14 episodes

A series about the death & life of Carlos Castaneda.

Trickster: The Many Lives of Carlos Castaneda guppy

    • True Crime
    • 4.3 • 351 Ratings

A series about the death & life of Carlos Castaneda.

    I - Bags of Stories

    I - Bags of Stories

    His reality-shattering books electrified a generation and inspired some of the greatest creative visionaries of our time — John Lennon, Joni Mitchell, George Lucas, Marvin Gaye, Oliver Stone. But who was Carlos Castaneda? A genius writer? A millionaire playboy? An enlightened guru? A shameless conman? And what answers lurk in a dark discovery made by two backpackers out amongst the sand dunes of Death Valley?

    www.tricksterpodcast.com

    Trickster: The Many Lives of Carlos Castaneda is a guppy production:

    Creator and Executive Producer: Frank Horton

    Producers: Ville Haimala, James Orestes, Yuval Shapira

    Co-Producers: Kevin Barth, Steve Barilotti, Colin Stewart, Ybrahim Luna, Ana Djordjijevic, Dan Girmus, Celeste Cuevas, Collins Harris IV, Robert(a) Marshall, author of an upcoming biography of Carlos Castaneda, American Trickster, Katie Kidwell, Justin Aier

    Senior Producer: Pablo Vaca

    Composer: Ville Haimala

    Sound Designer and Mixer: Randy Ward

    Editors: Frank Horton, with additional editing by Randy Ward, Paul Calo and Yuval Shapira

    We wish to acknowledge our debt of gratitude to the research of scholars, journalists and authors who have contributed tiles to the mosaic that is our project. Trickster is based, in part, on the following books and articles:

    Ultimas Noticias Sobre Carlos Castaneda by Arturo Granda, Conversations with a Young Nahual by Byron de Ford, Trickster Makes This World by Lewis Hyde, Ascent and Descent of the Sacred Mountain by Claudio Naranjo, Tezcatlipoca: Trickster and Supreme Deity edited by Elizabeth Baquedano, Fractured Times by Eric Hobsbawm, All Things are Possible Selected Essays by Lev Shestov, La increíble hisotoria de Carlos Castaneda by Ybrahim Luna, Castaneda's Journey and the Don Juan Papers by Richard De Mille, Peyote Hunt: The Sacred Journey of the Huichol Indians by Barbara Myerhoff, Theory in anthropology since the sixties by Sherry Ortner, Viscerality, faith, and skepticism: Another theory of magic by Michael Taussig, Introduction to the Teachings of Don Juan by Octavio Paz, A Thousand Plateaus by Deleuze & Guattari, A Hushed Death for Mystic Author by J.R. Moehringer, Missing Amalia by Matt Ward, Sonoran Fantasy or Coming of Age? by Ralph Beals, Tula: The Toltec Capital of Ancient Mexico by Richard A. Diehl, The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition by M.H. Abrams, Aztec Philosophy: Understanding a World in Motion by James Maffie, The Mirror of Magic: A History of Magic in the Western World by Kurt Seligmann, Filming Castaneda: The Hunt for Magic and Reason by Gaby Geuter, America by Jean Baudrillard, Carlos Castaneda: American Trickster by Robert(a) Marshall, Endeavors in Psychology by Henry A. Murray, Ronald Reagan The Movie: And Other Episodes in Political Demonology by Michael Rogin, Yucatan by Andrea De Carlo, On Lies, Secrets, and Silence by Adrienne Rich, The Invented Indian: Cultural Fictions and Government Policies by James A. Clifton, Fear of Freedom by Carlo Levi, The Labyrinth of Solitude: Life and Thought in Mexico by Octavio Paz, The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent by Lionel Trilling, Freedom & Its Discontents: Reflections of Four Decades of American Moral Experience by Peter Marin, The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker, Feet of Clay Saints, Sinners, and Madmen: A Study of Gurus by Anthony Storr, The Storyteller Essays by Walter Benjamin, Life of Dreams: Field Notes On Psi, Synchronicity, And Shamanism by Douglass Price-Williams, Ill Fares the Land by Tony Judt, The Adversary: A True Story of Monstrous Deception by Emmanuel Carrere ,High Culture: Drugs, Mysticism, and the Pursuit of Transcendence in the Modern World by Christopher Partridge, The Metamorphoses of Don Juan by Leo Weinstein, Bare-Faced Messiah by Russell Miller, Playing Indian by Philip J. Deloria, Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man: A Study in Terror and Healing by Michael Taussig, Shamans of the 20th Century by Ruth-Inge Heinze, Shamans Through Time: 500 Years o

