“How to Walk Like a Warrior”: A Review of Jaguar Dreams, by Nora Caron

(2014, Homebound Publications, ISBN: 978-1-938846-15-1)

In 2009 I had the pleasure of reading and reviewing the first novel in the New Dimensions Trilogy, Journey to the Heart, followed by 2013’s New Dimensions of Being earlier this year.

In the third book of the trilogy, Lucina undertakes a classic Hero’s Journey to try and locate her former love, Teleo, whose last contact had been from Guatemala City. No longer content to sit and wait for him to come to her, Lucina follows her heart through the city, the jungle, and on the edge of the ocean to win back his love and once more walk upon the path she had so dearly paved at the start of New Dimensions of Being.

Aided as ever by the old wise woman, Señora Labotta, Lucina also enlists the aide of a British shop owner and a jungle guide named Alejandro who functions in a way similar to Carlos Castaneda’s Don Juan or Dan Millman’s Socrates from Way of the Peaceful Warrior, serving as a threshold guardian and mentor as she crosses into the new and dangerous world of the jungle.

This truly is an Initiation, a Rite of Passage, for Lucina, as Alejandro instructs her in the essentials of clothing and equipment for surviving in the jungle. Stripping her down to her barest essence, he calls her “little lady” and “Walmart poster girl” instead of her given name. Answering the Call to Adventure, she aptly leaves behind her cell phone, and, covered head to foot in bug spray, undertakes her quest.

As readers of the first two books might guess, this transplanted Canadian—who was not quite roughing it in her surroundings in Mexico—endures a steep learning curve in the heavy rains and humidity of the Guatemalan jungle, and like the razor-sharp mentor he is, Alejandro drives her as hard as she can go.

As they get to know one another, Alejandro opens up about the nearly four decades of the Guatemalan civil war and America’s complicity in what the people (labeled rebels by the government) had to endure at the hands of a ruthless succession of dictators. He recalls to Lucina one night in particular when he lost everything, including his wife and children.

The philosophical discussions that ensue as they make their way through the jungle, touching on Buddhism, the nature of the nagual (the shaman’s spirit animal), and Mother Earth (Gaia) theory, unfold with a light and engaging flow, planting ample food for thought and spirit as the story continues its unfolding. Equally engaging are Lucina’s encounters with the howler monkey, the tarantula, and the jaguar.

A highlight of Jaguar Dreams (and of the trilogy) is the exploration of the path of the Warrior, which begins almost exactly at the mid-point of the book. Beginning with Lucina’s childhood memories of playing She-Ra with her friends, through her Italian mother’s advice on inner strength, the Warrior work in the book centers around Lucina meeting her own nagual in the jungle and Alejandro’s explication of what it takes to walk the Warrior’s Way.

This came to me at a time in my life when I was re-focusing on the Way of the Warrior in my own daily practice and study of shamanism and spiritual discipline. I have Alejandro’s list of “Sacred Warrior Keys” tacked to my writing desk, and I meditate on it daily. Alejandro also bestows upon Lucina a new name, Jaguar Woman, as their time together ends.

After leaving the jungle, Lucina decides to go to the Pacific Ocean to continue her quest to find her missing love, where she is joined by Señora Labotta. Switching from Earth element to Water element, Caron challenges her lead character in different but reinforcing ways, as Lucina continues to apply the Warrior Keys in her quest to find herself as she attempts to find her boyfriend.

For readers interested in Edgar Cayce, there is some excellent information about his life and work incorporated into the story.

For most of those walking the Warrior’s path, getting out of the world, into Nature, into meditation, into solitude, is the easy part. Like any warrior-shaman, Lucina must return to the city to apply what she has learned. Back to her apartment, back to work, she must incorporate her training, her transformation, to her everyday life.

How she handles it, I’ll leave to the read to discover and contemplate.

Jaguar Dreams, and the New Dimensions trilogy, are important stories for our times. I encourage the New Mystics readership, and all those seeking strength on the Warrior’s Path in our troubled but transformative times to avail yourselves of their deep and sacred wisdom.