The importance of the plants was, for don Juan, their capacity to produce stages of peculiar perception in a human being. Thus he guided me into experiencing a sequence of these stages for the purpose of unfolding and validating his knowledge. I have called them ‘states of non-ordinary reality’, meaning unusual reality as opposed to the ordinary reality of everyday life. The distinction is based on the inherent meaning of the states of nonordinary reality. In the context of don Juan’s knowledge they were considered as real, although their reality was differentiated from ordinary reality.
Don Juan believed the states of non-ordinary reality to be the only form of pragmatic learning and the only means of acquiring power. He conveyed the impression that other parts of his teachings were incidental to the acquisition of power. This point of view permeated don Juan’s attitude toward everything not directly connected with the states of non-ordinary reality. Throughout my field notes there are scattered references to the way don Juan felt. For example, in one conversation he suggested that some objects have a certain amount of power in themselves. Although he himself had no respect for power objects, he said they were frequently used as aids by lesser brujos. I often asked him about such objects, but he seemed totally uninterested in discussing them. When the topic was raised again on another occasion, however, he reluctantly consented to talk about them.
‘There are certain objects that are permeated with power,’ he said. ‘There are scores of such objects which are fostered by powerful men with the aid of friendly spirits. These objects are tools – not ordinary tools, but tools of death. Yet they are only instruments; they have no power to teach. Properly speaking, they are in the realm of war objects designed for strife; they are made to kill, to be hurled.’
‘What kind of objects are they, don Juan?’
‘They are not really objects; rather, they are types of power.’
‘How can one get those types of power, don Juan?’
‘That depends on the kind of object you want.’
‘How many kinds are there?’
‘As I have already said, there are scores of them. Anything can be a power object.’
‘Well, which are the most powerful, then?’
‘The power of an object depends on its owner, on the kind of man he is. A power object fostered by a lesser brujo is almost a joke; on the other hand, a strong, powerful brujo gives his strength to his tools.”
‘Which power objects are most common, then? Which ones do most brujos prefer?’
‘There are no preferences. They are all power objects, all just the same.’
‘Do you have any yourself, don Juan?”
He did not answer; he just looked at me and laughed. He remained quiet for a long time, and I thought my questions were annoying him.
‘There are limitations on those types of powers,’ he went on. ‘But such a point is, I am sure, incomprehensible to you. It has taken me nearly a lifetime to understand that, by itself, an ally can reveal all the secrets of these lesser powers, rendering them rather childish. I had tools like that at one time, when I was very young.’
‘ What power objects did you have?’
‘Maiz-pinto, crystals and feathers.’
‘What is maiz-pinto, don Juan?’
‘It is a small kernel of corn which has a streak of red colour in its middle.’
‘ Is it a single kernel?’
‘No. A brujo owns forty-eight kernels.’
‘What do the kernels do, don Juan?’
‘ Each one of them can kill a man by entering into his body.’
‘How does a kernel enter into a human body?’
‘It is a power object and its power consists, among other things, in entering into the body.’
‘What does it do when it enters into the body?’
‘It immerses itself in the body; it settles on the chest, or on the intestines. The man becomes ill, and unless the brujo who is tending him is stronger than the bewitcher, he will die within three months from the moment the kernel entered into his body.’
‘ Is there any way of curing him?’
‘The only way is to suck the kernel out, but very few brujos would dare to do that. A brujo may succeed in sucking the kernel out, but unless he is powerful enough to repel it, it will get inside him and will kill him instead.’
‘But how does a kernel manage to enter into someone’s body?’
‘To explain that I must tell you about corn witchcraft, which is one of the most powerful witchcrafts I know. The witchcraft is done by two kernels. One of them is put inside a fresh bud of a yellow flower. The flower is then set on a spot where it will come into contact with the victim: the road on which he walks every day, or any place where he is habitually present. As soon as the victim steps on the kernel, or touches it in any way, the witchcraft is done. The kernel immerses itself in the body.”
‘ What happens to the kernel after the man has touched it?’
‘All its power goes inside the man, and the kernel is free. It becomes just another kernel. It may be left at the site of the witchcraft, or it may be swept away; it does not matter. It is better to sweep it away into the underbrush, where a bird will eat it.’
‘ Can a bird eat it before the man touches it?’
‘No. No bird is that stupid, I assure you. The birds stay away from it.”
Don Juan then described a very complex procedure by which such power kernels can be obtained.
‘You must bear in mind that maiz-pinto is merely an instrument, not an ally,’ he said. ‘Once you make that distinction you will have no problem. But if you consider such tools to be supreme, you will be a fool.’
‘Are the power objects as powerful as an ally?’ I asked.
Don Juan laughed scornfully before answering. It seemed that he was trying hard to be patient with me.
‘Maiz-pinto, crystals, and feathers are mere toys in comparison with an ally,’ he said. ‘These power objects are necessary only when a man does not have an ally. It is a waste of time to pursue them, especially for you. You should be trying to get an ally; when you succeed, you will understand what I am telling you now. Power objects are like a game for children.’
‘Don’t get me wrong, don Juan,’ I protested. ‘I want to have an ally, but J also want to know everything I can. You yourself have said that knowledge is power.’
‘No!’ he said emphatically. ‘Power rests on the kind of knowledge one holds. What is the sense of knowing things that are useless?’
In don Juan’s system of beliefs, the acquisition of an ally meant exclusively the exploitation of the states of non-ordinary reality he produced in me through the use of hallucinogenic plants. He believed that by focusing on these states and omitting other aspects of the knowledge he taught I would arrive at a coherent view of the phenomena I had experienced.
I have therefore divided this book into two parts. In the first part I present selections from my field notes dealing with the states of non-ordinary reality I underwent during my apprenticeship. As I have arranged my notes to fit the continuity of the narrative, they are not always in proper chronological sequence. I never wrote my description of a state of non-ordinary reality until several days after I had experienced it, waiting until I was able to treat it calmly and objectively. My conversations with don Juan, however, were taken down as they occurred, immediately after each state of non-ordinary reality. My reports of these conversations) therefore, sometimes antedate the full description of an experience.
My field notes disclose the subjective version of what I perceived while undergoing the experience. That version is presented here just as I narrated it to don Juan, who demanded a complete and faithful recollection of every detail and a full recounting of each experience. At the time of recording these experiences, I added incidental details in an attempt to recapture the total setting of each state of non-ordinary reality. I wanted to describe the emotional impact I had experienced as completely as possible.
My field notes also reveal the content of don Juan’s system of beliefs. I have condensed long pages of questions and answers between don Juan and myself in order to avoid reproducing the repetitiveness of conversation. But as I also want to reflect accurately the overall mood of our exchanges, I have deleted only dialogue that contributed nothing to my understanding of his way of knowledge. The information don Juan gave me about his way of knowledge was always sporadic, and for every spurt on his part there were hours of probing on mine. Nevertheless, there were innumerable occasions on which he freely expounded his knowledge.