Some years ago, Rob and I interviewed Merilyn Tunneshende, a Nagual sorceress and shaman who claimed she had been part of Carlos Castaneda’s group of power women – Florinda Donner, Taisha Abelar were among them. I can’t recall where the interview took place or why we had connected with her. But as she and Rob talked about Castaneda’s work, I butted in and asked for her birth information.
I wasn’t trying to be intrusive, but that question was suddenly foremost in my head, so I blurted it. She looked at me and said, “If I give you that information, then you know who I am. You know where I’m headed. You know more than you need to know.”
And she refused to provide the information. I was taken back by her reaction. But I understood what meant. A birth chart is your soul’s blueprint, your agenda for this life.
At the time, Marilyn was claiming her place among Castaneda’s select group of nagual women, female shamans, who were learning about the magical passes – tensegrity. At the time, I didn’t really understand what tensegrity was. But other people did..
In 2016, our daughter told us about a TV show called OA, created and written by Brit Marling and Mike Cahill and in which Brit starred. She had starred in Another Earth, a movie I loved, so Rob and I gave the OA a shot. The second season started this year.
It’s hard to say what OA is about except that it’s multidimensional. The OA means original angel, although I don’t see how the angel part enters this story. What is apparent in the show is that NDEs often endow the individual with paranormal abilities. And what the character – Prairie, Brit – returns with is a set of movements that can alter time, space, reality. These movements reminded me of tensegrity.
In the final episode of season 1 (spoiler alert), there’s a powerful sequence of scenes in which Prairie and the select group of high school students to whom she has taught the movements, leap up during the shooting and execute the movements. It stops the shooter in his tracks and reality changes. The first minute and 17 seconds of the video below show the dance.
“That’s Castaneda,” Rob exclaimed.
The concept probably came from Castaneda, but I don’t know if the actual movements did. The movements so perfectly choreographed in the show are powerful and moving, the kind of thing that makes you cheer.
As for Marilyn, who started this whole train of thought and comparison, I suspect she actually was part of Castaneda’s group of women. She wrote four books about her shamanic journeys that are available on Amazon.
But in the end, who knows? Castaneda’s entire life was shrouded in mystery and innuendo. Mitch Horowitz, in his wonderful book The Miracle Club, touches on how Castaneda may have been influenced by Neville Goddard, an enigmatic writer whose books are now available on Amazon, thanks in large part to Horowitz. Read their books and watch the OA. Enjoy the way your head explodes with the possibilities.
Love the OA! Really unusual show.