Mount Shasta - Mystic Mountain of the West
Siskiyou County, California, USA
Sacred Overview
Mount Shasta is a towering stratovolcano rising 4,322 meters (14,179 feet) in northern California, dominating the landscape as a solitary, glacier-clad peak visible for over 100 miles. For the indigenous peoples of the region - including the Shasta, Wintu, Achumawi, Atsugewi, and Modoc - the mountain has been sacred since time immemorial, considered the home of the Great Spirit and the place where the Creator made the first people. In modern times, Mount Shasta has become a global center for New Age spirituality, attracting seekers who believe it is a powerful energy vortex, a UFO landing site, and the home of Lemurian survivors living in an underground city called Telos. Few mountains in the world attract such diverse and intense spiritual attention.
The mountain's spiritual reputation has grown over more than a century. In the 1880s, occultist Frederick Spencer Oliver wrote of an advanced civilization living inside the mountain. By the 1930s, the "I AM" movement centered their teachings on Mount Shasta as a place of spiritual masters. Since then, countless spiritual teachers, channelers, and seekers have made pilgrimage to Shasta, drawn by legends of the Lemurians, reported UFO sightings, lenticular clouds interpreted as spacecraft, and a palpable sense of energy that many feel on and around the mountain.
The Mountain
📐 Physical Features
- Height: 4,322m (14,179 ft)
- Prominence: 2,931m (9,616 ft)
- Stratovolcano (potentially active)
- Seven named glaciers
- Part of Cascade Range
- Isolated peak (highly visible)
- Permanent snowcap
🌊 Springs & Waters
- Headwaters of Sacramento River
- Natural springs around base
- Spring water considered sacred
- Panther Meadows springs
- Water used in ceremonies
- Bottled spring water industry
- Pure glacial melt
🌈 Lenticular Clouds
- Lens-shaped clouds over summit
- Form due to airflow over peak
- Often interpreted as UFOs
- Called "spacecraft" by believers
- Spectacular photography subject
- Occur frequently
- Add to mystical atmosphere
🌱 Ecosystems
- Alpine meadows (Panther Meadows)
- Old-growth conifer forests
- Diverse wildlife
- Wilderness areas protected
- Shasta-Trinity National Forest
- Unique botanical specimens
- Sacred landscape preservation
Spiritual Traditions
🌎 Native American Beliefs
- Home of the Great Spirit (Creator)
- First humans created here
- Sacred to multiple tribes
- Vision quest location
- Healing ceremonies held
- Grizzly Bear spirit stories
- Continued traditional practices
🔮 Lemurian Legend
- Ancient Lemuria continent sank
- Survivors fled to Mount Shasta
- Built underground city "Telos"
- Highly advanced beings
- Tall, ethereal appearance reported
- Seen in Shasta City occasionally
- Multiple channeled accounts
👾 I AM Movement
- Founded 1930s by Guy Ballard
- Met "Saint Germain" on Shasta
- Ascended Masters teachings
- Shasta as spiritual powerhouse
- Influenced New Age beliefs
- Annual events at mountain
- Continued active movement
🛸 UFO Connections
- Frequent UFO sighting reports
- Lenticular clouds as craft
- Underground bases alleged
- Extraterrestrial contact claims
- Star being traditions
- Galactic Federation connections
- Sky watches organized
Associated Concepts & Beings
Great Spirit
Creator deity in Native American tradition who made humans on Shasta.
Lemurians
Ancient advanced beings said to live in underground city Telos beneath Shasta.
Saint Germain
Ascended Master who allegedly contacted Guy Ballard, founding I AM movement.
Grizzly Bear Spirit
In Native legend, created Shasta as home; sacred animal spirit of the mountain.
Star Beings
Extraterrestrial intelligences believed to visit and communicate at Shasta.
Water Spirits
Sacred springs are home to healing water spirits in Native tradition.
Modern Spiritual Community
🏙 Mount Shasta City
- Spiritual tourism hub
- Crystal shops and healers
- Retreat centers numerous
- Channeling sessions available
- Metaphysical bookstores
- Vegetarian restaurants
- Year-round spiritual events
🔮 Energy Vortex
- Believed powerful vortex site
- Chakra of the Earth theories
- Root chakra of planet
- Ley line intersection
- Energy work practiced
- Meditation enhancement reported
- Transformation experiences
🎭 Pilgrimages & Retreats
- Guided spiritual hikes
- Vision quests offered
- Meditation retreats
- Native ceremonies (with permission)
- Solstice/equinox gatherings
- Harmonic Convergence site
- International visitors
📛 Tensions & Respect
- Native peoples request respect
- Panther Meadows protected
- No camping in sacred areas
- Cultural appropriation concerns
- Environmental impacts
- Balance sought
- Education on traditions
Related Topics
Explore Connections
Sources & Further Reading
Primary Sources:
- Oliver, Frederick Spencer. A Dweller on Two Planets. 1905. (Lemurian origins)
- Ballard, Guy. Unveiled Mysteries. 1934. (I AM Movement)
Modern Works:
- Zanger, Michael. Mt. Shasta: History, Legend & Lore. Celestial Arts, 1992.
- Miesse, William. Mount Shasta: An Annotated Bibliography. College of the Siskiyous, 1993.