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I have been recently reviewing the work of Castaneda in order to get once again to the marrow of its magick, which is like finding and re-discovering the operating of magick itself that underlies every magickal system. I was deeply involved with the work of Castaneda a few years back, and I was and continue to be very appreciative of the warrior's way that is depicted in the books, mainly through conversations with Castaneda's mentor, Don Juan. The regrettable thing is that the warrior's way lies scattered among many other -too many other- topics in the books, topics that belong to a supposed "tradition" of mexican sorcerers long existing since before the conquest and recorded history, the "Toltec Sorcerers", with all the creepy flaws, fixed traps, dogmas and taboos of just any well built TrrAdiTTioN. But Don Juan makes it amusingly clear at different points of the work that he does not give a dime for any tradition or set of knowledge, and this is somewhat the best spirit of the whole thing and delight that Don Juan conveys through the work.
As I come to understand it today, the warrior's way is a way of accruing magickal power. Simply put, it goes "do your best, whatever it is you choose to do". It has no prescribed rituals, and does not contraindicate any. If we were to say that sigilisation is not a "chaos magick" technique but rather an A.O. Spare derived technique, then there would be no difference between a warrior and a chaos magickian, or if you prefer they would be immediate close cousins, or very look-alike step-brothers. They are both scoundrels of magickal power, the Arsene Lupins of magick, elegant, flexible, and very respectful, and of course, if their intimate paradigms were to come to light under rather mundane perspectives, they would undoubtedly be judged as fundamentally immoral, ontological anarchists of perception, and threatening sons of no one. But a warrior and a chaote choose in advance the setting to reveal their agendas, and creating this or any kind of turmoil is done in a strategic, premeditated manner, to get the fullest out of it, and to ride on the momentum.
As for magick and magickal intentions, the warrior's way deals from the beginning with the "lust for desire" and "denial of manifestation". Actually, these are the only enemies in the warrior's war, recognized by mocking Don Juan as a hysterical "self-pity" attitude that predates the entire human race, an always present self-pity which in the Toltec world comes to be the only block standing between the warrior and an endless universe to be experienced. The weapon against "self-pity" is called "controlled folly", or "unbending intent", which basically means that whatever it is that you do or intend, the universe (or the Tao, the Karma, or The All Ominous Toltec Eagle), does not give a shit about you getting it or not, and so must you, but you must still do or intend it to your best. Additionaly, in case manifestation occurs "when I least expected it", a warrior must always be on full waking alert, ready to jump and ride on the opportunity, the timely synchronicity, or what Don Juan calls "the cubic centimeter of luck" that appears in your way, the bone to bite the universe will throw at you. Joining with shamanic lore, this is also referred to as the warrior's "hunt" or "gathering of power", which is cumulative, as "power" itself recognises a warrior-hunter on the move and arranges his path with its own inescrutable designs.
In short, a warrior must actively seek and do anything for the impossible to occur, with no expectations of it ever occurring. And I think that's it for an introduction. |
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) book that, although the old sorcerors wanted to bend themselves into a circle, they could never quite succeed. Kinda' like infinite intertwining spirals, those filaments: the endless edge of a fractal, the serpent reaching for its tail.
