Filming Castaneda: The Hunt for Magic and Reason Author Recounts Surveillance of 60s Reclusive Writer

At the sixth anniversary of the death of Carlos Castaneda, Gaby Geuter's new book, "Filming Castaneda: The Hunt for Magic and Reason" (now available through AuthorHouse), offers readers a rare visual glimpse into the controversial world of this reclusive author, whose literary works fascinated a whole generation, godfathering the New Age movement. Geuther's book, which recounts the secret filming, the events and her motivation leading up to her adventure, documents the last years of Castaneda's life with over 120 original photographs and other archival material.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) April 16, 2004 -- For 30 years Carlos Castaneda avoided the media and the larger public. When Geuter encounters the self-proclaimed "sorcerer", the first time in 1993, she finds herself enthralled by his personality and the alluring promises of his teachings. She is invited to Castaneda's small private classes, only to be unceremoniously dismissed when she has to leave town for a business trip. Castaneda does not accept second place to anyone or anything.

A year later she becomes an enthusiastic participant in Castaneda's newly established public seminars of magical movements and practice groups of local followers. Still, probing the elusive meaning of Castaneda's mysterious attraction, she takes his invitation to follow him literally. From then on she spends every weekend secretly recording his activities, hoping to find answers to life's fundamental questions. With some irony the teacher grows into the subject of his own teachings. The long hours of surveillance, the filming and trash sifting make Geuter an unexpected witness to the last years of Castaneda's life. And in the months leading up to his 'inglorious end', the author discovers that all along, the answers to her lifelong search were inside herself.

While Castaneda suspends all private classes and stops appearing at seminars, Geuter notices rapid changes: the consistent search for an ocean-going vessel, the unprecendented make-over of the magical compound and signs of a serious illness. The "sorcerer" appears to be dying an ordinary death. Days after his death, the house is empty and five of his closest female companions disappear. They erase all traces of themselves, closing bank accounts, cutting up credit cards and shredding personal notes. One of their cars is found abandoned near Death Valley, Calif., not long after, close to the recently unearthed remains of a female body fitting the description of the missing women. A positive identification is currently in progress with the Inyo County police department.

Call it a poignant memoir, a poetic tribute to a mysterious writer, or a spiritual adventure; ultimately, "Filming Castaneda" reveals to the world the hidden face of a man who achieved cult status while shrouding himself in secrecy.

Gaby Geuter lived in Germany and Spain before settling with her daughter in Los Angeles. A painter and performance artist in the 1980s, she now writes and grows vegetables in California.