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by Corey Donovan
December 25, 1925 - Castaneda born in
Cajamarca, Peru, son of César Arana Burungaray, a watchmaker and
goldsmith, and Susana Castañeda Novoa.
Mid 1940s – Castaneda attends Public School 91 and San Ramon High School
for three years in Cajamarca, but doesn’t graduate. (Per de Mille, The Don
Juan Papers: Further Castaneda Controversies, 1990 ed., p. 362.)
1948 – The Arana family moves to Lima, Peru. Castaneda graduates from the
Colegio Nacional de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe in Lima, and then enters
Bellas Artes, the national fine arts school of Peru. (de Mille p. 362.)
[Jose Bracamonte, one of Castaneda’s friends and fellow students at arts
school, recalls his former friend Castaneda as "witty, imaginative,
cheerful—a big liar and a real friend." (Time Magazine March 5, 1973 cover
story, p.44.)]
1949 –The Arana family is living in a third-floor apartment in the
Porvenir District, on the outskirts of Lima. (de Mille, p. 362.)
1950 – Susana Castaneda de Arana dies. Castaneda refuses to attend the
funeral, locks himself in his room for three days without eating, and when
he finally comes out announces he is leaving home. (de Mille, p. 362.)
1950 – Castaneda rents an apartment with two fellow art students. Another
fellow student, Victor Delfin, later describes Castaneda as follows to
journalist Cesar Levano: "He was a wonderful liar [el tipo mas fabuloso
para mentir]. A very capable fellow, likable and rather mysterious. A
first-class seducer [un seductor de primera linea]. I remember the girls
used to spend the morning waiting around for him at the Bellas Artes." (de
Mille, pp. 362-364.) His friend Bracamonte further describes him as
"always thinking up unlikely stories—tremendous, beautiful things. . . . .
He was always talking about Cajamarca, but oddly never talked about his
parents." (Id. P. 364.)
1951 – Castaneda meets Dolores, a young Chinese-Peruvian girl. He proposes
marriage and she becomes pregnant. She tells him about her pregnancy about
a month before he leaves the country. He continues to write her letters
until 1955. (de Mille, p. 383.)
September 10, 1951 - Castaneda sets forth from Callao, Peru, on board the
S.S. Yavari, a small ship carrying 16 other Peruvian citizen passengers
bound for San Francisco. (per ship manifest for S.S. Yavari, dated
9/23/51) [Castaneda does not tell family members he is leaving, although
he later writes to his cousin Lucia, describing an imaginary military
career and hinting at mental or physical wounds. He also later writes a
couple of brief letters to his father, including one that says, "I’m going
on a very long journey. Don’t be surprised if you learn nothing more about
me." (de Mille p. 364-5.)]
September 23, 1951 - Castaneda enters U.S. in San Francisco, California,
as César Arana, bound for Richmond, CA, with two pieces of luggage and
Peruvian Passport No. 34477 (per ship manifest for S.S. Yavari, dated
9/23/51).
March 1952- Castaneda meets Ivan Culver, a commercial artist from Rivera,
California, with whom he may have had a work relationship. (Per
immigration records.)
1952 – 1955 – Castaneda lives in Southern California, working odd jobs,
improving his English and trying to save enough money to go to college.
(Per Margaret Runyan Castaneda’s A Magical Journey with Carlos Castaneda,
Millenia Press 1996, p. 42-3.)
Summer 1955 – Castaneda enrolls in Los Angeles Community College (on
Vermont, south of Hollywood Blvd.) as Carlos Castaneda. (In his first two
years there, he takes courses in journalism, science, literature, and two
creative writing classes with Vernon King.) (Per A Magical Journey p. 36;
and March 5, 1973 Time Magazine cover story.)
December 1955 – Castaneda’s Costa Rican friend Lydette Maduro brings
Castaneda with her to Margaret Runyan’s apartment to have her try on two
dresses Lydette’s mother is making for Margaret. Margaret and Castaneda
meet again a few days later when Margaret goes to Maduro’s to pick up the
finished dresses and brings a book for Castaneda, in case he happens to be
there. (A Magical Journey pp. 32-3.)
