Mt. Shasta: The Mountain that Echoes the Soul

Mount Shasta whose peak is dressed in glistening white the symbol of light.

Mount Shasta in Northern California was a sacred place I wanted to visit for awhile. I had the opportunity to visit in September and was there during the fall equinox. As we drove north from Redding, California the moment the magnificent white peaks of Mount Shasta came into view, I started to weep. My husband was a bit startled by my tears and said, "Why are you crying? I thought this was a dream for you to visit Mount Shasta?" "After my tears subsided I responded, these are tears of joy!"

As we drove into the town of Shasta I could not take my eyes off of the mountain. This mountain wasn't just a sight to behold from afar--it was calling us to walk its sacred paths. As our beautiful rental car easily drove on the smooth, wide, roads up the mountain, we cruised past Bunny Flats, Panther Meadows, and stopped at the top where Old Ski Bowl waited patiently for our arrival. It was the highest place we could drive on this road at 7,840 feet above sea level.

Old Ski Bowl ancient stone labyrinth. A symbol of the winding path of life moving inward to find your true self. And then carrying that back out into the world.

There were a few vehicles parked in the parking lot. An older couple getting ready to hike. They had their hiking poles to assist them on the volcanic ground as they climbed the path up. I will bring hiking poles the next time we visit. Another couple was enjoying their lunch set out next to their camping van.

As we got our of our car I saw the labyrinth and stacked Cairns everywhere. I walked towards the sacred circular path. It was calling out to me to tread lightly with reverence on this path.

My prayer beads are always on my wrists so I took off the 27 bead moonstone mala bracelet from my left wrist and quietly began to chant the Gayatri Mantra 108 times as I slowly walked the path towards its center.

The Gayatri mantra is for cosmic illumination and solar energy. (Gayatri = "she who protects the one who chants her".) Chanting this mantra on Mount Shasta was aligning my nervous system with the mountain's high frequency. Mount Shasta is the root chakra of the earth.

When I got to the center of the path I placed a green chert stone with white veining and a worn smooth piece of a sea shell both from the Pacific Ocean's beach we had visited a few days before. As I write this blog post, unbeknownst to me at the time, I had created a sacred union that included light, sea, earth, and heart-centered energy at the core of the mountain. Truly a symbolic map of my soul's journey on this pilgrimage.

Green is the color of the heart chakra radiating deep emotional healing, renewal, and compassion. My heart was wide opened and ready to experience Mt. Shasta. Chert is a stone of protection from ancestors and embodies strength and stability.

The sea shell worn smooth by the tides is a symbol for weathered resilience and my ability to withstand life's currents that have softened me over the years. The water element for deep emotional healing meeting with the elements of fire from the volcanic mountain, earth, and the light of the sun.

Universal Meaning of Gayatri

"O Divine Mother, may

your pure cosmic light

illuminate all realms of

our existence.

We meditate upon that

supreme, radiant divine sun

to dispel our inner darkness.

May that brilliant light

awaken guide, and

illuminate our minds."

Green chert stone with white veins and the sea shell I left alongside coins, angel wings, and stones from other travelers.

We hiked up the mountain for an hour and hiked back down to our car. Panther Meadows was our next stop as we set out to witness her pristine springs and any other wonders she held. There were a few solo tents dotting the campgrounds. We saw one camper and his dog. We greeted him and he said nothing in return. All was quiet.

We began to hike through Panther Meadows and once again I stopped and felt called to sit upon one of her giant stones and meditate for awhile.

After hiking and meditating we climbed back down the trail to our car, drank some water, ate a nutritious snack, and drove further down the mountain to Bunny Flats. Our final hiking path for the day.

We began walking up the path at Bunny Flats and I had to laugh because it did not feel all that flat. Out ahead of us on the path walking towards us was a man walking two animals. I thought to myself those are strange looking dogs...I noticed the ears first, the short legs, the stout bodies.

The closer we got to this fellow sojourner I could clearly see they were not dogs at all. They were goats being walked on a leash made of rope. He had one brown goat and one black goat.

He stopped ahead of us. His goats stopped, too. They seemed hesitant to come closer to us. He was still pretty far ahead of us when he stopped. We automtically stopped too. I was not sure why he was stopping.

We both waited for a few moments and once again he started to walk towards us and when he got closer to us his goats started to walk up the hill off of the path. We said, "hello" as we passed by them and he just looked at us and said nothing. He fixed his gaze on me in a profound, unblinking silence, and walked past.

A man walking between shadow and light, reminding us that when we stop talking we can truly start looking. Very similar to the man we saw at Panther Meadows. Silence. Both seemed to be in an internal meditative state.

Interesting.

It was like watching the Hermit card come to life from the Universal Waite Tarot deck. The Hermit carries a staff, wears a cloak, walks high peaks in the mountain carrying a lantern filled with light. His eyes and mouth are closed because he communicates telepathically.

It felt like a powerful message from the mountain itself. This man was offering us his silent presence. His goats spiritually represent sure-footedness in their ability to navigate incredible mountainous terrain with ease...without falling!

The brown goat is like the color of earth and shared the grounded energy of the mountain itself. The black goat symbolized the unseen, the hidden, subconscious, and mystical realm...where I love to dwell. He was walking between both.

The mountain's mysterious energy manifested right before our eyes.

A silent hiker stops on a forest path on Mount Shasta with two goats, enveloped by vibrant greenery and towering trees, relishing a peaceful outdoor journey silently.

Rick and I continued walking the path up the mountain where the beautiful alpine air felt charged with an undeniable quiet energy. The path was lined with tall trees and giant stones and some of the rocks definitely had faces on them. We were engulfed in the silence.

Do you see the face protruding from the center of the rock?

After hiking for quite a distance my backpack felt heavy and I wanted to sit down for a rest. I took off my pack and could feel the middle of my back talking to me. I knew that I would feel better if I could just lay down on the earth to rest my back and stretch out on the earth. Almost immediately I felt better.

Rick is not one to meditate. He likes to move and be doing something all of the time. But to my amazement, he followed my lead, and laid down on the ground as well. We gazed up at the blue sky, the gorgeous white clouds, and the tall evergreen trees. It was completely and utterly silent and still.

There was no wind.

There were no birds.

There were no fellow hikers that crossed our path.

Just the two of us held in the most incredible and beautiful bubble of stillness and presence. This sacred ground was sharing an intimate conversation of the earth's power void of noise and the chaotic energy of the world...gone...silenced.

We were being initiated into the profound and meditative heartbeat of the root chakra of the earth...Mount Shasta. As the mountain herself seemed to exhale and hold her breath out just for us...she was inviting us to stop and hear the utter silence and quiet within our own souls. We could have stayed there for an eternity for we were absolutely spellbound and suspended in time.

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• 

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A Prayer of Gratitude to Mount Shasta

May we carry your stillness

always in all ways

into the noise

of ordinary days.

May we remember to

return to the quiet

sacred ground

you held us in

whenever

the world grows too

heavy.

May every inhale become a

prayer of gratitude

for your presence

and every exhale

a homecoming

back

to your heartcenter

and every pause

in-between

be a doorway

of simply

being present

to

all life

has

to offer.

Until we meet

again...

Aho, Shasta.

Aho, sacred earth.

Aho to the stillness

that remembers me

and I remember you.

And so it is.

I Am a part of you

and you are a

part of me.

Thank you.