Mount Shasta Goddess Temple Mission
The Mount Shasta Goddess Temple, Tsogyal Lhamo Drayang Ling, is a living mandala honoring Goddesses of the world with online and in-person ceremonies, classes, divinations, and retreats. We create experiences and services to help women connect with the primal female powers of life, death, healing, and rebirth, and we make pilgrimage to ancient and modern sacred sites of the world.
Practices
The Mount Shasta Goddess Temple offers a combination of online and in-person practices. Our global membership takes part in weekday divinations and monthly online Full & New Moon ceremonies, as well as online classes, in-person retreats, pilgrimages, and the activities offered through our partner The Sacred Well. Priestess Yeshe offers free Kuan Yin chanting practice online. Click below to see the Divination & Devotion playlist.
Membership
Temple membership is open to all who are committed to goddess devotion, and our programs are specifically women-led and women-focused. Mandala Members receive weekly emails with invitations to attend our ceremonial circles, receive monthly Goddesses & Guides lessons, participate in Zoom devotionals, take classes at a Members-only discount, and more. You can join the Temple with a donation of $99 for Lifetime Mandala Membership.
“When participating in the Kuan Yin Practice with Yeshe online, I always feel closer to the Great Mother. The card readings & lesson for each day is very uplifting/informative. It really speaks to me. I have found that this practice has been especially helpful to me since the passing of my dear sister, Jan. ”
Our Temple Name & History
After more than a decade of community service as a Priestess in the San Francisco Bay area, Yeshe Matthews was called on a journey of spirit to Mount Shasta in the Fall of 2015, when she followed guidance from her inner voice to move to the area and create a Goddess Temple that honors and supports women, reveres the spirits of the Earth, and embraces many paths of female mysticism.
Priestess Yeshe and her husband Albert moved to Siskiyou County on a snowy Winter Solstice day in December 2015, and she incubated her dream of the Goddess Temple for the year 2016 as she launched an online 100,00-mantra, 1000-statue Kuan Yin practice for world peace. In 2017, the Temple vision advanced with a series of small, intimate events that brought together women leaders from a variety of different spiritual traditions to lay the foundation for the Temple’s work. It was a year of honoring the Temple’s mandala of Goddesses and natural allies, discerning the Temple’s mission, and crafting the Temple’s offerings. In 2018, the Mount Shasta Goddess Temple opened to the public with a small shrine room in McCloud, hosted by The Sacred Well, Yeshe and Albert’s metaphysical shop.
In 2019, the Temple expanded, moved to Dunsmuir, and received a donation of an 8-foot carved stone statue of Kuan Yin. The Temple also graduated its first class of Priestesses who completed both the Woman Shaman Priestess and Flight of the Skydancer programs, and who now participate the Temple’s Alumnae Council of Wisewomen, a sisterhood circle of Priestesses supporting one another in leadership, creativity, and magic. At Winter Solstice 2019, the Mt Shasta Goddess Temple received its Tibetan name as a blessing from Lama Dechen Yeshe Wangmo of Jnanasukha Foundation. The name, Tsogyal Lhamo Drayang Ling, means “Melodious Tsogyal Lhamo Temple.”
In 2020, the Mount Shasta Goddess Temple responded to the Covid-19 pandemic by creating a weekly practice for Tara Ritrö Loma Jönma, the 20th of the 21 Taras, who is petitioned to help end epidemics and to stop the spread of deadly diseases, and our sangha accumulated over 15,000 recitations of her mantra in that practice. We also launched the Kuan Yin’s Millionaires project, with the aspiration of completing 1,000,000 recitations of OM MANI PADME HUM.
During that year of loss and grief, the Temple also created our Sitting With the Dead group practice, a monthly refuge for individuals to hold silent space for all those who lost loved ones or who empathically wanted to help restless spirits who had trouble crossing over. Sitting With the Dead has now morphed into an online space for discussions around death, dying, and grieving, supporting those who have lost loved ones or who serve their communities as death doulas.
In 2021, the Temple re-launched its pilgrimage program, with groups going to Hawaii for Priestess Retreat, and to Greece, Cyprus, and Türkiye for a tour of Delphi and visits to the Temples of Aphrodite, Hekate, and Artemis. The Temple also hosted its first online Cosmogenetrix Symposium in 2021, an all-day event with presentations from women’s history scholars and priestesses worldwide. That event has grown into a hybrid online and in-person event that happens every March.