1956 – Castaneda lives in a sparsely furnished apartment on Madison Street
in Hollywood.
June 2, 1956 - Castaneda calls up Margaret Runyan for the first time, to
see if he can stop by to show her some of his paintings. (A Magical
Journey p. 35; Runyan, "My Husband Carlos Castaneda," in February 1975
issue of Fate: True Stories of the Strange and Unknown.)
Fall 1956 – Castaneda and Margaret Runyan are very much an item, spending
nights in his apartment or the apartment she shared with her aunt. (Per A
Magical Journey p. 56.) Castaneda is already inventing a new "personal
history" too, telling Margaret that he was born in Italy on Christmas Day
in 1931, the son of a 16-year-old girl attending finishing school in
Switzerland and a professor who was on a world tour when he met the girl.
He also claimed his mother’s sister came to Italy soon after he was born
to bring him to live at the family farm near Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he
allegedly attended schools until he was old enough to go to art school in
Italy. He also claimed to have entered the U.S. in New York, and to have
attended art schools in Montreal and New York. (A Magical Journey pp.
40-1.) He also bogusly asserted that he had served in the U.S. army in
Spain, and claimed to have once traveled with a band of gypsies and to
have married a gypsy girl. (Runyan’s article in Fate.)
Early 1957 – Castaneda invents a girlfriend, "Sue Childress," to make
Margaret jealous. (A Magical Journey pp. 46-7.)
March 1957 - Margaret calls up the only Sue Childress in the telephone
book, who has never heard of Castaneda, but who nonetheless becomes
Margaret’s close friend. (A Magical Journey p. 47.) [Both of them later
write short articles about Castaneda for the February 1975 issue of Fate:
True Stories of the Strange and Unknown.]
April 26, 1957 - Carlos Arana Castaneda files Petition for Naturalization
No. 199531 with the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. His address at the
time is 1128 N. New Hampshire, Apt. 4, LA; his occupation is commercial
artist; he lists his birthdate and place as 12/25/1925 in Cajamarca, Peru;
he describes his features as brown eyes, black hair, 5’5", 140 pounds, a
citizen of Peru and not married. He says that he entered under the name
Carlos Cesar Salvador Arana Castaneda. His Alien Registration No. was 8
108 676. The witnesses to his petition are Antonio Fuentes, artist, at 931
N. Hoover Ave., who declares that he has known Castaneda since March 1955;
and Ivan Culver, commercial artist, at 9528 Haney St., Rivera, CA, who
declares he has known Castaneda since March 1952. The Petition was granted
on June 21, 1957.
1957 - Castaneda cosigns an employee credit union loan for Margaret Runyan
as "Carlos C. Aranha." (A Magical Journey p. 15.)
Fall 1957 – Castaneda writes a term paper on Aldous Huxley for his second
year English class at LACC, having become interested in occult topics
after reading Huxley’s The Doors of Perception and its account of
mescaline research. (A Magical Journey pp. 51-54.)
1958 – Castaneda works at the Mattel Toy Company plant on Rosecrans Ave.
and Hawthorne. (A Magical Journey p. 69.) Castaneda moves into a boarding
house on Adams Ave. He also starts writing poetry and short stories, with
one of his poems winning first place in a writing contest sponsored by the
school newspaper. He and Margaret attend a lot of movies. (A Magical
Journey p. 70-71.)
December 1958 – Castaneda rents a small house on Cherokee Ave. in
Hollywood. He makes Christmas cards that depict Father Time and an
hourglass. (A Magical Journey p. 71.)
Early 1959 – Castaneda takes a room on the second floor of the Marietta
Apartments on Vermont Street, across from the LACC campus. (A Magical
Journey p. 72.)
June 19, 1959 – Castaneda graduates from LACC with an Associate of Arts
degree in psychology. (See graduation picture.)
