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Magical Passes - Part ThreeCarlos CastanedaThe third Series: The Series of the Five Concerns: The Westwood Series A nickname for this series is The Westwood Series, given to it because it was taught publicly for the first rime in the Pauley Pavilion at the University of California at Los Angeles, which is located in an area called Westwood. This series was conceived as an attempt to integrate what don Juan Matus called the five concerns of the shamans of ancient Mexico. Everything those sorcerers did rotated around five concerns: one, the magical passes; two, the energetic center in the human body called the center for decisions; three, recapitulation, the means for enhancing the scope of human awareness; tour, dreaming, the bona fide art of breaking the parameters of normal perception; five, inner silence, the stage of human perception from which those sorcerers launched every one of their perceptual attainments. This sequence of five concerns was an arrangement patterned on The understanding that those sorcerers had of the world around them. One of the astounding findings of those shamans, according to what don Juan taught, was the existence in the universe of an agglutinating force that binds energy fields together into concrete, functional units. The sorcerers who discovered the existence of this force described it as a vibration, or a vibratory condition, that permeates groups of energy fields and glues them together. In terms of this arrangement of the five concerns of the shamans of ancient Mexico, the magical passes fulfill the function of the vibratory condition those shamans talked about. When those sorcerers put together this shamanistic sequence of five concerns, they copied the patterning of energy that was revealed to them when they were capable of seeing energy as it flows in the universe. The binding force was the magical passes. The magical passes were the unit that permeated through the four remaining units and grouped them together into one functional whole. The Westwood Series, following the patterning of the shamans of ancient Mexico, has consequently been divided into four groups, arranged in terms of their importance as envisioned by the sorcerers who formulated them: one, the center for decisions; two, recapitulation; three, dreaming; four, inner silence. Back to Top The First Group: The Center for Decisions The most important topic for the shamans who lived in Mexico in ancient times, and for all the shamans of don Juan's lineage, was the center for decisions. Shamans are convinced, by the practical results of their endeavors, that there is a spot on the human body which accounts for decision making, the V spot - the area on the crest of the sternum at the base of the neck, where the clavicles meet to form a letter V. It is a center where energy is rarefied to the point of being tremendously subtle, and it stores a specific type of energy which shamans are incapable of defining. They are utterly certain, however, that they can feel the presence of that energy, and its effects. It is the belief of shamans that this special energy is always pushed out of that center very early in the lives of human beings, and it never returns to it, thus depriving human beings of something perhaps more important than all the energy of the other centers combined: the capacity to make decisions. In relation to the issue of making decisions, don Juan expressed the hard opinion of the sorcerers of his lineage. Their observations, over the centuries, had led them to conclude that human beings are incapable of making decisions, and that for this reason, they have created the social order: gigantic institutions that assume responsibility for decision making. They let those gigantic institutions decide for them, and they merely fulfill the decisions already made on their behalf. The V spot at the base of the neck was, for those shamans, a place of such importance that they rarely touched it with their hands; if it was touched, the touch was ritualistic and always performed by someone else with the aid of an object. They used highly polished pieces of hardwood or polished bones of animals, utilizing the round head of the bone so as to have an object of the perfect contour, the size of the hollow spot on the neck. They would press with those bones or pieces of wood to create pressure on the borders of that hollow spot. Those objects were also used, although rarely, for self-massage, or for what we understand nowadays as accupressure. "How did they come to find out that that hollow spot is the center for decisions!" I asked don Juan once. "Every center of energy in the body," he replied, "shows a concentration of energy; a sort of vortex of energy, like a funnel that actually seems to rotate counterclockwise from the perspective of the seer who gazes into it. The strength of a particular center depends on the force of that movement. If it barely moves, the center is exhausted, depleted of energy. "When the sorcerers of ancient times," don Juan continued, "were scanning the body with their seeing eye, they noticed the presence of those vortexes. They became very curious about them, and made a map of them." "Are there many such centers in the body, don Juan?" I asked. "There are hundreds of them," he replied, "if not thousands! One can say that a human being is nothing else but a conglomerate of thousands of twirling vortexes, some of them so very small that they are, let's say, like pinholes, but very important pinholes. Most of the vortexes are vortexes of energy. Energy flows freely through them, or is stuck in them. There are, however, six which are so enormous that they deserve special treatment. They are centers of life and vitality. Energy there is never stuck, but sometimes the supply of energy is so scarce that the center barely rotates." Don Juan explained that those enormous centers of vitality were located on six areas of the body. He enumerated them in terms of the importance that shamans accorded them. The first was on the area of the liver and gallbladder; the second on the area of the pancreas and spleen; the third on the area of the kidneys and adrenals; and the fourth on the hollow spot at the base of the neck on the frontal part of the body. The fifth was around the womb, and the sixth was on the top of the head. The fifth center, pertinent only to women, had, according to what don Juan said, a special kind of energy that gave sorcerers the impression of liquidness. It was a feature that only some women had. It seemed to serve as a natural filter that screened out superfluous influences. The sixth center, located on top of the head, don Juan described as something more than an anomaly, and refrained absolutely from having anything to do with it. He portrayed it as possessing not a circular vortex of energy, like the others, but a pendulumlike, back-and-forth movement somehow reminiscent of the beating of a heart. "Why is the energy of that center so different, don Juan?" I asked him. "That sixth center of energy," he said, "doesn't quite belong to man. You see, we human beings are under siege, so to speak. That center has been taken over by an invader, an unseen predator. And the only way to overcome this predator is by fortifying all the other centers." "Isn't it a bit paranoiac to feel that we are under siege, don Juan?" I asked. "Well, maybe for you, but certainly not for me," he replied. "I see energy, and I see that the energy over the center on the top of the head doesn't fluctuate like the energy of the other centers. It has a back-and-forth movement, quite disgusting, and quite foreign. I also see that in a sorcerer who has been capable of vanquishing the mind, which sorcerers call a foreign installation, the fluctuation of that center has become exactly like the fluctuation of all the others." Don Juan, throughout the years of my apprenticeship, systematically refused to talk about that sixth center. On this occasion when he was telling me about the centers of vitality, he dismissed my frantic probes, rather rudely, and began to talk about the fourth center, the center for decisions."This fourth center," he said, "has a special type of energy, which appears to the eye of the seer as possessing a unique transparency, something that could be described as resembling water: energy so fluid that it seems liquid. The liquid appearance of this special energy is the mark of a filterlike quality of the center for decisions itself, which screens any energy coming to it, and draws from it only the aspect of it that is liquidlike. Such a quality of liquidness is a uniform and consistent feature of this center. Sorcerers also call it the watery center. "The rotation of the energy at the center for decisions is the weakest of them all," he went on. "That's why man can rarely decide anything. Sorcerers see that after they practice certain magical passes, that center becomes active, and they can certainly make decisions to their hearts' content, while they couldn't even take a first step before." Don Juan was quite emphatic about the fact that the shamans of ancient Mexico had an aversion that bordered on phobia about touching their own hollow spot at the base of the neck. The only way in which they accepted any interference whatsoever with that spot was through the use of their magical passes, which reinforce that center by bringing dispersed energy to it, clearing away, in this manner, any hesitation in decision making born out of the natural energy dispersion brought about by the wear and tear of everyday life. "A human being," don Juan said, "perceived as a conglomerate of energy fields, is a concrete and sealed unit into which no energy can be injected, and from which no energy can escape. The feeling of losing energy, which all of us experience at one time or another, is the result of energy being chased away, dispersed from the five enormous natural centers of life and vitality. Any sense of gaining energy is due to the redeployment of energy previously dispersed from those centers. That is to say, The energy is relocated onto those five centers of life and vitality." THE MAGICAL PASSES FOR THE CENTER FOR DECISIONS 1. Bringing Energy to the Center for Decisions with a Back-and Forth Motion of the Hands and Arms with the Palms Turned Downward. The arms shoot out to the front at a forty-five-degree angle with an exhalation, the palms of the hands facing down (fig. 125). Then they are retrieved to the sides of the chest, under the axilla, with an inhalation. The shoulders are raised in order to main the same degree of inclination (fig. 126). In the second facet of this movement, the arms are extended downward with an inhalation, and pulled back with an exhalation. 2. Bringing Energy to the Center for Decisions with a Back-and-Forth Motion of the Hands and Arms with the Palms Turned Upward This magical pass is like the preceding one, and it is executed in exactly the same fashion, except that it is done with the palms of the hands turned upward (fig. 127). The inhalations and exhalations are also exactly as in the preceding movement. Air is exhaled as the hands and arms move forward at a forty-five-degree level of inclination, and it is inhaled as the arms move backward. Then air is inhaled as the hands and arms move downward, and exhaled as the hands and arms retrieve. 3. Bringing Energy to the Center for Decisions with a Circular Motion of the Hands and Arms with the Palms Turned Downward This magical pass begins exactly like the first one of this group, except that when the hands reach their fully extended position, two complete circles are drawn with the hands and the arms going away from each other to reach a point about six inches beyond the rib cage. When the hands complete the circles (fig. 128), the arms are retrieved to the sides of the rib cage under the axilla. This magical pass consists of two facets. In the first, air is exhaled as the circles are drawn and inhaled as the arms are retrieved backward. In the second, air is inhaled as the hands and arms draw the circles and exhaled as the arms are retrieved. 4. Bringing Energy to the Center for Decisions in a Circular Motion of the Hands and Arms with the Palms Turned Upward This magical pass is exactly like the preceding one, with the same two facets of inhalation and exhalation, but the two circles are drawn by the hands and arms with the palms of the hands turned upward (fig. 129). 5. Bringing Energy to the Center for Decisions from the Midsection of the Body The arms are bent at the elbows and kept high, at the level of the shoulders. The fingers are kept loosely pointing toward the V spot, but without touching it (fig. 130). The arms move in a teeter-totter fashion from right to left and left to right. The motion is not accomplished by moving the shoulders or the hips, but by the contraction of the muscles of the stomach, which moves the midsection to the right, to the left, and to the right again, and so on. 6. Bringing Energy to the Center for Decisions from the Area of the Shoulder Blades The arms are bent, as in the previous movement, hut the shoulders are rounded so that the elbows are heavily drawn toward the front. The left hand is placed on top of the right. The fingers are held loose, pointing toward the V spot without touching n, and the chin juts out and rests on the hollow spot between the thumb and index finger of the left Figure 130 hand (fig. 131). The bent elbows are pushed forward, extending the shoulder blades, one at a time, to the maximum. 7. Stirring Energy Around the Center for Decisions with a Bent Wrist Both hands are brought to the V spot on the base of the neck, without touching it. The hands are gently curved; the fingers point at the center for decisions. Then the hands begin to move, the left first, followed by the right, as if stirring a liquid substance around that area, or as if they were fanning air into the V spot with a series of gentle movements of each hand; these movements are accomplished by extending the whole arm laterally and then bringing it back to the area in front of the V spot (fig. 132). Then the left arm strikes out in front of the V spot, with the hand turned sharply inward, using the wrist and the back of the hand as a striking surface (fig. 133). The right arm executes the same movement. In this manner, a series of forceful blows are delivered to the area right in front of the V spot. 8. Transferring Energy from the Two Centers of Vitality on the Front of the Body to the Center for Decisions Both hands are brought to the area of the pancreas and spleen, a few inches in front of the body. The left hand, with the palm turned upward, is held four or five inches below the right one, which has the palm turned downward. The left forearm is held at a ninety-degree angle, extended straight out to the front. The right forearm is also at a ninety-degree angle, but held close to the body, so that the fingertips point to the left (fig. 134). The left hand makes two inward circles about a foot in diameter around the area of the pancreas and spleen. Once it has completed the second circle, the right hand shoots out to the front and strikes with the edge of the hand, to the area an arm's length in front of the liver and gallbladder (fig.135). The exact same movements are performed on the other side of the body by reversing the position of the hands, which arc brought to the area of the liver and gallbladder, with the right hand circling and the left hand striking forward to the area an arm's length in front of the pancreas and spleen. 