Medicine Dream by Merilyn Tunneshende

Medicine Dream
A Nagual Woman's Energetic Healing
by Merilyn Tunneshende

Hardback
232 pages
(August 1996)
Hampton Roads Pub Co
ISBN: 1571740465

Bookshelf Categories

Castaneda / Toltec

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Reviews:

This is great new perspective on initiation.

1/1/2001

Reviewer: Mark from Boston

I read it, cover to cover, and really paid attention. It is quite worthwhile. I looked for the Toltec teachings that Merilyn has professed to have on so many occasions, but I found little along those lines. While I respect her knowledge and path, this book should perhaps be introduced with a little more directness concerning its purpose and focus. The book is not pure Toltec in approach; however, this does not detract from the valuable perspecitve it offers. The book details, in a stylized prose, some of the significant experiences that Merilyn underwent during her initiation into a magical world. Thank you, Merilyn, for being honest and open with your experiences.

Medicine Dream Rules

12/3/1997

Reviewer: A reader from Makanda,Illinois

Having read all of Castaneda's books, Taisha Abelar's book, Florinda Donner's last two books, articles by Tunneshende and interviews with her, interviews with Castaneda and statements about her by the editors of Magical Blend magazine, I can state with no effort that Merilyn is legit. How do I know? Because my dreams underwent a dramatic and powerful change the first night I started her book.I'm sorry some were disappointed but the only way to judge books such as these is by how you feel after reading them. I was touched by the book and by the woman's view of Juan Matus' world. As an aside, the publisher of her book informed me that the book was written in the form of a novel based on fact.

A big disappointment

10/6/1997

Reviewer: A reader from USA

The author Merilyn Tunneshende has, in interviews and scathing articles on the internet, and in magazines, professed to be a nagual woman and a member of Carlos Castaneda's world, a prospective nagual to the lost party of sorcerers from "The Eagle's Gift" & etc. who Castaneda was compelled to leave behind in Mexico. If so, there is no reference to anything of the sort in her book Medicine Dream. Many people are seriously interested in learning about the journey to freedom through the study of Castaneda's works and the works of some of his associates like Taisha Abelar.If you are one of these people you won't find a thing in Medicine Dream to light the way. However, it is interesting to learn a few things about the Mayan calander and the Maya in general, if what Tunneshende says about this has any basis in fact at all. Tunneshende's characters are bland, boring and vague. Her John Black Crow, supposedly Don Juan in disguise, bears no resemblance to Castaneda's benefactor. Chon, who Tunneshende claims in articles on the internet is Don Genaro, is weak and soppy, unlike the Don Genaro Castaneda readers know about. Tunneshende's dreams and dreaming descriptions are absolutely ridiculous and can only be the product of simple day dreams and mental meanderings from long train and bus rides around Mexico, with a standard university issue Mayan ethnography on her lap. Half of the book is written in italics-eerie and boring reconstructions of the Mayan past cloaked in the guise of a supposed past reality being lived again by Tunneshende. Disconnected and anachronistic figures like her portrayal of Kukulkan in the Mayan context appear as powerless fops pushed around by blood sacrificing idiots. Worse still, some of these bogus characters profess great love for Tunneshende's beauty, wisdom and energy which Tunneshende never has to prove or develop. It's a cry fest for new agers who want to play mental games over what happened hundreds of years ago to people who are long gone or never existed. It's a real shame how Tunneshende portrays the truly historical figures like Kukulkan, also know as Quetzalcoatl. Tunneshende, like Castaneda claims that her book is a product of intent and a sorcerers task. The energy from her dreaming and so on is supposed to have propelled her to write this book. I feel that the energy in Medicine Dream is droopy, scattered and superficial compared to Castaneda's books. After reading Medicine Dream I was left with the impression that Tunneshende has spent years seeking something out and has failed and now needs money to pay some bills and to justify whatever she has been doing with her life. I see her holding her book in one hand and a tin cup in the other, asking for alms in return. I wish I could get a refund for my copy of Medicine Dream.

