Florinda Donner

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Florinda Donner-Grau
Born Regine Margarita Thal
February 15, 1944 (1944-02-15)
Amberg, Germany
Occupation Anthropologist, Author
Nationality American
Writing period 20th-century
Subjects Shamanism
Notable work(s) Being-in-Dreaming: An Initiation into the Sorcerer’s World

Florinda Donner (originally Regine Margarita Thal, later Florinda Donner-Grau) was born February 15, 1944 in Amberg, Germany to German parents Rudolph Thal and Katarina Claussnitzer. She is an American author and anthropologist. She disappeared and possibly committed suicide in 1998.[1]

In her childhood she immigrated with her parents to Venezuela where she possibly lived at least her school-age. Her personality and background is very controversial. She sometimes claimed she was born in 1954 in Venezuela and that her parents were both German and Swedish. Sometimes she called her mother Carolina Claussnitzer, but in an official document from the marriage with Carlos Castaneda in 1993 her mother's name is Katarina Claussnitzer and father is called Rudolf instead of Rudolph.[2]

She was nicknamed "Hummingbird" because of her ceaseless energy. She was said to have similar intelligence and charisma to her later husband Carlos Castaneda. Florinda tells in her books that she was an apprentice of Castaneda. She was also called one of "the witches" in Castaneda's books. The type of shamanism that Castaneda and his followers practiced made the followers "erase their personal history". The followers told constantly changing stories about their backgrounds and kept a tight secrecy about their lives. They were also not allowed to be photographed. That lead also to the changing of their names. In 1982 Florinda Donner published a best selling book Shabono, with contradictory pseudo-anthropological stories in which she claims to have lived among the Yanomami Indians in the Amazonas. Among critics the book is called "anthropologically inspired fiction".[3] She lived in Westwood Los Angeles and traveled often to her old hometown Caracas.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Notepad
 To comply with Wikipedia's quality standards, this section may need to be rewritten.
Please help improve this article. The discussion page may contain suggestions.
  • 1970: According to her book Being-in-Dreaming (published 1991) she has her first meeting in dreams with members of don Juan's party. Don Juan Matus was the famous Yaqui shaman often described in Carlos Castaneda's books.
  • 1971: Carlos Castaneda's book A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan is published.
  • 1971: Regine Thal meets "Mexican anthropologist" Jose "Joe" Luis Cortez, better known as Carlos Castaneda at UCLA. Her apprenticeship with Castaneda begins.
  • 1972: Regine divorces Edward M. Steiner after 5 years and 4 months of marriage and gets back her surname Thal.
  • 1972: Regine Thal Receives her B.A in Anthropology from UCLA.
  • 1973: Carlos Castaneda receives his Ph.D. in Anthropology from UCLA.
  • 1973: Castaneda starts organizing a secretive group of devoted followers. He teaches Recapitulation and the teachings of the Yaqui shaman don Juan Matus, who appears in his books together with a movement technique "Tensegrity", that he claims is an ancient technique passed down by 25 generations of Naguals, the Toltec shamans. [5]
  • 1973: Regine submits a proposal to UCLA to study curanderos in the town of Tucipata by the Orinoco river in Venezuela. She claims to have already visited the town.
  • 1974: Regine's ex-husband Edward M. Steiner dies at age 44.
  • 1974: Regine Thal receives her Masters degree in Anthropology from UCLA.
  • 1974: Regine, together with Castaneda and a three others, forms a corporation "to produce documentary ethnology". The name of the corporation is Hermeneutics Unlimited. Later this corporation changed its name to Laugan Productions inc.
