TimeFlipper
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Yes i agree that Castenada could easily have been constructing a fictitious story, but never the less, the Yaqui tribe of people from Mexico and and other similar cultures did use Peyote in their religious ceremonies....Peyote is a cactus grown in certain areas of Mexico that contains psychoactive substances such as Mescaline which can induce types of dream travel, and remember that Mescalin is extremely close to LSD in its component make up..Every fiction writer will always incorporate within their stories known facts, which helps to provide the reader with a sense of realismWhile you are absolutely correct that several indigineous people's hold the belief that dreamtime is akin to traversing another life or dimension, much of what Castenada wrote has been proven to be fictious. He probably befriended some local native people, spoke with them about their religious practices and added some bullshit. He did manage to sell a load of books.@Miscellaneous You might try researching The Aboriginals Beliefs and Culture, also The Yaqui Indian beliefs and culture, which was highlighted in a fantastic series of books i read back in the 1980s written by Carlos Castenada and the first book was titled The Teachings of Don Juan-A Yaqui Way of Knowledge..
Briefly its about an American guy studying certain aspects of the Mexican Yaqui Indians culture in Sonoro, and he meets a "Sorceror" who takes him on a fantastic journey of dream travel and learnings firstly using Mescaline and meeting the Yaqui`s God called Mescalito..The series then goes into attacks from other Sorcerers (evil Brujo`s) and how he is taught to repel them, plus much much more