04-07-2012, 12:00 AM
By Charis Tselentis
Tensegrity: Death Defier’s Intent
This article is an attempt to decipher the intent, embodied in the
physical exercises system of Carlos Castaneda during the 90s, that was
named Tensegrity. For this purpose, it is necessary to address concepts
and persons, that may appear unknown to the reader, but they are
nevertheless substantial elements of the Myth. For better understanding,
I will attempt short explanatory brackets.
After 1961
(Castaneda’s first meeting with don Juan) and 1973 (don Juan’s party
leaves the world), the next crucial date is the late autumn of 1985. At
that time, Carol Tiggs is reunited with Carlos in the Phoenix Bookstore,
Santa Monica, California, during a lecture. Carol had left the world of
the firt attention in 1973, together with don Juan’s party. According
to the Rule, as a nagual woman, she had to stay in the second attention,
waiting for Carlos and his party. But she returned ten years later.
In “The Art of Dreaming” it is stated that even before 1973, Carol had
been unified with the Death Defier or Tenant, building a new energetic
unit. As a result of this, the Death Defier itertwined Carlos’ και της
Carol’s fate with his own:
"All our speculations are useless,"
don Juan said in a quiet, even tone. "I believe there is no longer any
Carol Tiggs. There isn't any, woman in the church either; both have
merged and flown away on the wings of intent, I believe, forward.”
The Death Defier was an ancient sorcerer, of indeterminable age. It is
speculated, that he was older than the Aztecs and had succeeded
prolonging his life using old sorcerer’s techniques. At a given time, in
the 18th century, he bargained a deal with don Juan’s line: the naguals
of the line gave him energy, receiving positions of the assembalge
point as sort of payment. By doing this, the Death Defier was able to
prolonge his life, acting like a sort of energetic vampire, and
therefore he was given the name “Tenant”.
When it was his turn
to give his energy, Castaneda accepted, but he didn’t demand any
payment. Despite of this, the Death Defier gave him a gift: to be able
to fly “on the wings of intent”:
"This is dreaming. You should know by now that its transactions are final. Carol Tiggs is gone."
"But where do you think she went, don Juan?"
"Wherever the sorcerers of antiquity went. I told you that the death
defier's gift was endless dreaming possibilities. You didn't want
anything concrete, so the woman in the church gave you an abstract gift:
the possibility of flying on the wings of intent."
Castaneda
has described extensively, that despite of the fact he had been selected
to be the leader of a new party, an energetic peculiarity on his body
didn’t allow him to fulfill this task: as a “three-pronged nagual” he
belonged to another part of the Rule and he wasn’t able to continue the
“line” of naguals, but only to close it, locking the door behind him
when he left.
“Locking the door” meant for him to assume the
responsibility what to do with the knowledge he had received. He decided
to lock the door with a “golden key”: to teach the magical passe to
whoever wanted to learn them.
“Finally, I came to accept what
don Juan called my fate. Accepting it put me face to face with another
issue that he referred to as locking the door when you leave. That is to
say, I assumed the responsibility of decid¬ing exactly what to do with
everything he had taught me and carrying out my decision impeccably.
First of all, I asked myself the crucial question of what to do with the
magical passes: the facet of don Juan's knowledge most imbued with
pragmatism and function. I decided to use the magical passes and teach
them to whoever wanted to learn them. My decision to end the secrecy
that had surrounded them for an undetermined length of time was,
naturally, the corollary of my total convic¬tion that I am indeed the
end of don Juan's lineage. It became inconceivable to me that I should
carry secrets which were not even mine. To shroud the magical passes in
secrecy was not my decision. It was my decision, however, to end such a
condition.” (Magical Passes)
The “wings of intent” were the
access to the “all-inclusive reality”, the most fearsome achievement of
the old sorcerers: by using intent, they were building “artificial dream
worlds” in the second attention, that would last as long as the Earth
would last, due to the fact that it’s emanations were used. In these
dream worlds, of unknown location (though some indications point to star
constellations, like Corona Borealis or Coma Berenices), «immigrated»
during the antiquity whole cities, to continue and prolongue their life
there, in a shape very similar to that of the inorganic beings. It is
obvious, that this approach means abandon of the quest for freedom, that
is only achievable beyond the second attention through the “Fire from
Within” and the entrance into the Third attention.