    • 28 min
    II - Between Worlds

    II - Between Worlds

    Before achieving fame and fortune, Carlos Castaneda was once just another graduate student in the UCLA anthropology program. But even back then, his classmates remember him as being anything but ordinary. His megawatt personality and colorful stories left them spellbound; and his secretive research and purposefully veiled past stoked endless fascination.


    www.tricksterpodcast.com

    Trickster: The Many Lives of Carlos Castaneda is a guppy production:

    Creator and Executive Producer: Frank Horton

    Producers: Ville Haimala, James Orestes, Yuval Shapira

    Co-Producers: Kevin Barth, Steve Barilotti, Colin Stewart, Ybrahim Luna, Ana Djordjijevic, Dan Girmus, Celeste Cuevas, Collins Harris IV, Robert(a) Marshall, author of an upcoming biography of Carlos Castaneda, American Trickster, Katie Kidwell, Justin Aier

    Senior Producer: Pablo Vaca

    Composer: Ville Haimala

    Sound Designer and Mixer: Randy Ward

    Editors: Frank Horton, with additional editing by Randy Ward, Paul Calo and Yuval Shapira

    We wish to acknowledge our debt of gratitude to the research of scholars, journalists and authors who have contributed tiles to the mosaic that is our project. Trickster is based, in part, on the following books and articles:

    Ultimas Noticias Sobre Carlos Castaneda by Arturo Granda, Conversations with a Young Nahual by Byron de Ford, Trickster Makes This World by Lewis Hyde, Ascent and Descent of the Sacred Mountain by Claudio Naranjo, Tezcatlipoca: Trickster and Supreme Deity edited by Elizabeth Baquedano, Fractured Times by Eric Hobsbawm, All Things are Possible Selected Essays by Lev Shestov, La increíble hisotoria de Carlos Castaneda by Ybrahim Luna, Castaneda's Journey and the Don Juan Papers by Richard De Mille, Peyote Hunt: The Sacred Journey of the Huichol Indians by Barbara Myerhoff, Theory in anthropology since the sixties by Sherry Ortner, Viscerality, faith, and skepticism: Another theory of magic by Michael Taussig, Introduction to the Teachings of Don Juan by Octavio Paz, A Thousand Plateaus by Deleuze & Guattari, A Hushed Death for Mystic Author by J.R. Moehringer, Missing Amalia by Matt Ward, Sonoran Fantasy or Coming of Age? by Ralph Beals, Tula: The Toltec Capital of Ancient Mexico by Richard A. Diehl, The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition by M.H. Abrams, Aztec Philosophy: Understanding a World in Motion by James Maffie, The Mirror of Magic: A History of Magic in the Western World by Kurt Seligmann, Filming Castaneda: The Hunt for Magic and Reason by Gaby Geuter, America by Jean Baudrillard, Carlos Castaneda: American Trickster by Robert(a) Marshall, Endeavors in Psychology by Henry A. Murray, Ronald Reagan The Movie: And Other Episodes in Political Demonology by Michael Rogin, Yucatan by Andrea De Carlo, On Lies, Secrets, and Silence by Adrienne Rich, The Invented Indian: Cultural Fictions and Government Policies by James A. Clifton, Fear of Freedom by Carlo Levi, The Labyrinth of Solitude: Life and Thought in Mexico by Octavio Paz, The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent by Lionel Trilling, Freedom & Its Discontents: Reflections of Four Decades of American Moral Experience by Peter Marin, The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker, Feet of Clay Saints, Sinners, and Madmen: A Study of Gurus by Anthony Storr, The Storyteller Essays by Walter Benjamin, Life of Dreams: Field Notes On Psi, Synchronicity, And Shamanism by Douglass Price-Williams, Ill Fares the Land by Tony Judt, The Adversary: A True Story of Monstrous Deception by Emmanuel Carrere ,High Culture: Drugs, Mysticism, and the Pursuit of Transcendence in the Modern World by Christopher Partridge, The Metamorphoses of Don Juan by Leo Weinstein, Bare-Faced Messiah by Russell Miller, Playing Indian by Philip J. Deloria, Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man: A Study in Terror and Healing by Michael Taussig, Shamans of the 20th Century by Ruth-Inge Heinze, Shamans Through Time: 500 Years on the Path to Knowledge edited by Jeremy Narby and Franc

