Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles
available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Don Juan Matus is
a major figure in the series of books on Nagual shamanism by Carlos
Castaneda. He is described as a Yaqui Indian to whom Castaneda was first
introduced at a bus depot in Yuma, Arizona in the early 1960s. The
actual existence of don Juan has long been disputed; his practices and
beliefs are inconsistent with his alleged identification as a Yaqui
shaman. The old man, in fact, never professes that to be his original
name. He merely says that for Castaneda, at least, he is Juan Matus. As
a character in Castaneda's books, don Juan tells Carlos (the personage
representing Castaneda) that he is a brujo (Spanish for sorcerer or
witch), which is a sort of healer, sorcerer or shaman, who had inherited
(through a lineage of teachers) an ancient Mesoamerican practice for
vastly enhancing one's awareness of, and interaction with, the energies
of the Earth and its assorted beings. In the books Don Juan was an
expert in the cultivation and use of various psychotropic plants
(specifically, psychedelic mushrooms, datura and peyote) found in the
Mexican deserts.
