Posted by Michael Glickman on February 16, 2018

CLOSINGS AND OPENINGS

As I have noted elsewhere, the ending of each crop circle season is both sad and bewildering. Some weeks of beauty, excitement and newness and then, in flash – it’s over! It seems always to take some months to gain even the slightest of insights into the latest gifts and, as usual, winter contemplation produces a portfolio of ideas accumulated during the post-summer gap.

This blog, then, is a multi-subject offering – a rather random collection of incidental thoughts. I hope that some will be of interest to a few readers. The first part deals with an idea about the formations of 2017 but after that, forgive me, it’s a free-for-all!

2017: THE THIN STANDING WALL

The first formation of the 2017 season (1) & (2), appeared in the charmed and familiar field below the Cherhill white horse on 16th April. Initially it seemed like the familiar “barbell” formation, two circles linked by a simple path. This figure has been a regular, though never precisely duplicated visitor.

1. Cherhill 16th April 2017

2. Cherhill diagram

Commenting on The Fractal Field (13th November 2017) John Borst said: “In illustration (23) we see two circles connected by a line, reflecting a visual device which often appears in crop formations. This seems to be a symbol of interconnection within larger symbols of infinity. If one rationalizes that fractalisation, or continuity, represents a process of spirit, then the presence of linearly connected circles within that process could be a strong lesson for our species.”

3. Keysley Down 31st July 1997

I am very grateful for this important suggestion and I include two confirmatory formations. The first (3) is Keysley Down of 31st July 1997, while the second (4), for which I have a diagram only, is an unidentified crop circle of the early ‘90s. These support John Borst’s idea.

4. Unidentified early ’90s

The Cherhill photograph, a ground shot, shows two standing walls of wheat separated by three thin laid paths. We must consider this carefully. Clearly the paths can be made by the much-promoted “planking” method. This would automatically establish the width of the laid path but not the thickness of the wall or the parallelism of its surfaces.

One of humanity’s great (though unsung) skills is the almost unconscious sharpness of our visual acuity. The same part of our brain that spots, and is impelled to correct, a slightly skewed picture on a wall, also notices any error between two supposedly parallel lines or surfaces. This includes fine walls of standing crop, whether straight or circular.

Last year in The Circle and its Centre  (23rd January 2017) I claimed that a circle could not be made without a centre. The Woolstone event of 4th June  (5) brought us eighteen perfect, centre-less standing discs. A challenge to the man-made fundamentalist squad: how could this be done? And another: I bet you cannot make perfect straight or circular, parallel surfaced, walls.

5. Woolstone 4th June 2017

The diagram (2) highlights the thin standing wall at Cherhill shown in blue. While it forms two circles linked by a simple path, it also mediates between two similar diagrams; one inside and one outside. The elegance and precision of the wall in this first formation of 2017 was prophetic. These walls were to recur often during the season.

6. Vernham Dean 5th August 1997

7. Vernham Dean diagram

And before the season truly took off, I was reminded of the Vernham Dean formation of 5th August 1997 (6) & (7) a unique and rather strange event that featured a similarly graceful and defined standing wall. It is chastening to see that the drawing (which I did 20 years ago) is notably sloppy and inaccurate in comparison with the precision of the crop circle itself.

Both Cherhill 2017 and Vernham Dean 1997 have a single wall that forms a continuous loop or enclosure.

8. Cerne Abass 22nd May 2017

9. Cerne Abass diagram

The next example, Cerne Abbas 22/5/17 (8) & (9) is an emphatically feminine, some might say female, symbol which is often called the Goddess. The standing wall, here again blue, does not join back on itself to form a continuous loop but displays two separate ends. More questions! When the wall is continuous is it a sign of containment or exclusion? Then at Milk Hill 25/5/17 (10) & (11), which might be read as an elaborate, crowned quintuplet, we see how intricately the wall is organised, once more as a single loop, to perfectly contain the five circles.

10. Milk Hill 25th May 2017

11. Milk Hill diagram

The wall of the East Kennett 26/6/17 formation (12) & (13) was broader than its siblings and seemed to come from a different design studio. It was, in many respects reminiscent of the agriglyphs of the early ’90s.

12. East Kennett 26th June 2017

13. East Kennett diagram

The Atherington formation of 19/7/17 (14) & (15) once again extends and plays with the quintuplet form, in this case with three sets of diminishing circles on four arms. Each of the arms, each of the groups of three circles, is contained and emphasised by another immaculately made standing wall. The red line shows how the large four circles on each arm echo the diameter of the central circle.

14. Atherington 19th July 2017

15. Atherington diagram

Of course we have seen standing walls of crop before but the group displayed in 2017 was, I believe, unique. It emphasizes our inability to fully respond to the symbolism of wall, fence or partition, a symbolism that we should notice.

