JOANIE BARKER WAS THE LITTLE-KNOWN WITCH OF CARLOS CASTANEDA

(Joanie Barker was one of the many disciples/lovers of the writer Carlos Castaneda, and here I will put the information I find about her.)

Joanie would have been the first witch

Richard Jennings was a student of Castaneda during his later years, and he mentioned that in private sessions Castaneda described Joanie as "Don Juan's first and most intelligent student."

In Castaneda's world there were three women (Taisha Abelar, Florinda Donner and Carol Tiggs) who were called the "witches" because Castaneda and they claimed that they had also met Don Juan and had been his disciples.

But Joanie would have been the first witch...

However, on the blog I have shown that Castaneda and his three known witches were very deceitful people, and therefore it is almost certain that Joanie did not know Don Juan either and was not a disciple of Don Juan.

Photo

I have only found this photo of Joanie, there she appears with Castaneda, it is  said that it was taken in 1962 at a wedding to which they were invited.

 

 

 

Biography of Joanie

Mary Joan Barker (affectionately called Joanie) grew up in Banning, California.

She knew the nearby Morongo Reserve very well, where she regularly attended the annual harvest festival. 

Joanie worked as a librarian at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she met Castaneda and became his lover starting in July or August of 1960.

Around that time Castaneda had a wife named Margaret Runyan and they separated in 1960.

Castaneda claimed to have met Don Juan in the summer of 1960 and to have spent several years studying with him.

Joanie was Castaneda's first disciple-lover.

It is presumed that at the beginning of their relationship, Joanie took Castaneda to visit the Morongo Indian Reservation, near her childhood home in Banning, California. 

Joanie took a shamanism class at UCLA taught by Clement Meighan in 1960.

In 1968 Castaneda published his first book "The Teachings of Don Juan," becoming very famous and gradually gathering a whole harem of disciple-lovers around him, but that didn't bother Joanie and she stayed by his side until his death.

In 1970 Joanie enrolled in Douglass Price-Williams' Myth and Ritual class at UCLA.

In 1973 Castaneda bought a large residence in Westwood (near UCLA), Joanie was living in a small apartment that is attached next to this residence (I assume without paying rent).

In 1974 Joanie suffered a nervous breakdown and requested a leave of absence from UCLA.

On September 5, 1974, Castaneda, Joanie, Taisha, Florinda and Beverly Evans ("the Fat Lady") signed the statutes of the company Hermeneutics Unlimited.

On September 24, 1975, Castaneda signed a testament in which he bequeathed his entire inheritance, in equal parts, to Joanie, Taisha, Florinda, and Beverly. 

In 1978, Castaneda, Joanie, Taisha, and Florinda visited  Byron de Ford in Costa Rica, who was one of Castaneda's closest friends.

On October 3, 1985, Castaneda signed a will in which he bequeathed his estate in four equal parts to Joanie, Taisha, Florinda, and Nury Alexander (Castaneda's adopted daughter).

It seems that Castaneda became estranged from Joanie, since in his last two wills (signed in 1997 and 1998) he disinherited her.

Castaneda died on April 27, 1998. Joanie seems to have still been living in this apartment, although there is a story that in late 1997 Florinda tried to convince her to leave. I don't know if she succeeded, but I suppose Joanie had to move somewhere else anyway when the Westwood residence was sold in 2009 (unless Joanie convinced the new owner to rent her this apartment).

I couldn't find any more information about what happened to Joanie after that date.