Since I just joined last week, I am not sure if this has ever been posted or discussed before, but there are some great resources on the web about Carlos Castaneda, who was the most significant influence for most of the imagery on Don Juan's Reckless Daughter.
For those of you who don't know about him, he's a philosopher from Mexico who studied under the tutilage of a Yaqi Indian from Mexico named don Juan Matus, a mystic and a shaman. Joni has mentioned on several occasions that she loves his books and respects his theories on the pursuit of knowledge: "Some people look forward to my next album the way I look forward to the next Carlos Castaneda book," she said. In any case, if you want a real understanding of the reference points on Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, one of her most challenging bodies of work, you should have a browse through this link and do a search on some of his books. Books that include essays like "The Eagle's Gift," "The Feathered Serpent's Flight" and "The Teachings of Don Juan." It's fascinating stuff given the lyrics to some of the songs and imagery from DJRD: "Coils around feathers and talons on scales..." It puts it all into perspective and makes the lyrics on that album all the more relevant to the human spirit. http://www.prismagems.com/castaneda -Andrew Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now
