V. THE SECOND RING OF POWER
First English edition, 1977
After jumping into the abyss, Castaneda has lived alone for the first time, the encounter with the nagual and tells that his "cluster" regrouped 17 times. After a while he returned to Mexico seeking the other apprentices to exchange experiences. He knows he will no longer see his teacher Don Juan, nor his benefactor Don Genaro; will need to fulfill the task assigned to him by the power, but first must "remember" the teachings of the "increased consciousness": will have to work with his group and become a nagual.
When Don Juan left, left him a dangerous and laborious task in which death is present at every moment. Apprentices are just as confused as Castaneda, or even more so and everyone must comply with the tasks assigned by Don Juan prior to his departure. These tasks have as objective finishing a part of learning process for each and, the "functional organization" of the new group and their nagual.
In this book, sensibly lacking literary quality, depict the physical absence of Don Juan, though many of the apprentices memories carry his presence and teachings. This book and the Don Juan teachings are perhaps the most confusing, although the knowledge wealth of the "second ring of power" is greater. The stories, almost fantastic and wild, in which the sisters, the Gorda and Doña Soledad, fight annihilation battles with Castaneda, at times they seem "outside the work context". The elegance and rhythm provided by Don Juan to the Castaneda teachings is lost.
As of "The witches explanation", Castaneda has greater clarity, and the book is titled "The second ring of power", because he understands that he must now recuperate from "remembering", all the lessons that, in parallel, Don Juan taught him in the induced states of "enhanced consciousness", when he taught him to "reorder his tonal island". If, on the one hand, in normal state consciousness Castaneda learned techniques to "sweep the tonal island" with a "continuous" chronological sequence, such was not the case in the enhanced consciousness state lessons, which are intended to make the apprentice develop "his will" to be able to enter the nagual world. There is no memory of these teachings and there is no timeline in the normal or everyday consciousness.
Castaneda sensed that he knows, but has to make a huge effort to remember and "assemble" all the teachings. It is interesting to emphasize that in this book the teachings begin to more clearly manifest the presence of the Anahuac Toltec civilization. The Toltequity or Toltecáyotl, in this book and the following become more visible and not a vague insinuation, as in others. Also Castaneda will find his group; that previously he barely knew. Don Juan had been very careful to prevent deep friendship relations between Castaneda and the other apprentices; to achieve this, he always kept them wrapped in a mystery breath. Castaneda supposed that some were apprentices and other relatives.
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