A Toltec Path: A User's Guide to the Teachings of don Juan Matus, Carlos Castaneda and Other Toltec Seers

by Ken Eagle Feather

Book Overview

An exploration of the teachings made popular by Carlos Castaneda - Offers accessible instructions for Toltec spiritual and mystical practices - Represents the conclusion of an 18-year learning task... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1571740236
• ISBN13: 9781571740236
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Hampton Roads Publishing Company
• Length: 273 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

On the Toltec Path

Nice to read book, very easy to follow with many references to Carlos Castaneda's books. Reader would have a better idea of what the book is saying and teaching if he/she knows of Castaneda's writings. It has very good spiritual insights, good for those on a spiritual journey or interested in deepening their understanding of Don Juan Matus's teachings.

Good understanding of the best of Toltec Wisdom

I found this book insightful and meaningful for unlocking Toltec Wisdom. Like Castaneda, Eagle Feather comes to this work without preaching to the choir as one might find in the Ruiz lineage of Toltec wisdom. But to adequately access this information one must leave their traditional training at the door and enter with a mind open to take in the knowledge without personal bias or expectations about its value. Its value is discovered by engaging the practices. The Toltec path as articulated in the work of Castaneda unfolds through the Socratic Method as Castaneda uses questions rather than judgment to reveal these complex concepts. Castaneda is always asking Don Juan questions to reveal the deeper truths of this energetic system. Rather than a free flowing condemnation of western or eastern modalities, one is free to engage the frame on its own terms to ascertain its value for one's life. This differs substantially from the Ruiz lineage, where those authors trained in these methods critique negatively any concept not in confluence with their own, using the same methods they repudiate, but then announcing they are free from concepts altogether. Essentially, they are engaged in a shell game: now you see it, now you don't. The same is true for judgments. While condemning judgments, they nevertheless employ many of their own in their critique. You won't find this type of self-righteousness in the work a Eagle Feather or Castaneda. The aim, of course, is to get the reader beyond the concept itself and into the energy to which the concepts point. Eagle Feather's captures the same modes of articulation but in a different style than Castaneda. Nevertheless, his strategy is both powerful and effective. As a downside of the book, Eagle Feather changes the names of the concepts that many people accustomed to this work might be familiar. Another question is raised in Eagle Feather's assertion that Don Juan Matus was his primary teacher. Most of his examples are referrences to Castaneda's apprenticship and not his own; this certianly begs the question. If Eagle Feather learned this tradition directly from Don Juan, why does he not use his own experiences in the context of his booK?

Great book, but annoying too

The author does a good job of presenting the Toltec path for those who might otherwise struggle with the writings of Carlos Castaneda.He claims to have met "Don Juan". I won't comment there, perhaps it was a vision, perhaps Castaneda only had a vision. Perhaps Don Juan met a lot of people (I've met a lot of people, why shouldn't he?). The quality of the work stands above and beyond such things.However, one thing that was a major turn off was that the author changed a lot of the Castaneda terminology so it would be "politically correct". Personally, I think that the term "ranger" sounds pretty dumb. The terms "warrior" and "stalking" reflect and suggest the strong link to death that runs very strong in the Toltec world. Are we really only "tracking" power? Do we just want to see were it has been so a real "stalker" can capture it for us because we're a bit to PC for the job? :P Why "pretty it up"? This annoying feature couples with what I found to be a bit too much of a "joy joy" New Age and PC perspective. I suppose the author isn't just redoing Castaneda, and offers his own perspective. Frankly, this addition isn't appreciated. What I loved so much about Castaneda was the "no bs" grit of the perspectives offered there. Castaneda kept it real and this author does harm in my opinion by bending the system like he does. I'd rather have seen him simply offer his own view of the Toltec universe without the references to Don Juan or Castaneda and thereby sully them by association. Either you have the ethos to do it on your own or you ought to submit something more in the spirit of those whom you want to represent. Oh well, otherwise, it's a comprehensive introduction to the world of the Toltec "sorcerers" found in Castaneda's books (my apologies for saying a bad word). 5 stars for a comprehensive and readable job, 1 star for the patronizing PC goop that pervades this book. I'm weighting the content, and simply plugged my nose when I had to, so 4 stars.

Excellent overview of Toltec philosophy

Writers like Victor Sanchez and Ken Eagle Feather are valuable because they help to clarify, codify, and make practical what don Juan has taught through Castaneda's books. Although on the one hand, it's ultimately a barrier to further growth if you try to make something into a philosophy with certain dogmatic strictures, on the other hand, I found Castaneda's books hard to apply to my own life, until I started reading books by other Toltec writers. I believe Ken Eagle Feather has a superb handle on these concepts and he does a good job in conveying what they mean.On a side note, I don't believe book reviews should descend into personal name-calling. Frankly, a lot of Castaneda's stuff could be labeled New Age crap too, and has been done so by various anthropologists and others who have investigated his life. It depends on your point of view, and what you find valuable. What is real? The point is, even if don Juan was not real, how valuable was Castaneda's portrayal of him? How much could you learn from him? Ask Native cultures about the value of stories that cannot be independently verified or seem "unreal." The same, then, applies to Eagle Feather: Even if you don't believe that he has been taught by "the man" don Juan, how much can you learn from what he's written?Now, in other books Eagle Feather does delve into things like chakras and out-of-body experiences and chanelling, based on his experiences with the Monroe Institute. Depending on how much credibility the author his built with you, and how much stock you put into those phenomena, that will bias you one way or the other. Personally, I feel that his corroboration of various Toltec concepts through diverse explorations only adds to the validity of this material. Put simply: "A Toltec Path" is an excellent handbook for learning about the way of the warrior. It is not, as Eagle Feather himself says, a replacement for Castaneda's works. Instead, it's a complement, a sort of Cliff Notes, and a very comprehensive one at that. Indeed, I appreciate having all of the major concepts in one place.Moreover, I'd have to say that I'm not actually a huge Castaneda fan, I've read less than half of his books. But through neo-Toltec writers like Sanchez and Eagle Feather, I feel that I've taken advantage of the available information and used it in my own way to help craft my own path. And that is invaluable.I highly recommend this book.

MUST READ for any Castaneda fan...

I would rate this more highly than Castaneda's books, because it is concise and to the point. An excellent distillation of the way of the Toltec seers. I read all the Castaneda and didn't understand that much of it, but this book gave it all perspective and coherence.