Long Beach - February 1997
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This is what I can remember from the Long Beach seminar: Feb, 14-15 1997.
A stage had been set up against one wall which everyone gathered around.
The Nagual Dr. Carlos Castaneda took the stage greeted with a standing
ovation. He wore a button up shirt, blue jeans, black shoes and a black
leather jacket. After announcing his name the opening lecture began with
a review of the basics, such as, the body as a conglomerate of energy
fields, the assemblage point where "zillions and zillions" of energetic
filaments converge to create perception, the art of dreaming, and the
discovery of the magical passes.The passes help a warrior to be ready to
grab that cubic centimeter of chance when ever it should pop up. "One
needs to be alert and agile to grab it an make use of it". "My knees are
like those of a kid!" His fathers knees were locked and he showed us how
he walked.The Nagual told us how don Juan use to take him for long walks
in the desert. He would walk at a fast pace for hours and Castaneda
would beg "Don Juan, don Juan! I need a little break" and he'd sit down
lighting a cigarette "to catch my breath" as he inhaled the smoke.
"Crazy!" we walk around trying to hold up this idea that we're the
greatest. always worrying "what do they think of me" and "how do I look"
as he mimes looking into a hand mirror. We love ourselves yet at the
same time we're poising ourselves. The boost of energy Tensegrity gives
us helps to see that contradiction.
Each of the four of them all had magical passes which were suited to
their personal needs. In order to do the Nagual's passes one would have
to be his size. They started thinking what a waste it would be to go and
take all this information with them. So over the years they made the
movements generic so that anyone can do them and achieve magical
results. It took years because "We are not hacks." it had to be prefect.
We took a little break to get ready for the passes. In that time Dr.
Castaneda was hanging around chatting with Kylie.
About half way through learning the Series For Preparing Intent Kylie
announced that there was going to be a lecture. And once again the
chauffer took the helm. "You see how I work" Now that you've moved a
bit,now we can talk. Questions. (The reverb was terrible making it
extremely hard to hear what was being said.) One man asked about holes
in the energy body. "What" Holes in the energy body?" Oh, what holds the
energy body together." He then went into an explanation of intent that
was almost word for word as it is in the newsletter. There was some
mention of syntax and how when someone mentions spoon we automatically
think knife, plate, fork and so on. Finally "I've run out of things to
say," but he managed to talk about how he's a talker until he was dragged
from the stage.
Because we were in the middle of learning movements people had
surrounded the stage and he stepped down into a crowd of people. Some
Cleargreeners came in to usher him out of the chaos.
Taisha Abelar was the next to talk to us. She told us how that in back
there had been a pie for everyone so she had a piece, then after no-one
came for a while she thought why not have another but still no-one
showed up and eventually she ate the whole pie; much to the delight of
the audience. Don Juan once told her that she needed to make a bridge.
So, Taisha was immediately picturing this giant suspension bridge. "No,
no, no," he said. It's much smaller than you think. now she was thinking
of your average stream crosser. But it was even smaller still. It's the
size of your nose. "Oh well that's just a Teensy weensy little thing, no
problem."It turned out to be the most difficult thing she has ever had
to do: bridge the two bodies.
Taisha spoke twice,however over time everything she said has blurred
together. I can see her from floor level as well as looking down from
the bleachers and it's hard to tell what happened where.
Ms. Abelar talked about when they first sent her to the cave to do
recapitulation. Instead of recapitulating she would sit and try to raise
the Kundalini force. She found a nice flat river stone to sit on and
every day, using books, she would meditate. One day the old Nagual got
feed up with her actions and said "cut the crap! Recapitulate!" So she
did. She told us we don't need a cave or a box to recapitulate in, just
do it.
On breathing: As we do the passes that involve the breath we should make
the breaths as deep as possible. Sorcerers see that some people are
B.F.'s (she didn't seem to like the term Board Fuck). But as people
practice the passes breathing to their fullest eventually there comes a
time when even to the eye of a sorcerer they don't seem like B.F.'s; it
becomes impossible to tell.
She also mentioned something about the second attention. Doing the
passes, recapitulating, maybe through some not-doings in. These are the
ways to reach the Other and the second attention.
At some point during her first lecture a beautiful women came out from
the "back stage" area, walked up and sat at the edge of the stage
tapping her fingernails until Tiasha turned to look. The women then sat
down with the energy trackers.
That women was our next speaker. In the evening Carol Tiggs strolled
onto the stage telling us how they all love to look for omens. Tonight's
omen was a bumper sticker they saw in the parking lot which read "I love
myself just the way I am". So they were going to concentrate on
self-importance. (Ms. Tiggs' lectures blend together in my mind even
more so than Ms. Abelar's)
Carol Tiggs mentioned how the sorcerers of ancient Mexico learned to see
energy as it flowed in the universe and that when a human being was
"seen" it was an egg or more properly now is a ball. This ball had at on
time a a golden sheen which covered the whole cacoon, however for modern
man the plastic like golden cover was now only toe high. "Shanty Town"
she called it. That place is the pits, the lowest we can go. If she were
to get mad she thinks " Oh no! I'm in shanty town again"
Carol Tiggs is not some holier than now goddess that just comes down off
her throne to see how her "little babies are" (at this point her
performance was an absolute riot!). Impeccability is a constant
struggle, every minute of every day she is fighting. We all must be
impeccable. Even if you've done all your Tensegrity and recapitulated
you can't start whining about having to do the dishes - impeccablity is a
way of life.
