Anyone else on the nexus ever get into Castaneda's work? I feel like a lot of it holds a lot of potential, but the important stuff seems to be crowded with euphemisms.

I found myself most interested in his work regarding dreaming and OoBEs.

In his book The Art Of Dreaming, he talks about the traditional shamanic belief that as humans, we have an 'assemblage point' in which our energies are harnessed. When we move or shift our assemblage points, we are able to alter the energy entering that point, resulting in an altered perception. The degree of perceptual alteration relates to the 'distance' (I use the term loosely) ones assemblage point moves.

If you want to read more on it, you can go here.

Anywho, he believed that when we dream, we subconsciously shift our assemblage point. If he's correct, we can assume that DMT (as well as most other drugs, not only psychedelics) also moves or shifts our assemblage point in some way.

An interesting theory, and one that seems to be supported by many traditional and neo shamanistic groups, whom he calls sorcerors.

Anyways, it gets a little weird, and it's pretty hard to find reliable information anywhere else on the web, yet I'm very interested in out of body experiences with and without the use of drugs. Anyone have any experience with the matter? Revelations? Techniques? Advice? Thoughts in general?

One thing I noticed is that when Carlos starts following the scouts in that book and ends up in these giant cavernous tunnel-like spaces, the descriptions he gives remind me very much of SWIM's descriptions of his experiences in hyperspace.

His books were interesting but personally I dont put too much stock in what castaneda says..

Yes I have alot of experience working with lucid dreams and OBE type of states without the use of psychoactive substances. Learn how to induce sleep paralysis and wake induced lucid dreams..practice waking up early in the am, at around 4 or 5ish..get up for a few minutes then go right back to sleep..alot of the time that can induce lucid dreams and sleep paralysis..also a bit of caffine like green tea at around 4am will do it. Drink it and go back to sleep.

I feel the same way... Being a fan of Terence McKenna, I hate saying that he's a little too out there. I guess I get the feeling he was in it for the cult following. And apparently it worked (The Three Witches).

Anyways, thanks for the advice! I'm planning on working on it tonight!

I'm told by people who have studied the Don Juan works closely that there is some valuable stuff that I would categorize as meditation, but I personally am put off by his falsification of all that anthropological data. I wouldn't take anything he said as truth simply because he said it, but on the other hand, his works have had value for people that I've known.

Castaneda is up there with Lobsang T. Rampa.

Not sure about the OBE information, but I recently learned of a practice called Tensegrity, that was developed out of Castaneda's work "Magical Passes". It consists of a set of movements developed by Indian shamans in pre-Conquest Mexico, and seems to allow one to better access control the Assemblage Point. It's a very powerful practice, and I'm sure there are many practitioners in your area, TheReadyAwakening. There's more information at www.cleargreen.com.