🌋 Mount Shasta: The Volcano, The Vortex, and The Very Strange People Who Wander In

Living at the foot of a volcano sounds dramatic enough, but Mount Shasta doesn’t stop at “dramatic.” No. Shasta is a volcano with side quests. It’s a sacred mountain, a geological powerhouse, a spiritual Disneyland, and a magnet for every flavor of mystic, wanderer, and person who owns more crystals than socks.

Trying to explain it to my Irish friends is like trying to explain American healthcare: you can do it, but you’ll sound like you’re making half of it up.

🌄 A Volcano With Opinions

Mount Shasta rises out of Northern California like someone dropped a snow‑covered pyramid in the wrong country. At 14,179 feet, it’s technically dormant, which is American for: it will erupt again, but probably not today, so relax and enjoy your tea.

For over 9,000 years, the Native tribes—the Shasta, Modoc, Wintu, Atsugewi, and Klamath—have treated it as sacred ground. Their stories describe spirit beings, creation myths, and battles fought with hot rocks. Honestly, that’s just volcanology with better storytelling.

🧜‍♂️ Lemurians: The Mountain’s Imaginary Tenants

In the early 1900s, a writer decided that survivors of Lemuria—a mythical lost continent—escaped their sinking homeland and moved into a giant underground city beneath Mount Shasta.

This city is called Telos, and depending on who you ask, it is:

• a 5D utopian society

• a spiritual refuge

• or the world’s most expensive basement

The Lemurians allegedly wear white robes, glow faintly, and occasionally pop out for a stroll. I’ve lived here long enough to say: if they exist, they’re definitely avoiding the tourists.

Ireland has fairies. We have seven‑foot telepathic monks who shop at the co‑op.

🧔‍♂️ St. Germain & The “I AM” Activity: Spirituality, But Make It 1930s California

In the 1930s, a man named Guy Ballard went for a hike on Shasta and came back claiming he’d met Count St. Germain, an immortal alchemist who taught him cosmic truths. This became the “I AM” Activity, a spiritual movement that still exists today.

Think of it like Knock, if Knock also sold violet flame decrees and ascension manuals.

🛸 UFOs, Bigfoot, and Other Mountain Residents

Shasta is famous for:

• UFO sightings (often just lenticular clouds, but don’t tell the UFO people—they’re very committed)

• Bigfoot lore (because of course he lives here; where else would he go, Los Angeles?)

• Energy vortexes (like the Burren, but with more yoga mats)

• Interdimensional portals (allegedly—no one has produced a receipt)

If Ireland has thin places, Shasta has places so thin they’re practically see‑through.

💧 The Headwaters: Holy Water, But Volcanic

At the base of the mountain, water pours straight out of the earth at the Headwaters of the Sacramento River. Locals fill their jugs for free. Visitors treat it like Lourdes. And then there’s the bottled‑water industry, which ships our volcanic water across the world so people can pay €4.50 for what we get from the tap.

It’s volcanic, mineral‑rich, and older than most Irish castles. It’s also the reason my kettle never scales.

🚶‍♀️ The People Who Wander In

Living here means meeting:

• hikers who thought it was “just a hill” and needed rescuing

• mystics who came for a weekend retreat and never left

• retirees who wanted peace and accidentally moved into a vortex

• people who ask if you’ve “felt the energy shift today” while you’re buying cat food

• locals like me, who just want to walk the dog without being recruited into a crystal workshop

It’s a community made of equal parts nature lovers, eccentrics, and people who definitely own a didgeridoo.

Explaining Shasta to the Irish

Imagine if:

• Croagh Patrick

• Newgrange

• Knock

• and the Giant’s Causeway

…were all stacked into one giant volcano.

Then add:

• UFOs

• Atlantis

• a secret underground city

• an immortal French alchemist

• and Americans who believe the mountain is a portal to the fifth dimension

That’s Mount Shasta.

It’s beautiful. It’s ancient. It’s chaotic. It’s full of lore, history, and absolute nonsense. And somehow, despite all the weirdness, it’s home.