9. Bringing Energy to the Center for Decisions from the Knees The left hand and arm draw two circles about a foot in diameter in front of the V spot, a bit toward the left (fig. 136). The palm of the hand is facing downward. Once the second circle has been drawn, the forearm is raised to the level of the shoulder and the hand strikes away from the (ace, diagonally to the right, at the level of the V spot, with a flick of the wrist, as if holding a whip (fig. 137). The same movements are performed with the right hand. Then a deep inhalation is taken, and an exhalation follows as the hands and arms slide downward until they reach the tops of the knees, with the palms facing up. A deep inhalation is taken there and the arms are raised, with the left arm in the lead; the right arm crosses over the left as they go over the head until the fingers rest on the back of the neck. The breath is held as the top of the trunk moves three times in succession in a teeter-totter motion; the left shoulder goes down first, then the right, and so on (fig. 138). Then the air is exhaled as the arms and hands move back downward to the tops of the knees, again with the palms of the hands facing up. A deep inhalation is taken, and then the air is exhaled as the hands are raised from the knees to the level of the V spot, with the fingers pointing toward it, without touching it (fig. 139). The hands are brought once more to the knees with an exhalation. A final deep inhalation is taken and the hands are raised to the level of the eyes, and then brought down to the sides as the air is exhaled. The next three magical passes, according to don Juan, transfer energy which belongs only to the center for decisions from the frontal edge of the luminous sphere, where it has accumulated over the years, to the back, and then from the back of the luminous sphere to the front. He said that this energy transferred back and forth goes through the V spot, which acts as a filter, utilizing only the energy that is proper to it and discarding the rest. He pointed out that because of this selective process of the V spot, it is essential to perform these three magical passes as many times as possible. 10. Energy Going Through the Center for Decisions from the Front to the Back and the Back to the Front with Two Blows A deep inhalation is taken. Then the air is slowly exhaled as the left arm strikes out at the level of the solar plexus, with the palm of the hand turned upward; the palm is held flat and the fingers are together. Then the hand is clasped into a fist. The arm moves to the back, striking from the height of the hips with a backhand blow (fig. 140). The exhalation ends as the hand opens. Another deep inhalation is taken. A slow exhalation follows while the palm of the open hand, still in back of the body, taps ten times as if lightly hitting a solid round object. Then the hand is clasped into a fist before the arm moves to the front in a swinglike punch that strikes an area in front of the V spot, an arm's length away from it (fig. 141). The hand opens as if releasing something held in it. The arm moves down, back, and then over the head and strikes with the palm down in front of the V spot, as if breaking whatever it has released. The exhalation ends then (fig. 142). The same sequence of movements is repeated with the right arm. 11. Transferring Energy from the Front to the Back and the Back to the Front with the Hook of the Arm A deep inhalation is made. Then the air is slowly exhaled as the left .inn moves forward with the palm of the hand turned upward. The hand is quickly clasped into a fist. The fisted hand rotates until the back of the hand is turned upward and strikes over the shoulder to the back. The fisted palm faces upward. The hand opens and turns to face downward, and the exhalation ends. Another deep inhalation is taken. Then a slow exhalation begins as the hand, made into a downward hook, scoops three times, as if rolling a solid substance into a ball (fig. 143). The ball is tossed upward to the level of the head with a flick of the hand and forearm (fig. 144), and quickly grabbed with the hand bent again at the wrist like a hook (fig. 145). The arm moves to the front, then to the height of the right shoulder and strikes forward to an area right in front of the V spot an arm's length away from it, using the wrist and the back of the hand as a striking surface (fig. 146). The hand then opens as if to release whatever it had trapped, and the arm moves down to the back and over the head to strike it with great force with the flat palm. The exhalation ends as the whole body shakes with the force of the strike. The same movements are repeated with the other arm. 12. Transferring Energy from the Front to the Back and the Back to the Front with Three Blows A deep inhalation is taken. A slow exhalation follows as the left arm strikes forward with the hand open, the flat palm turned upward. The hand is quickly clasped into a fist, and the arm retrieves as if to deliver an elbow blow to the back. Then it moves laterally to the right and delivers a side punch with the forearm rubbing on the body (fig. 147). The elbow is retrieved again as if to deliver an elbow blow to the back. The arm is extended and moved out to the left side and to the back, to deliver the fourth blow behind the body with the back of the fisted hand. The exhalation ends as the hand opens (fig. A deep inhalation is taken again. A slow exhalation follows as the hand, bent downward into a hook, scoops three times. Then the hand grabs as if it were clasping something solid (fig. 149). The arm swings to the front at the level of the center for decisions. It continues to the right shoulder; there the forearm makes a loop upward and delivers a back-fist blow to the area in front of the V spot, an arm's length away from it (fig. 150). The hand opens as if to release something that it was clasping. Then it moves down, goes behind the body, comes above the head, with the palm of the hand down, and smashes whatever it released with a forceful blow of the open hand. The slow exhalation ends there (fig. 151). The same movements are repeated with the right arm. Back to Top The Second Group: The Recapitulation The recapitulation, according to what don Juan taught his disciples, was a technique discovered by the sorcerers of ancient Mexico, and used by every shaman practitioner from then on, to view and relive all the experiences of their lives, in order to achieve two transcendental goals: one, the abstract goal of fulfilling a universal code that demands that awareness must be relinquished at the moment of death; and two, the extremely pragmatic goal of acquiring perceptual fluidity. He said that the formulation of their first goal was the result of observations that those sorcerers made by means of their capacity to see energy directly as it flows in the universe. They had seen that there exists in the universe a gigantic force, an immense conglomerate of energy fields which they called the Eagle, or the dark sea of awareness. They observed that the dark sea of awareness is the force that lends awareness to all living beings, from viruses to men. They believed that it lends awareness to a newborn being, and that this being enhances that awareness by means of its life experiences until a moment in which the force demands its return. In the understanding of those sorcerers, all living beings die because they are forced to return the awareness lent to them. Sorcerers throughout the ages have understood that there is no way for what modern man calls our linear mode of thinking to explain such a phenomenon, because there is no room for a cause-and-effect line of reasoning as to why and how awareness is lent and then taken back. The sorcerers of ancient Mexico viewed it as an energetic fact of the universe, a fact that can't be explained in terms of cause and effect, or in terms of a purpose which can be determined a priori. The sorcerers of don Juan's lineage believed that to recapitulate meant to give the dark sea of awareness what it was seeking: their life experiences. They believed that by means of the recapitulation, however, they could acquire a degree of control that could permit them to separate their life experiences from their life force. For them, the two were not inextricably intertwined; they were joined only circumstantially. Those sorcerers affirmed that the dark sea of awareness doesn't want to take the lives of human beings; it wants only their life experiences. Lack of discipline in human beings prevents them from separating the two forces, and in the end, they lose their lives, when it is meant that they lose only the force of their life experiences. Those sorcerers viewed the recapitulation as the procedure by which they could give the dark sea of awareness a substitute for their lives. They gave up their life experiences by recounting them, but they retained their life force. The perceptual claims of sorcerers, when examined in terms of the linear concepts of our Western world, make no sense whatsoever. Western civilization has been in contact with the shamans of the New World for five hundred years, and there has never been a genuine attempt on the part of scholars to formulate a serious philosophical discourse based on statements made by those shamans. For instance, the recapitulation may seem to any member of the Western world to be congruous with psychoanalysis, something in the line of a psychological procedure, a sort of self-help technique. Nothing could be further from the truth. According to don Juan Matus, man always loses by default. In the case of the premises of sorcery, he believed that Western man is missing a tremendous opportunity for the enhancement of his awareness, and that the way in which Western man relates himself to the universe, life, and awareness is only one of a multiplicity of options. To recapitulate, for shaman practitioners, means to give to an incomprehensible force - the dark sea of awareness - the very thing it seems to be looking for: their life experiences, that is to say, the awareness that they have enhanced through those very life experiences. Since don Juan could not possibly explain these phenomena to me in terms of standard logic, he said that all that sorcerers could aspire to do was to accomplish the feat of training their life force without knowing how it was done. He also said that there were thousands of sorcerers who had achieved this. They had retained their life force after they had given the dark sea of awareness the force of their life experiences. This meant to don Juan that those sorcerers didn't die in the usual sense in which we understand death, but that they transcended it by retaining their life force and vanishing from the face of the earth, embarked on a definitive journey of perception. The belief of the shamans of don Juan's lineage was that when death takes place in this fashion, all of our being is turned into energy, a special kind of energy that retains the mark of our individuality. Don Juan tried to explain this in a metaphorical sense, saying that we are composed of a number of single nations: the nation of the lungs, the nation of the heart, the nation of the stomach, the nation of the kidneys, and so on. Each of these nations sometimes works independently of the others, but at the moment of death, all of them are unified into one single entity. The sorcerers of don Juan's lineage called this state total freedom. For those sorcerers, death is a unifier, and not an annihilator, as it is for the average man. "Is this state immortality, don Juan?" I asked. "This is in no way immortality," he replied. "It is merely the entrance into an evolutionary process, using the only medium for evolution that man has at his disposal: awareness. The sorcerers of my lineage were convinced that man could not evolve biologically any further; therefore, they considered man's awareness to be the only medium for evolution. At the moment of dying, sorcerers are not annihilated by death, but are transformed into inorganic beings: beings that have awareness, but not an organism. To be transformed into an inorganic being was evolution for them, and it meant that a new, indescribable type of awareness was lent to them, an awareness that would last for veritably millions of years, but which would also someday have to be returned to the giver: the dark sea of awareness." One of the most important findings of the shamans of don Juan's lineage was that, like everything else in the universe, our world is a combination of two opposing, and at the same time complementary, forces. One of those forces is the world we know, which those sorcerers called the world of organic beings. The other force is something they called the world of inorganic beings. "The world of inorganic beings," don Juan said, "is populated by beings that possess awareness, but not an organism. They are conglomerates of energy fields, just like we are. To the eye of a seer, instead of being luminous, as human beings are, they are rather opaque. They are not round, but long, candlelike energetic configurations. They are, in essence, conglomerates of energy fields which have cohesion and boundaries just like we do. They are held together by the same agglutinating force that holds our energy fields together." "Where is this inorganic world, don Juan?" I asked. "It is our twin world," he replied. "It occupies the same time and space as our world, but the type of awareness of our world is so different from the type of awareness of the inorganic world that we never notice the presence of inorganic beings, although they do notice ours." "Are those inorganic beings human beings that have evolved?" I asked. "Not at all!" he exclaimed. "The inorganic beings of our twin world have been intrinsically inorganic from the start, the same way that we have always been intrinsically organic beings, also from the start. They are beings whose consciousness can evolve just like ours, and it doubtlessly does, but I have no firsthand knowledge of how this happens. What I do know, however, is that a human being whose awareness has evolved is a bright, luminescent, round inorganic being of a special