The Eagle, another name of the being of light to whom we fly after death?
The Eagle
“The power that governs the destiny of all living beings is called the Eagle, not because it is an eagle or has anything to do with an eagle, but because it appears to the seer as an immeasurable jet-black eagle, standing erect as an eagle stands; its height reaching to infinity.
As the seer gazes on the blackness that the Eagle is, four blazes of light reveal what the Eagle is like. The first blaze, which is like a bolt of lightning, helps the seer make out the contours of the Eagle’s body. There are patches of whiteness that look like an eagle’s feathers and talons. A second blaze of lightning reveals the flapping, wind-creating blackness that looks like an eagle’s wings. With the third blaze of lightning, the seer beholds a piercing, inhuman eye. The fourth and last blaze discloses what the Eagle is doing…
The Eagle is devouring the awareness of all the creatures that a moment before were alive on earth, are now dead, and have floated to the Eagle’s beak like a ceaseless swarm of fireflies to meet their owner; this being their reason for having had life. The Eagle disentangles these tiny flames, lays them flat like a tanner stretches out a hide, and then consumes them; for awareness is the Eagle’s food.
“The Eagle- the power that governs the destinies of all living things- reflects equally and at once all those living things. There is no way, therefore, for man to pray to the Eagle, to ask favors, or to hope for grace. The human part of the Eagle is too insignificant to move the whole. It is only from the Eagle’s actions that a seer can tell what it wants.
The Eagle’s Gift
The Eagle, although it is not moved by the circumstances of any living thing, has granted a gift to each of those beings.In those beings’ own way, and by right, any one of them, if it so desires, has the power to keep the flame of awareness; the power to disobey the summons to ‘die and be consumed’.
Every living thing has been granted the power, if it so desires, to seek an opening to freedom and to go through it. It is evident to the seer who sees the opening, and to the creatures that go through it, that the Eagle has granted that gift in order to perpetuate awareness.
The Nagual
“For the purpose of guiding living things to that opening, the Eagle created the Nagual. The Nagual is a double being to whom the rule has been revealed.Whether the Nagual be in the form of a human being, an animal, a plant, or anything else that lives; the Nagual by virtue of its doubleness is drawn to seek that hidden passageway.In human beings, the Nagual comes in pairs; male and female.
A double man and a double woman become the Nagual only after the rule has been told to each of them, and each of them has understood it and accepted it in full.To the eye of the seer, a Nagual man or Nagual woman appears as a luminous egg with four compartments. Unlike the average human being who has two sides only- a left and a right- the Nagual has a left side divided into two long sections, and a right side equally divided in two.
Dreamers And Stalkers
“The Eagle created the first Nagual man and Nagual woman as seers and immediately put them in the world to see. The Eagle provided them with four female warriors who were stalkers; three male warriors; and one male courier- whom the Nagual pair were to nourish, enhance, and lead to freedom.
The female warriors are called the four directions; the four corners of a square; the four moods; the four winds; and are the four different female personalities that exist in the human race.
The first is the east. She is called order. She is optimistic, light-hearted, smooth, and persistent; like a steady breeze.
The second is the north. She is called strength. She is resourceful, blunt, direct, and tenacious; like a hard wind.
The third is the west. She is called feeling. She is introspective, remorseful, cunning, and sly; like a cold gust of wind.
The fourth is the south. She is called growth. She is nurturing, loud, shy, and warm; like a hot wind.
“The three male warriors and the courier are representative of the four types of male activity and temperament.
The first type is the knowledgeable man; the scholar; a noble, dependable, and serene man fully dedicated to accomplishing his task, whatever it may be.
The second type is the man of action; highly volatile, and a great humorous, fickle companion.
The third type is the organizer behind the scenes; the mysterious, unknowable man. Nothing can be said about him because he allows nothing about himself to slip out.
The courier is the fourth type. He is the assistant; a taciturn, somber man who does very well if properly directed, but who cannot stand on his own. (…)
In terms of personality, the Nagual man is supportive, steady, unchangeable. The Nagual woman is a being at war and yet relaxed; ever aware but without strain. (…)
The Path To Absolute Freedom
“In order to make sure that the first Nagual man would lead his party to freedom and not deviate from that path or become corrupted, the Eagle took the Nagual woman to the other world to serve as a beacon, guiding the party to the opening. The Nagual and his warriors were then commanded to forget.
They were plunged into darkness and were given new tasks; the task of remembering themselves, and the task of remembering the Eagle. The command to forget was so great that everyone was separated.
They did not remember who they were. The Eagle intended that if they were capable of remembering themselves again, they would find the totality of themselves.Only then would they have the strength and forbearance necessary to seek and face their definitive journey.
“Their last task, after they had regained the totality of themselves, was to get a new pair of double beings and transform them into a new Nagual man and a new Nagual woman by virtue of revealing the rule to them. And just as the first Nagual man and Nagual woman had been provided with a minimal party, they had to supply the new pair of Naguals with four female warriors who were stalkers, three male warriors, and one male courier.
When the first Nagual and his party were ready to go through the passageway, the first Nagual woman was waiting to guide them. They were ordered then to take the new Nagual woman with them to the other world to serve as a beacon for her people, leaving the new Nagual man in the world to repeat the cycle. While in the world, the minimal number under a Nagual’s leadership is sixteen; eight female warriors, three male warriors, four couriers, and the Nagual himself.
At the moment of leaving the world when the new Nagual woman is with them, the Nagual’s number is seventeen. If his personal power permits him to have more warriors, then more must be added in multiples of four.” (source)Carlos Castaneda, The Eagle’s Gift
“I have already received the power that governs my destiny, and I do not cling to anything, to have nothing to defend, I have no thoughts to be able to see. I don’t fear anything to remember myself.
The Eagle will let me pass, serene and detached, to freedom.” (source)Carlos Castaneda, The Eagle’s Gift