Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan

Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan is a memoir by American author and shamanic intellectual Carlos Castaneda. The book explores the teachings of Yaqui Indian shaman Don Juan Matus, with whom Castaneda began an intense, philosophical apprenticeship while on assignment for an anthropological study. Castaneda remained Don Juan’s apprentice from 1960 to 1971, an interval during which the shaman tried to enlighten Castaneda to his shamanic tradition and perspectives. Don Juan also tried to help Castaneda access what he believed to be a parallel reality using a Yaqui psychotropic hallucinogen known as peyote. Initially reluctant to have Don Juan as his mentor, Castaneda came to adopt and espouse many of the sorcerer’s views. In this book, he attempts to convince readers that alternative realities do exist, validating the methods of knowledge-making utilized by the shamanic cultures with which he has been in contact.

Journey to Ixtlan begins with Castaneda’s endeavor to find Don Juan to learn more about the Yaqui Indians’ usage of plants for their psychotropic effects. Don Juan quickly diverted Castaneda from his carefully formulated research plans, instead, declaring that Castaneda should become his apprentice in order to see from his own experience how psychotropics are used. Castaneda explains that Don Juan’s view, and eventually his own view, was that psychotropics merely offer windows into alternate realities. With shamanic training, one can establish a more permanent connection to the same realms that one accesses through psychotropics like peyote. Castaneda recounts that he first began to take Don Juan seriously when he gave him a penetrating gaze that exuded great wisdom. While still skeptical, he agreed to apprentice with him, if only to understand the ins and outs of his pseudoscience.

Castaneda alleges that Don Juan was able to read his mind, which constantly sent him into a state of awe. Castaneda was unable to rationalize Don Juan’s insight into his own mind and behavior. As a result, he both feared and gravitated toward his shamanic mentor, eventually forging a true friendship. Castaneda argues that Don Juan’s concepts and methods oppose those of established science, the latter which he calls “normality.” These practices seem bizarre to anyone unacquainted with shamanism; for example, Don Juan made Castaneda converse with plants. He also picked on Castaneda for being boring, despite Castaneda’s assurances that he was more interesting than most scientists.



Throughout his apprenticeship, Castaneda employed logic and the scientific method to try to invalidate Don Juan’s views and methods. Don Juan often replied by demonstrating the efficacy of these same ways of thinking using Castaneda as his subject. Castaneda claims that his belief in logic and Western science gradually eroded; Don Juan’s grasp of the supernatural proved to him that truth and happiness are found only by actively avoiding logic.

Castaneda claims that his experiences with Don Juan often led him into a euphoric state. Don Juan taught him an unforgettable lesson about his own insignificance in a natural world full of countless other life-forms. Near the end of Castaneda’s apprenticeship, Don Juan sent him into the mountains to take in the natural world. There, Castaneda had a revelation that he could speak to animals; he claims he communicated with a coyote, realizing that he was equal to any other organism. Don Juan’s final instruction was, in short, for Castaneda to give up his life in the scientific world and become a shaman himself. Castaneda could not bring himself to take this final leap, instead, returning home to write about his journey. Journey To Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan suggests, in Castaneda’s ultimate decision to make the shaman’s teachings available to the world, that shamanic knowledge can help humans generate new insights into the nature of themselves and the natural world.