kind." Don Juan gave me a series of descriptions of this evolutionary process, which I always took to be poetic metaphors. I singled out the one that pleased me the most, which was total freedom. I fancied a human being that enters into total freedom to be the most courageous, the most imaginative being possible. Don Juan said that I was not fancying anything at all - that to enter into total freedom, a human being must call on his or her sublime side, which, he said, human beings have, but which it never occurs to them to use. Don Juan described the second, the pragmatic goal of the recapitulation as the acquisition of fluidity. The sorcerers' rationale behind this had to do with one of the most elusive subjects of sorcery: the assemblage point, a point of intense luminosity the size of a tennis ball, perceivable when sorcerers see a human being as a conglomerate of energy fields. Sorcerers like don Juan see that trillions of energy fields in the form of filliments of light from the universe at large converge on the assemblage point and go through it. This confluence of filaments gives the assemblage point its brilliancy. The assemblage point makes it possible for a human being to perceive those trillions of energy filaments by turning them into sensorial data. The assemblage point then interprets this data as the world of everyday life, that is to say, in terms of human socialization and human potential. To recapitulate is to relive every, or nearly every, experience that we have had, and in doing so to displace the assemblage point, ever so slightly or a great deal, propelling it by the force of memory to adopt the position that it had when the event being recapitulated took place. This act of going back and forth from previous positions to the current one gives the shaman practitioners the necessary fluidity to withstand extraordinary odds in their journeys into infinity. To the Tensegrity practitioners, the recapitulation gives the necessary fluidity to withstand odds which are not in any way part of their habitual cognition. The recapitulation as a formal procedure was done in ancient times by recollecting every person the practitioners knew and every experience in which they had taken part. Don Juan suggested that in my case, which is the case of modern man, I make a written list of all the persons that I had met in my life, as a mnemonic device. Once I had written that list, he proceeded to tell me how to use it. I had to take the first person on the list, which went backwards in time from the present to the time of my very first life experience, and set up, in my memory, my last interaction with that first person on my list. This act is called arranging the event to be recapitulated. A detailed recollection of minutiae is required as the proper means to hone one's capacity to remember. This recollection entails getting all the pertinent physical details, such as the surroundings where the event being recollected took place. Once the event is arranged, one should enter into the locale itself, as if actually going into it, paying special attention to any relevant physical configurations. If, for instance, the interaction took place in an office, what should be remembered is the floor, the doors, the walls, the pictures, the windows, the desks, the objects on the desks, everything that could have been observed in a glance and then forgotten. The recapitulation as a formal procedure must begin by the recounting of events that have just taken place. In this fashion, the primacy of the experience takes precedence. Something that has just happened is something that one can remember with great accuracy. Sorcerers always count on the fact that human beings are capable of storing detailed information that they are not aware of, and that that detail is what the dark sea of awareness is after. The actual recapitulation of the event requires that one breathe deeply, fanning the head, so to speak, very slowly and gently from side to side, beginning on one side, left or right, whichever. This fanning of the head was done as many times as needed, while remembering all the details accessible. Don Juan said that sorcerers talked about this act as breathing in all of one's own feelings spent in the event being recollected, and expelling all the unwanted moods and extraneous feelings that were left with us. Sorcerers believe that the mystery of the recapitulation lies in the act of inhaling and exhaling. Since breathing is a life-sustaining function, sorcerers are certain that by means of it, one can also deliver to the dark sea of awareness the facsimile of one's life experiences. When I pressed don Juan for a rational explanation of this idea, his position was that things like the recapitulation could only be experienced, not explained. He said that in the act of doing, one can find liberation, and that to explain it was to dissipate our energy in fruitless efforts. His invitation was congruous with everything related to his knowledge: the invitation to take action. The list of names is used in the recapitulation as a mnemonic device that propels memory into an inconceivable journey. Sorcerers' position in this respect is that remembering events that have just taken place prepares the ground for remembering events more distant in time with the same clarity and immediacy. To recollect experiences in this way is to relive them, and to draw from this recollection an extraordinary impetus that is capable of stirring energy dispersed from our centers of vitality, and returning it to them. Sorcerers refer to this redeployment of energy that the recapitulation causes as gaining fluidity after giving the dark sea of awareness what it is looking for. On a more mundane level, the recapitulation gives practitioners the capacity to examine the repetition in their lives. Recapitulating can convince them, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that all of us are at the mercy of forces which ultimately make no sense, although at first sight they seem perfectly reasonable; such as being at the mercy of courtship. It seems that for some people, courtship is the pursuit of a lifetime. I have personally heard from people of advanced age that the only ideal that they had was to find a perfect companion, and that their aspiration was to have perhaps one year of happiness in love. Don Juan Matus used to say to me, over my vehement protests, that the problem was that nobody really wanted to love anybody, but that every one of us wanted to be loved. He said that this obsession with courtship, taken at face value, was the most natural thing in the world to us. To hear a seventy-five-year-old man or woman say that they are still in search of a perfect companion is an affirmation of something idealistic, romantic, beautiful. However, to examine this obsession in the context of the endless repetitions of a lifetime makes it appear as it really is: something grotesque. Don Juan assured me that if any behavioral change is going to be accomplished, it has to be done through the recapitulation, since it is the only vehicle that can enhance awareness by liberating one from the unvoiced demands of socialization, which are so automatic, so taken for granted, that they are not even noticed under normal conditions, much less examined. 108 "MAGICAL PASSES The actual act of recapitulating is a lifetime endeavor. It takes years to exhaust the list of people, especially for those who have made the acquaintance of and have interacted with thousands of individuals. This list is augmented by the memory of impersonal events in which no people are involved, but which have to be examined because they are somehow related to the person being recapitulated. Don Juan asserted that what the sorcerers of ancient Mexico sought avidly in recapitulating was the memory of interaction, because in interaction lie the deep effects of socialization, which they struggled to overcome by any means available. THE MAGICAL PASSES FOR THE RECAPITULATION The recapitulation affects something that don Juan called the energy body. He formally explained the energy body as a conglomerate of energy fields that are the mirror image of the energy fields that make up the human body when it is seen directly as energy. He said that in the case of sorcerers, the physical body and the energy body are one single unit. The magical passes for the recapitulation bring the energy body to the physical body, which are essential for navigating into the unknown. 13. Forging the Trunk of the Energy Body Don Juan said that the trunk of the energy body was forged with three strikes delivered with the palms of the hands. The hands are held at the level of the ears with the palms facing forward, and from that position they strike forward, at the level of the shoulders, as if they were striking the shoulders of a well-developed body. The hands then move back to their original position around the ears, with the palms facing forward, and strike the midtrunk of that imaginary body at the level of the chest. The second strike is not as wide as the first one, and the third strike is much narrower, because it strikes the waistline of a triangular-shaped trunk 14. Slapping the Energy Body The left and the right hands each come down from above the head. The palm of each hand bears down, creating a current of energy that defines each arm, forearm, and hand of the energy body. The left hand hits across the body to strike the left hand of the energy body (fig. 153) and then the right hand does the same: it hits across the body to strike the right hand of the energy body. This magical pass defines the arms and forearms, especially the hands, of the energy body. 15. Spreading the Energy Body Laterally The wrists are crossed in the shape of a letter X in front of the body, almost touching it. The wrists are held bent backwards at a ninety-degree angle to the forearm, at the level of the solar plexus. The left wrist is on top of the right one (fig. 154). From there, the hands spread to the sides in unison, in a slow motion, as if they met with tremendous resistance (fig. 155). When the arms reach their maximum aperture, they are brought back to the center, with the palms turned at a ninety-degree angle in relation to the forearms, creating in this fashion the sensation of pushing solid matter from both sides to the center of the body. The left hand crosses on top of the right as the hands get ready for another lateral strike. While the physical body as a conglomerate of energy fields has super-defined boundaries, the energy body lacks that feature. Spreading energy laterally gives the energy body the defined boundaries that it lacks. 16. Establishing the Core of the Energy Body The forearms are held in a vertical position at the level of the chest, with the elbows kept in close to the body, at the width of the trunk. The wrists are snapped back gently, and then forward with great force, without moving the forearms (fig. 156). The human body, as a conglomerate of energy fields, has not only super-defined boundaries, but a core of compact luminosity, which shamans call the band of man, or the energy fields with which man is most familiar. The idea of shamans is that within the luminous sphere, which is also the totality of man's energetic possibilities, there are areas of energy of which human beings are not at all aware. Those are the energy fields located at the maximum distance from the band of man. To establish the core of the energy body is to fortify the energy body in order for it to venture into those areas of unknown energy. 17. Forging the Heels and the Calves of the Energy Body The left foot is held in front of the body with the heel raised to midcalf. The heel is turned out to a position perpendicular to the other leg. Then the left heel strikes to the right as if a kick with the heel were being delivered, about six or seven inches away from the shinbone of the right leg (figs. 157, 158). The same movement is then executed with the other leg. 18. Forging the Knees of the Energy Body This magical pass has two facets. In the first facet the left knee is bent and raised to the level of the hips, or if possible even higher. The total weight of the body is placed on the right leg, which stands with the knee slightly bent forward. Three circles are drawn with the left knee, moving it inward toward the groin (fig. 159). The same movement is repeated with the right leg. In the second facet of this magical pass, the movements are repeated again with each leg, but I Ins time, the knee draws an outward circle (fig. K-0). 19. Forging the Thighs of the Energy Body Beginning with an exhalation, the body bends slightly at the knees as the hands slide down the thinks. The hands stop on top of the kneecaps, and then they are pulled back up the thighs to the level of the hips with an inhalation, as if they were dragging a solid substance. There is a slight quality of a claw to each hand. The body straightens as this part of the movement is executed (fig. 161). With the opposite breathing pattern, the movement is repeated, inhaling as the knees bend and the hands go down to the tops of the kneecaps, and exhaling as they are pulled back. 20. Stirring Up Personal History by Making It Flexible This magical pass stretches the hamstring and relaxes it by bringing each leg, one at a time, bent at the knee, to strike the buttocks with a gentle tap of the heel (fig. 162). The left heel strikes the left buttock, and the right heel strikes the right one. Shamans put an enormous emphasis on tightening the muscles of the backs of the thighs. They believe that the fighter those muscles, the greater the facility of the practitioner to identify and get rid of behavioral patterns that are useless. 21. Stirring Up Personal History with the Heel to the Ground by Tapping It Repeatedly The right leg is set at a ninety-degree angle with the left. The left foot is placed as far as possible in front of the body as the body almost sits on the right leg. The tension and contraction of the back muscles of the right leg are maximum, as is the stretching of the back muscles of the left leg. The left leg taps the ground repeatedly with the heel (fig. 163). The same movements are then executed with the other leg. 22. Stirring Up Personal History with the Heel to the Ground by Sustaining That Position The same movements are executed in this magical pass as in the previous one, again with each leg, but instead of tapping with the heel, the body is kept at an even tension by holding the stretch of the leg (fig. 164). The following four magical passes, since they entail deep inhalations and exhalations, have to be done sparingly. 