    • 25 min
    III - Drugs & Shamans

    III - Drugs & Shamans

    As the hippie movement flowered across college campuses in the 60s, Carlos Castaneda kept his hair neatly cut and wore brown, three-piece Brooks Brothers suits. But while his appearance may have been conservative, his approach to anthropology was radical. From the sands of Sonora, he was bringing back to campus mind-bending tales of psychedelic adventures with a desert shaman.

    www.tricksterpodcast.com

    Trickster: The Many Lives of Carlos Castaneda is a guppy production:

    Creator and Executive Producer: Frank Horton

    Producers: Ville Haimala, James Orestes, Yuval Shapira

    Co-Producers: Kevin Barth, Steve Barilotti, Colin Stewart, Ybrahim Luna, Ana Djordjijevic, Dan Girmus, Celeste Cuevas, Collins Harris IV, Robert(a) Marshall, author of an upcoming biography of Carlos Castaneda, American Trickster, Katie Kidwell, Justin Aier

    Senior Producer: Pablo Vaca

    Composer: Ville Haimala

    Sound Designer and Mixer: Randy Ward

    Editors: Frank Horton, with additional editing by Randy Ward, Paul Calo and Yuval Shapira

    We wish to acknowledge our debt of gratitude to the research of scholars, journalists and authors who have contributed tiles to the mosaic that is our project. Trickster is based, in part, on the following books and articles:

    Ultimas Noticias Sobre Carlos Castaneda by Arturo Granda, Conversations with a Young Nahual by Byron de Ford, Trickster Makes This World by Lewis Hyde, Ascent and Descent of the Sacred Mountain by Claudio Naranjo, Tezcatlipoca: Trickster and Supreme Deity edited by Elizabeth Baquedano, Fractured Times by Eric Hobsbawm, All Things are Possible Selected Essays by Lev Shestov, La increíble hisotoria de Carlos Castaneda by Ybrahim Luna, Castaneda's Journey and the Don Juan Papers by Richard De Mille, Peyote Hunt: The Sacred Journey of the Huichol Indians by Barbara Myerhoff, Theory in anthropology since the sixties by Sherry Ortner, Viscerality, faith, and skepticism: Another theory of magic by Michael Taussig, Introduction to the Teachings of Don Juan by Octavio Paz, A Thousand Plateaus by Deleuze & Guattari, A Hushed Death for Mystic Author by J.R. Moehringer, Missing Amalia by Matt Ward, Sonoran Fantasy or Coming of Age? by Ralph Beals, Tula: The Toltec Capital of Ancient Mexico by Richard A. Diehl, The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition by M.H. Abrams, Aztec Philosophy: Understanding a World in Motion by James Maffie, The Mirror of Magic: A History of Magic in the Western World by Kurt Seligmann, Filming Castaneda: The Hunt for Magic and Reason by Gaby Geuter, America by Jean Baudrillard, Carlos Castaneda: American Trickster by Robert(a) Marshall, Endeavors in Psychology by Henry A. Murray, Ronald Reagan The Movie: And Other Episodes in Political Demonology by Michael Rogin, Yucatan by Andrea De Carlo, On Lies, Secrets, and Silence by Adrienne Rich, The Invented Indian: Cultural Fictions and Government Policies by James A. Clifton, Fear of Freedom by Carlo Levi, The Labyrinth of Solitude: Life and Thought in Mexico by Octavio Paz, The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent by Lionel Trilling, Freedom & Its Discontents: Reflections of Four Decades of American Moral Experience by Peter Marin, The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker, Feet of Clay Saints, Sinners, and Madmen: A Study of Gurus by Anthony Storr, The Storyteller Essays by Walter Benjamin, Life of Dreams: Field Notes On Psi, Synchronicity, And Shamanism by Douglass Price-Williams, Ill Fares the Land by Tony Judt, The Adversary: A True Story of Monstrous Deception by Emmanuel Carrere ,High Culture: Drugs, Mysticism, and the Pursuit of Transcendence in the Modern World by Christopher Partridge, The Metamorphoses of Don Juan by Leo Weinstein, Bare-Faced Messiah by Russell Miller, Playing Indian by Philip J. Deloria, Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man: A Study in Terror and Healing by Michael Taussig, Shamans of the 20th Century by Ruth-Inge Heinze, Shamans Through Time: 500 Years on the Path to Knowledge edited by

