The Sorcerer's Crossing

Book excerpt: Some twenty years ago, anthropologist Carlos Castaneda electrified millions of readers by describing his initiation--under the Yaqui Indian brujo Don Juan--into an alternate reality. Now Taisha Abelar, who was taught by the female members of Don Juan's group, recounts her own "crossing" in this arresting book. While traveling in Mexico, Abelar became involved with a group of sorcerers and began a rigorous physical and mental training process designed to enable her to breach the limits of ordinary perception. The Sorcerers Crossing details that process, giving us a highly practical sense of the responsibilities and perils that face a woman sorcerer. Abelar's enthralling story is invaluable as a virtual "sorcerers manual", as anthropology, and as a provocative work of women's spirituality.