Carlos Castaneda (1925-1998) was an American author and anthropologist known for his controversial books on shamanism and psychedelic experiences. Born in Peru, Castaneda immigrated to the United States in the 1950s to pursue a career in anthropology. He gained international fame with his best-selling book “The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge” (1968), which claimed to document his experiences with a Yaqui Indian shaman named Don Juan Matus. However, many critics and scholars have raised doubts about the authenticity of his accounts and questioned his ethnographic methods. Castaneda later published several other books exploring further encounters with Don Juan and the realm of shamanic teachings. Despite the controversy surrounding his work, Castaneda’s writings had a significant impact on New Age spirituality and the exploration of altered states of consciousness.