    • 32 min
    IV - Path With Heart

    IV - Path With Heart

    The tremendous success of "The Teachings of Don Juan" will catapult Carlos Castaneda into the pop culture stratosphere and certify his status as a generational icon. But how exactly did a would-be anthropology master's thesis—which seemed destined for a dusty shelf in the UCLA library—become a bestselling bible for the counterculture?


    www.tricksterpodcast.com

    Trickster: The Many Lives of Carlos Castaneda is a guppy production:

    Creator and Executive Producer: Frank Horton

    Producers: Ville Haimala, James Orestes, Yuval Shapira

    Co-Producers: Kevin Barth, Steve Barilotti, Colin Stewart, Ybrahim Luna, Ana Djordjijevic, Dan Girmus, Celeste Cuevas, Collins Harris IV, Robert(a) Marshall, author of an upcoming biography of Carlos Castaneda, American Trickster, Katie Kidwell, Justin Aier

    Senior Producer: Pablo Vaca

    Composer: Ville Haimala

    Sound Designer and Mixer: Randy Ward

    Editors: Frank Horton, with additional editing by Randy Ward, Paul Calo and Yuval Shapira

    We wish to acknowledge our debt of gratitude to the research of scholars, journalists and authors who have contributed tiles to the mosaic that is our project. Trickster is based, in part, on the following books and articles:

    Ultimas Noticias Sobre Carlos Castaneda by Arturo Granda, Conversations with a Young Nahual by Byron de Ford, Trickster Makes This World by Lewis Hyde, Ascent and Descent of the Sacred Mountain by Claudio Naranjo, Tezcatlipoca: Trickster and Supreme Deity edited by Elizabeth Baquedano, Fractured Times by Eric Hobsbawm, All Things are Possible Selected Essays by Lev Shestov, La increíble hisotoria de Carlos Castaneda by Ybrahim Luna, Castaneda's Journey and the Don Juan Papers by Richard De Mille, Peyote Hunt: The Sacred Journey of the Huichol Indians by Barbara Myerhoff, Theory in anthropology since the sixties by Sherry Ortner, Viscerality, faith, and skepticism: Another theory of magic by Michael Taussig, Introduction to the Teachings of Don Juan by Octavio Paz, A Thousand Plateaus by Deleuze & Guattari, A Hushed Death for Mystic Author by J.R. Moehringer, Missing Amalia by Matt Ward, Sonoran Fantasy or Coming of Age? by Ralph Beals, Tula: The Toltec Capital of Ancient Mexico by Richard A. Diehl, The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition by M.H. Abrams, Aztec Philosophy: Understanding a World in Motion by James Maffie, The Mirror of Magic: A History of Magic in the Western World by Kurt Seligmann, Filming Castaneda: The Hunt for Magic and Reason by Gaby Geuter, America by Jean Baudrillard, Carlos Castaneda: American Trickster by Robert(a) Marshall, Endeavors in Psychology by Henry A. Murray, Ronald Reagan The Movie: And Other Episodes in Political Demonology by Michael Rogin, Yucatan by Andrea De Carlo, On Lies, Secrets, and Silence by Adrienne Rich, The Invented Indian: Cultural Fictions and Government Policies by James A. Clifton, Fear of Freedom by Carlo Levi, The Labyrinth of Solitude: Life and Thought in Mexico by Octavio Paz, The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent by Lionel Trilling, Freedom & Its Discontents: Reflections of Four Decades of American Moral Experience by Peter Marin, The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker, Feet of Clay Saints, Sinners, and Madmen: A Study of Gurus by Anthony Storr, The Storyteller Essays by Walter Benjamin, Life of Dreams: Field Notes On Psi, Synchronicity, And Shamanism by Douglass Price-Williams, Ill Fares the Land by Tony Judt, The Adversary: A True Story of Monstrous Deception by Emmanuel Carrere ,High Culture: Drugs, Mysticism, and the Pursuit of Transcendence in the Modern World by Christopher Partridge, The Metamorphoses of Don Juan by Leo Weinstein, Bare-Faced Messiah by Russell Miller, Playing Indian by Philip J. Deloria, Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man: A Study in Terror and Healing by Michael Taussig, Shamans of the 20th Century by Ruth-Inge Heinze, Shamans Through Time: 500 Years on the Path to Knowledge edited by Jeremy Narby and Francis Huxley, The Hu