23. The Recapitulation Wings A deep inhalation is taken as both forearms are raised to the level of the shoulders, with the hands at the level of the ears, palms facing forward. The forearms are held vertically and equidistant from Figure 164 each other. An exhalation follows as the forearms are pulled back as far as possible without slanting them in any direction (fig. 165). Another deep inhalation is taken. Within the duration of one long exhalation, both arms each draw a winglike semicircle, beginning with the left arm moving forward as far as it can be extended and then laterally, drawing a semicircle to the back as far as possible. The arm makes a curve at the end of this extension and returns to the front (fig. 166) to its initial resting position by the side of the body (fig. 167). Then the right arm follows the same pattern within the same exhalation. Once these movements are completed, a deep abdominal breath is taken. 24. The Window of Recapitulation The first part of this magical pass is exactly like the preceding one; a deep breath is taken with the hands raised to the ear level, with the palms facing forward. The forearms maintain a perfect verticality. This is followed by a long exhalation as the arms are pulled backwards. A deep inhalation is taken as the elbows are extended laterally at the level of the shoulders. The hands are bent at a ninety-degree angle in relation to the forearms, the fingers pointing upward. The hands are slowly pushed toward the center of the body until the forearms cross. The left arm is held closer to the body and the right arm is placed in front of the left. The hands create in this fashion what don Juan called the window of recapitulation: an opening in front of the eyes that looks like a small window, through which, don Juan affirmed, a practitioner could peer into infinity (fig. 168). A deep exhalation follows as the body straightens; the elbows are extended laterally and the hands are straightened out and kept at the same level as the elbows (fig. 169). 25. The Five Deep Breaths The beginning of this magical pass is exactly like the previous two. At the second inhalation, the arms go down and cross at the level of the knees as the practitioner adopts a semi-squatting position. The hands are placed behind the knees; the right hand grabs the tendons in back of the left knee, and the left hand, with the left forearm on top of the right, grabs the tendons in back of the right knee. The index and middle fingers grab the outer tendons there and the thumb is wrapped around the inner part of the knee. The exhalation ends then, and a deep inhalation is taken, accompanied by pressing the tendon (fig. 170). Five breaths are taken in this fashion. This magical pass causes the back to be straight and the head to be in alignment with the spine, and is used to take deep breaths that fill the top as well as the lower part of the lungs by pushing the diaphragm downward. 26. Drawing Energy from the Feet The first part of this magical pass is exactly the same as the beginning of the other three of this series. On the second inhalation, the forearms go down and wrap around the ankles, going from the inside to the outside as the practitioner adopts a squatting position. The backs of the hands rest on top of the toes, and in this fashion, three deep inhalations and three deep exhalations are made (fig. 171). After the last exhalation, the body straightens as a deep inhalation is taken to finish the magical pass. The only glow of awareness left in human beings is at the bottom of Their luminous spheres, a fringe that extends in a circle and reaches the level of the toes. With this magical pass, that fringe is tapped with the Kicks of the fingers, and stirred with the breath. Back to Top The Third Group: Dreaming Don Juan Matus defined dreaming as the act of using normal dreams as a bona fide entrance for human awareness into other realms of perceiving; I his definition implied for him that ordinary dreams could be used as a hatch that led perception into other regions of energy different from the energy of the world of everyday life, and yet utterly similar to it at a basic core. The result of such an entrance was, for sorcerers, the perception of veritable worlds where they could live or die, worlds which were astoundingly different from ours, and yet utterly similar. Pressed for a linear explanation of this contradiction, don Juan Matus reiterated the standard position of sorcerers: that the answers to all those questions were in the practice, not in the intellectual inquiry. He said that in order to talk about such possibilities, we would have to use the syntax of language, whatever language we spoke, and that syntax, by the force of usage, limits the possibilities of expression. The syntax of any language refers only to perceptual possibilities found in the world in which we live. Don Juan made a significant differentiation, in Spanish, between two verbs: one was to dream, sonar; and the other was ensueno, which is to dream the way sorcerers dream. In English, there is no clear distinction between these two states: the normal dreaming, sueno, and the more complex state that sorcerers call ensueno. The art of dreaming, according to what don Juan taught, originated in a very casual observation that the shamans of ancient Mexico made when they saw people who were asleep. They noticed that during sleep the assemblage point was displaced in a very natural, easy way from its habitual position, and that it moved anywhere along the periphery of the luminous sphere, or to any place in the interior of it. Correlating their seeing with the reports of the people who had been observed sleeping, they realized that the greater the observed displacement of the assemblage point, the more astounding the reports of events and scenes experienced in dreams. After this observation took hold of them, those sorcerers began to look avidly for opportunities to displace their own assemblage points. They ended up using psychotropic plants to accomplish this. Very quickly, they realized that the displacement brought about by using these plants was erratic, forced, and out of control. In the midst of this failure, nonetheless they discovered one thing of great value. They called it dreaming attention. Don Juan explained this phenomenon, referring first to the daily awareness of human beings as the attention placed on the elements of the world of everyday life. He pointed out that human beings took only a cursory and yet sustained look at everything that surrounded them. More than examining things, human beings simply established the presence of those elements by a special type of attention, a specific aspect of their general awareness. His contention was that the same type of cursory and yet sustained "look," so to speak, could be applied to the elements of an ordinary dream. He called this other, specific aspect of general awareness dreaming attention or the capacity that practitioners acquire to maintain their awareness unwaveringly fixed on the items of their dreams. The cultivation of dreaming attention gave the sorcerers of don Juan's lineage a basic taxonomy of dreams. They found out that most of their dreams were imagery, products of the cognition of their daily world; however, there were some which escaped that classification. Such dreams were veritable states of heightened awareness in which the elements of the dream were not mere imagery, but energy-generating affairs. Dreams which had energy-generating elements were, for those shamans, dreams in which they were capable of seeing energy as it (lowed in the universe. Those shamans were able to focus their dreaming attention on any element of their dreams, and found out, in this fashion, that there are two kinds of dreams. One is the dreams that we are all familiar with, in which phantasmagorical elements come into play, something which we could categorize as the product of our mentality, our psyche; perhaps something that has to do with our neurological makeup. The other kind of dreams they called energy-generating dreams. Don Juan said that those sorcerers of ancient times found themselves in dreams which were not dreams, but actual visitations made in a dreamlike state to bona fide places other than this world - real places, just like the world in which we live; places where the objects of the dream generated energy, just as lives, or animals, or even rocks generate energy in our daily world, for a seeing sorcerer. Their visions of such places were, however, for those shamans, too fleeting, too temporary, to be of any value to them. They attributed this flaw to the fact that their assemblage points could not be held fixed for any considerable time at the position to which they had been displaced. Their attempts to remedy the situation resulted in the other high art of sorcery: the art of stalking. Don Juan defined the two arts very clearly one day when he said to me that the art of dreaming consisted of purposely displacing the assemblage point from its habitual position. The art of stalking consisted in volitionally making it stay fixed on the new position to which it had been displaced. This fixation allowed the shamans of ancient Mexico the opportunity to witness other worlds in their full extent. Don Juan said that some of those sorcerers never returned from their journeys. In other words, they opted for staying there, wherever "there" might have been. "When the old sorcerers finished mapping human beings as luminous spheres," don Juan said to me once, "they had discovered no less than six hundred spots in the total luminous sphere that were the sites of bona fide worlds. Meaning that, if the assemblage point became attached to any of those places, the result was the entrance of the practitioner into a total new world." "But where are those six hundred other worlds, don Juan?" I asked. "The only answer to that question is incomprehensible," he said, laughing. "It's the essence of sorcery, and yet it means nothing to the average mind. Those six hundred worlds are in the position of the assemblage point. Incalculable amounts of energy are required to make sense out of this answer. We have the energy. What we lack is the facility or disposition to use it." I could add that nothing could be truer than all these statements, and yet, nothing could make less sense. Don Juan explained usual perception in the terms in which the sorcerers of his lineage understood it: The assemblage point, at its habitual location, receives an inflow of energy fields from the universe at large in the form of luminous filaments, numbering in the trillions. Since its position is consistently the same, it stood to sorcerers' reasoning that the same energy fields, in the form of luminous filaments, converge on the assemblage point and go through it, giving as a consistent result the perception of the world that we know. Those sorcerers arrived at the unavoidable conclusion that if the assemblage point were displaced to another position, another set of energy filaments would go through it, resulting in the perception of a world that, by definition, was not the same as the world of everyday life. In don Juan's opinion, what human beings ordinarily regard as perceiving is rather the act of interpreting sensory data. He maintained that from the moment of birth, everything around us supplies us with a possibility of interpretation, and that with time, this possibility turns into a full system by means of which we conduct all of our perceptual transactions in the world. He pointed out that the assemblage point is not only the center where perception is assembled, but also the center where the interpretation of sensory data is accomplished, so that if it were to change locations, it would interpret the new influx of energy fields in very much the same terms in which it interprets the world of everyday life. The result of this new interpretation is the perception of a world which is strangely similar to ours, and yet intrinsically different. Don Juan said that energetically, those other worlds are as different from ours as they could possibly be. It is only the interpretation of the assemblage point which accounts for the seeming similarities. Don Juan called for a new syntax that could be used in order to express this wondrous quality of the assemblage point and the possibilities of perception brought about by dreaming. He conceded, however, that perhaps the present syntax of our language could be forced to cover it if this experience became available to any one of us, and not merely to shaman initiates. Something related to dreaming that was of tremendous interest to me, hut which bewildered me to no end, was don Juan's statement that there was really no procedure to speak of that would teach anyone how to dream. He said that more than anything else, dreaming was an arduous effort on the part of the practitioners to put themselves in contact with the indescribable all-pervading force that the sorcerers of ancient Mexico called intent. Once this link was established, dreaming also mysteriously became established. Don Juan asserted that this linkage could be accomplished following any pattern that implied discipline. When I asked him to give me a succinct explanation of the procedures involved, he laughed at me. "To venture into the world of sorcerers," he said, "is not like learning to drive a car. To drive a car, you need manuals and instructions. To dream, you need to intend it." "But how can I intend it?" I insisted. "The only way you could intend it is by intending it," he declared. "One of the most difficult things for a man of our day to accept is a lack of procedure. Modern man is in the throes of manuals, praxes, methods, steps loading to. He is ceaselessly taking notes, making diagrams, deeply involved in the 'know-how.' But in the world of sorcerers, procedures and rituals are mere designs to attract and focus attention. They are devices used to force a focusing of interest and determination. They have no other value." What don Juan considered to be of supreme importance in order to dream is the rigorous execution of the magical passes: the only device that the sorcerers of his lineage used to aid the displacement of the assemblage point. The execution of the magical passes gave those sorcerers the stability and the energy necessary to call forth their dreaming attention, without which there was no possibility of dreaming for them. Without the emergence of dreaming attention, practitioners could aspire, at best, to have lucid dreams about phantasmagorical worlds. They could perhaps have views of worlds that generate energy, but these would make no sense to them whatsoever in the absence of an all-inclusive rationale that would properly categorize them. Once the shamans of don Juan's lineage had developed their dreaming attention, they realized that they had tapped on the doors of infinity. They had succeeded in enlarging the parameters of their normal perception. They discovered that their normal state of awareness was infinitely more varied than it had been before the advent of their dreaming attention. From that point on, those sorcerers could truthfully venture into the unknown. "The aphorism," don Juan said to me once, "that 'the sky is the limit' was most applicable to the sorcerers of ancient times. They certainly outdid themselves." "Was it really true for them that the sky was the limit, don Juan?" Iasked. "This question could be answered only by each of us individually," he said, smiling expansively. "They gave us the tools. It is up to us individually to use them or refuse them. In essence, we are alone in front of infinity, and the issue of whether or not we are capable of reaching our limits has to be answered personally." THE MAGICAL PASSES FOR DREAMING 27. Getting the Assemblage Point Loose The left arm, with the palm of the hand turned upward, reaches over the area behind the shoulder blades, as the trunk leans a bit forward. Then the arm is brought in an underhanded motion from the left side of the body to the front, moving in an upward thrust in front of the face, with the palm of the left hand turned to face the left. The fingers are held together (figs. 172, 173). This magical pass is executed by each arm in succession. The knees are kept bent for greater stability and thrusting force. 