September 1959 - Castaneda enrolls at UCLA for the first time (with
transfer credits from LACC). He also works at a silk screening plant.
Thanksgiving 1959 – Castaneda cooks for a small group of friends,
including LACC students Allen Morrison (Castaneda’s best friend at the
time) and Byron Deore. A discussion about religions supposedly prompts
Margaret to suggest: "If I came to you and I told you that I’d found the
ultimate way of life and that I could tell you exactly how to do it, it
would be very hard for you to accept. But if I said to you that I’ve got a
mysterious teacher who has let me in on some great mysteries, then it’s
more interesting . . . It’s much easier to accept." (A Magical Journey pp.
58-59.)
Winter 1959 – Castaneda gets an evening job as a billing clerk at
Haggarty’s, a women’s clothing store on Wilshire Blvd. (A Magical Journey
pp. 73-74.)
December 1959 – Castaneda and Margaret both read Andrija Pharich’s The
Sacred Mushroom. (Per Margaret’s article in Fate.)
January 27, 1960 - Carlos Aranha Castaneda marries Margaret Evelyn Runyan
in Tlaquiltenango, Mexico. (As Margaret tells it, the sudden marriage came
about as a result of Castaneda’s jealousy over Margaret dating a Middle
Eastern businessman, who tells Castaneda that he would marry Margaret as
soon as his divorce is final. Castaneda declares, "Over my dead body. No
one is going to marry her but me!" After a brief talk that same day, he
and Margaret "got into Carlos’s black Volkswagen and headed for Tijuana."
(A Magical Journey pp. 80-81.) [They must have gone considerably beyond
Tijuana, however, because Tlaquiltenango, the city listed on their
marriage certificate, is in the state of Morelos, south of Mexico City.]
Late January 1960 – Castaneda moves in with Margaret at 823 South Detroit
Street. (A Magical Journey p. 81.)
Late January - June 1960 – Castaneda takes a class on "Methods in Field
Archaeology" taught by Profs. McCusick and Clement Meighan. [Gloria Garvin
Sun, who later worked as Meighan's editorial assistant, characterizes this
as a class on shamanism, and Meighan as "something of a shaman himself."]
Margaret Runyan reports that Meighan promised students an "A" on their
term paper if they actually interviewed an Indian for the project. (A
Magical Journey p. 82.)
Summer 1960 - Mary Joan Barker ("Joanie), whom Castaneda later describes
to the Sunday group as "don Juan's first student," becomes involved with
Castaneda. [Douglass Price-Williams, a UCLA professor and friend of
Castaneda (and, for a time in the early '70's, Florinda's dissertation
adviser) remembers Joanie being first employed as a librarian at UCLA
sometime in the summer of 1960. Douglass believes the two met up in July
or August of 1960 (i.e., around the time of Castaneda’s separation from
Margaret Runyan). Joanie was soon introducing and referring to Castaneda
as her boyfriend, and, later, as her "fiancee."]
It is presumed that, early in their relationship, Joanie took Castaneda
for a visit to the Morongo Indian Reservation, near her childhood home in
Banning, California. Margaret notes that, at this time, "Carlos began
leaving for hours at a time, and then days . . . . At first, I thought he
had found another woman, but he denied that. Carlos said that he was
making trips into the desert to study the use of medicinal plants by the
Indians." (A Magical Journey p. 81.) She also reports that, for his paper
for Meighan, Castaneda "worked with a Cahuilla on a reservation near Palm
Springs, and then went out on the Colorado River and worked with a few
Indians there. . . . . Ultimately, he found one man who related a great
deal of information about Jimson weed (Datura inoxia) and it was that
information that served as the basis of Carlos’ undergraduate paper . . .
."