    • 21 min
    V - This New Man

    V - This New Man

    At the peak of Castaneda's fame in the early 70s, rumors begin circulating about the authenticity of his books and his purported personal history. An all-star team of TIME Magazine journalists go looking for answers.


    www.tricksterpodcast.com

    Trickster: The Many Lives of Carlos Castaneda is a guppy production:

    Creator and Executive Producer: Frank Horton

    Producers: Ville Haimala, James Orestes, Yuval Shapira

    Co-Producers: Kevin Barth, Steve Barilotti, Colin Stewart, Ybrahim Luna, Ana Djordjijevic, Dan Girmus, Celeste Cuevas, Collins Harris IV, Robert(a) Marshall, author of an upcoming biography of Carlos Castaneda, American Trickster, Katie Kidwell, Justin Aier

    Senior Producer: Pablo Vaca

    Composer: Ville Haimala

    Sound Designer and Mixer: Randy Ward

    Editors: Frank Horton, with additional editing by Randy Ward, Paul Calo and Yuval Shapira

    We wish to acknowledge our debt of gratitude to the research of scholars, journalists and authors who have contributed tiles to the mosaic that is our project. Trickster is based, in part, on the following books and articles:

    Ultimas Noticias Sobre Carlos Castaneda by Arturo Granda, Conversations with a Young Nahual by Byron de Ford, Trickster Makes This World by Lewis Hyde, Ascent and Descent of the Sacred Mountain by Claudio Naranjo, Tezcatlipoca: Trickster and Supreme Deity edited by Elizabeth Baquedano, Fractured Times by Eric Hobsbawm, All Things are Possible Selected Essays by Lev Shestov, La increíble hisotoria de Carlos Castaneda by Ybrahim Luna, Castaneda's Journey and the Don Juan Papers by Richard De Mille, Peyote Hunt: The Sacred Journey of the Huichol Indians by Barbara Myerhoff, Theory in anthropology since the sixties by Sherry Ortner, Viscerality, faith, and skepticism: Another theory of magic by Michael Taussig, Introduction to the Teachings of Don Juan by Octavio Paz, A Thousand Plateaus by Deleuze & Guattari, A Hushed Death for Mystic Author by J.R. Moehringer, Missing Amalia by Matt Ward, Sonoran Fantasy or Coming of Age? by Ralph Beals, Tula: The Toltec Capital of Ancient Mexico by Richard A. Diehl, The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition by M.H. Abrams, Aztec Philosophy: Understanding a World in Motion by James Maffie, The Mirror of Magic: A History of Magic in the Western World by Kurt Seligmann, Filming Castaneda: The Hunt for Magic and Reason by Gaby Geuter, America by Jean Baudrillard, Carlos Castaneda: American Trickster by Robert(a) Marshall, Endeavors in Psychology by Henry A. Murray, Ronald Reagan The Movie: And Other Episodes in Political Demonology by Michael Rogin, Yucatan by Andrea De