28. Forcing the Assemblage Point to Drop Down The back is kept as straight as possible. The knees are locked. The left arm, fully stretched, is placed at the hack, a few inches away from the body. The hand is bent at a ninety-degree angle in relation to the forearm; the palm faces downward and the fully stretched fingers point backward. The fully stretched right arm is placed in front in the same position: with the wrist bent at a ninety-degree angle, the palm facing downward, the fingers pointing forward. The head turns in the direction of the arm that is kept at the back, and a total stretch of the tendons ()l the legs and arms takes place at that instant. This tension of the tendons is held for a moment (fig. 174). The same movement is repeated with the right arm in hack and the left in front. 29. Enticing the Assemblage Point to Drop by Drawing Energy from the Adrenals and Transferring It to the Front The left arm is placed behind the body at the level of the kidneys, as far to the right as it can reach; the hand is held like a claw. The clawed hand moves across the kidney area from right to left as if dragging a solid substance. The right arm is held in its normal position by the side of the thigh. Next, the left hand moves to the front; the palm is held flat, on the right side, against the liver and gallbladder. The left hand moves across the front of the body to the left, the area of the pancreas and spleen, as if smoothing the surface of a solid substance; at the same time the right hand, held like a claw behind the body, moves from left to right over the kidneys as if dragging a solid substance. Then the right hand is placed on the front of the body; the palm is held flat against the area of the pancreas and spleen. The hand moves across the front of the body to the area of the liver and gallbladder, as if smoothing a rough surface, while the clawed left hand moves again across the area of the kidneys from right to left as if dragging a solid substance (figs. 175, 176). The knees are kept bent for greater stability and force. 30. Playing Out the A and B Types of Energy The right forearm, bent in a vertical position, at a ninety-degree angle, is centered in front of the body, with the elbow almost at the level of the shoulders, and the palm of the hand facing left. The left forearm, bent at the elbow and held in a horizontal position, is placed with the back of the hand underneath the right elbow. The eyes, without focusing on either forearm, keep a peripheral view of both of them. The pressure of the right arm is downward, while the pressure of the left arm is upward. The two forces act simultaneously on both arms; they are kept under this tension for a moment (fig. 177). Then the same movement is executed by reversing the order and position of the arms. The shamans of ancient Mexico believed that everything in the universe is composed of dual forces, and that human beings are subjected to that duality in every aspect of their lives. At the level of energy, they considered that two forces are at play. Don Juan called them the A and B forces. The A force is employed ordinarily in our daily affairs, and is represented by a straight vertical line. The B force is ordinarily an obscure one which rarely enters into action, and it is kept lying down. It is represented by a horizontal line drawn to the left of the vertical one, at its base, making in this fashion a reversed capital letter L. Shamans, men and women, were the only ones who, in don Juan's view, had been capable of turning the force B, which is ordinarily lying down horizontally, out of use, into an active vertical line. And consequently, they had succeeded in putting force A to rest. This process was represented by drawing a horizontal line at the base of the vertical one, in its right, and making, as a result, a capital letter L. Don Juan portrayed this magical pass as the one which best exemplified this duality and the effort of the sorcerers to reverse its effects. 31. Pulling the Energy Body to the Front The arms are kept at shoulder level with the elbows bent. The hands overlap each other, and they are turned with the palms down. A circle is made with the hands rotating around each other; the movement is inward, toward the face (fig. 178). They rotate three times around each other; then the left arm is thrust forward with the hand in a fist, as if to strike an invisible target in front of the body, an arm's length away from it (fig. 179). Three more circles are drawn with both hands, and then the right arm strikes in the same fashion as the left one. 32. Hurling the Assemblage Point Like a Knife over the Shoulder The left hand reaches over the head to the area behind the shoulder blades and grabs, as if holding a solid object. Then it moves over the head to the front of the body, with the motion of hurling something forward. The knees are kept bent for hurling stability. The same movement is repeated with the right arm (figs. 180, 181). This magical pass is an actual attempt to hurl the assemblage point, in order to displace it from its habitual position. The practitioner holds the assemblage point as if it were a knife. Something in the intent of hurling the assemblage point causes a profound effect toward the actual displacement of it. 33. Hurling the Assemblage Point Like a Knife from the Back by the Waist The knees are kept bent as the body leans forward. Then the left arm reaches to the back, from the side, to the area behind the shoulder blades, grabs onto something as if it were solid, and hurls it forward from the waist, with a flick of the wrist, as if hurling a flat disk, or a knife (figs. 182, 183). The same movements are repeated with the right hand. 34. Hurling the Assemblage Point Like a Disk from the Shoulder A deep rotation of the waist is made to the left, which propels the right arm to swing to the left side of the left leg. Then the motion of the waist, moving in the opposite direction, propels the left arm to swing to the right side of the right leg. Another motion of the waist propels the right arm to swing again to the left side of the left leg. At this point the left hand reaches back instantly with a circular motion to grab onto something as if it were solid, from the area behind the shoulder blades dig 184). The left hand takes it in a swinging circular motion to the front of the body and up to the level of the right shoulder. The palm of the clenched hand faces upward. From this position, the left hand, with a flick of the wrist, makes a hurling motion, as if to hurl forward something solid, like a disk (fig. 185). The legs are kept bent slightly at the knees and a great pressure is exerted at the back of the thighs. The right arm, with the elbow slightly bent, is extended behind the body to give stability to the act of hurling a disk. This position is held for a moment, while the left arm maintains the position of having just hurled an object. The same movements are repeated with the other arm. 35. Hurling the Assemblage Point Like a Ball Above the Head The left hand moves back quickly to the area behind the shoulder blades and grabs something, as if it were solid (fig. 186). The arm rotates twice in a big circle above the head as if to gain impulse (fig. 187) and makes the motion of hurling a ball forward (fig. 188). The knees are kept bent. These movements are repeated with the right hand. Back to Top The Fourth Group : Inner Silence Don Juan said that inner silence was the state most avidly sought by the shamans of ancient Mexico. He defined it as a natural state of human perception in which thoughts are blocked off and all of man's faculties operate from a level of awareness which doesn't require the utilization of our daily cognitive system. Inner silence has always been associated with darkness, for the shamans of don Juan's lineage, perhaps because human perception, deprived of its habitual companion, the internal dialogue, falls into something that resembles a dark pit. He said that the body functions as usual, hut awareness becomes sharper. Decisions are instantaneous, and seem to stem from a special sort of knowledge which is deprived of thought verbalizations. Human perception functioning in a condition of inner silence, according to don Juan, is capable of reaching indescribable levels. Some of those levels of perception are worlds in themselves, and not at all like the worlds reached through dreaming. They are indescribable states, inexplicable in terms of the linear paradigms that the habitual state of human perception employs for explaining the universe. Inner silence, in don Juan's understanding, is the matrix for a gigantic step of evolution: silent knowledge, or the level of human awareness where knowing is automatic and instantaneous. Knowledge at this level is not the product of cerebral cogitation or logical induction and deduction, or of generalizations based on similarities and dissimilarities. There is nothing a priori at the level of silent knowledge, nothing that could constitute a body of knowledge, for everything is imminently now. Complex pieces of information could be grasped without any cognitive preliminaries. Don Juan believed that silent knowledge was insinuated to early man, but that early man was not really the possessor of silent knowledge. Such an insinuation was infinitely stronger than what modern man experiences, where the bulk of knowledge is the product of rote learning. It is a sorcerers' axiom that although we have lost that insinuation, the avenue that leads to silent knowledge will always be open to man by means of inner silence. Don Juan Matus taught the hard line of his lineage: that inner silence must be gained by a consistent pressure of discipline. It has to be accrued or stored, bit by bit, second by second. In other words, one has to force oneself to be silent, even if it is only for a few seconds. According to don Juan, it was common knowledge among sorcerers that if one persists in this, persistence overcomes habit, and thus, it is possible to arrive at a threshold of accrued seconds or minutes, which differs from person to person. If the threshold of inner silence is ten minutes for a given individual, for instance, then once this threshold is reached, inner silence happens by itself, of its own accord, so to speak. I was warned beforehand that there was no possible way of knowing what my individual threshold might be, and that the only way of finding this out was through direct experience. This is exactly what happened to me. Following don Juan's suggestion, I had persisted in forcing myself to remain silent, and one day, while walking at .UCLA, I reached my mysterious threshold. I knew I had reached it because in one instant, I experienced something don Juan had described at length to me. He had called it stopping the world. In the blink of an eye, the world ceased to be what it was, and for the first time in my life, I became conscious that I was seeing energy as it flowed in the universe. I had to sit down on some brick steps. I knew that I was sitting on some brick steps, but 1 knew it only intellectually, through memory. Exponentially, 1 was resting on energy. I myself was energy, and so was everything around me. I had canceled out my interpretation system. After seeing energy directly, I realized something which became the horror of my day, something that no one could explain to me satisfactorily except don Juan. I became conscious that although I was seeing for the first time in my life, I had been seeing energy as it flows in the universe all my life, but I had not been conscious of it. To see energy as it flows in the universe was not the novelty. The novelty was the query that arose with such fury that it made me surface back into the world of everyday life. I asked myself what had been keeping me from realizing that I had been seeing energy as it flows in the universe all my life. "There are two issues at stake here," don Juan explained to me, when I asked him about this maddening contradiction. "One is general awareness. The other is particular, deliberate consciousness. Every human being in the world is aware, in general terms, of seeing energy as it flows in the universe. However, only sorcerers are particularly and deliberately conscious of it. To become conscious of something that you are generally aware of requires energy, and the iron-hand discipline needed to get it. Your inner silence, the product of discipline and energy, bridged the gap between general awareness and particular consciousness." Don Juan stressed, in every way he was able, the value of a pragmatic attitude in order to buttress the advent of inner silence. He defined a pragmatic attitude as the capacity to absorb any contingency that might appear along The way. He himself was, to me, the living example of such an attitude. There w; isn't any uncertainty or liability that his mere presence would not dispel. He reiterated every time he could that the effects of inner silence were very unsettling, and that the only deterrent to this condition was the pragmatic attitude which was the product of a superbly pliable, agile, strong body. He said that for sorcerers, the physical body was the only entity that made any sense to them, and that there was no such thing as a dualism between body and mind. He further stated that the physical body involved both the body and the mind as we knew them, and that in order to counterbalance the physical body as a holistic unit, sorcerers considered another configuration of energy which was reached through inner silence: the energy body. He explained that what I had experienced .it the moment in which I had stopped the world was the resurgence of my energy body, and that this configuration of energy was the one which had always been able to see energy as it flowed in the universe. THE MAGICAL PASSES THAT AID THE ATTAINMENT OF INNER SILENCE 36. Drawing Two Half-Circles with Each Foot The total weight of the body is on the right leg. The left foot is placed half a step in front of it, and it slides on the floor, drawing a half-circle to the left; the ball of the foot comes to rest almost touching the right heel. From there, it draws another half-circle to the back (fig. 189). These circles are drawn with the ball of the left foot. The heel is kept off the ground, in order to make the movement smooth and uniform. The movement is reversed and two more half-circles are drawn in this fashion, starting from the back and going to the front. Figure 189 The same movements are executed with the right foot after the whole weight of the body is transferred to the left leg. The knee of the leg that supports the weight is bent for strength and stability. 