Alejandro Jodorowsky - The Dance of Reality - A Psychomagical Autobiography

The Dance of Reality, his first film since the 1990 release of The Rainbow Thief, was written, produced, and directed by Jodorowsky. An autobiographical film, it was shot in Chile in his childhood village of Tocopilla as well as Santiago and other southern Chile locations, with cameo appearances by the author throughout the film.

The film was shown at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and received rave reviews. The Dance of Reality will have its U.S. preview in 2014 at the South by Southwest Film Festival, its premiere in New York City, and will be shown in select cities throughout the United States.

All page number are refer to the print edition of this title.

Page numbers in italics indicate photos.

Aldunate, Lora (magic mirror owner), 238

Almagro, Diego de, 33–34

anti-Semitism, 46–47, 52

Arrabal, Fernando, 164 , 189

Bachelard, Gaston (philosopher), 243

Benoit, Jean (sculptor), 243

Bernardo (cousin), 89–90

Breton, André, 172–73, 200, 243–44

Canseliet, Eugène, 214

Carrot Clown, 146, 147, 149, 150

Castaneda, Carlos, 262–65

Cereceda, Carmen, 90

Cereceda, Veronica, 90–93

charlatans, 293–302, 316

Chevalier, Maurice, 177–78

childhood in Tocopilla, 1–31

booger elephant created, 22–23

charity discovered, 7–8

consciousness imagined in all things, 12

death wondered about, 23–27

disappearance by magic, 31–32

holes in his socks, 28

learning to read early, 2

lion cub, 3, 4, 146

loneliness suffered, 19–21

long hair cut off, 27–28, plate 2

love of theater fostered, 130–36

mocked by classmates, 2–3

move to Santiago, 30–31, 32

Pinocchio nickname, 2

Rebbe as advisor, 11–12, 20–21, plate 11

red shoes and Carlitos’s death, 9–11

sardines and seagulls, 4, 7–8, plate 4

scratching Gadfly’s back, 8

shame about penis, 20

suicide attempt, 16, 18

tooth fixed, no anesthesia, 17–18,

plate 5

visit to maternal grandmother, 21–23

words sweetened by Moishe, 14

See also Jodorowsky, Jaime

Claude, Jean (doctor), 303

Confucius, dream encounter with,

212–13

Consuelo (de-virginized woman),

144–45

Costa, Marianne, 209 , 385

Cristina (maid in Tocopilla), 214,

236–37

Cuauhtémoc, Brother. See Pachita

Dance of Reality, The (film), plates 1–12

death

childhood curiosity about, 23–27

as a disease, 354

fear of dying, 170–71

“Intellectual, learn to die!” 198, 215

lucid dreaming of the dead, 205–11

patients’ desire for, 285–87, 349

of son Teo, 172, 208

Decroux, Ettienne, 173–75

Díaz, Stella (poet), 96–109

Donoso, José (novelist), 168

dreams. See lucid dreaming

ego, proper attitude toward, 243

El Topo (film), 194, 195

Emilfork, Daniel (actor), 161–63, 164

Enrique (folk magic healer), 277, 278,

285, 291–93. See also Pachita

ephemeral panics, 184–85, 188, 190 –

92, 209

with Arrabal and Topor, 189–94

early spectacles in Mexico, 182–83, 186

on Mexican TV, 184–85 , 186–89

theory of, 193–94

Ernesto, Don (healer), 296–97

family tree, healing. See psychomagic

Farcet, Gilles (interviewer), 333

Faz, Carlos (poet), 240

Fierro, Francisco (painter), 266

First Company of Firemen, 130–33, 132

Flores, Alejandro (actor), 153–60, 155

Frégoli, Leopoldo (actor), 129

Fromm, Erich, and disciples, 244–47

Fu-Manchu (Mexican magician),

31–32, 129

Furious, the (painter), 176

Gloria (healer), 295–96

Griffy, Tinny (performer), 129

Groddeck, Georg (writer), 336

Gross, Saúl (sister’s husband), 55–56, 59

Gurdjieff (teacher), 243

Hervey de Saint-Denys, 200–201

holiness, civil, 142–45

Holy Mountain, The , 215–18, 251–52, 266

Ichazo, Óscar (teacher), 252–62, 255

initiatory massage

beginnings of, 224, 229

death of son’s mother and, 361

experimental techniques, 367

on feet, 366–67

man trapped by train and, 360

massager/client dynamic and, 367–68

massaging a rock, 227–29

massaging the bones, 361–62

opening the body, 362

phantom body and, 368–70

scraping away the past, 359–60, 361

stretching the skin, 361

Jashe (grandmother), 21–23, 27, 37, 88, 89

Jesus Christ, 212–13, 225

Jodorowsky, Adan (son), 209 , 303

Jodorowsky, Alejandro, 6, 115, 132,

148, 164, 179, 181, 184–85, 188,

190–92, 195, 209, 245, 310, 377,

383

bird man met, 223–24

birth of, 1

Breton and, 172–73, 200, 243–44

Castaneda met by, 262–65

Chevalier helped, 177–78

conception of, 53

death of son Teo, 172

with Decroux, 173–75

ephemeral panics, 182–94

films by, 194, 195 , 215–18, 251–52,

266, plates 1–12

first months in Paris, 173

with Fromm and disciples, 244–47

hair cut by Julien, 176–77

haunted by fear of dying, 170–71

with Ichazo, 252–62

initiatory massage, 224, 227–29

LSD experience of, 256–61, 268

with Marceau, 175–76, 178, 180

in Mexico, 178, 180–89

mushroom experience of, 266–68

with Pachita, 269, 270–91

painting the Furious’s house, 176

seven-day Zen meditation, 196–98

Tarot reading sessions, 303–5

as theatrical advisor, 194–95

touching sacred symbols, 225–27

as unwanted child, 50–52

See also childhood in Tocopilla; lucid

dreaming; youth in Santiago

Jodorowsky, Alejandro (grandfather),

11, 23–24, 50–51

Jodorowsky, Axel Cristóbal (son), 179,

209 , 222–23, 328–29

Jodorowsky, Benjamin (uncle), 37, 51

Jodorowsky, Brontis (son), 179 , 207,

209 , 361

Jodorowsky, Denisse (first wife), 207–8

Jodorowsky, Eugenia (daughter),

291–93

Jodorowsky, Jaime (father), 29

adultery by, 166

Alejandro not wanted by, 50–52

anger after house burned, 165–66

arts despised by, 41–42

business competition by, 14–16

childhood of, 37

circus career, 3, 146

cleaning banknotes, 42–43

cowardice hated by, 44, 51, 81

Cristina criticized by, 236–37

disappointment in his father, 50–51, 54

dream therapy with, 221–22

on giving away the red shoes, 10

God denied by, 26–27

at in-laws’ golden anniversary, 88, 89

name taken by, 158

Rebbe pushed on Alejandro by, 11

Santiago shop of, 38, 39–40

scabs peeled by, 18–19

on scratching Gadfly’s back, 8

small penis of, 44–46

Stalin mimicked by, 14

stamp collecting by, 18

teaching author to conquer pain,

16–18

toys denied by, 12

worms emptied on bed of, 81–82

Jodorowsky, Raquel (sister), 50, 53–60,

' 57 , 80, 208

Jodorowsky, Sara (mother), 29

Alejandro’s long hair loved by, 27

author’s letter to, 210–11

childhood of, 37

corset set free, 166–68

Jaime’s discipline supported by, 28, 81

not a virgin at marriage, 52

at parents’ golden anniversary, 88

red shoes bought by, 9

seen dying in dream, 208

sleeping with hand on Jaime’s penis, 45