Taisha Abelar (born Maryann Simko), was an American writer and anthropologist who was an associate of Carlos Castaneda.
Abelar met Castaneda when she was 19 years old and a student at University of California, Los Angeles where she eventually earned her master's degree and PhD in anthropology.
[1] In 1973, Castaneda purchased a compound on Pandora Avenue in Westwood, Los Angeles, and soon after Abelar (she was still known as Maryann Simko at this time), along with Regine Thal and Kathleen Pohlman, who would come to be known collectively as "the witches", moved in.
[citation needed] Abelar claimed to have been one of Don Juan’s four students and says she spent a year in his "magical house" in Mexico.
[citation needed] Through the 1990s, Abelar and the other witches started giving workshops in Tensegrity for Cleargreen Incorporated, a company formed by Castaneda for that purpose.