Carlo, On Lies, Secrets, and Silence by Adrienne Rich, The Invented Indian: Cultural Fictions and Government Policies by James A. Clifton, Fear of Freedom by Carlo Levi, The Labyrinth of Solitude: Life and Thought in Mexico by Octavio Paz, The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent by Lionel Trilling, Freedom & Its Discontents: Reflections of Four Decades of American Moral Experience by Peter Marin, The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker, Feet of Clay Saints, Sinners, and Madmen: A Study of Gurus by Anthony Storr, The Storyteller Essays by Walter Benjamin, Life of Dreams: Field Notes On Psi, Synchronicity, And Shamanism by Douglass Price-Williams, Ill Fares the Land by Tony Judt, The Adversary: A True Story of Monstrous Deception by Emmanuel Carrere ,High Culture: Drugs, Mysticism, and the Pursuit of Transcendence in the Modern World by Christopher Partridge, The Metamorphoses of Don Juan by Leo Weinstein, Bare-Faced Messiah by Russell Miller, Playing Indian by Philip J. Deloria, Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man: A Study in Terror and Healing by Michael Taussig, Shamans of the 20th Century by Ruth-Inge Heinze, Shamans Through Time: 500 Years on the Path to Knowledge edited by Jeremy Narby and Francis Huxley, The Human Career: The Self in the Symbolic World by Walter Goldschmidt, In Sorcery's Shadow by Paul Stoller, The Diabolic Root by

    • 33 min
    VI - Dreams of a Shadow

    VI - Dreams of a Shadow

    TIME Magazine’s investigation into Castaneda kicks into high gear as a series of late breaking discoveries reveal a portrait of a past life wholly at odds with Castaneda’s own. Behind the shroud of mystery lie tragedies. Spilling out into the open, Castaneda’s family secrets threaten to capsize both his person and professional life.


    www.tricksterpodcast.com

    Trickster: The Many Lives of Carlos Castaneda is a guppy production:
    Creator and Executive Producer: Frank Horton
    Producers: Ville Haimala, James Orestes, Yuval Shapira
    Co-Producers: Kevin Barth, Steve Barilotti, Colin Stewart, Ybrahim Luna, Ana Djordjijevic, Dan Girmus, Celeste Cuevas, Collins Harris IV, Robert(a) Marshall, author of an upcoming biography of Carlos Castaneda, American Trickster, Katie Kidwell, Justin Aier
    Senior Producer: Pablo Vaca
    Composer: Ville Haimala
    Sound Designer and Mixer: Randy Ward
    Editors: Frank Horton, with additional editing by Randy Ward, Paul Calo and Yuval Shapira

    
We wish to acknowledge our debt of gratitude to the research of scholars, journalists and authors who have contributed tiles to the mosaic that is our project. Trickster is based, in part, on the following books and articles:

