At the time of his death in 1998, Castaneda's books had sold more than eight million copies and had been published in 17 languages.

Castaneda died on April 27, 1998 in Los Angeles due to complications from hepatocellular cancer.

There was no public service; he was cremated and the ashes were sent to Mexico.

His death was unknown to the outside world until nearly two months later, on June 19, 1998, when an obituary, "A Hushed Death for Mystic Author Carlos Castaneda" by staff writer J. R. Moehringer appeared in the Los Angeles Times.