  • 1974: Samurai-magazine publishes rare photos of Regine Thal doing karate exercises. In the article she is called "Gina Thal".
  • 1975: Castaneda executes a will leaving his entire estate equally divided to four women: Mary Joan Barker, Annamarie Carter, Beverly Evans and Regine Thal.
  • 1976: Regine is advanced to doctoral candidacy at the UCLA Department of Anthropology.
  • 1976?: UCLA graduate committee approves Regine's dissertation proposal for studying curing practises at Curiepe, Venezuela.
  • 1976 - 1977: The year that Regine claims to have lived with the Yanomami in the Amazon rainforest near the border of Venezuela and Brazil.
  • 1977: Regine Thal leaves the UCLA graduate program without receiving a Ph.D.
  • 1978: Regine Thal changes her name (unofficially) to Florinda Donner. Her new name is based on the name of Carlos Castaneda's teacher's don Juan's wife Florinda Matus. She also calls herself Donner-Grau. A Grau means a "Dreamer" in the shamanistic practice of don Juan and Castaneda.
  • 1982: Florinda Donner's book Shabono: A visit to a remote and magical world in the South American rainforest, is published by Delacorte Press.[6]
  • 1983: An article in American Anthropology [Vol. 85, p. 664] is published entitled: "Shabono: Scandal or Superb Social Science?" Florindas book seems to have similarities with an earlier book: Ettore Biocca’s Yanoáma (Dutton 1971), the oral autobiography of Helena Valero, a Caucasian girl kidnapped by Venezuelan Indians.
  • 1985: Regine Margarita Thal changes officially her name to Florinda Donner.[7]
  • 1985: Florinda Donner's book The Witch's Dream is published by Simon and Schuster with a foreword by Carlos Castaneda.
  • 1991: Florinda's book Being-in-Dreaming: An Initiation into the Sorcerer’s World is published by Harper San Francisco.[8]
  • 1990's: Florinda Donner gives lectures and workshops about her books and shamanism in various places.
  • 1992: Florinda says in an interview that she is no longer doing academic research.[9]
  • 1993: Florinda changes her name to Donner-Grau.[10]
  • 1993: Carlos Castaneda marries Florinda Donner in Las Vegas.
  • 1994: Florinda Grau marries Tracy Kramer in Las Vegas.
  • 1998: Castaneda signs a will leaving all his property to the Eagle's Trust.[11]
  • 1998, April 4th.: Florinda Donner's last public appearance. She appears in a workshop at Santa Monica College Gymnasium together with the other two "witches": Taisha Abelar and Carol Tiggs.
  • 1998: Carlos Castaneda dies. The day after his death the "witches" Florinda Donner-Grau and Taisha Abelar vanish together with Amalia Marquez and Tensegrity teacher Kylie Lundahl, and nobody hears from them. A few weeks later Castaneda's adopted daughter Patricia Partin disappears as well.[12]
  • 2003: A skeleton is found in Death Valley, California near the location where Patrica Partin's car was abandoned. The skeleton remains unidentified for three years.[13]
  • 2006: The skeleton is identified as Patricia Partin's with a new DNA technology. Some former associates of Castaneda suspect that the missing women have committed suicide (possibly as soon as Carlos Castaneda died in 1998).

[edit] References

  1. ^ Carlos Castaneda's, Author of Don Juan books, Authenticity is Under Judgment | Salon Books
  2. ^ Florinda Donner Chronology pt VI
  3. ^ Real Ethnography vs Anthropologically Inspired Fiction: Yanoama vs. Shabono
  4. ^ Florinda Donner Chronology pt I
  5. ^ Carlos Castaneda's, Author of Don Juan books, Authenticity is Under Judgment | Salon Books
  6. ^ Florinda Donner Chronology pt II
  7. ^ Florinda Donner Chronology pt III
  8. ^ Florinda Donner Chronology pt IV
  9. ^ Florinda Donner Chronology pt V
  10. ^ Florinda Donner Chronology pt VI
  11. ^ Florinda Chron XIII
  12. ^ Blue Scout Chronology
  13. ^ Pahrump Valley Times - Nye County's Largest Newspaper Circulation

[edit] See also

[edit] Links