Don Juan had her make a list of things that were of an unordinary
nature. When she went to see him with this big long list, thinking how
proud he would be with her, all he did was look at it and say "cut out
the sugar". At that time in her life she loved muffins. In the middle of
telling us about this she made a big sweeping motion with her hand
across what would be her horizon as she inhaled. Silence for a moment.
She explained that that was an example of recapitulating on the go. One
descent need a cave or a box to recapitulate. And one neednt''be
compulsive about it either. "Get out of my way! I need to get to my box
and recapitulate!"
Songs are a major obstacle when trying to reach inner silence. The
Nagual woman used to always have songs running through her head. Not
even songs just the general tune. For years she was going around singing
"orange soda" instead of "Arizona". We gloss over the words just to have
something running through our heads.
The Womb Series: These movements help women rediscover their direct link
with the spirit. Since women have this direct link they tend not to
care. They have no trouble seeing energy and because it's so easy they
blow it off. Men have to struggle life times to see energy. This causes
them to have more sobriety and a longer, sustained view of energy. They
balance each other. That's what these passes do. For women it makes them
more open to their direct link to INTENT and makes men more sober and
have a clearer purpose; the coning to the spirit.
Masculinity: These movements are short powerful blows to the "crust" of
the cuccoon. This crust is seen in some people as something like an
orange peel or thicker like the bark of a tree. We break up this crust
and it automatically comes back into our centers of vitality.
Also on the first night she was the one to introduce the Energy Trackers
as they preformed their long forms. Then the Blue Scout read a chapter
from Carlos Castaneda's forth coming book.
The Nagual came back the second day for one more lecture. Basically our
society is fucked. We all go around stressed out worrying about this or
that. When he was in school his advisor would ask him "How are you today
Carlos?" And he'd answer, "Great, I couldn't be better!" The advisor
would turn his back walking away muttering "Piss off shithead" or
something." But if he would respond, "Aggh! do you have to ask? Why do you
have to ask? Look at me!" (he made himself look like a total waste) his
advisor would be, "Come here, Come into my office I have some interesting
matters we should discuss." In don Juan's world being happy was of utmost
importance. Laughter was key. In the western world if you laugh your
crazy. Carlos Castaneda once had a graduate student who was as perfect
as can be. Always serious and in deep thought (at this point in his
story he gave us his scalar impersonation, eyebrows pinched together and
protruding lower lip). This kid went to the west indies (I think) to
study some tribe. When he came back all the chap did was smile and
laugh. He had this little bell he'd ring instead of talking. Who knows
what happened to him but he sure was happy. To summarize: western society
is fucked and don Juan's world was wonderful.
Carlos Castaneda would always be perplexed about the dates don Juan gave
him. 7000-10,000 years ago was impossible from an anthropological stand
point. At that time people weren't thought to be on this continent. So
bbbzzzz thumbs down on western science/mind. He said that there were
several hundred language families in the state of California alone. (I
think I heard him wrong. Several hundred is unbelievable to this western
mind) A language family is a large grouping of similar tongues. For
instance all of Europe except for Basque and Finnish but including
Sanskrit are all in the same foamily. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, ect are
another family. You get the idea. For western man to come in and try to
understand the views and philosophies of cultures with such vast
differences was impossible. They didn't even try. When they came they
killed. They whipped out staggering numbers of people and cultures and
systems of knowledge.
The mind is a foreign installation. Because of the predatory nature of
the universe something has taken control of the vital center on top of
our heads. It now has a tick tock motion instead of a spiralling one
like the others. This movement is quite disgusting for sorcerers to look
at. He mentioned that some of the predators that feed off the sheen on
our luminous cacoon resemble the patterns some people see when they
close their eyes (I think that's what he said).
"Has anyone here been to an A.A. meeting? Go, it's a riot." If you
haven't been here's what happens. Some one will get on stage to announce
to every one that they're an alcoholic. Usually on the first try they
can't do it. They mutter something and leave the stage. On the second
try maybe they'll whisper really quickly "I'm an alcoholic." and the
leader will pat them on the back "Good job Rick, Ya' did good." (this
whole time the Nagual was acting this out keeping us giggling). Now when
the person finally was ready to tell the world his problem it would come
out something like this... "I'M AN Alcoholic!" and the person would
burst into tears. Why is it so hard? Because they're so full of them
selves to admit any little flaw.
A sociologist told Carlos Castaneda that when people rub their eyes it's
a sure sing that they're bored with what's going on. "And by gum, it
works" (starts mimicking someone bored with talking to their wife)
"Huh? (rubbing eye) What was that honey?"
And one last thing. I recall him talking about when they leave the blue
scout was going to be the one to lead them. Her energy is more
resilient. Some man in Colorado had died. The man was Carlos Castaneda
and the authorities called up Cleargreen to find out if it was the
Nagual. Talia answered the phone and in a demanding voicesaod "NO!
CARLOS CASTANEDA IS NOT DEAD!" Carlos Castaneda thought that was not a
good way to react. What if he really had died? Talk to these people
a little before hanging up. The coroner calculated that the Nagual Carlos
Castaneda was about 75 while the man in Colorado was in his fifties. Don
Juan told him that he could go at any time so always wear shoes you
like. "I like my shoes," he said.
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