Meighan recalled, regarding this 1960 paper: "His informant knew a great
deal about Datura, which was a drug used in initiating ceremonies by some
California groups, but had presumed by me and I think most other
anthropologists to have passed out of the picture 40 or 50 years ago. So
he found an informant who still actually knew something about this and
still had used it." The paper includes references to the plant’s four
heads, their different purposes, the significance of the roots, the
cooking process and the ritual of preparation, all information that
Castaneda supposedly later learns from don Juan on visits between August
23 and Sept. 10, 1961, as described in The Teachings of Don Juan. At the
time, Meighan praised the paper (one of only three involving an Indian
informant turned in by the large class) and suggested it added a great
deal to the academic literature. (A Magical Journey pp. 83-85 and 91.)
July 1960 – Castaneda moves his typewriter, books and sculpting materials
out of the apartment he shares with Margaret, returning to the Marietta
Apartments on Madison Ave. (A Magical Journey p. 93.)
Summer 1960 – Castaneda supposedly meets don Juan in the Greyhound bus
station in Nogales, Arizona. (See, e.g., The Teachings of Don Juan, A
Separate Reality and The Active Side of Infinity.)
September 1960 - Castaneda and Margaret Runyan separate [per complaint
filed in Margaret’s West Virginia divorce proceeding]. (They continue to
see each other frequently, however, until Margaret leaves Los Angeles in
1966.)
Fall 1960 - W.L. Davis introduces Castaneda and Margaret to Adrian
Gerritsen at a meeting. A short time later, Castaneda asks Gerritsen to
father a child for him. Gerritsen responds that it "would have to be
agreeable with Margaret." Not long after, the three (Castaneda, Margaret
and Gerritsen) meet at the Star of India Restaurant near Vermont in
Hollywood. Gerritsen agrees to do the deed. He and Margaret subsequently
"did have an affair and this affair produced the desired results for
Carlos." According to Gerritsen, "He was happy and said so to me." [From
Adrian Gerritsen’s letter to Margaret in November 1998, filed in support
of C.J. Castaneda’s declaration in the probate of Castaneda’s will.] [This
contradicts Margaret’s earlier account, in A Magical Journey, however,
where she writes: "Having met a slender blond businessman named Adrian
Gerritsen, I pressed Carlos for a divorce. He refused. But in the weeks
that followed our separation, I hammered away and finally, after much
harping was successful in getting Carlos to agree." A Magical Journey p.
93. In her book, Margaret relates that Castaneda drives her back to Mexico
for a quick divorce. A couple of years later, however, Castaneda reveals
that the Mexican divorce was a charade "to appease me while he did his
field work." p. 94. Margaret is extremely upset to find out that she is
still married to Castaneda, "and it took nearly a year of visits by Carlos
at my new apartment on Doheny Drive, before I began to feel differently
about it." p. 95. Castaneda develops a strong attachment to C.J., and
insists that Margaret sign documents with the Dept. of Public Health
asserting that Castaneda is the legal father. Id. A new birth certificate
is then issued to that effect.]
June 1961 – Castaneda allegedly begins to serve his "apprenticeship" with
don Juan. On June 23, 1961, Castaneda asks don Juan to "teach me about
peyote." On June 25, 1961, don Juan instructs Castaneda to find a "power
spot" on the floor of don Juan’s porch. (Per The Teachings of Don Juan.)
August 5-7, 1961 – Castaneda allegedly participates with don Juan in a
peyote mitote. (Per The Teachings of Don Juan.)
August 12, 1961 - Carlton Jeremy Castaneda born at 10:33 AM at Hollywood
Presbyterian Olmstead Memorial Hospital, 1322 N. Vermont Ave., to Margaret
Evelyn Runyan, 39, then living at 153 So. Doheny Dr., LA., and Carlos
Aranha Castaneda, 35, born Peru, student (Birth Certificate State File
#61-232000).
August 17-23, 1961 – Castaneda has additional meetings with don Juan, who
begins to teach him about datura [a subject Castaneda had already written
a paper about over a year before] (Per The Teachings of Don Juan.)
June? 1962 – Castaneda attends a wedding with Mary Joan Barker. (See
picture above.)
September 7, 1962 - Castaneda receives a Bachelor’s from UCLA in
Anthropology.
September 1962 - Castaneda enrolls for a Ph.D. at UCLA.
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