Locale
In Search of Telos
The Mystique of Mount Shasta
This feature was first published in The Snowboarder’s Journal Issue 11.3. Click here to purchase a print copy.
It was storming heavily outside the mountain hut high upon Mount Shasta, CA. A group of climbers and skiers inside were enjoying a warm meal when the knock came. Before anyone could stand up, a hooded, cloaked figure opened the door and entered the cabin carrying nothing but a lantern. He silently moved across the room and took a seat at the table. He picked up a piece of tinfoil and turn it over in his hands as if it was something of great value—a treasure of sorts. Carefully folding the foil into his pocket, he rose and crossed the room back to the door. The storm swallowed the light of his lantern within a few steps.
ABOVE Harnessing the power of a nearby energy vortex, Tim Eddy lays one into a little bit of wind-buffed snow.
Such is the legend of Mount Shasta, a place, depending upon whom you ask, of great spiritual value and mystery. Stories range from the subtly weird to outright mystical. Hearing the above from Forrest Shearer—who confirmed it came from a reliable source—piqued my interest. Here’s what I found:
Although scientists long ago dismissed the idea of a sunken continent full of clues about the evolution of species (including our own) due to a lack of evidence, the idea of Lemuria lives on. The fabled continent is said to reach from British Columbia down into the South Pacific and over to the Indian Ocean near Madagascar. It sunk roughly 12,000 years ago due to a world war. Previously, according to lemurianconnection.com, it existed in state of “paradise and magic for a few million years,” and was the cradle of earth’s civilization. Its inhabitants, a highly-evolved form of humans who could shift between the fifth and third dimensions seamlessly, immigrated from different stars and planets, predominantly Sirius and Alpha Centauri. But its blissful state stumbled to a halt when the people of Lemuria began fighting with the inhabitants of Atlantis, the other lost continent. The root conflict was differing ideologies about the development of other earthly civilizations. Dirty warfare lead to nukes. When leaders of either side realized the foolishness of their war, it was too late.
Left with less than an average Lemurian lifespan (20,000 to 30,000 years) to form a survival plan, the great minds went to work. Enter Mount Shasta. Lemurian civilization would survive by constructing a five-level metropolis named Telos in the monstrous cavern under the volcanic peak in Northern California. Construction began not a moment too soon. As the doomed continent began to disintegrate, only 25,000 of the 200,000 remaining Lemurians made it safely into Telos. Lemuria cataclysmically exploded and slipped under the sea in a matter of hours. It is said Lemuria died a dignified death, with the mass of her civilization suffering neither fear nor strife.
ABOVE TOP TO BOTTOM Soul Connections in downtown Mt. Shasta ishome to some bad ass crystalline fairy wings—Ben Lynch approved.
Attempting to see into another dimension, BenLynch tries all sorts of tricks and techniques. Thisone failed.
Early in the 2012-13 winter, Mount Shasta had received a massive snowstorm that delivered 22 feet over three days, but little snow thereafter. Still, I found myself upon her flanks with Tim Eddy, Ben Lynch, Kyle Miller and Peter Mullenbach during a warm spell in March.
We went to Shasta on a two-part mission: first, to explore its vast terrain. Abruptly ascending from temperate Norcal surroundings and topping out at 14,179 feet with an estimated volume of 85 cubic miles, Shasta is the most voluminous peak in the Cascade Volcanic Arc. It is home to Mount Shasta Ski Park, a small ski area located on a lower ridge of the massif. With a genuine local vibe, the people who run the ski park and the majority of its patrons live in town. From rolling, low-angle tree and gulley runs to steeper lines off the upper reaches of the peak, Shasta has ample free-ride terrain, and even some decent spots to pop up a cheese wedge or two. Part two of our mission was to go “Lemurian hunting,” as we called it. Not in a violent manner, but more in a curious quest to encounter the super-humans and learn their culture.
ABOVE Tim Eddy rings the bell at Mount Shasta Ski Park, sending supersonic vibrations into the mountain, while Kyle Miller and Ben Lynch look on.
