The Three Sacred Dragons of Mt. Shasta

Now we return to the three Shasta dragons that live upon the mountain. The first time I saw the dragon's face was in Grey Butte, above Panther Meadows Spring. The spring was sacred to the late Flora Jones, a great Indian doctor of the Wintun Indians. It is important to note that a medicine woman was the caretaker of this spring. I was climbing the face of Mt. Shasta and I stopped to take a rest and look down at the beautiful meadow below when I realized I was face to face with the dragon of the mountain-its snout was the beginning of the butte. Its eye was the green lichen that grew upon the rock and its jagged back stretched across the sky line. The beginning of the dragon's tail was the tree line which became a thick forest running down the sides of Mt. Shasta. I was honored to recognize this mighty being whose presence was reflected by stone, rock, and lichen. When the light is soft, such as in the morning or the evening, the face of the dragon appears easily.

The second dragon I discovered with the help of a Japanese man. This man was a banker from Japan. His interest was finding the ley lines of the land. I was his tour guide for the day. When I pointed out Grey Butte Dragon to him he said, "Where there is one dragon there always is another, but where is the second dragon?" We both looked at Green Butte. There was the jagged back of the dragon and the tree line was trailing down his back, but where was his head? I looked again and I saw his head humbly bowing at the face of Mt. Shasta. It wasn't until one year later when I visited with two Japanese friends that I looked at the Green Butte dragon with different eyes. We were hiking down the face of the mountain and I pointed out the humble dragon of Green Butte. As I was showing the head of the dragon my friend said it looked like the dragon had two heads. It was then that I saw that indeed the dragon had two heads. The clouds above us then began to swirl and shape into dragon forms. This was a day to remember!

Green Butte is a place where I have had very powerful experiences. As I walked the trail that runs aside the butte I have seen massive stones that symbolically reflected the history of the Earth. Within the body of this humble dragon I have seen Egypt, the time of Christ, and stories of Shiva and Shakti. Through their signatures and shapes the stones were reflecting the Earth's history. I realized this area of the mountain was a great earth library. I related some of my experiences to a Tibetan Lama and he said that a similar library was in the mountains of the Himalayas.

Further up the steep trail of Green Butte is another fresh spring. Where there is a dragon, there also is a spring. This spring runs down the right side, creating a ribbon of green flora which exists in strong contrast to the gray stone.

The third Shasta Dragon I found on a mantra walk that I began at the foot of the mountain. I went to the upper parking lot on the mountain. I slung my water bottle over my shoulder, put my sandalwood mala in my hand and began to recite a Sanskrit mantra to the Mother Earth. "Samudra Mekhale Devi" ("your oceans are your girdle and your mountains are your breast, forgive me for treading upon you"). I silently walked the trail, keeping track of each mantra as the scented beads slipped through my fingers. The mantra started to take hold of my mind, my daily problems began to fall away and all that was left was my breath, my step, and my prayers. I stopped and paid my respects to the Grey Butte Dragon.

Then I turned to the west and honored the humble dragon of Green Butte. The trail kept climbing higher to what is called the Saddle of the Mountain. As I went over the saddle, green meadow stretched out before me and to the east another rugged ridge arose. I carefully crossed the ice glaciers that still covered the mountain trail. Now I could see the back side of the Grey Butte dragon. The layers of shale rock appeared like dragon scales. When I reached meadows I emptied my water bottle on the nearest plant. I refilled my bottle with the bubbling fresh water spring. This spring was the greening power of this alpine wonderland. I made my way down the meadow as the trail slowly began to rise again. The Valley of the Moon stretched out to the south, looking barren and silvery from a rock perch I rested upon.

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