The Power of Silence Read Online Free PDF Page A

said, "I am going to tell you a story about the nagual Elias and
the manifestation of the spirit. The spirit manifests itself to a sorcerer,
especially to a nagual, at every turn. However, this is not the entire truth.
The entire truth is that the spirit reveals itself to everyone with the same
intensity and consistency, but only sorcerers, and naguals in particular, are
attuned to such revelations."
    Don Juan
began his story. He said that the nagual Elias had been riding his horse to the
city one day, taking him through a shortcut by some cornfields when suddenly
his horse shied, frightened by the low, fast sweep of a falcon that missed the
nagual's straw hat by only a few inches. The nagual immediately dismounted and
began to look around. He saw a strange young man among the tall, dry
cornstalks. The man was dressed in an expensive dark suit and appeared alien
there. The nagual Elias was used to the sight of peasants or landowners in the
fields, but he had never seen an elegantly dressed city man moving through the
fields with apparent disregard for his expensive shoes and clothes.
    The nagual
tethered his horse and walked toward the young man. He recognized the flight of
the falcon, as well as the man's apparel, as obvious manifestations of the
spirit which he could not disregard. He got very close to the young man and saw
what was going on. The man was chasing a peasant woman who was running a few
yards ahead of him, dodging and laughing with him.
    The
contradiction was quite apparent to the nagual. The two people cavorting in the
cornfield did not belong together. The nagual thought that the man must be the
landowner's son and the woman a servant in the house. He felt embarrassed to be
observing them and was about to turn and leave when the falcon again swept over
the cornfield and this time brushed the young man's head. The falcon alarmed
the couple and they stopped and looked up, trying to anticipate another sweep.
The nagual noticed that the man was thin and handsome, and had haunting,
restless eyes.
    Then the
couple became bored watching for the falcon, and returned to their play. The
man caught the woman, embraced her and gently laid her on the ground. But
instead of trying to make love to her, as the nagual assumed he would do next,
he removed his own clothes and paraded naked in front of the woman.
    She did not
shyly close her eyes or scream with embarrassment or fright. She giggled,
mesmerized by the prancing naked man, who moved around her like a satyr, making
lewd gestures and laughing. Finally, apparently overpowered by the sight, she
uttered a wild cry, rose, and threw herself into the young man's arms.
    Don Juan
said that the nagual Elias confessed to him that the indications of the spirit
on that occasion had been most baffling. It was clearly evident that the man
was insane. Otherwise, knowing how protective peasants were of their women, he
would not have considered seducing a young peasant woman in broad daylight a
few yards from the road and naked to boot.
    Don Juan
broke into a laugh and told me that in those days to take off one's clothes and
engage in a sexual act in broad daylight in such a place meant one had to be
either insane or blessed by the spirit. He added that what the man had done
might not seem remarkable nowadays. But then, nearly a hundred years ago,
people were infinitely more inhibited.
    All of this
convinced the nagual Elias from the moment he laid eyes on the man that he was
both insane and blessed by the spirit. He worried that peasants might happen
by, become enraged
and lynch the man on the spot. But no one did. It felt to the nagual as if time
had been suspended.
    When the
man finished making love, he put on his clothes, took out a handkerchief,
meticulously dusted his shoes and, all the while making wild promises to the
girl, went on his way. The nagual Elias followed him. In fact, he followed him
for several days and found out that his name was Julian and that he was an