Toltecs of the New Millennium

In the vein of the Don Juan classics by Carlos Castaneda, Sanchez's book is a compelling spiritual autobiography. In 1986 anthropologist Sanchez went to Mexico to study the social customs of the Wirrarika tribe; his visit became an astonishing encounter with the alteration in reality that the non-European system of belief manifests. Yet, it is also an anti-anthropology text, as the author asserts that classical academic anthropology's theoretical framework had little to offer him when his encounter with the Indian system of belief became spiritual pilgrimage. Sanchez frees himself from what he calls the ""neurotic fantasies"" of academic mindsets and learns to explore the alternative universe underlying our interpersonal relationships and our everyday world. Sanchez's examination of the ways that psychoactive substances like LSD and peyote generate religious states of consciousness, as well as his exploration of the religious traditions and practices of the Toltecs and Aztecs, make his work valuable religious research. This is an interesting read and a revealing examination of a sacred terrain. (Aug.)