During our first two days at Mount Shasta, nearly every person we met told us we needed to talk to a guy named Yoj—or “Joy backwards,” as he would later explain. A fit 50-something year-old, Yoj is a well-known figure in the local community. Upon first impression he seemed an easy-going, fun-loving type with an open mind and free-spirited thought pattern. But as our conversation progressed to Telos and the Lemurians, Yoj confessed that he himself had been through Telos. He was not a Lemurian, but he had traveled through the subterranean city spiritually. We swam to keep up with what Yoj was putting down, and were left in disbelief when he informed us that the children of Telos had been sent a message telepathically with specific instructions to deliver it to our group of traveling snowboarders. Yet Yoj wasn’t ready to share it that evening. He would save it for the following day.
The next morning we found Yoj at the Ski Park, where he is voluntarily master of the area’s recycling program. A pizza pie and a pitcher of beer were all it took to get him to sit down. He relayed the Lemurian message as follows: “We inspired this group, we knew they would be coming before they did. Yoj has shared our truths with you. Remember these facts: we are real. We, the younger generation, just like you, are intrepid travelers. You are not limited to a human experience and we are not either. What’s important now is to remember who you are. We have greater ability to do this because we are out of the atmosphere. Not distracted by sexual vibrations, marketing, noise and mishmash in your atmosphere.
“The younger generation must lead planet earth to remember the elemental beings. Humanity is in a dilemma because we’ve forgotten our extraterrestrial ancestors. Us children from Telos are going to lead forth the elders. Look to areas in the U.S., France and Brazil for a first indication of our presence. Look for beings able to affect gravity. We will come out in the mountains first; their purity is what we require. The mountains will hold first contact of Agartha [the network of subterranean cities] connecting with you. If you need help, it will come from us. We are set to assist when things get bad and systems begin to collapse.
“We, the children from Telos, love to play and ride. Imagine yourselves working with us, purifying the elements. When we come out you will be surprised how intelligent and effective leaders we are, and it will be time to get to work. First on taking care of the dying oceans. Then we will clean up the mountains and get rid of HAARP, (‘Angels don’t play that harp,’ Yoj interjects), which is affecting our weather patterns. We have to purify our systems to preserve our earth.”
It seemed logical that finding a lava tube high up on the peak would be a direct route to meeting the Lemurian youth.
above Yoj Chase: Mount Shasta mentor and telepathicmessenger with the Lemurians.
There were people here, subterranean people, who knew we were coming well before we did. We had to find them and learn more. We had to experience Telos. We were no longer content to cruise the Ski Park. We needed to get way up onto the mountain—to effectively heighten our chances to encounter a portal or even a Lemurian. Yet the mountain had different plans.
A day of nasty weather left us grounded, wondering just what extraterrestrial activity was going on up in the clouds. It’s well known around Shasta that when clouds shroud the mountain, it’s essentially a smoke screen for supernatural coming and goings. We drove up the Everitt Memorial Highway (the only open road in the winter) as far as we could in hopes of catching glimpses of a spaceship hovering over the peak—no luck. So we scoured town for information and clues.
The town of Mount Shasta is home to approximately 3,400 souls, an eccentric, outdoorsy hamlet under the shadow of the massive volcano. The spiritual side of the mountain is embraced in town. The main drag is a smattering of retail businesses selling energized crystals, spiritual readings and various other relics to guide one’s soul. These shops intermix with mountain-sports storefronts, restaurants from organic to greasy, and quaint coffee and tea houses.
There were people here, subterranean people, who knew we were coming well before we did. We had to find them and learn more.
It was at a small business a block back from the main road called Shasta Vortex Adventures where we discovered some valuable clues. Ashalyn, a soft-spoken and polite woman specializing in tours of the energy vortexes on Shasta, informed us about the prevalence of such phenomena around the region. She was at first a bit reserved and suspicious of our group. Yet as we explained our search, she let her guard down and began to share some knowledge, even going as far as to demonstrate how to recognize a vortex and what to expect when near one. The Shasta vortexes are apparently a nearly-invisible channeling of energy into a specific direction—mild ones, so to speak. It made sense that these portals would channel and direct our energy either up into the sky or down into the mountain. We were hoping that, by directing our energy down into the mountain, we could signal our superhuman hosts that we were ready to meet.
