Journey to Ixtlan

Blurb

Journey to Ixtlan is the third book by Carlos Castaneda, published as a work of non-fiction by Simon & Schuster in 1972. It is about an alleged apprenticeship to the Yaqui "shaman," Don Juan.
The title of this book is taken from an allegory that is recounted to Castaneda by his "benefactor" who is known to Carlos as Don Genaro, a close friend of his teacher don Juan Matus. "Ixtlan" turns out to be a metaphorical hometown to which the "sorcerer" or warrior or man of knowledge without reason or thoughts is drawn to return. This is because his elevated perspective leaves him little in common with ordinary people, who now seem no more substantial to him than "phantoms." The point of the story is that a man of knowledge, or sorcerer, is a changed being, or a Human closer to his true state of Being, and for that reason he can never truly go "home" to his old lifestyle again.
In Journey to Ixtlan Castaneda essentially reevaluates the teachings up to that point. He discusses information that was apparently missing from the first two books regarding stopping the world which previously he had only regarded as a metaphor.