Art of Dreaming by Carlos Castaneda

 This is the eight volume in Castaneda's opus, and probably the last one that has some value, as the last three volumes (the last two published after his death), are either attempts to (further) commercialize his teachings with inventions like Tensegrity, or just collections of snippets from previous books that the publisher tried to make a bit more money on, before the whole Castaneda craze is gone and he is forgotten, like the case is today (2021).

 1.The Art of Dreaming is a collection of all dreaming instructions by Don Juan from all the time that Carlitos spent with him, and which were just mentioned in passing in the previous volumes.  Castaneda spends a lot of time explaining the Four Gates of Dreaming.  While the first three gates, Castaneda is able to pass by themselves (being 1. finding ones hands in a dream 2. stabilizing a dream and following a "Scout" to the realm of inorganic beings 3. Seeing your own physical body while asleep), the fourth gate is about the ability to create a dream which looks like reality and where other people who can do Dreaming can enter and look around.  This fourth gate is only passed with the help of the "Tenant" - a 5,000+ years old "Death Defier" who is an ancient toltec from pre-columbian mesoamerica and who escaped the realm of the "Inorganic Beings" where all the ancient sorcerers are imprisoned.

The realm and nature of the Inorganic Beings are explored in detail and Castaneda has close contacts with many of them, including the Dreaming Emissary which constantly whispers in his ear, whether in Dreaming or in real life.  The world of Inorganic Beings is explored in detail, with its conscious tunnels and shadows and shapes which live infinitely longer than mankind (though not forever), but who cannot contain as much energy in their luminous bodies, so they trick humans to stay forever in their world and use them as sources of energy, something like domesticated animals for energy. 

One interesting thing mentioned is that all Inorganic Beings are female, so they are only interested in entrapping male sorcerers, having no interest in females.  Don Juan also mentions that "the entire Universe is female" and claims that maleness is a very rare phenomenon in the Universe, as most species and beings are single-sex females races.  

The book ends with the disappearance of Carol Tiggs during the crossing of the Fourth Gate and nobody knows where she went or how to get her back.