Encompassing three continents and parallel worlds, “Stalking Carlos Castaneda ” is the transformative journey of a female Candide, starring stunning transvestites and music hall dancers; street children, teen porn stars and aging sorcerers; four abducted children and three Lost Boys; healing modalities, alternate realities, a charasmatic magus, a brain damaged Boy, and the ultimate encounter with the center of the self.

Print $17.00
e-book $9.99

Available from Water Street Press Books (waterstreetpressbooks.com)

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Responses to the book

“I so loved this book, that I could not put it down and read it in one very long evening! Having studied with Castaneda and company, I was looking for validation of my experience of that part of my unfolding path – and I found it in her well crafted book. She takes us on a journey, which while a unique one, takes us to the signposts of anyone’s evolution into mature wisdom. If you read the Castaneda books, then read this one, for its insights into the complexity of magical beings being, well, human. If you studied with them, then you may very well find some answers to your ongoing questions.” – Dr Valerie Girard

“This book came to me at a much needed time. A time in my life when questioning my own identity was of the utmost importance. The many layers of chaptered self discovery triggered reflections of both sorrow and gratitude . Joan lent Her story to me to better understand my own. She helped me to arrive in balance with personal past struggles. She helps me to be a bit more honest within, a new spark of courage allowing me to take in that next breath for healing and progressive action. I was able to reach in to incredibly brilliant pockets of verbiage that resonated to my core. Lost and found have been an ongoing theme for me. This book gave me a better feel for those lonesome high notes.” – Rob Moses

“Joan Wulfsohn is a wonderfully readable, richly informed and generous talent. You feel that she is a natural born storyteller with such sympathy for her subject, and such zest in the telling, you will want to follow her painfully believable female characters wherever they will lead you” — Joyce Carol Oates, Author

“I knew Joan only as a teacher of my child who adored her. Her book let me know her as a person apart from my childI saw her as a person with great courage.” – Kathleen Blank

“I enjoyed reading Joan’s memoir. Her language is rich and formal. She has been able to convey experiences and visions in a way that takes the reader into her world. What a journey!” – Rebecca Bailin, Sausalito, CA

“I found Joan Wulfsohn’s Stalking Carlos Castaneda a fascinating read. Through Joan’s experiences with the loves in her life– her children, her body, her students, her lovers, acting, dancing, the teachings of Don Juan, her practices as a healer–we travel on a memorable journey via hauntingly vivid imagery and deep honesty. I jetted with Ms Wulfsohn between South Africa and LA, to Montreal to Paris to the Mediterranean and even to other worlds–internal worlds, mesmerizing astral planes.

 

All first class!!!!

We break the sonic barrier when the astral planes and the “real” worlds combine. Wow!

 

Joan seeks knowledge about every aspect of her physical, spiritual, and psychic worlds. If you’re ready to read a book in which you will find yourself doing the same, then get this book NOW!!!!!” – Vincent L. Paterson “director man” (Hollywood, Ca)

“I have known Joan since the early sixties and actually have been on the sidelines watching her story with admiration and love. Stalking Carlos Castaneda is a delightful mix of life narrative and spiritual adventure. As we are deftly guided from one topic and place to another, the story unfolds with grace humor and wisdom. Many life lessons are to be had in the pages without the teaching being thrust at us. Joan’s Cellular Recall Therapy healing techniques are subtle and powerful and I experienced the same with her writing style. Thank you for sharing Joan, I take courage and inspiration from your stories and recommend this as really good inspirational read.” – jeremy Railton

“Having read some of Joan’s earlier short stories, I had been looking forward to reading her first book for some time. Joan has a wonderfully vivid style that paints such a lucid picture of her life and dreams. I found her book surprisingly easy to read considering the difficult journey that she narrates. Joan’s story is brave, honest and thought provoking.” – Anthony

“Joan Wulfsohn’s beautiful, colorful story is filled with memorable scenes, fantastic characters, and brilliant spiritual awakening, and it’s all true. Joan has given us the gift of peering into her own rich history, while she shares her fascinating personal story without a lot of drama attached. This takes some doing considering that she has experienced many bumps along the way. Her own self acceptance and healing allow the reader to experience yet another kind of healing – just by reading this tale.I couldn’t put this book down once I opened it, and I love that feeling. Thank you, Joan, for sharing your story in such an interesting way!” – K. Cahill, Los Angeles, Ca

“I finished your book yesterday. Thank you for an inspiring trip…an invited ride on your DNA infused vehicle icle – fueled with MAGIC intent.It was such an engaging/terrifying read. I applaud you for this courageous act of continuing your journey by putting a bulls eye on ‘it’, making it public, and being brutally honest in the doing so.