The subject of walls is currently relevant. Do these 2017 walls suggest inclusion or separation? Or perhaps I am kidding myself. Perhaps simply they are meaningless design features!

THE DIVISION OF THE CIRCLE

There are 360 degrees in every circle though the origin of this crucial number is often questioned. Who took this decision? Of course we can never be certain but the general consensus suggests that the Babylonians fell on it first and subsequently the Greeks were happy to embrace it. The similarity between 360 and 365 is too close to ignore and this raises the issue of time. Should we see the circle as a symbolic year and the degree a hypothetical day? To compound the mystery we must acknowledge the fact that the Mayans, several thousand miles away, used both 360 and 365 in their calendars.

John Martineau’s seminal work in the early ‘90s on the geometry of crop circles has been a vast and continuing resource. Specifically, he showed that radial divisions of circles generated geometric forms embodying ratios and proportions.

16. A circle divided by 3

Diagram (16) shows a circle divided into three parts. One third of 360° is 120° and the circle is accordingly sliced, like a pizza, into three sections. This locates three points on the circumference of the circle. Joining them with yellow lines forms an equilateral triangle. At this point we can place a red circle to be precisely contained within the triangle.

17. A circle divided by 4

Dividing by four (17) the angles shift to 90° and a square is created, this time green. Again a red circle is placed within the square to precisely kiss its sides. Diagram (18) shows a fivefold division bringing a 72° angle which produces a pentagon.

18. A circle divided by 5

The numbers three, four and five, when related to a circle, will produce a triangle, a square and a pentagon and these invoke very specific proportions.

The black line at the perimeter of the circles encloses the geometric forms. This is called the enclosing circle and it connects with the various geometries only at their vertices, points or corners. The red circles are called the enclosed circles. They touch the geometric shapes only at the centres of their straight sides.

Assuming here that, in every case, the outer black enclosing circle has a diameter of 1, we can work out the proportions generated by the different numbers and their geometries.

3, the triangle (16), creates a proportion of 1:2. That is, the enclosed red circle is exactly half the diameter of the prime back circle. In the case of 4, the square (17), the proportion is 1:0.707107 while in the case of 5, the pentagon, (18) the proportion becomes 1:0.809107.

I have given here just three examples but the principles and protocols are universal.  If we take the first numbers, one to ten, we will see that with the exception of seven, they all have a single syllable. When divided into 360, they all, again with the exception of seven, produce a whole number. Seven divided into 360 produces the irrational number 5.142847… which continues infinitely, hence the ellipsis… Moving beyond 10, the number eleven also breaks the rules. First, it has three syllables and second, when divided into 360 it gives us another infinite number, 32.7272…

A curiosity. Two syllabled sev-en rhymes with three syllabled el-ev-en. And they both rhyme with Heaven!

Two further curiosities are Pi and the Master Number Series. Pi is the constant used in calculations of all things circular including spheres, cylinders and cones. Perimeters, areas and volumes cannot be calculated without reference to Pi and, as Pi is also an infinite or irrational number (3.14159265…), for most purposes the simpler 22/7 (3.142857…) is close enough!

And yet another curiosity. There are two principal forms of labyrinth. The first is the classic 7-ring labyrinth, commonly known as the Cretan Labyrinth even though the pattern exists widely throughout the world. The second is the equally classic 11-ring of which the best known example is at Chartres Cathedral.

THE MASTER NUMBER SERIES

The Master Numbers are based on the prime number 11 and its multiples, 22 and 33 continuing to 77, though some believe the sequence runs to 99. These double digit numbers are said to indicate degrees of increased contact and familiarity with other dimensions. The presence of 22, the second Master Number, in the Pi equation is intriguing.

While I can provide no confirmatory evidence for this, I have long believed that the authors of the circles have achieved a higher-dimensional consciousness and the object of their enterprise (or a part of that object) is to acquaint us with, and prepare us for, our imminent elevation to the next dimension. This is no more than a hypothesis but, in the absence of any other “explanation”, I am happy to go with it for the moment.

Master Numbers have occurred only rarely in the crop circle narrative. I might be wrong, and (as always) I welcome further information, but I believe the first manifested Master Number was the 33 peripheral elements in the Silbury Hill formation of 4th May 1998 (19).

19. Silbury Hill 4th May 1998

In 2000 we received two further formations that adopted Master Numbers. The first was the simple North Down formation of 25th July 2000 (20) that had eleven elegantly tapering turbine blades while the second, on 13th August 2000 was at Woodborough Hill (21), sometimes known as Picked Hill. Woodborough was a remarkable formation, meticulous in both geometry and construction. It was yet another formation that referred to Pi, having 44 radial elements, the points around its periphery, and 14 concentric elements, the rings around its centre. 44:14 is equal to 22:7.