37. Drawing a Half-Moon with Each Foot The weight of the body is placed on the right leg. The left foot goes half a step in front of the right one, drawing a wide semicircle on the ground around the body from the front, to the left, to the back of the body. This semicircle is drawn with the ball of the foot (fig. 190). Another semicircle is drawn from the back to the front, in the same fashion. The same movements are executed with the right leg, after transferring the weight to the left leg. 38. The Scarecrow in the Wind with the Arms Down Figure 190 The arms are kept extended laterally at the level of the shoulders with the elbows bent and the forearms dangling downward at a strict ninety-degree angle. The forearms swing freely from side to side, as if moved by the wind alone. The forearms and the wrists are kept straight and vertical. The knees are locked (fig. 191). 39. The Scarecrow in the Wind with the Arms Up Just as in the preceding magical pass, the arms are extended laterally at the level of the shoulders, except the forearms are turned upward, bent at a ninety-degree angle. The forearms and wrists are kept straight and vertical (fig. 192). Then they swing freely downward to the front (fig. 193) and upward again. The knees are locked. 40. Pushing Energy Backward with the Full Arm The elbows are acutely bent and the forearms held fight against the sides of the body, as high as possible, with the hands held in fists (fig.194). As an exhalation is made, the forearms are fully extended downward and backward as high as possible. The knees are locked, and the trunk bends slightly forward (fig. 195). As an inhalation is made, the arms are then brought forward to the original position by bending the elbows. Then the breathing is reversed as this movement is repeated; instead of exhaling as the arms are pulled backwards, an inhalation is taken. An exhalation follows as the elbows are bent and the forearms are brought upward against the axilla. 41. Pivoting the Forearm The arms are held in front of the body with the elbows bent and the forearms vertical. Each hand is bent at the wrist, resembling the head of a bird, which is at eye level, with the fingers pointing toward the face (fig. 196). Keeping the elbows vertical and straight, the wrists are flipped back and forth, pivoting on the forearms, making the fingers of the hands move from pointing at the face to pointing forward (fig. 197). The knees are kept bent for stability and strength. 42. Moving Energy in a Ripple The knees are kept straight, and the trunk stoops over. Both arms are kept dangling at the sides. The left arm moves forward with three ripples of the hand, as if the hand were following the contour of a surface with three half-circles on it (fig. 198). Next, the hand cuts across the front of the body in a straight line from left to right, then from right to left (fig. 199), and moves backward at the side of the body with three more ripples, drawing in this fashion the thick shape of an inverted capital letter L - at least six inches thick. The same movements are repeated with the right arm. 43. The T Energy of the Hands The two forearms are held at right angles right in front of the solar plexus, making the shape of a letter T. The left hand is the horizontal bar of the letter T with the palm turned upward. The right hand is the vertical bar of the letter T with the palm turned downward (fig. 200). Next, the hands turn back and forth at the same time with considerable force. The palm of the left hand is turned to face downward, and the palm of the right hand is turned to face upward, both hands maintaining the same letter T shape (fig. 201). These same movements are executed again, placing the right hand as the horizontal bar of the letter T and the left hand as the vertical one. 44. Pressing Energy with the Thumbs The forearms, bent at the elbows, are held right in front of the body in a perfectly horizontal position, maintaining the width of the body. The fingers are curled in a loose fist, and the thumbs are held straight, cradled on the curled index fingers (figs. 202, 203). An intermittent pressure is exerted between the thumb and the index finger and the curled fingers against the palm of the hand. They contract and relax, spreading the impulse to the arms. The knees are kept bent for stability. 45. Drawing an Acute Angle with the Arms Between the Legs The knees are locked, with the hamstrings as fight as possible. The trunk is bent forward, with the head almost at the level of the knees. The arms dangle in front and, moving repeatedly forward and backward, they draw an acute angle with its vertex between the legs (figs. 204, 205). 46. Drawing an Acute Angle with the Arms in Front of the Face The knees are locked, with the hamstrings as fight as possible. The trunk is bent forward, with the head almost at the level of the knees. The arms dangle in front of the body and, moving repeatedly from the Kick to the front, they draw an acute angle, with its vertex in front of the face (figs. 206, 207). 47. Drawing a Circle of Energy Between the Legs and in Front of the Body The knees are kept locked, with the hamstrings as fight as possible. The trunk is bent forward, with the head almost at the level of the knees. The arms dangle in front of the body. The two arms cross at the wrists, the left forearm on top of the right one. The crossed arms swing back between the legs (fig. 208). From there, each one makes an outward circle in front of the face. At the end of the circle, the arms point forward, the left wrist on top of the right one (fig. 209). From there, they draw two inward circles that end between the legs, with the wrists crossed once more in the initial position. Then the right wrist is made to rest on top of the left one, and the same movements are repeated. 48. Three Fingers on the Floor The arms are brought slowly over the head as a deep inhalation is taken. A slow exhalation begins while the arms are brought all the way down to the floor, keeping the knees locked and the hamstrings as fight as possible. The index and middle fingers of each hand touch the floor a foot in front of the body, and then the thumb is also brought to rest on , the floor (fig. 210). A deep inhalation is taken while that position is held. The body straightens, and the arms are raised above the head. The air is exhaled as the arms come down to the level of the waist. 49. The Knuckles on the Toes The arms are raised above the head as a deep inhalation is taken. As the air is exhaled, the arms are brought all the way down to the floor, keeping the knees locked and the hamstrings as fight as possible. The knuckles are brought to rest on top of the toes as the exhalation ends (fig. 211). A deep inhalation is taken while that position is held. The body straightens, and the arms are raised above the head. The exhalation begins when the arms are brought down to the level of the waist. 50. Drawing Energy from the Floor with the Breath A deep inhalation is taken as the arms are raised above the head; the knees are kept bent. The exhalation begins as the trunk turns to the left and bends down as far as possible. The hands, with the palms down, come to rest around the left foot, with the right hand in front of the foot and the left hand behind it; they move back and forth five rimes as the exhalation ends (fig. 212). A deep inhalation is taken then, and the body straightens as the arms move over the head. The trunk turns to the right, and the exhalation begins as the trunk bends down as far as possible. The exhalation ends after the hands move back and forth five times by the right foot. Another deep breath is taken, and the body straightens up as the arms move above the head and the trunk pivots to face the front; then the arms come down as the air is exhaled. Back to Top THE FOURTH SERIES: The Separation of the Left Body and the Right Body: The Heat Sences Don Juan taught his disciples that for the shamans who lived in Mexico in ancient times, the concept that a human being is composed of two complete functioning bodies, one on the left and one on the right, was fundamental to their endeavors as sorcerers. Such a classificatory scheme had nothing to do with intellectual speculations on the part of those sorcerers, or with logical conclusions about possibilities of distribution of mass in the body. When don Juan explained this to me, I countered that modern biologists had the concept of bilateral symmetry, which means "a basic body plan in which the left and right sides of the organism can be divided into approximate mirror images of each other along the midline." "The classifications of the shamans of ancient Mexico," don Juan replied, "were more profound than the conclusions of modern scientists, because they stemmed from perceiving energy directly as it flows in the universe. When the human body is perceived as energy, it is utterly patent that it is composed not of two parts, but of two different types of energy: two different currents of energy, two opposing and at the same nine complementary forces that coexist side by side, mirroring, in this fashion, the dual structure of everything in the universe at large." The shamans of ancient Mexico accorded each-one of these two different kinds of energy the stature of a total body, and spoke exclusively in terms of the left body and the right body. Their emphasis was on the left body, because they considered it to be the most effective, in terms of the nature of its energy configuration, for the ultimate goals of shamanism. The shamans of ancient Mexico, who depicted the two bodies as streams of energy, depicted the left stream as being more turbulent and aggressive, moving in undulating ripples and projecting out waves of energy. When illustrating what he was talking about, don Juan asked me to visualize a scene in which the left body was like half of the sun, and that all the solar flares happened on that half. The waves of energy projected out of the left body were like those solar flares - always perpendicular to the round surface from which they originated. He depicted the stream of energy of the right body as not being turbulent at all on the surface. It moved like water inside a tank which was being slightly tilted back and forth. There were no ripples in it, but a continuous rocking motion. At a deeper level, however, it swirled in rotational circles in the form of spirals. Don Juan asked me to envision a very wide, peaceful-looking tropical river, where the water on the surface seemed barely to move, but which had shattering riptides below the surface. In the world of everyday life, these two currents are amalgamated into a single unit: the human body as we know it. To the eye of the seer, however, the energy of the total body is circular. This meant to the sorcerers of don Juan's lineage that the right body was the predominant force. "What happens in the case of left-handed people?" I asked him once. "Are they more suitable for the endeavors of sorcerers?" "Why do you think they should be?" he replied, seemingly surprised by my question. "Because obviously, the left side is predominant," I said. "This predominance is of no importance whatsoever for sorcerers," he said. "Yes, the left side predominates in the sense that they can hold a hammer with their left hand very effectively. They write with their left hand. They can hold a knife with their left hand, and do it very well. If they are leg shakers, they can certainly shake the left knee with great rhythm. In other words, they have rhythm in their left body, but sorcery is not a matter of that kind of predominance. The right body still rules them with a circular motion." "But does left-handedness have any advantages or disadvantages for sorcerers?" I asked. I was driven by the implication built into many of the Indo-European languages of the sinister quality of left-handedness. "There are no advantages or disadvantages to my knowledge," he said. "The division of energy between the two bodies is not measured by dexterity, or the lack of it. The predominance of the right body is an energetic predominance, which was encountered by the shamans of those ancient times. They never tried to explain why this predominance happened in the first place, nor did they try to further investigate the philosophical implications of it. For them, it was a fact, but a very special fact. It was a fact that could be changed." "Why did they want to change it, don Juan?" I asked. "Because the predominant circular motion of the right body's energy , is too friggin' boring!" he exclaimed. "That circular motion certainly takes care of any event of the daily world, but it does it circularly, if you know what I mean." "I don't know what you mean, don Juan," I said. "Every situation in life is met in this circular fashion," he replied, making a small circle with his hand. "On and on and on and on and on. It's a circular movement that seems to draw the energy inward always, and turns it around and around in a centripetal motion. Under these conditions, there's no expansion. Nothing can be new. There is nothing that cannot be inwardly accounted for. What a drag!" "In what way can this situation be changed, don Juan?" I asked. "It's too late to be really changed," he replied. "The damage is already done. The spiral quality is here to remain. But it doesn't have to be ceaseless. Yes, we walk the way we do, we can't change that, but we would also like to run, or to walk backward, or to climb a ladder; just to walk and walk and walk and walk is very effective, but meaningless. The contribution of the left body would make those centers of vitality more pliable. If they could undulate instead of moving in spirals, if only for an instant, different energy would get into them, with staggering results." I understood what he was talking about, at a level beyond thought, Ix-cause there was really no way that I