You have amazing descriptive powers and the ability to draw/use words to conjure powerful visual/emotional/spiritual experience….a true gift in your writing.

It was fascinating to know you but not know you at all.  And on the other hand, to know your depth, but not not know specifics or particulars.  As you know, I’ve read Carlos and keep the Power of Silence by my bed – having read it four or so times.  (I have not read all his books but have covered a number).  So, when Kim introduced me to you, back when, as I remember, it was soon afterward that you more or less disappeared from sight as you began your apprenticeship with Carlos C. and, as you call them, ‘the witches’.

So then, I also feel a second ring insider, a distant accomplice, and reveler of your revolt to the status quo daily life and to the silent but screaming gravitational pull of the path of freedom.

Congratulations to you on such a personal accomplishment….” – Nathan Le Grand

“Thank you for your wonderful book.You have a very special and miraculous way to write. It felt like being on a long session with you throughout the entire book, passing through all possible kind of emotions. Thank you for sharing your life. Overwhelming!!!

I feel so lucky to know you, this incredible powerful women! After knowing that you are a very good Jazz teacher(the best I ever had), a magnificent healer (again ,the best I ever had), I am happy to get to know Joan the terrific writer.

After reading your book, I feel like” Stalking Joan Wulfsohn” !!! 🙂

Wishing for many, many more books to come!!!” – Susi Nagelschmitz, Chile

“Joan has been my dance teacher. I specify I’m Italian and, probably, I see an English written book with a different point of view. I have read Joan’s book with great interest and I found it very engaging , that is why I have read some chapters even four times…I could not stop reading and reading again it.! I have found some passages kind of melodic sound and written with great skill. Some others humoristic and funny despite Joan’s battle for being an unconstrained woman has not been so easy and Joan has also a great sense of auto-irony.The story of Joan life is particular and unique, filled by a not common personality denoting to have transcendent quality of perceiving life.

Joan è stata la mia insegnante di danza più significativa e non a caso.Un artista e un’insegnante che infonde energia magica come non molti. Ho letto il suo libro con grandissimo interesse trovandolo molto coinvolgente. Ecco perchè ho letto certi capitoli anche 4 volte….non potevo smettere di legge e leggere ancora la stessa cosa!Ho trovato alcuni passaggi che suonavano alle orecchie come una melodia e erano scritte con grande maestria.Altri passaggi del libro ,invece ,sono stati divertenti e che denotano il grande senso di auto-ironia di Joan ,nonostante lei abbia avuto una vita parecchio travagliata,specialmente come donna e soprattutto come madre di ben 4 figli che non ha avuto la possibilità di allevare. joan si riconosce come una “guerriera”che ha dovuto affrontre la vita con grande coraggio e determinazione.La sua storia è particolare e unica riempita da una personalità che ha qualità che trascendono la comune percezione della vita.” – Claudia Pedrocco

“THIS BOOK IS HUGE! Filled with poetic wonder, VITAL LESSONS and useful, hard-hitting ADVICE.

AMAZING HOW a world traveler, dancer and choreographer TURNS HERSELF into a POWERFUL SHAMAN, transcending terrifying obstacles and opening doors to other dimensions. That a human being could face that many BATTLES and that much SUFFERING and come out TRIUMPHANT, with the gift to HEAL and EMPOWER is simply fabulous!!

Joan’s HAIR-RAISING ADVENTURES in the outer and the inner worlds left me MESMERIZED. What daring, courage, determination and FIERCE INDEPENDENCE! Her true shaman’s HEALING MAGIC is present in the pages. Artfully crafted sentences jump at the reader, capturing the imagination and inspiring the soul.

