The Eagle's Gift

I was a big fan of Castaneda when his first books came out. I was in college then. Two years ago, I set out to read all of his books, first to last, in order. I highly recommend that exercise.This was one of the better Castaneda books. It's always dicey to write about Castaneda and the "r" word: did this really happen?I am inclined to say yes, but not in the usual way. I know that some might see this as a cop out, but I do believe that we all live in our heads and in a world that we create in there. No one else really has access to our experience except us. What we perceive is what we imagine to be the world out side of us, and our thoughts and feelings inside of us. Castaneda's experiences are as real as anyone's.Did he make it all up? I don't know, nor can I ever know. If he did make it all up, he was a genius. Who knows? Maybe Plato made up Socrates. Sure, the was a person named Socrates, and maybe there was a don Juan Matus. In the time of Plato and Aristotle, it was quite common to write dialogs about famous thinkers and write what they should have said, or write what they might of said, what was characteristic of their thinking. If the original never actually said that was not a problem. This wasn't our sense of history and truth that we have today.Ultimately, there is being, what is, and what is not. Truth, falsity, right, wrong, good, and evil are all of the mind. If you stick to facts, what is, you won't find any of the above. "There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so." Shakespeare.For me, Castaneda, don Juan, and don Genaro are great beings. I enjoy their mystery a great deal.

It is difficult to think of this book by itself; The Eagle's Gift is the sixth of Castaneda's series of eight books on his apprenticeship as a sorcerer. I suggest that the books be read in the order written; each refers to events which have been described earlier, but each book contains Castaneda's heightened awareness of those events. This book is special for two reasons: first, it is largely about Castaneda's interactions with other apprentices, and gives us readers further insight as Castaneda's actions and thoughts are as seen by the others. Previously related events take on new meaning as the others, some more advanced than Carlos, some not, reflect on his thoughts, personality and progress into sorcery. Also, it has been pointed out many times, that the sorcery of the ancient seers was quite different from that of the modern seers. Modern seers seek -total freedom- don Juan tells Carlos that "Freedom is the Eagle's gift to man". To understand just what this means, you will have read the book. It is a 'must have' .

To write this series off as merely fiction is a sad act of ignorance. There is no way of writing a review that could possibly come close to encompassing the soul shattering effects that truly attempting to grasp this knowledge has had on my life. I have been tumbling down this rabbit hole for over a decade, and I can tell you there have been moments I have deeply questioned my own sanity because of this author. Start at the beginning and read through to the end. A simpl google search will give you the chronological order of the books. This is not the place to start AT ALL.

As the author continues with this 6th book in the series, he seems to be revising the "story" as told in the first 4 books. Is it just that from his now progressed state of perception that the review of previous events and characters shift dramatically from his original version of the events for the purpose of trying to further the reader's perceptional growth or to keep us all chugging along for yet another book? The new information seems more and more fantastic/science-fiction than the first 4 books. They contain less revelations of universal truths or personal empowerment and seem to be heading more towards Indiana Jones story-telling. The constant revision of what happened to Don Juan, Don Gennaro and others keeps morphing into new ever more fantastic versions in both the 5th and 6th book. Each subsequent reconfiguring of what happened to them and where they went seems less and less plausible as any type of indigenous wisdom passed on and more and more of the author's personal hallucination or mirage. Great science fiction based on quasi-indian-like culture; less shamanic wisdom for the seeker on the path.

wrote an anti-corporate message in my last review of this book - it didn't make the cut - trying it once again - imagine if everyone thought like this - the corporate structure would crumble - the planet would heal - people's minds would be free to evolve - the pigs at the top will never allow this - i'm surprised they haven't figured out a way to suppress the sale of these enlightening ideas - to everyone that quests for true awareness - "want nothing - fear no one - be free"

Just what I expected when I select to buy this book I’m almost done reading it and if I have to get more of Castaneda’s books I won’t hesitate buying it again

Another master piece of the Nagual Carlos, his testimony in better details and more importantly the use of his knowledge to achieve freedom.

It’s not very comfortable to sleep on, and doesn’t taste very good. But it’s a great book.

This Castaneda book was poor in every way, compared with Cataneda's other Don Juan novels. The plot was poor, the language dull, simple and witless. Throughout the novel, I wondered if someone other than Castaneda had written this! Perhaps Cataneda was going through an uninspired stage of his life when he wrote this? However, his final Don Juan novel, "The Power Of Silence" is of the same high standard as his earlier works.

I have read a number of books in this series of Carlos' tutelage with Don Juan and the others. I find his descriptions of events and people fascinating, while also threading a good story. As others have mentioned - I am not entirely sure if all is true, however, that in some ways is the message of the books - to have belief. I became a little confused while reading this book as to the continuity of events, but nevertheless it was still an interesting read. I felt the Eagle could have been delved into more - although that may come in a later publication.

Very insightful into how one should live their life, it gives a different view of the world and challenges the ideas and beliefs that we have be taught whilst also providing simple methods to changing your thinking and behaviours with how we interact with the world on a day to day basis.I really enjoy reading these series of books, they go far deeper to answering the questions about our purpose than anything else that I have ever read.

Good presentation. Story itself not so good

i am collecting all of these books, fact or fiction they are brilliant tales, i cant help but wonder why a film has never been made about this guy..