In 2021, the Temple also gave birth to our Priestess Scholarship Program, which provides funds for women in our Priestesshood to access spiritual travel that would otherwise be cost-prohibitive for them. The funds for this Scholarship program come from the sales of Goddess Kits, which feature items made and donated by the Temple’s Priestesses, services donated by our Priestesses and Sibyls, book sales, and handcrafted items that are available at The Sacred Well shop in Dunsmuir.
In 2022, Priestess Yeshe launched the Raise the Temple class, supporting individuals who want to build temples for public, small group, and private communities, and continued to offer Priestess Training and Sibyl Training with the Woman Shaman Priestess and Via Carmen Pythia programs. Members of the Temple also continued to journey to sacred sites, including Mexico, USA Summer Festivals, Türkiye, Greece, Crete, and England.
In April 2023, the Kuan Yin’s Millionaires group completed their 1,000,000 mantra accumulation project, and in November 2023, the Temple took its first pilgrimages to the ancient sacred sites of Egypt and Jordan.
“I have been a client, student, and friend of Yeshe’s for over a decade now. What impresses and inspires me most about her, amongst many things, is her extraordinary command of language as well as her vast wealth of knowledge and insight, not only with Tarot, but herbs, stones, mythology, cultural references, historical significances, women’s spirituality, gender and sexuality studies, ritual and ceremony... the list goes on and on. I’m in awe of her ability to bring together community, and the ways she is devoted to Service for the Divine, for humanity, and for the divinity in humanity. Yeshe has provided me with invaluable personal and spiritual guidance on many occasions through Tarot sessions, counseling, and classes, as well as casual conversations. Even as I look to her as a guide and teacher, she remains humble, accessible, inclusive, all the while with healthy boundaries, solid communication, boundless enthusiasm, and immense creativity. I’m so happy to have her in my life! ”
Temple Protocol
We treat each other with respect. We treat altars with reverence. We make offerings. We protect nature and make use of her resources gently, thankfully. We respect ceremony and tradition. We treat elders with kindness and regard. We honor indigenous wisdom. We raise children to be creative and considerate. We care for our bodies, develop our minds, and nourish our spirits. We look out for one another. We tell the truth. We protect animals. We cultivate patience. We allow ourselves to be human. We live and let live. We honor our word. We move from love. We forgive. We thank our teachers, and one another. We dedicate the merit of our practices. We value female genius specifically. We observe holy days. We embody gratitude. We take the time for devotion. We create works of art. We embrace the unknown. We live in the magic. We trust Goddess.
Becoming a Member
When you join the Mount Shasta Goddess Temple, you help to support and sustain our physical space, our daily offerings of candles, incense, and prayer, our Mandala altars, and the services we offer free of charge or at low cost to women in need. You can join the Mount Shasta Goddess Temple Mandala Membership ($99.00 for a Lifetime) to access online Full and Dark Moon circles, online Sabbats, monthly Salons, discounts on classes, and seasonal perks.
After signing up for Membership below, please log in to the Mandala Membership area of this site, and also watch your Inbox for your welcome email!
Projects
Current projects of the Mount Shasta Goddess Temple include:
Goddess Without Borders
Facebook group for sharing stories of women's leadership and empowerment as well as goddess research and mythos. Open to all.
Mandala of the Moon
Monthly online Full and New Moon ceremonies open to all members, focused around our lunar themes, including meditation journeys with animal spirits, goddesses, and guides.
Mandala of the Sun
Online Sabbat ceremonies and activities honoring the equinoxes, solstices, and Temple holy days with devotional activities.
Order of the Black Madonna
Devotees of the Black Madonna creating community service initiatives and contemplative practices, including Reparation Retreats for Women of Color.
Skydancer Center for Female Mysticism
Institute for personal spiritual development, female shamanism, women’s religious history, and the preservation of ancient and living lineages of holy women and female practitioners.
Skydancer Sangha
The community of participants in the Temple's daily online Kuan Yin Practice. Open to all.
The Witch's Garden
Monthly group sharing herbal recipes, home remedies, and lore.
Priestess Training
Two-year cycles of training for women who wish to become Priestesses and Sibyls of the Mount Shasta Goddess Temple, or who wish to start Temples of their own. The first year is a study of spiritual tools and practices, the second year is an advanced study in leadership and devotion. The Temple offers three separate and complementary training programs: Woman Shaman Priestess, Via Carmen Pythia, and Bloodstone & Lime.
Community Care
Our way of supporting the good works of other organizations. Fundraisers for the benefit of women and girls.