09-20-2011, 12:03 AM
R. GORDON WASSON:
"In 1957, the Wassons' first book, which had begun as a cookbook by TW and the Wassons' Russian cook, Florence James, was published: Mushrooms Russia and History. Concurrently, a lengthy illustrated article by RGW in Life Magazine, May 13, 1957, on the Mexican mushroom veladas (sessions) with Maria Sabina gave rise to large numbers of individuals searching the wooded mountain regions of Mexico to discover for themselves the mushrooms with visionary powers. After TW's death in 1958, RGW continued to publish their Mexican mycological investigations: Maria Sabina and Her Mazatec Mushroom Velada (1974), accompanied by four long-playing records and the words of the all-night chants printed in Mazatec, Spanish, and English; and The Wondrous Mushroom: Mycolatry in Mesoamerica (1980). Additionally, RGW was second author on Roger Heim's study of Psilocybe: Les Champignons Hallucinogenes du Mexique (1958) and Nouvelles Investigations sur les Champignons Hallucinogenes (1967). Two species of Psilocybe were named in honor of RGW and TW: Psilocybe Wassonii Heim and Psilocybe Wassonorum Guzman. RGW conducted yearly field trips to Mexico until 1962."
http://www.huh.harvard.ed...braries/wasson/BIOG.html
MY COMMENT:
If any of you ever do any extensive study into hallucinogenic mushrooms the name R. Gordon Wasson will most certainly come up. If anyone knew about the hallucinogenic mushrooms of Mexico it was this man. Well, I did some study on Carlos Castaneda and I found...
QUOTE:
"Despite the widespread popularity of his works, some critics questioned the validity of Castaneda's books as early as 1969. In a series of articles, international banker and amateur mycologist R. Gordon Wasson, who had originally praised Castaneda's work, questioned the accuracies of Castaneda's botanical claims"
FROM THE SAME ARTICLE:
"Anthropologists specializing in Yaqui Indian culture (William Curry Holden, Jane Holden Kelley and Edward H. Spicer), who originally supported Castaneda's account as true, had questioned the accuracies of Castaneda's work "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Castaneda
MY COMMENT:
So according to my studies R. Gordon Wasson was making field trips to Mexico until 1962 and he had ORIGINALLY praised Castaneda's work. If any man knew what it was actually like to take field trips to Mexico it was R. Gordon Wasson. If Castaneda was faking field trips to Mexico R. Gordon Wasson would indeed know from the Castaneda narratives that Carlos had not actually been to Mexico. So, apparently, R. Gordon Wasson was satisfied that Carlos Castaneda was indeed making field trips to Mexico. Apparently, Mr Wasson was NOT satisfied by Castaneda's claims that the "Little Smoke" of don Juan was made from psilocybin mushrooms.
The point being that the anthropology experts at UCLA had at least some reason to doubt Castaneda's veracity from his very first book. Mr Wasson was a well respected man, in academic circles, when it came to hallucinogenic mushrooms; or so I've been led to believe.
MY MAIN POINT:
I say any truly sane person should agree with me here: If Carlos Castaneda was able, in spite of the evidence against him, to fool the experts at UCLA into giving him a Ph. D, and make the cover of Time Magazine as well we are talking about TRUE GENIUS in the person of Carlos Castaneda. If he was a fraud and made the character don Juan up Carlos Castaneda was an incredible genius alright; creating a modern mythology that jump-started an entire spiritual movement!
So, if there actually was a don Juan that's nice, but not anywhere near as amazing as if Carlos Castaneda made the whole thing up, created a string of best-selling books, made the cover of Time Magazine and tricked the experts at UCLA into giving him a Ph. D.
I say only a crazy person will not agree with me here. This is down to Earth logic, as far as I am concerned. HOWEVER, I am more than willing to change my view if you can convince me otherwise. This is the difference between myself and Jeremy Donovan TBD. He will NEVER change his views. He's been saying the same things for years and will most probably continue to do so no matter what ANYONE shares in this forum. Once a narcissistic-ally deranged person makes up his mind about something there is no changing it!