20. North Down 25th July 2000

21. Picked Hill 13th August 2000

Oddly, a centuries-old excavation extending down from the flat top of Silbury Hill collapsed in the spring of 2000. The measured depth of the primary collapse was 33 feet. The opening at the top of the hill was left unprotected for some days soaking the edge and resulting in what earth engineers call a “scoop collapse”. The new depth was 22 feet! Now once again I happily expose myself as a gullible old hippy, frantically seeking meaning in what for others would be fortuitous coincidence.

The Master Numbers in the crop circles were delivered to us in a curious order: thirty-three and then eleven and then forty-four. What happened to twenty-two? Did I miss it? And is fifty-five so far beyond our reach that we are foolish to expect it?

One suggestion is that the circle authors take regular soundings of humanity’s spirit to ascertain our readiness, or not, to take the next evolutionary step upward. These numbers might be the metaphorical thermometer readings that they hopefully share with us.

Maybe we should be looking forward to a 55.

THE SHIFT

For decades there has been a widespread sense that a change or SHIFT is about to occur or is in fact already with us. This shift or change in consciousness, density, dimension, frequency or vibration is sensed and discussed widely, though in my view the dominant element here is consciousness. Consciousness seems to subsume all others.

The shift takes many forms. Probably the most widely known is the Ascension, sometimes called the Rapture. This notion is favoured by US Evangelicals who, not satisfied with the certainty that the righteous will be saved and lifted to Paradise, also hold the censorious (and un-Christian) belief that the UNrighteous (you and me) will be left to roast down here. Perhaps, then, this one is not the SHIFT but the LIFT.

YouTube shows us the Pleiadians, the Sirians, the Arcturians (and many others) in attendance. Their consensus is that Earth and its denizens will be, whether we like it or not, moved to a higher spiritual level.  We will they gain access to our cousins’ galactic federations.

The idea that we are receiving messages from other domains is absurd and inconceivable. And yet, and yet…As the venerable John Michell taught: we must learn to believe in almost everything. We must acknowledge the idea that these communications are an affront to all reason while simultaneously holding the possibility that they are not only real but also of great value.

And if we can for a moment give credibility to these events, we must recognise the uncanny uniformity of the ideas they put forward. They all emphasise their concern for us and our earth, they all express their inability to understand our cruelties and aggressions and they all speak of a move towards spirituality and compassion. Above all, these “messages” are consistent in their claim that this transformation is predicted, destined and inevitable. We have little choice in the matter and so we might call it the DRIFT.

What has impressed me over recent years is the way the world, its countries and its inhabitants seem to be splitting and dividing. There is much talk of walls of boundaries and separations. The huge canyon between groups widens every day. I increasingly sense not a shift but a RIFT.

AN ELEPHANT IN THE WHEATFIELD

The other phenomenon that is never mentioned is the impenetrable reality of the crop circles. Think about it. This has been happening for at least thirty years and, despite the goofy and misguided efforts of assorted explanologists, we are not an inch closer to understanding these events. Not a clue, not a hint, not the tiniest of leaks. Plasma vortices! Targets for interplanetary missiles! Blueprints for anti-gravity transport systems! Predictors of eclipses! Methods for enhancing crop yield! Flying pineapples! Most bizarre of all, humans; telepathically directed from elsewhere.

We have learned that even the CIA, the KGB, and MI5 cannot keep secrets! The lids on their supposedly hermetically sealed pots slip open regularly to release hints and odours of what they have been cooking.

22. An elephant in the wheat field

How then have the crop circle authors kept their doors so firmly closed, locked and barred, leaving us poor puzzled humans to our silly futile speculations? Another enigma,

OPENINGS

Despite all this the 2018 season fills me with optimism. There are already several bookings for Crop Circle Teatime (which becomes increasingly rewarding) and Karen and Steve Alexander’s Summer Lectures (the only crop circle conference in the world) will be, as always, an inspiration.

At a Glastonbury Symposium, during the early ‘90s, I suggested that the two essential characteristics for those wishing to enter the strange and demanding world of crop circle research were Discernment and Humility.  Now, some years later, I would add Intuition and Imagination as equally necessary.

If, as I believe, part of the object of the crop circle phenomenon is to help us in our transit from the Third to the Fifth dimension, it would be logical also to assume that we are being encouraged to develop our right-brainedness (intuition and imagination) as opposed to the mechanistic left-brainedness which has been our heritage for too long.

So here is my intuitive contribution.

I have felt powerfully, and for many months, that the 2018 Crop Circle season will be the most diverse and powerful for years.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Photography: Steve Alexander, Hugh Newman

Diagrams: Michael Glickman, Ofmil C Haynes jr

Consiglieri: Karen Alexander, David Bell, Gary King, Albert Lamb