Known as a place existing outside of the boundaries of time, the mysterious Markawasi Stone Forest rises majestically 12,800 feet above the world on the western Andean ridge; lying at its base along the Pacific coastline is the city of Lima, Peru. Punctuating the ancient landscape of this three-mile long, tabletop mountain are massive carved effigies, including curious replicas of unknown human races and long-extinct animals. Among the effigies may be found mind-boggling images of winged sphinxes, elephants, camels, and animals which are unknown to this age and continent. With its sixteen carved faces of the Races of Man, the massive Monument to Humanity stands out as the most spectacular and prominent structure, dominating the landscape.

In the midst of Atlantis, wrote Manly P. Hall, was a Sacred Mountain, whose summit touched the heavens; sacred among many races, and symbolic of the human head, which rises out of the four elements of the body. The Sacred Mountain was the temple of the gods, recalled in the stories of Olympus and Meru. “The City of the Golden Gates—the capital of Atlantis—is the one now preserved among numerous religions as the City of the Gods, or the Holy City. It is the archetype of the New Jerusalem, with its streets paved with gold, and its twelve gates shining with precious stones.” Encoded in the rocky enchantment of the Peruvian Andes are the Mysteries, rooted in the Universal archetype, mirroring the supreme center of all initiatic knowledge, from where the ancient gods directed the Wheel of Time, and descended forth to judge the fate of Man.

The voices in this book are the recorded testimonies of the many lives that have been touched by the enigma of Markawasi. In collaboration, we have strived to tell the story through a photo-pictorial, including the many theories, conjectures, debates, and memoirs. There are many ways to behold this mystery. It took twenty-five years to find my way to the Mountain, and when I arrived, it changed my life. Certainly there can be no doubt that the mesa holds a key to our collective journey – a singular journey we traverse together. The Stone Forest is one place where this journey manifests, becoming tangible and intimately alive.