    Ultimas Noticias Sobre Carlos Castaneda by Arturo Granda, Conversations with a Young Nahual by Byron de Ford, Trickster Makes This World by Lewis Hyde, Ascent and Descent of the Sacred Mountain by Claudio Naranjo, Tezcatlipoca: Trickster and Supreme Deity edited by Elizabeth Baquedano, Fractured Times by Eric Hobsbawm, All Things are Possible Selected Essays by Lev Shestov, La increíble hisotoria de Carlos Castaneda by Ybrahim Luna, Castaneda's Journey and the Don Juan Papers by Richard De Mille, Peyote Hunt: The Sacred Journey of the Huichol Indians by Barbara Myerhoff, Theory in anthropology since the sixties by Sherry Ortner, Viscerality, faith, and skepticism: Another theory of magic by Michael Taussig, Introduction to the Teachings of Don Juan by Octavio Paz, A Thousand Plateaus by Deleuze & Guattari, A Hushed Death for Mystic Author by J.R. Moehringer, Missing Amalia by Matt Ward, Sonoran Fantasy or Coming of Age? by Ralph Beals, Tula: The Toltec Capital of Ancient Mexico by Richard A. Diehl, The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition by M.H. Abrams, Aztec Philosophy: Understanding a World in Motion by James Maffie, The Mirror of Magic: A History of Magic in the Western World by Kurt Seligmann, Filming Castaneda: The Hunt for Magic and Reason by Gaby Geuter, America by Jean Baudrillard, Carlos Castaneda: American Trickster by Robert(a) Marshall, Endeavors in Psychology by Henry A. Murray, Ronald Reagan The Movie: And Other Episodes in Political Demonology by Michael Rogin, Yucatan by Andrea De Carlo, On Lies, Secrets, and Silence by Adrienne Rich, The Invented Indian: Cultural Fictions and Government Policies by James A. Clifton, Fear of Freedom by Carlo Levi, The Labyrinth of Solitude: Life and Thought in Mexico by Octavio Paz, The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent by Lionel Trilling, Freedom & Its Discontents: Reflections of Four Decades of American Moral Experience by Peter Marin, The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker, Feet of Clay Saints, Sinners, and Madmen: A Study of Gurus by Anthony Storr, The Storyteller Essays by Walter Benjamin, Life of Dreams: Field Notes On Psi, Synchronicity, And Shamanism by Douglass Price-Williams, Ill Fares the Land by Tony Judt, The Adversary: A True Story of Monstrous Deception by Emmanuel Carrere ,High Culture: Drugs, Mysticism, and the Pursuit of Transcendence in the Modern World by Christopher Partridge, The Metamorphoses of Don Juan by Leo Weinstein, Bare-Faced Messiah by Russell Miller, Playing Indian by Philip J. Deloria, Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man: A Study in Terror and Healing by Michael Taussig, Shamans of the 20th Century by Ruth-Inge Heinze, Shamans Through Time: 500 Years on the Path to Knowledge edited by Jeremy Narby and Francis Huxley, The Human

    • 38 min

Customer Reviews

4.3 out of 5
351 Ratings

351 Ratings

A frequent cook ,

Intriguing, Multifaceted, Well Told Narrative

I read the first two Castaneda books in the early 1980s as a high school student; they were given to me by a family friend just before my family was to take a summer vacation trip across the the American Southwest and back from our home in Texas. I was fascinated and as an aspiring cultural anthropologist, could not get enough,

Fast forward 4 years to when I was studying anthropology at university, and I was chastened to learn that the books are a hoax, best looked at as an allegory or psycho-spiritual New Age guide.

Thus While I knew that Castaneda was a sham academic, I did not know all of this back-story. Even though I started the series because of my prior interest in the podcast’s subject , I think many people would find it interesting, whether they are interested in academic culture, contemporary American social history, cult behavior, or literary frauds. Indeed, the series could maybe benefit from some judicious editing, but I binged the entire series over the course of a few days during walks and a lot of household chores.

Chiefhiawatha ,

This is a tough listen

The first 15 minutes, I don’t know how anyone got through it.

The music does not match or contribute.

The audio quality of every single interview is utter garbage.

You’re presented wtih 37 people talking about the guy in the first episode without actually knowing anything about the guy. Asking anyone to invest in a character when all you hear is very short clips from various people is not storytelling.

Why should the listener care? The first episode will not tell you. No thanks

Honestly the audio and pacing and narration and music need work.

He who shall remain nameless ,

I’m in awe

I consider myself an aficionado of cult and con man stories and this is as good as it gets. Except that the Castenada story is so much more than an account of a huckster because he managed to elucidate wisdom and did so with great beauty. This podcast is just excellent. The breadth of research, the depth of analysis, the drawing out of all the contradictions and paradoxes, and the organization of ideas… all edited with perfect pace. A master class in podcasting. Plus… no commercials! I hope there is more to come from this author.

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