As a result,
Carlos’ proposition was to share the Death Defier’s gift with everyone
interested. For this purpose he built Tensegrity, that embodies the
Death Defier’s intent: the abandon of the quest for freedom and the
compromise with some “dreaming” or “astral” world of the second
attention. This intent is fully verified through Carol Tiggs’
involvement, even today, as President of Cleargreen,
Here I
want to point out, that, as Armando Torres states, the naguals of don
Juan’s line had also accepted a similar compromise: most of them did not
target the Third attention, but the the Dome of the Naguals, an
artificial “astral” world, called by don Juan the “cemetery of the
naguals”, that served in reality as “immediate station”:
"In
the end, the effect stalking had on the nagual parties was to betray
their initial motives. In time, the goal of total freedom was reduced to
rhetoric. Almost all the sorcerers of Don Juan's lineage preferred the
flight to the second attention. With the exception of the nagual Julian
Osorio, none of them wanted to be deprived of the adventure and ecstasy
of visiting the dome of the naguals, constructed of intent, located on
one of the stars of the constellation of Orion." – Armando Torres,
Encounters with the Nagual
In fact, the vision of the Dome of
the Naguals is mentioned in the “Second Ring of Power”, where Nestor
claims that don Juan and Genaro were there:
“In that particular
vision I had found myself looking at an outlandish world. There was an
enormous rock right in front of my eyes, a rock which had been split in
two. Through a wide gap in it I could see a boundless phosphorescent
plain, a valley of some sort, which was bathed in a greenish-yellow
light. On one side of the valley, to the right, and partially covered
from my view by the enormous rock, there was an unbelievable domelike
structure. It was dark, almost a charcoal gray. If my size was what it
is in the world of everyday life, the dome must have been fifty thousand
feet high and miles and miles across. Such an enormity dazzled me. I
had a sensation of vertigo and plummeted into a state of
disintegration.”
This goes inline with some readers comments,
published in Issue 4 of Nagualist, Dec. 1994/Jan.1995, that during the
first Tensegrity workshop in Rim Institute, Arizona, in 23-25 July 1993,
Carlos and the “Witches” claimed that don Juan and 27 generations of
sorcerers were stuck “in the outer edges of the second attention”. This
statement is identical with the above claim of Nestor and Torres. As
reason for this stranding, the lack of energy was mentioned.
It
remains unclear if the energy drawn by the Death Defier from the
naguals of don Juan’s line was the reason for this failure, though it
sounds logical. Castaneda himself states, that don Juan’s opinion was
that the deal with the Death Defier had modified radically the
subsequent naguals of the lineage. Maybe this was also the reason for
the ending of the whole lineage.
In any case, it is obvious,
that Death Defier’s intent, embodied in Tensegrity the way it is now,
does not lead to freedom. Tensegrity will remain a declining story at
the end of don Juan’s lineage and the reclaiming of the magical passes,
imbued with freedom’s intent will be the task of the new magical groups
that will appear, according to the Rule.
-- Charis Tselentis --
Tensegrity: Death Defier’s Intent
This article is an attempt to decipher the intent, embodied in the
physical exercises system of Carlos Castaneda during the 90s, that was
named Tensegrity. For this purpose, it is necessary to address concepts
and persons, that may appear unknown to the reader, but they are
nevertheless substantial elements of the Myth. For better understanding,
I will attempt short explanatory brackets.
After 1961
(Castaneda’s first meeting with don Juan) and 1973 (don Juan’s party
leaves the world), the next crucial date is the late autumn of 1985. At
that time, Carol Tiggs is reunited with Carlos in the Phoenix Bookstore,
Santa Monica, California, during a lecture. Carol had left the world of
the firt attention in 1973, together with don Juan’s party. According
to the Rule, as a nagual woman, she had to stay in the second attention,
waiting for Carlos and his party. But she returned ten years later.
In “The Art of Dreaming” it is stated that even before 1973, Carol had
been unified with the Death Defier or Tenant, building a new energetic
unit. As a result of this, the Death Defier itertwined Carlos’ και της
Carol’s fate with his own:
"All our speculations are useless,"
don Juan said in a quiet, even tone. "I believe there is no longer any
Carol Tiggs. There isn't any, woman in the church either; both have
merged and flown away on the wings of intent, I believe, forward.”
The Death Defier was an ancient sorcerer, of indeterminable age. It is
speculated, that he was older than the Aztecs and had succeeded
prolonging his life using old sorcerer’s techniques. At a given time, in
the 18th century, he bargained a deal with don Juan’s line: the naguals
of the line gave him energy, receiving positions of the assembalge
point as sort of payment. By doing this, the Death Defier was able to
prolonge his life, acting like a sort of energetic vampire, and
therefore he was given the name “Tenant”.
When it was his turn
to give his energy, Castaneda accepted, but he didn’t demand any
payment. Despite of this, the Death Defier gave him a gift: to be able
to fly “on the wings of intent”:
"This is dreaming. You should know by now that its transactions are final. Carol Tiggs is gone."
"But where do you think she went, don Juan?"
"Wherever the sorcerers of antiquity went. I told you that the death
defier's gift was endless dreaming possibilities. You didn't want
anything concrete, so the woman in the church gave you an abstract gift:
the possibility of flying on the wings of intent."
