“Few are altogether deaf to the preaching of pine trees. Their sermons on the mountains go to our hearts.” --John Muir
Mountains are home to gods and they are gods. They are the mothers of gods. Mountains pierce the sky with their peaks, the outtie belly buttons of the earth. Their peaks represent enlightenment, their peaks poke holes in the universe and are the points around which the sun, moon, and stars revolve. Their summits are named after perfect meditative states. They are living entities, the incarnation of the earth spirit itself. Mountains are the home of the father of all humans as well as demi-gods, the dwelling of the wind goddess. Tombs for the dead and bestowers of fertility. Sites for sacrifice, enlightenment, and spiritual cleansing. Sacred borders to ancestral land, or center of history and cultural identity. Mountains too sacred to step upon, circumnavigated 32 times. 108 times. Summitted at dawn. Sites of revelation and repository for souls. Sacred water, sacred glaciers, sacred meadows. Sometimes a body, sometimes a symbol, sometimes a vehicle.
Text by Amie Tulius, inspired by the NOWHERE project.