This letter was sent to Castaneda's former wife after reading her book and in relation with the intentions of CC and associates to sue her because of her book.

Margaret Runyan Castaneda

Millenia Press

  Dear Margaret,

  My name is Victor Sanchez and I am the author of The Teachings of Don Carlos--Practical Applications of the Works of Carlos Castaneda, and Toltecs of the New Millennium, published by Bear and Company of Santa Fe, New Mexico.  I have been meaning to write this letter for a long time, ever since reading your book A Magical Journey with Carlos Castaneda.  The principal purpose of this letter is to express my admiration and respect for your courage in producing such a significant work which I am sure, was not easy to write.

  May be you are not aware to what extent your personal testimony is important and valuable within a context that goes far beyond the Margaret-Carlos relationship. This is because sometimes it is difficult to perceive the enormity of a situation when one finds oneself in the middle of it.  Let me explain myself.

  I was one of those readers who, like millions of others the world over, was fascinated by the early works of Carlos Castaneda.  However, unlike the majority, I was not satisfied with just reading his works, but rather I attempted in a serious and continuous way to discover practical applications of Castaneda’s proposals, for personal growth in everyday life.  My first book is the testimony about that effort.

  When I naively sent the manuscript of my book to Carlos Castaneda and even dared to ask him to write a prologue to my work, I thought he would like it. It was an expression of respect, and deep listening to what he had written. Far was I at that time, from imagining that not only would he not respond to my letters, but that the author, so respected and admired by me and many others, would answer years later with a lawsuit against me,  arguing that the eagle and the image of the desert portrayed on the cover of Bear and Company publishing for my book, were his exclusive property.  Much have I learned since then of that side of Carlos Castaneda unknown to the general public.

  Finding myself in the meddle of a prosecution by the great new-age Californian guru, was very important for me, to find your brave and human testimony, which helped me in attain a deeper understanding of what was actually going on. Your book helped me as well to understand the person whom for a long time I had admired and who was now persecuting me.

  I must confess to you that when I saw the title of your book and the author’s name for the first time, my first thought was that perhaps it was just one more of those books in which embittered wives attempt to obtain some benefit from their former husbands’ fame. 

  Having read it, however, proved to me that I could not have been more wrong.  Rather, I discovered a  profound testimony about a facet of human nature that —since it deals with someone so famous— rarely we get an opportunity to know. 

  I believe, Margaret, that I could feel the heart of the woman who fell in love with a man, and who, little by little, saw how her love story was disturbed and even trampled upon by the emergence of a legend of world-wide proportions that swept away everything—the lover, the father, and the friend.  I felt your work to be a brave and human attempt to reencounter and recover yourself from the midst of the strong blustery wind that arose around the name of Carlos Castaneda.  Where did the friend go?  What happened to the amorous lover?  What remains of what we were? These questions can be read between the lines of your text.

  It seems to me that these simple questions, so human in the midst of so much confusion and lies, are tremendously important, because they take those "tales of power" back to the human level from which they really came from. This understanding of the human and mundane side of spiritual leaders is so necessary in order to have a more balanced vision of this very complex phenomenon called Carlos Castaneda. And, more important than that, it is necessary for a more balanced approach to spiritual quest in general.

  Another thing which makes me feel admiration and respect for your testimony is that in despite of the many reasons you could have for feeling anger against Carlos Castaneda, your words do not transmit resentment, but rather love and humanity.  Through the pages of your book, we can see Carlos Castaneda, the brilliant but at the same time the human. We can see a man who succumbed under the weight of his own creation. A man devoured by his own dreams. And they allow us to glimpse something we rarely have the privilege to witness: the creation of a myth.

  The Carlos Castaneda of your book, Margaret, does an enormous favor to Mr. Castaneda that perhaps he himself is unable to see: To give him back his human dimension. In showing his failings and weaknesses, gives back to us his true greatness. "A Magical Journey with Carlos Castaneda" recalls me the reflection of Nikos Katsansakis in his work The Last Temptation of Christ: if Jesus was God, his work without doubt is beautiful and admirable, but if Jesus was simply a man, with failings and weaknesses, then his work is really portentous...

  I feel that A Magical Journey with Carlos Castaneda truly touches the depths of the human soul when we see Carlos asleep, awaiting in his dream the encounter with the ally, only to awaken breathless and shouting before the insistent cries of his abandoned child.  This is, Margaret, the heart of the drama of a man trapped in the parallel lines dividing the magical and mysterious world created by his books, and the real world which, despite of his insistence in denying it, ends up prevailing in the midst of the fog created by the myth. Your book is not an attack; it does not make us feel deceived by Carlos, but rather feel compassion for him.

  Perhaps the most valuable thing about your book, is the fact that it opens a door for us--almost always shut to the general public—that allows us to glimpse the true dimension of the sacred and the magical, that always ends up mixing with the mundane, with the human.  This lesson, Margaret, is not a small thing, and I believe that many people will discover that they are indebted to you, because of your daring in telling your truth, in spite of the danger resulting from challenging a myth.

  Lastly, I wish to express my sorrow and my indignation in knowing that a lawsuit has been filed against you by Carlos Castaneda due to the publication of your book. Please receive my solidarity, respect and friendship.

  If there is some way in which I could help you, I would feel honored to do so.  Please give my regards to your son.

  Respectfully,

  Victor Sanchez

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