Castaneda
has described extensively, that despite of the fact he had been selected
to be the leader of a new party, an energetic peculiarity on his body
didn’t allow him to fulfill this task: as a “three-pronged nagual” he
belonged to another part of the Rule and he wasn’t able to continue the
“line” of naguals, but only to close it, locking the door behind him
when he left.
“Locking the door” meant for him to assume the
responsibility what to do with the knowledge he had received. He decided
to lock the door with a “golden key”: to teach the magical passe to
whoever wanted to learn them.
“Finally, I came to accept what
don Juan called my fate. Accepting it put me face to face with another
issue that he referred to as locking the door when you leave. That is to
say, I assumed the responsibility of decid¬ing exactly what to do with
everything he had taught me and carrying out my decision impeccably.
First of all, I asked myself the crucial question of what to do with the
magical passes: the facet of don Juan's knowledge most imbued with
pragmatism and function. I decided to use the magical passes and teach
them to whoever wanted to learn them. My decision to end the secrecy
that had surrounded them for an undetermined length of time was,
naturally, the corollary of my total convic¬tion that I am indeed the
end of don Juan's lineage. It became inconceivable to me that I should
carry secrets which were not even mine. To shroud the magical passes in
secrecy was not my decision. It was my decision, however, to end such a
condition.” (Magical Passes)
The “wings of intent” were the
access to the “all-inclusive reality”, the most fearsome achievement of
the old sorcerers: by using intent, they were building “artificial dream
worlds” in the second attention, that would last as long as the Earth
would last, due to the fact that it’s emanations were used. In these
dream worlds, of unknown location (though some indications point to star
constellations, like Corona Borealis or Coma Berenices), «immigrated»
during the antiquity whole cities, to continue and prolongue their life
there, in a shape very similar to that of the inorganic beings. It is
obvious, that this approach means abandon of the quest for freedom, that
is only achievable beyond the second attention through the “Fire from
Within” and the entrance into the Third attention.
As a result,
Carlos’ proposition was to share the Death Defier’s gift with everyone
interested. For this purpose he built Tensegrity, that embodies the
Death Defier’s intent: the abandon of the quest for freedom and the
compromise with some “dreaming” or “astral” world of the second
attention. This intent is fully verified through Carol Tiggs’
involvement, even today, as President of Cleargreen,
Here I
want to point out, that, as Armando Torres states, the naguals of don
Juan’s line had also accepted a similar compromise: most of them did not
target the Third attention, but the the Dome of the Naguals, an
artificial “astral” world, called by don Juan the “cemetery of the
naguals”, that served in reality as “immediate station”:
"In
the end, the effect stalking had on the nagual parties was to betray
their initial motives. In time, the goal of total freedom was reduced to
rhetoric. Almost all the sorcerers of Don Juan's lineage preferred the
flight to the second attention. With the exception of the nagual Julian
Osorio, none of them wanted to be deprived of the adventure and ecstasy
of visiting the dome of the naguals, constructed of intent, located on
one of the stars of the constellation of Orion." – Armando Torres,
Encounters with the Nagual
In fact, the vision of the Dome of
the Naguals is mentioned in the “Second Ring of Power”, where Nestor
claims that don Juan and Genaro were there:
“In that particular
vision I had found myself looking at an outlandish world. There was an
enormous rock right in front of my eyes, a rock which had been split in
two. Through a wide gap in it I could see a boundless phosphorescent
plain, a valley of some sort, which was bathed in a greenish-yellow
light. On one side of the valley, to the right, and partially covered
from my view by the enormous rock, there was an unbelievable domelike
structure. It was dark, almost a charcoal gray. If my size was what it
is in the world of everyday life, the dome must have been fifty thousand
feet high and miles and miles across. Such an enormity dazzled me. I
had a sensation of vertigo and plummeted into a state of
disintegration.”
This goes inline with some readers comments,
published in Issue 4 of Nagualist, Dec. 1994/Jan.1995, that during the
first Tensegrity workshop in Rim Institute, Arizona, in 23-25 July 1993,
Carlos and the “Witches” claimed that don Juan and 27 generations of
sorcerers were stuck “in the outer edges of the second attention”. This
statement is identical with the above claim of Nestor and Torres. As
reason for this stranding, the lack of energy was mentioned.
It
remains unclear if the energy drawn by the Death Defier from the
naguals of don Juan’s line was the reason for this failure, though it
sounds logical. Castaneda himself states, that don Juan’s opinion was
that the deal with the Death Defier had modified radically the
subsequent naguals of the lineage. Maybe this was also the reason for
the ending of the whole lineage.
In any case, it is obvious,
that Death Defier’s intent, embodied in Tensegrity the way it is now,
does not lead to freedom. Tensegrity will remain a declining story at
the end of don Juan’s lineage and the reclaiming of the magical passes,
imbued with freedom’s intent will be the task of the new magical groups
that will appear, according to the Rule.
-- Charis Tselentis --