A tribute to the TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT, guaranteed to IMPACT the reader’s life.” – Johanna Christiane Ledakis

“I enjoyed reading Joan’s memoir. Her language is rich and formal. She has been able to convey experiences and visions in a way that takes the reader into her world. What a journey!” – Rebecca Bailin

“Healing comes in many forms, as Joan shares with us through her dance, her imagery, and her beautiful expression of her journey (only part of it I hope…perhaps there is another part of her journey waiting to be told!?). Joan invites us to learn how to surrender to the beauty AND the pain of life, how to seek expertise while also allowing for the unknown, how to invite and welcome the numerous teachers in our lives and how to marvel at the magic that intertwines it all every moment of every day. Allow yourself to be drawn into her story, and in turn, learn more about your own story. I deepened my respect for Joan, a brilliant teacher and bodyworker, and I also deepened my understanding of myself. What a delight! I hope I get to turn more pages about her journey!?” – IM

“A timeless work of magic and wonder. A story powerfully told and more importantly, authentically lived. I loved this book and the woman who wrote it.” – Jonathan Odell, Prize-winning author of The Healing

“Stalking Carlos Castaneda is a personal memoir that I believe would appeal to anyone seeking an extraordinary path of understanding and honest expression. This book was an inspiring trip…an invited ride on the author’s DNA infused vehicle – one fueled with MAGIC INTENT. It was such an engaging/terrifying read. I applaud Joan Wulfsohn’s courageous act of writing by putting a ‘bulls eye’ on her own journey, being brutally honest, and making it public.The author has an amazing descriptive power and the ability to draw/use words to conjure powerful visual/emotional/spiritual experience….I believe a true gift in writing.A Carlos Castaneda fan and now a Joan Wulfsohn fan.” – N.L.

“Joan Wulfsohn’s Stalking Carlos Castenada, in which after a double mastectomy and the abduction of her children by her former husband, lessons learned from Eastern holy men, Western supermodels and a certain aging sorcerer, a woman learns to live a magical life bound not by spells and hexes but filled with wonder and abundance. And writes about it, and finds a publisher.” -Andrew Lownie Literary Agency

“I have just finishing reading Stalking Carlos Castaneda. It is a magnificent book and once I started it I could not put it down. I have known Joan as a healer, teacher and friend, but the book is her story as literature and art. Bravo to Joan. Cannot wait to recommend it and give the book as a gift to friends.” —Paula Batson

“Joan Wulfsohn’s beautiful, colorful story is filled with memorable scenes, fantastic characters, and brilliant spiritual awakening, and it’s all true. Joan has given us the gift of peering into her own rich history, while she shares her fascinating personal story without a lot of drama attached. This takes some doing considering that she has experienced many bumps along the way. Her own self acceptance and healing allow the reader to experience yet another kind of healing – just by reading this tale. I couldn’t put this book down once I opened it, and I love that feeling. Thank you, Joan, for sharing your story in such an interesting way!”— Kris Cahill

“Stalking Carlos Castaneda is revelatory. Author Joan Wulfsohn’s memoir of her search for meaning may have borrowed from Castaneda but the story is more a search, or “stalking,” of herself. Having had her children abducted by her domineering ex-husband not once but twice, Wulfsohn is forced to find a way to cope with the devastation. This book could have been a wallow fest but it veers safely away from that. The author transports the reader with her lyrical prose and her ability to recount, in her various literary styles, just how she kept going. I related to this book very much and found inspiration in her story of survival against repeated stabs to the heart.” — Ann Royal Nicholas

“Big hug to Joan Wulfsohn, my teacher. Elle était membre du 1er groupe de filles de lockers a LA…. the famous L.A Knockers;elle a fait de moi un danseur .elle a fait de moi une meilleure personne.respect et gratitude forever….”— Jacques Aunidas

“I enjoy savoring Joan’s vivid descriptions of challenging and sometimes eerie and shocking situations. Stalking Carlos Castaneda promises to be a book that will impact my life by empowering and liberating me. It is amazing to witness how a world traveler, dancer and choreographer turns herself into a powerful shaman, to watch her transcend all kinds of painful limitations and terrifying obstacles and open doors to other dimensions. It shows the incredible power of the human spirit, a woman’s spirit!!”— Johanna Christiane Ledakis

“Joan, I am up till all hours of the night because of you. 🙂 I have been in the bathtub for two hours reading your book. LOL I swear to God I can’t stop. I am a complete Prune! I just looked up and it’s almost 1AM. What a wonderful, wonderful book. I can’t put it down.”— Laura De Leon