could have understood it linearly. "The sensation that human beings have of being utterly bored with themselves," he continued, "is due to this predominance of the right body. The only thing left for human beings to do, in a universal sense, is 10 find ways of ridding themselves of boredom. What they end up doing is finding ways of killing time: the only commodity no one has enough of. But what's worse is the reaction to this unbalanced distribution of energy. The violent reactions of people are due to this unbalanced distribution. It seems that from time to rime, helplessness builds furious currents of energy within the human body, which explode in violent behavior. Violence seems to be, for human beings, another way of killing time." "But why is it, don Juan, that the sorcerers of ancient Mexico never wanted to know why this situation happened?" I asked, bewildered. I found what I was feeling about this inward motion to be fascinating. "They never tried to find out," he said, "because the instant they formulated the question, they knew the answer." "So they knew why?" I asked. "No, they didn't know why, but they knew how it happened. But that's another story." He left me hanging there, but throughout the course of my association with him, he explained this seeming contradiction. "Awareness is the only avenue that human beings have for evolution," he said to me once, "and something extraneous to us, something that has to do with the predatorial condition of the universe, has interrupted our possibility of evolving by taking possession of our awareness. Human beings have fallen prey to a predatorial force, which has imposed on them, for its own convenience, the passivity which is characteristic of the energy of the right body." Don Juan described our evolutionary possibility as a journey that our awareness takes across something the shamans of ancient Mexico called the dark sea of awareness: something which they considered to be an actual feature of the universe, an incommensurable element that permeates the universe, like clouds of matter, or light. Don Juan was convinced that the predominance of the right body in this unbalanced merging of the right and left bodies marks the interruption of our journey of awareness. What seems for us to be the natural dominance of one side over the other was, for the sorcerers of his lineage, an aberration, which they strove to correct. Those shamans believed that in order to establish a harmonious division between the left and the right bodies, practitioners needed to enhance their awareness. Any enhancement of human awareness, however, had to be buttressed by the most exigent discipline. Otherwise, this enhancement, painfully accomplished, would turn into an obsession, resulting in anything from psychological aberration to energetic injury. Don Juan Matus called the collection of magical passes which deal exclusively with the separation between the left body and the right body The Heat Group: the most crucial element in the training of the shamans of ancient Mexico. This was a nickname given to this collection of magical passes because it makes the energy of the right body a little more turbulent. Don Juan Matus used to joke about this phenomenon, saying that the movements for the left body put an enormous pressure on the right body, which has been accustomed from birth to ruling without opposition. The moment it is faced with opposition, it gets hot with anger. Don Juan urged all his disciples to practice the Heat Group assiduously, in order to use its aggressiveness to reinforce the weak left body. In Tensegrity, this group is called The Heat Series, in order to make it more congruous with the aims of Tensegrity, which are extremely pragmatic on the one hand and extremely abstract on the other, such as the practical utilization of energy for well-being coupled with the abstract idea of how that energy is obtained. In all the magical passes of this series, it is recommended to adopt the division of left and right bodies, rather than left and right sides of the body. The end result of this observance would be to say that during the execution of these magical passes, the body that doesn't perform the movements is kept immobile. However, all its muscles should be engaged, not in activity, but in awareness. This immobility of the body that is not performing the movements should be extended to include its head; that is to say, to the opposite side of the head. Such immobility of half of the face and head is more difficult to attain, but it can be accomplished with practice. The series is divided into four groups. Back to Top The First Group : Stirring Energy on the Left Body and the Right Body The first group comprises sixteen magical passes that stir the energy of the left body and the right body, each independently from the other. Each magical pass is performed with either the left arm or the right arm, and in some cases with both at the same time. The arms never go, however, beyond the vertical line that separates the two bodies. 1. Gathering Energy in a Ball from the Front of the Left and the Right Bodies and Breaking It with the Back of the Hand With the palm of the hand slightly curved and facing the right, the left arm circles inward twice in front of the body (fig. 213). All the muscles of the arm are held tense as this circular motion is executed. Then the back of the hand strikes forcefully to the left as if breaking the top of a ball gathered with the movement of the arm (fig. 214). The hand strikes a point an arm's length away from the body above the shoulders, at a forty-five-degree angle. While this strike is being executed, all the muscles are kept tense, including the muscles of the arms, a tension that permits controlling the strike. The impact is felt on the areas of the pancreas and spleen and the left kidney and adrenals. The same movements are repeated on the right side, and the impact is felt on the areas of the liver and the right kidney and adrenals. 2. Gathering Energy of the Left and Right Bodies in a Circle Which Is Perforated with the Tips of the Fingers The left forearm is held in front of the body, at a ninety-degree angle in relation to it. The wrist is kept straight. The palm of the hand faces to the right as the fingers point to the front. The thumb is kept locked. As in the previous magical pass, the forearm circles twice, going from the left up to the level of the shoulder and turning toward tin- center of the body (fig.215). The elbow is then quickly pulled all the way back, and the circle drawn by the forearm is perforated by the tips of the fingers in a forward thrust (fig. 216). The elbow is moved all the way back once more in order to gain striking power, and then the hand shoots forward again. The same sequence of movements is performed with the right arm. 3. Hoisting Left and Right Energy Upward Both knees are slightly bent. The left knee is then raised to the level of the pancreas, fully bent, while the foot is held with the toes pointing to the ground. At the same time that this movement is performed, the left forearm shoots upward until it reaches a point at a forty-five-degree angle with the body; the elbow is kept tight against the body. Both the leg and the arm move in total synchronicity, jolting the midsection (fig. 217). The same movements are repeated with The right leg and the right arm. The tendency of energy is to sink, and it is of great importance to spread it upward to The midsection of the body. It is the belief of shamans that the left body is ruled by the area of the pancreas and spleen, and the right body by the area of the liver and gallbladder. Shamans understand this process of hoisting energy as a maneuver to energize those two centers separately. 4. The Up-and-Down Pressure The left elbow is raised in front of the body to the level of the shoulder, bent at a ninety-degree angle with the forearm. The hand is clenched in a fist, and the wrist is bent toward the right as acutely as possible (fig. 218). Using the elbow as a pivot by keeping it at the same position, the forearm is bent downward until it reaches the area right in front of the solar plexus (fig. 219). The forearm then returns to the upright position. The same movement is performed with the right arm. This magical pass is used to stir up the energy that exists in an arc between a point just above the head and in line with the left shoulder and a point right above the solar plexus. 5. The Inward Turn The first part of this magical pass is exactly like the first part of the preceding one, but instead of bending the forearm downward, it is made to rotate inwardly, making a complete circle, pivoting on the elbow at a forty-five-degree angle with the body. The top of the circle is at a point just above the ear and in line with the left shoulder. The wrist is also made to rotate as the circle is drawn (fig. 220). The same movement is performed with the right hand. 6. The Outward Turn This magical pass is almost identical to the preceding one, except that instead of turning the left forearm to the right to make a circle, it turns to the left (fig. 221). It makes what don Juan called an outward circle, as opposed to the circle made in the previous magical pass, which he called an inward circle. The same movement is performed with the right hand. In this magical pass, the energy stirred is part of the arc of energy dealt with in the two preceding magical passes. The fourth, fifth, and sixth magical passes of this group are performed together. Shamans have found out, by means of their seeing, that human beings have enormous caches of unused energy lying around inside their luminous spheres. They have also found out, in this manner, that these magical passes stir the energy dispersed from the respective centers of vitality - the one around the liver and the one around the pancreas - which stays suspended for quite a while before it begins to sink down to the bottom of the luminous sphere. 7. A High Push with the Fists The arms are held in front of the body at the level of the shoulders. The hands are fisted with the palms turned inward the ground. The elbows are bent. The left hand strikes forward with a short punch, without first retrieving the elbow to gain strength. The left hand is retrieved to its initial position; the right hand follows with another similar punch and is then retrieved to its original position (fig. 222). The strike of the fists comes from the contraction of the muscles of the arms, shoulder blades, and abdomen. 8. A Low Push with the Fists The elbows are bent at a ninety-degree angle and kept at the level of the waist. They don't touch the body, but are kept an inch or two away from it. The hands are clenched in fists with the palms facing each other. The left forearm moves to strike in a short punch, driven by the muscles of the stomach, which contract in unison with the muscles of the arm and the shoulder blade (fig. 223). After striking, the forearm is retrieved instantly, as if the punch has generated the force to push the arm back. The right arm moves immediately afterward in the same fashion. Just as in the preceding pass, the elbows don't move back to gain striking strength; the strength is derived solely from the muscular tension of the abdomen, arms, and shoulder blades. 9. A Wheel with the Fingers Contracted at the Middle Joints The elbows are kept at the level of the waist over the areas of the pancreas and spleen, and the liver and gallbladder. The wrists are kept straight; the palms of the hands face each other while the fingers are tightly clenched at the second knuckle. The thumbs are locked (fig. 224). The elbows move forward and away from the body. The left hand circles in a vertical rasping motion, as if the bent knuckles were rasping a surface in front of the body. Then the right hand does the same. The two hands move in an alternate fashion in such a manner (fig. 225). The muscles of the abdomen are kept as fight as possible in order to give impetus to this movement. 10. Smoothing Energy Out in Front of the Body The flat palm of the left hand, which faces forward, is raised to a level just above the head, in front of the body. The palm slides downward in a slanted line and comes to the level of the pancreas and spleen, as if it were smoothing out a vertical surface. Without stopping there, it continues moving to the back; the body rotates to the left to allow the arm to come fully over the head. The hand, with the palm facing downward, then comes down with great force, as if to slap a rubbery substance in front of the area of the pancreas and spleen (fig. 226). Exactly the same movements are performed with The right arm, but using the area of the liver and gallbladder as the striking point. 11. Hitting Energy in Front of the Face with an Upward Thrust of the Fist The trunk turns slightly to the left in order to allow the left arm two full backward rotations going first to the front, above the head, then to the kick, where the palm turns slightly inward as if to scoop something from the back (fig. 227). The movement ends at the second turn with an upward thrust of the fisted hand in front of the face (fig. 228). This magical pass is repeated with the right arm in exactly the same sequence. 12. Hammering Energy in Front of the Left and Right Bodies One and a half forward circles are made with the arm, followed by a downward strike; the body rotates slightly in order to allow the left arm a full rotation starting from its initial position by the side of the thigh to the back, above the head, to the front, and again to the side of the thigh. As this circle is made, the palm is made to rotate at the wrist as if the hand were scooping up some viscous matter (fig. 229). From its initial position, the arm moves again to the back and above the head, where the hand turns into a fist that strikes down, with great force, at a point in front of and above the pancreas and spleen, using the soft edge of the hand like a hammer as the striking surface (fig. 230). The same movements are repeated with the right arm. 13. Drawing Two Outward Circles of Energy and Smashing Them by the Navel Both arms move in unison up the front of the body, out to the sides, and around, like a swimming stroke, to draw two winglike circles at forty-five-degree angles to the front of the body (fig. 231). Then the circles are broken at the bottom, at the level of the navel, with a forceful strike of both hands. The hands are bent at a ninety-degree angle in relation to the forearms, with the fingers pointing forward. The force of the strike makes the palms of the hands come within a few inches of each other (fig. 232). 