Don't misunderstand this book

9/4/0200

Reviewer: A reader from Helsinki-London

I fully agree with the review number 1 for this book, and find it disappointing that some other review writers did not have a positive experience.
I have also read every single work by Carlos Castaneda, Florinda Donner-Grau and Taisha Abelar, and when all these writers bring in their piece of the puzzle a more and more multi-faceted picture of the teachings of don Juan emerges.
It is clear that Ms Tunneshende's experience with don Juan was very different from that of Castaneda or Donner-Grau, but to my understanding this book was never meant to be an extension of their experience but to let Ms Tunneshende describe her own. I have not read any articles etc by Ms Tunneshende, so perhaps I do not have the full picture, but the important thing is that the book is not about Carlos Castaneda or don Juan, but John Black Crow (who is the don Juan Ms Tunneshende knew).
Personally I thought that this book was fantastic and it gave me new insights and learning, and I would warmly recommend it to anybody interested in the path. I hope that Ms Tunneshende will write a continuation to this and I can't wait to read it. My heart goes out to her in the heavy work she has personally taken upon herself. However, this book does represent a different paradigm to the works of Castaneda and Donner-Grau (who I also appreciate very highly), and Tunneshende's work and role is different.
NB just for the record, my dreams also changed since starting to read it - interestingly they involved blood sacrifice before I got that far in the book (and I don't normally have this kind of thing in my dreams I am glad to say).

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This is great new perspective on initiation.	1/1/2001
Reviewer: Mark from Boston
I read it, cover to cover, and really paid attention. It is quite worthwhile. I looked for the Toltec teachings that Merilyn has professed to have on so many occasions, but I found little along those lines. While I respect her knowledge and path, this book should perhaps be introduced with a little more directness concerning its purpose and focus. The book is not pure Toltec in approach; however, this does not detract from the valuable perspecitve it offers. The book details, in a stylized prose, some of the significant experiences that Merilyn underwent during her initiation into a magical world. Thank you, Merilyn, for being honest and open with your experiences.

Medicine Dream Rules	12/3/1997
Reviewer: A reader from Makanda,Illinois
Having read all of Castaneda's books, Taisha Abelar's book, Florinda Donner's last two books, articles by Tunneshende and interviews with her, interviews with Castaneda and statements about her by the editors of Magical Blend magazine, I can state with no effort that Merilyn is legit. How do I know? Because my dreams underwent a dramatic and powerful change the first night I started her book.I'm sorry some were disappointed but the only way to judge books such as these is by how you feel after reading them. I was touched by the book and by the woman's view of Juan Matus' world. As an aside, the publisher of her book informed me that the book was written in the form of a novel based on fact.

A big disappointment	10/6/1997
Reviewer: A reader from USA
The author Merilyn Tunneshende has, in interviews and scathing articles on the internet, and in magazines, professed to be a nagual woman and a member of Carlos Castaneda's world, a prospective nagual to the lost party of sorcerers from "The Eagle's Gift" & etc. who Castaneda was compelled to leave behind in Mexico. If so, there is no reference to anything of the sort in her book Medicine Dream. Many people are seriously interested in learning about the journey to freedom through the study of Castaneda's works and the works of some of his associates like Taisha Abelar.If you are one of these people you won't find a thing in Medicine Dream to light the way. However, it is interesting to learn a few things about the Mayan calander and the Maya in general, if what Tunneshende says about this has any basis in fact at all. Tunneshende's characters are bland, boring and vague. Her John Black Crow, supposedly Don Juan in disguise, bears no resemblance to Castaneda's benefactor. Chon, who Tunneshende claims in articles on the internet is Don Genaro, is weak and soppy, unlike the Don Genaro Castaneda readers know about. Tunneshende's dreams and dreaming descriptions are absolutely ridiculous and can only be the product of simple day dreams and mental meanderings from long train and bus rides around Mexico, with a standard university issue Mayan ethnography on her lap. Half of the book is written in italics-eerie and boring reconstructions of the Mayan past cloaked in the guise of a supposed past reality being lived again by Tunneshende. Disconnected and anachronistic figures like her portrayal of Kukulkan in the Mayan context appear as powerless fops pushed around by blood sacrificing idiots. Worse still, some of these bogus characters profess great love for Tunneshende's beauty, wisdom and energy which Tunneshende never has to prove or develop. It's a cry fest for new agers who want to play mental games over what happened hundreds of years ago to people who are long gone or never existed. It's a real shame how Tunneshende portrays the truly historical figures like Kukulkan, also know as Quetzalcoatl. Tunneshende, like Castaneda claims that her book is a product of intent and a sorcerers task. The energy from her dreaming and so on is supposed to have propelled her to write this book. I feel that the energy in Medicine Dream is droopy, scattered and superficial compared to Castaneda's books. After reading Medicine Dream I was left with the impression that Tunneshende has spent years seeking something out and has failed and now needs money to pay some bills and to justify whatever she has been doing with her life. I see her holding her book in one hand and a tin cup in the other, asking for alms in return. I wish I could get a refund for my copy of Medicine Dream.