“Stalking Carlos Castaneda is a delightful mix of life narrative and spiritual adventure. As we are deftly guided from one topic and place to another, the story unfolds with grace humor and wisdom. Many life lessons are to be had in the pages without the teaching being thrust at us. Joan’s Cellular Recall Therapy healing techniques are subtle and powerful and I experienced the same with her writing style. Thank you for sharing Joan, I take courage and inspiration from your stories and recommend this as really good inspirational read.” — Jeremy Railton

“Joan tells her stories with great passion, creativity and humor. A great book for all artists, dancers, spiritual weavers and lovers of magic! I’m having a hard time putting it down…” — Mariamne

“My friend, and mentor, Joan Wulfsohn has written a memoir…she has inspired and educated me, on my path of dance, healing, cooking, loving, and living fully in all my senses, since I was a teenager…Highly recommend!!!” — Kim

“About Joan’s book: she is an amazing artist healer and teacher…her book is just as well that amazing!!! It will touch you–change you and make you laugh and smile and think…enjoy it and make it a present for all your friends and people you love…a wonderful thing to share!! thank you Joan for bringing your knowledge and sense of humour and wisdom out into the wild world.”— Patsy Kuppe-Loew

“Joan Wulfsohn was my healer during the days – well, six years – that I lived in Los Angeles, and she is still a great friend. Her writing is marvelous – master storytelling with great insight and wit. She’ll mesmerize you as she does me.” — Tim Driscoll, New York, NY

“Working with Joan is a unique experience. Unique in that the treatment is extremely personal and unfolds in such a way as not to reveal an obvious craft on her part. Her approach is”hers” and when the session is over it is truly beneficial and helpful You feel that both you and she have accomplished something that is both very positive and specific.”— Robert Duvall, actor, director.

“I realized how important it is to work with Joan. When you get to the point where everything overwhelms you, you give yourself over to her work she helps you find the balance, and connect the body, mind and spirt that is necessary for everyday life.”— Luciana Pedraza Duvall, Actor, film maker.

“Joan Wulfsohn is an extraordinary dancer/healer who understands Sacred Geometry, space energy, color and the human body. She has woven her knowledge of healing and Ageless Wisdom throughout a very entertaining and informative book.”— Mikio Sankey PH.D., Ph.D., L. Ac. (Esoteric Acupuncture Vols I-IV)

“I’m on the plane back from Boston with your words from your book soothing me and reminding me of the time I spent on your table. My body aches for more of that time!

I shared your link with a large group of friends…and I so look forward to continuing to enjoy your book.” — Ingrid Maltrud

“Ben, your mom writes a very compelling, if sobering, book. What a life she’s had and how strong she is. Can’t imagine living away from my boys when they were the age your were.

I particularly loved the line ‘Her dreams are gone, arrested by routine and incarcerated in the prison of a life without choice.’ Kudos to you all.” — Merida Welles to Ben Wulfsohn

“It reads beautifully. I remember so much — Your magic wand, the boy who spoke in toons and am enjoying the marvelous way you’ve structured and put it all down. Can’t wait to spend many more hours with you and your work.” — Jennifer Stace

“Thank you Joan for all you have been to me, and for all you have given. I will never forget that I discovered my deep passion for dance because of you. Shana Tova.” —Ruthie Forberg

“Having read some of Joan’s earlier short stories, I had been looking forward to reading her first book for some time. Joan has a wonderfully vivid style that paints such a lucid picture of her life and dreams. I found her book surprisingly easy to read considering the difficult journey she narrates. Joan’s story is brave, honest and thought provoking. *****(5 stars)” — Anthony Berkow

“Wow, just finished your book. What a ride, and so, so literate and so formal. I should have expected it from you but was surprised anyway. You really went deeply into finding unique language and metaphor to describe things that are subjective and VERY difficult to describe.” — Rebecca Bailin

“Finding genius is a blessing superceded only by helping it find itself. For more than thirty years, I have been a writer, an editor, a teacher, a critic, and a seeker of greatness. I have discovered and encouraged many good writers. Even one or two great ones. But never one whose words shine with the brilliance of Joan Wulfsohn’s.” — Janet Berliner, creator and coauthor of Artifact and coeditor, with Joyce Carol Oates, of Snapshots: 20th Century Mother-Daughter Fiction