14. Drawing Two Circles of Energy Laterally with the Index and Middle Fingers Extended The index and middle fingers of both hands are fully extended, while I ho third and fourth fingers are held by the thumbs against the palms. The arms circle in unison from their normal position at the sides to above the head and then laterally to the sides of the body at forty-five degree angles toward the back (fig. 233). When the full circle is nearly completed, the fingers contract into fists, leaving the second knuckles of the middle fingers protruding. The movement ends as the fists, with the palms facing the body, strike forward and upward, to the level of the chin (fig. 234). 15. Stirring the Energy Around the Temples A long inhalation is taken. An exhalation begins as the arms are brought to a point above the head, where they clasp into fists; the palms of the fisted hands face the front of the body. From there they strike downward with a back-fist blow to a point right above the hips (fig. 235). The fisted hands move to the sides of the body, drawing lateral half-circles that bring the fists to an area a few inches in front of the forehead and five or six inches away from each other. The fisted palms face outward (fig. 236). While the exhalation still lasts, the fists are brought to rest on the temples for an instant. The body leans backward a bit by bending slightly at the knees to gain spring and momentum, and then the arms are brought forcefully down, without straightening the elbows, to strike behind the body on either side with the backs of the fisted hands (fig. 237). The exhalation ends there. 16. Projecting a Small Circle of Energy Out in Front of the Body From its natural position by the side of the thigh, the left arm moves outward laterally; the palm of the hand faces the right. It draws a small circle as the palm turns downward, comes to the area of the pancreas and spleen, and continues moving left to the level of the waist. The elbow protrudes acutely (fig. 238a); the hand turns into a fist. The palm of the fisted hand faces the ground. The fist strikes with a short blow to the front, as if to pierce the circle it has drawn (fig. 238b). The movement is continuous; it is not interrupted when the hand turns into a fist, but stops only when the punch has been delivered. The blow gives an intense jolt to the center of vitality located around the pancreas and spleen. The same movement is executed with the right hand, the strike of which jolts the liver and gallbladder. Back to Top The Second Group: Mixing Energy from the Left Body and the Right Body The second group consists of fourteen magical passes that mix the energy of both bodies at their respective centers of vitality. The shamans of ancient Mexico believed that mixing energy in this fashion makes it possible to separate the energy of both bodies more readily by dropping unfamiliar energy into them, a process which they described as exacerbating the centers of vitality. 17. Bunching Necessary Energy and Dispersing Unnecessary Energy This magical pass entails movements that could best be described as pushing something solid across the front of the body with the palm of the hand, and dragging it back across the front of the body with the back of the hand. It starts with the left arm kept close to the body, by the waist, with the forearm bent at a ninety-degree angle. The forearm is brought closer to the body as the movement begins, and the hand is bent back at the wrist. The palm of the left hand faces right; the thumb is locked. Then, as if a great force were opposing it, it moves across the body to the extreme right, without the elbow losing its ninety-degree angle (fig. 239). From there, again as if a great force were opposing it, the hand is dragged as far left as it can reach without losing the ninety-degree angle of the elbow, with the palm still facing the right (fig. 240). During this entire sequence of movements, the muscles of the left body are contracted to the maximum, and the right arm is held immobile against the right leg. The same sequence of movements is repeated with the right arm and hand. 18. Piling Energy onto the Left and Right Bodies The weight is placed on the right leg. The knee is slightly bent for support and balance. The left leg and arm, which are kept semitense, sweep in front of the body in an arc from left to right, in unison. The left foot and the left hand end at a position just to the right of the body. The outer edge of the left foot touches the ground. The fingertips of the left hand point down as the sweep is made (fig. 241). Then both the left leg and the left arm return to their original positions. The exact sequence is repeated by sweeping the right leg and arm to the left. 19. Gathering Energy with One Arm and Striking It with the Other Don Juan said that with this magical pass, energy was stirred and collected with the movement of one arm and was struck with the movement of the opposite arm. He believed that striking, with one hand, energy which had been gathered by the other, allowed the entrance of energy into one body from sources belonging to the other body, something which was never done under normal conditions. The left arm moves up to the level of the eyes. The wrist is slightly bent backwards; in this position, going from left to right and back again, the hand draws the figure of an oval, about a foot and a half wide and as long as the width of the body (fig. 242). Then the hand, with the palm facing down, moves across at eye level from left to right as if cutting through, with the tips of the fingers, the figure which it has drawn (fig. 243). At the moment that the left hand reaches the level of the right shoulder, the right hand, which is held at waist level with the cupped palm turned upward, shoots forward, striking with the heel of the hand, to hit the spot in the middle of the oval drawn by the left hand, as the left hand is slowly brought down (fig. 244). As it strikes, the palm of the right hand is facing forward, and the fingers are slightly curved, permitting in this fashion the necessary contour of the palm to strike a round surface. The strike ends with the elbow slightly bent, to avoid over stretching the tendons. The same movements are performed beginning with the right arm. 20. Gathering Energy with the Arms and Legs The body pivots slightly to the right on the ball of the right foot; the left leg juts out at a forty-five-degree angle, with the knee bent to give a forward slant to the trunk. The body is made to rock three times, as if to gain momentum. Then the left arm scoops downward as if to grab something at the level of the left knee (fig. 245). The body leans back, and with that impulse, the lower part of the left leg, from the knee down, is brought close to the groin, almost touching it with the heel; the left hand swiftly brushes the vital area of the liver and gallbladder, on the right (fig. 246). The same sequence of movements is repeated with the right leg and arm, which bring the gathered energy to the center of vitality located around the pancreas and spleen, on the left. 21. Moving Energy from the Left and the Right Shoulders The left arm moves from its natural position hanging by the left thigh to the right shoulder, where it grabs something, and the hand turns into a fist. This movement is propelled by a sharp twist of the waist to the right. The knees are slightly bent to allow this turning movement. The acutely bent elbow is not allowed to sag, but is kept at the level of the shoulders (fig. 247). Propelled by a straightening of the waist, the fist is then moved away from the right shoulder in an upward arc, striking, with the back of the hand, a point slightly above the head and in line with the left shoulder (fig. 248). The hand opens there as if to drop something that is held in the fist. The same- sequence of movements is repeated with the right arm. 22. Gathering Energy from One Body and Dispersing It on the Other Beginning from its natural position by the left thigh, the left arm draws an arc from left to right, crossing in front of the pubis until it reaches the extreme right. This movement is aided by a slight turn of the waist. From there, the arm continues moving in a circle above the head, to the height and level of the left shoulder. It cuts across then to the level of the right shoulder. There, the hand turns into a fist, as if grabbing something, with the palm down (Fig. 249). Next, the fist hits a point at the height of the head, an arm's length away from it. The blow is delivered with the soft edge of the hand, using the hand as if it were a hammer. The arm is fully extended, but slightly curved at the elbow (fig. 250). The same movements are repeated with the right arm. 23. Hammering Energy from the Left Shoulder and the Right Shoulder on the Midpoint in Front of the Face The left arm is moved above the head. The elbow is bent at a ninety-degree angle. The hand turns there into a fist, with the palm facing upward. Then it strikes from the left, with the soft edge of the hand, the division line of the left and right body, in front of the face. The body leans slightly to the left as this strike is made (fig. 251). The fisted hand keeps on moving until it almost touches the right shoulder; the palm turns there so that it faces downward. Then it makes a similar strike, this time from the right; the body leans to the right (fig. 252). This same sequence of movements is repeated with the right arm. A reservoir of neutral energy can be built by this magical pass, meaning energy which can easily be used by either the left body or the right body. 24. A Strike with the Hand Fisted at the Second Knuckle Both arms are lifted to the level of the neck, the elbows held at ninety-degree angles. The hands are held with the fingers bent at the second knuckle and held tightly over the palm (figs. 253, 254). From this position, tin- left hand strikes. The strike is a powerful swing made to the right, .11 toss the line of the right shoulder, but without greatly moving the arm. 1 In- arm is driven by a powerful rightward twist of the waist (fig. 255). The right arm moves in the same fashion beyond the line of the left shoulder, driven by an instantaneous leftward twist of the waist. 25. Grabbing Energy from the Shoulders and Smashing It on the Centers of Vitality The left arm moves to the right shoulder, and the hand turns into a fist, as if grabbing something (fig. 256). The elbow is kept bent at a ninety degree angle. Then the fist is forcefully brought back to the left side by the waist (fig. 257). It stays there for an instant to gain impulse, and then the fist shoots across the body to the right, the fisted palm facing the body, to strike through a point by the area of the liver and gallbladder (fig. 258). The same movement is repeated with the right arm, which strikes across the area of the pancreas and spleen. 26. Pushing Energy to the Sides with the Elbows Both arms are brought to the level of the shoulders, the elbows bent sharply and protruding straight out. The wrists are crossed making a letter X, the left forearm on top of the right one. The hands, clenched into fists, touch the pectoral muscles at the edges of the axilla; the left fist touches the edges of the right axilla and the right fist the edges of the left axilla (fig. 259). The elbows are then forcefully brought out to the sides in line with the shoulders, as if to give an elbow blow to the sides (fig. 260). This movement is repeated with the right arm on top of the left. 27. Drawing Two Inward Circles of Energy in Front of the Body and Crushing Them Out to the Sides As a deep breath is taken, the arms circle in unison from their natural position at the sides of the thighs, to the line that separates the left and the right bodies. This movement ends with the forearms crossed over the chest. The fingers are kept tightly together, pointing upward, the thumbs locked; the wrists are bent at ninety-degree angles. The left arm is on top of the right one. The locked thumb of the left hand touches the pectoral muscle of the right body, and the locked thumb of the right hand touches the pectoral muscle of the left body (fig. 261). The inhalation ends there. A quick exhalation is made as the arms are spread apart forcefully with the hands clenched into fists, each striking, with the back of the hand, a point on the respective sides above the head (fig. 262). The same movements are repeated with the right arm on top of the left. 28. Striking Energy in Front of the Body and on the Left and Right with Both Fists The hands are clenched into fists at the level of the waist. The palms of the fists face each other. Both hands are lifted to the level of the eyes and strike forcefully downward in unison at two points in front of the groin; they hit the target with the soft part of the fists (fig. 263). From there, the arms swing in unison, making an upward arc to the left as the whole trunk leans toward the left, following the impulse of the arms. The fists strike with the knuckles (fig. 264). The fists return to deliver another blow to the same points in front of the groin. From there, the arms swing in unison, making an upward arc to the right as the whole trunk leans toward the right, following the impulse of the arms. The fists strike with the knuckles. The fists move one more time to deliver a blow with the soft edge of the hands to the same two points in front of the groin. 29. Striking Energy in Front of the Body with Both Fists and on the Left and the Right The beginning of this magical pass is exactly like the preceding one (fig. 265). Once the strike is completed, both arms are lifted like hammers to the level of the head, and the trunk is made to turn sharply to the left. The two fists strike two points in front of the left hip (fig. 266). The arms lift again to the height of the head, the palms of the hands are opened, and they descend to strike the same two points (fig. 267). The arms are raised again to the level of the head. The hands turn into fists to strike the same points once again. The forearms are raised to the level of the head, the body turns to face the front, and the fists are slammed down on the same points in front of the groin. The same sequence of movements is repeated with the trunk turned sharply to the right. 30. Smashing Energy with the Wrists Above the Head and on the Left and the Right Both hands are raised above the head, with the wrists touching and the palms curved as if holding a ball (fig. 268). Then the trunk turns to the left, as both arms move sharply to the left of the waist without disengaging the wrists, which rotate on each other to accommodate the new position of the hands. The palm of the left hand faces upward, and the palm of the right hand faces downward (fig. 269). Both arms are moved to the point above the head again, still without disengaging the wrists, which rotate to adopt their initial position. The same sequence of movements is performed by bringing the hands sharply to a point to the right of the waist. The movement ends by bringing the hands back to their starting position above the head. Back to Top |