The following day the weather slowly began to recede and we ventured onto Mount Shasta’s flanks, led by guide Ty Parks. Ty has lived in Shasta since birth and has been riding there for 26 years. He’s boarded with the best of ‘em on the best of days, and is happy to call Mount Shasta home. Armed with newly acquired bags of crystals, we began scouring the mid-mountain forests for vortexes and signs of Lemurians. Riding in a tight pack, the boys hopped and bounced through the vast old growth pine forests decorated by bright, green-yellow moss and lichen. By days end we still had no encounter with the supernatural, although Tim and Kyle experimented with channeling crystal energy to enhance Ben’s airtime as he jumped over them. It seemed to work. Or maybe Ben is just that spry.
ABOVE TOP TO BOTTOM Tim Eddy, Ben Lynch and Kyle Miller share the terrain park at Mount Shasta Ski Park, where a repurposed Pipe Dragon makes for good party-boarding opportunities.
Local legend Saint Germain’s Lemurian depiction. Like a holy pristine rockabilly with serious attention to beard maintenance.
HAARP Conspiracies
The High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program [HAARP] is the US government’s ionoshperic research program stationed on a remote piece of tundra outside Gakona, AK. Its stated purpose is to analyze the ionosphere—a region of the Earth’s upper atmosphere that plays an important role in radio transmission to faraway places, among other things—and investigate the potential of developing ionospheric enhancement technologies for radio communications and surveillance. Yet, the HAARP station is a hotbed of conspiracy theories, some of which accuse the HAARP program of being able to cause earthquakes and hurricanes. Others suggest that with this station the government is able to control human minds. Freaky stuff on any level.
On our last day in town, the weather peeled back to full blue and we pushed up high onto the mountain. We’d heard of lava tubes up there with entrances on the surface, which were rumored to be portals to Telos. Yet, of all the spiritual individuals we’d encountered, none could (or would) give us a specific location. As Yoj had explained, “We can’t go down into the tunnels ‘cause it would hurt us, and it would screw up the whole thing.” As vague as his reasoning was, we took his advice to heart. Still, it seemed logical that finding a lava-tube high up on the peak would be a direct route to meeting the Lemurian youth. I can’t say whether the temptation to enter would have proven too great to resist had we found one, but we didn’t. We did find some long, warm lines under the afternoon sun. Even if the Lemurians did not come right out and say hello, they did give us a glimpse of their playground, of this massif of rolling volcanic terrain.
“You are not limited to a human experience and we are not either. What’s important now is to remember who you are. We have greater ability to do this because we are out of the atmosphere. Not distracted by sexual vibrations, marketing, noise and mishmash in your atmosphere.”
Leaving the mountain, I couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed that we had missed these curious super-humans—possibly by design. There was no disappointment in the outcome of our quest, however. We’d just had an amazing week of boarding, even in rough snow conditions. The people of Shasta had been open and engaging. Maybe that’s why the youth of Telos called us there. An enlightenment of sorts, in the remembrance that fun snowboarding is, well, fun snowboarding. The surroundings and experience are equally as important as the riding in making a great trip.
As we departed I was plagued by questions about the Lemurian mystery. Did they really exist? Why had we missed out on other-worldly experiences many others have claimed? My thoughts wandered back to something Yoj, our telepathic messenger, had relayed: “You find it hard to believe in us, but we Lemurians have a hard time comprehending you. It’s hard for us to understand what you guys are into and how you live. How you are vast multi-dimensional beings who’ve built these little boxes in which you exist daily.”
To which Yoj himself added, “Stick around, don’t leave the planet just yet. Stay in these bodies, stay healthy ‘cause we are gonna see some stuff real soon. Some serious stuff.”
ABOVE Kyle Miller, Ben Lynch and Tim Eddy try to lure the elusive Lemurian superhumans out with radical style among old growth alpine.