Although, I could be wrong
"In 1957, the Wassons' first book, which had begun as a cookbook by TW and the Wassons' Russian cook, Florence James, was published: Mushrooms Russia and History. Concurrently, a lengthy illustrated article by RGW in Life Magazine, May 13, 1957, on the Mexican mushroom veladas (sessions) with Maria Sabina gave rise to large numbers of individuals searching the wooded mountain regions of Mexico to discover for themselves the mushrooms with visionary powers. After TW's death in 1958, RGW continued to publish their Mexican mycological investigations: Maria Sabina and Her Mazatec Mushroom Velada (1974), accompanied by four long-playing records and the words of the all-night chants printed in Mazatec, Spanish, and English; and The Wondrous Mushroom: Mycolatry in Mesoamerica (1980). Additionally, RGW was second author on Roger Heim's study of Psilocybe: Les Champignons Hallucinogenes du Mexique (1958) and Nouvelles Investigations sur les Champignons Hallucinogenes (1967). Two species of Psilocybe were named in honor of RGW and TW: Psilocybe Wassonii Heim and Psilocybe Wassonorum Guzman. RGW conducted yearly field trips to Mexico until 1962."
http://www.huh.harvard.ed...braries/wasson/BIOG.html
MY COMMENT:
If any of you ever do any extensive study into hallucinogenic mushrooms the name R. Gordon Wasson will most certainly come up. If anyone knew about the hallucinogenic mushrooms of Mexico it was this man. Well, I did some study on Carlos Castaneda and I found...
QUOTE:
"Despite the widespread popularity of his works, some critics questioned the validity of Castaneda's books as early as 1969. In a series of articles, international banker and amateur mycologist R. Gordon Wasson, who had originally praised Castaneda's work, questioned the accuracies of Castaneda's botanical claims"
FROM THE SAME ARTICLE:
"Anthropologists specializing in Yaqui Indian culture (William Curry Holden, Jane Holden Kelley and Edward H. Spicer), who originally supported Castaneda's account as true, had questioned the accuracies of Castaneda's work "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Castaneda
MY COMMENT:
So according to my studies R. Gordon Wasson was making field trips to Mexico until 1962 and he had ORIGINALLY praised Castaneda's work. If any man knew what it was actually like to take field trips to Mexico it was R. Gordon Wasson. If Castaneda was faking field trips to Mexico R. Gordon Wasson would indeed know from the Castaneda narratives that Carlos had not actually been to Mexico. So, apparently, R. Gordon Wasson was satisfied that Carlos Castaneda was indeed making field trips to Mexico. Apparently, Mr Wasson was NOT satisfied by Castaneda's claims that the "Little Smoke" of don Juan was made from psilocybin mushrooms.
The point being that the anthropology experts at UCLA had at least some reason to doubt Castaneda's veracity from his very first book. Mr Wasson was a well respected man, in academic circles, when it came to hallucinogenic mushrooms; or so I've been led to believe.
MY MAIN POINT:
I say any truly sane person should agree with me here: If Carlos Castaneda was able, in spite of the evidence against him, to fool the experts at UCLA into giving him a Ph. D, and make the cover of Time Magazine as well we are talking about TRUE GENIUS in the person of Carlos Castaneda. If he was a fraud and made the character don Juan up Carlos Castaneda was an incredible genius alright; creating a modern mythology that jump-started an entire spiritual movement!
So, if there actually was a don Juan that's nice, but not anywhere near as amazing as if Carlos Castaneda made the whole thing up, created a string of best-selling books, made the cover of Time Magazine and tricked the experts at UCLA into giving him a Ph. D.
I say only a crazy person will not agree with me here. This is down to Earth logic, as far as I am concerned. HOWEVER, I am more than willing to change my view if you can convince me otherwise. This is the difference between myself and Jeremy Donovan TBD. He will NEVER change his views. He's been saying the same things for years and will most probably continue to do so no matter what ANYONE shares in this forum. Once a narcissistic-ally deranged person makes up his mind about something there is no changing it!
Although, I could be wrong