The Second Ring of Power: Where Castaneda Loses it

Being a curious creature, I've come to know a good few people in strange circles. As my interest in Castaneda grew, I consulted some respected sources of mine. To my delight, one person in particular had met Castaneda's witches! She had even attended one of their seminars.

From there, I was confronted with an onslaught of theories. This turned into a group discussion, a few of the details I desire to relay here.

Firstly, and this greatly intrigued me, one source claimed to have spoken with one of Castaneda's mistresses. She divulged that the first three of his books were legit and straight from don Juan, but that afterward Castaneda got sick of cutting don Juan in on the royalties. So the rest of the series is his own ramblings.

This brings me to my point, and title of this entry, The Second Ring of Power. This is the fifth book, and to me utter crap. Sexy witches and supernatural action sequences with special powers included. I don't mean to commit to saying its real or made up, since I don't have to, but as a work it's a complete divergence from its predecessors. And not in a good way.

The fourth book titled Tales of Power, while it may be a complete fabrication, was much better in terms of plot and knowledge than the strange story offered in Second Ring.

None of this invalidates the weight of the knowledge conveyed but it's important to figure out in order to avoid energizing useless psychological constructs. If I can figure out where Castaneda is indulging in himself, then I will be able to remove the distortion of his personal lens. At least that's my approach for now. It's working well so far.