Searching the Elements of Primitive Religions in the Indian Mysticism of Don Joan

In recent years, the mystical path of Don Joan has been brought forward in the works of Carlos Castanda. Most of the important elements of primitive religions can be recognized in this path. These include: the sacred object which not everybody deserves to touch it; belief in an impersonal and supernatural power, which in this path and in religious studies as a whole is called “mana”; various taboos, related to objects, persons, sacred words and names; belief in the existence of the spirits of various natural phenomena and therefore, the necessity of their veneration; belief in the existence of twin or (in religious terminology) “totem”, which on the one hand protects the man, and on the other, must be venerated by man. Contrary to the most primitive religions in which the totem is an animal, here the totem is either a plant or other natural phenomena.