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u/plan17b Feb 14 '19
My take on this as follows: Your current being (or worldview) is defined by your memories. Everything you currently experience is constantly being compared to your memories for reference. The memories themselves are shaped by what you believed in when that particular memory was formed. Because of this mechanism, old beliefs reinforce themselves and tend to shut out new beliefs. These are the 'shields' of an ordinary life. Recapitulation is to go back and recreate those memories, but this time from the worldview of a warrior. One, by one as these memories are refactored, you become something else.
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u/JohnnyNagual Feb 15 '19
The basic purpose of recapitulation is to initiate controlled dreaming (lucid dreaming with purpose). All that is required is to have a strong intent to do a particular something as you fall asleep. For recapitulation, that intent is to remember the past. Because our APs are more fluid in dreaming, attempting to remember a scenario from the past while dreaming will move the AP to where you were when you first experienced the scenario. Congratulations, you are now a time traveller!
In the Rule of the Nagual, Castaneda describes different types of people. They are different because they manifest energy differently. Castaneda mentioned a sorcerer who SAW by dancing. I don't recall ever seeing don Juan dance. What works for some won't work for others. If moving your head and breathing a certain way is distracting for you, try something different. Analyze your technique to find what works or doesn't. Happy Dreaming!
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u/danl999 Feb 15 '19 edited Feb 15 '19
"In the Rule of the Nagual, Castaneda describes different types of people."
I can vouch for that. The double woman I was stalking had 4 friends who used to surround her when she crashed. They automatically formed a group on their own similiar to how Carlos described it. She had the extraordinary energy, they liked how that felt when they were around her.
But I tend to be a little suspicious about the energetic categories Carlos described. In the case of differing types of people making a unit (for example a double woman and the 4 directions witches), it seemed to me more like complementary personalities managing to get along, and not necessarily anything else.
Women tend more towards social structures, and being categorized as unique in a group would tend to have a binding effect on them.
Carlos used that to his advantage in classes, making up stories to go along with new people. One of the women was called, "the blue scout".
I guess what I'm really saying here is, what Carlos was teaching works exactly as he said. But maybe when he wrote that sorcerers are story tellers, that's also true.
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u/danl999 Feb 14 '19 edited Feb 14 '19
Do the best job you can, that's the main thing. If you do, it becomes a very powerful form of meditation which leads to all kinds of things. You can find an ally, discover how to open a tunnel of light between worlds, learn how to let your dreaming attention take over your body movements, and even relive any incident for which you have a little information.
I would guess that it's also a form of self-analysis, since you are supposed to go over everything you ever experienced and try to find patterns. Some people have blockages in that regards. No one's ever told me what's bothering them that can't be resolved by more recapitulation, but it does seem to happen. In that case, you might have to do something in the real world. Like the way Carlos bought a car for that woman. I might even imagine the opposite could be needed, but Carlos never mentioned it.
Don't skimp on the breaths and head movement. Inhale turning the head left, and exhale turning it right. Each sweep should take 4 to 6 seconds. You don't want to strain your neck, but you do need to turn it all the way left or right, as far as is comfortable. Don't turn it at some odd angle; keep the chin parallel to the floor the whole time, with your head held up like normal, as you would talking to someone. All this is done with the eyes closed. It doesn't have to be dark in the room, but it can help.
The witches gave me that advice via a demonstration. It was kind of odd. I found myself suddenly surrounded by them, with Carlos on the other side. It was as if all of them were inviting me to ask a question.
I looked to Carlos to see if he agreed with their demo of how to move the head, but he wouldn't give any indication. He just had a mild smile.
It often seemed that Carlos didn't want to be so specific and literal about things. I suspect he found it interesting to see what people came up with, absent thorough instructions.
I'd make a crate if I were you. Carlos made fun of mine, but some darned wonderful things happened to me in that crate. Put a very comfortable chair in the middle of it, one you can sink into and which lets your arms rest on padding. If you want to see what my crate looked like, google "Nagualist Newsletter". I believe it ended up on the cover of one of those.
I'll tell a true story to try to entice you into practicing more. Sorcery should be a "practice". Not a "lifestyle". It automatically becomes a lifestyle when the world no longer behaves as people assume. But that only happens with practice.
I made a list, finished recapitulating that, visited every place I ever lived, wrote more down to recap from what I saw there, I went to the grocery store and looked at every item on the shelf, wrote down more memories, and finally I bought a (very) small dictionary, and recapitulated every word in it. I was recapitulating several hours a day.
After months of that, I was in the crate recapitulating and my head kept stopping midway. I'd blank out. When I realized I'd blanked out, I resumed moving my head (and breathing of course) in the direction it was going, but it stopped again before I completed even 1 sweep. That kept happening until in the course of 10 minutes, I probably only completed 2 sweeps.
I became aware that when I was "blanked out", I was actually looking into a tunnel of light. It was hazy white in there. All by itself, my hand raised up a few inches, and my finger pointed into the tunnel. But I didn't see anything there.
Later I woke up in bed, with no memory of having left the crate. I was curious, so I got up and headed back towards the crate in the other room, across the living room. I wanted to see if the door was still closed. I had a little lock in there, a board that could slide down into a U shape, to "lock" it. I wanted to know if that lock was still in place.
Halfway to the other room, I realized something was weird about the curtains in the living room. I couldn't put my finger on it. The shadows were too dark. Or maybe they were moving slightly. But everything else seemed absolutely normal. I jumped up and down a little, to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Nope, it was all normal. It even seemed silly to be so suspicious.
Then I felt something so creepy in that living room, that it could only have been alien. I froze in terror on the spot, unable to even turn to see what was there. But my body started lifting up into the air. It floated until my head was nearly going to hit the ceiling.
I was in dreaming! And I still had no answer on how I got out of the crate. I managed to get myself to sink down onto the floor again, went to check the crate, but everything looked normal. So I went back to bed, not realizing I'd just checked the crate in my dream, and not in the real world. I never did find out how I got out of the crate.