Version 2007.11.03

## Encounters With The Nagual - ©2004 by Armando Torres

### Preface: -by Juan Yoliliztli

I first got to know Armando when we met by chance in a place of power in the mountains of central Mexico. We felt an immediate, spontaneous friendship between us, and the subject of the conversation which ensued inspired me to tell him that I had had the privilege of knowing Carlos Castaneda. Armando told me that he also knew him, and that he had written a book about his teachings.

I became very curious and asked him to tell me more about it. He seemed uninterested, saying that this was not the appropriate time. I didn't insist, since I was just getting to know him.

In the course of many years of friendship, he mentioned the topic a few times, but always in reference to some other subject we were discussing. Even when I had made friends with "those who walk over there", it is only now that I have access to his work.

When I read the manuscript for the first time, I became profoundly excited, since it allowed me to comprehend one of the most obscure premises in Carlos' teaching - what he called "The Portion of the Rule for the Three-pronged Nagual", a project for the renewal of the lineages of knowledge on a global scale.

He assured me that Carlos had ordered him to make this information known, and asked me to support him in the execution of this task. However, since the manuscript was quite short (some thirty pages), I suggested that he supplement it with a description of some of the numerous lectures by Castaneda which Armando had attended.

Agreeing to my proposal, he selected a selection of teachings which Carlos had presented, either in public lectures or in private conversations. To make them easier to read, he grouped them according to content rather than putting them in chronological order. In some instances, he also had to reconstruct the conversations. Carlos had an extremely emphatic way of speaking and transmitted much of the information through gestures and facial expressions, and enjoyed mixing personal stories and all manner of observations with his teachings.

As an extraordinary gift, at the end of the book Armando added a brief account of his own experience with another group of sorcery practitioners.

Due to the simplicity and sincerity of its narrative, this book has a power that I have not found in any other work related to the subject. For that reason, it is a great pleasure for me to be able to help Armando in the task of publishing it. I am certain that it will be highly appreciated by all those who love the work of Carlos Castaneda.

- Juan Yoliliztli