Personal Numbers
PERSONAL NUMBERS
Towards the end of the ‘90s I wrote a column, Cornography, for SC (formerly Sussex Circular), a pioneering little monthly edited by Andy Thomas. Towards the end of 1997 I suggested that sevenfold geometry would be a part of the crop circle offering during the 1998 season.
We had never had seven, a magical number of great significance. Known as the virgin because of its refusal to combine readily with other numbers it is also said to symbolise (according to John Michell) Spirit and Revelation, What Lies Behind the Veil and the Eternal Feminine. Certainly an impressive group of characteristics.
THE SEVENS OF 1998
To my surprise (and I admit, to my gratification) the enormous East Field sevenfold fractal (1) appeared on 9th July 1998.
It was welcomed with great pleasure. We had never seen a sevenfold and nor had we seen so gigantic a single area of laid crop. (It was later calculated that the Roundway “Splash” of 31st July 1999 (2) was even larger in area.
Though not a part of the 1998 cluster, it was also sevenfold.) Many thought that East Field was the first of the group but in fact the simple Danebury Rings formation (3) had arrived a few days earlier on the 5th July.
Diagram (4) shows, once again, the crop circles’ fascination with Euclid’s Second Theorem. A circle contained by an equilateral triangle is exactly half the diameter of the circle containing that triangle.
The Tawsmead Copse formation (5) of 9th August was the last of the 1998 sevenfold collection. 1998 marked the introduction of seven which, since that time has been a regular occurrence.
Tawsmead Copse was outstandingly beautiful and well formed. The East Field/Tawsmead Copse pair followed the pattern established by the sixfold Silbury Hill Koch fractal of 23rd July 1997 (6) and the Milk Hill formation of 8th August 1997 (7).
In both cases the later formation while retaining e same external silhouette had an elaborate decorative rosette at its centre.
I was rather bewildered by the success of my “prediction” but, emboldened, I suggested that squares would be a significant theme of 1999.
THE SQUARES OF 1999
I was still living in California in 1999 and my son met me at Heathrow to deliver me to Stanton St Bernard where I was to stay. This was the 23rd June. As we arrived at Stanton we noticed a formation (8) in the closest arable field to my rented cottage. Its centre featured a Celtic cross, or a Quintuplet with satellites linked on an orbit ring. It is an attribute of both the quintuplet and the Celtic Cross forms that they generally comply with orthogonal, or right angle, geometry. This positions the four small satellite circles into a perfectly square configuration. The Stanton formation did not rigorously obey orthogonal geometry but was clearly aspiring to it! It had landed on the morning of my arrival, 23rd June. And then, a couple of days later, I found that there had been two other formations on 23rd June and they both played with squareness.
The Allington Cube (9) was constructed using isometric projection which relies on 30° and 60° to simulate perspective. Since 1999 there have been several cubes and many isometric projections but I believe Allington was the pioneer.
The third arrival on the morning of 23rd June 1999 was the West Overton Octahedron (10). This shape will not be immediately familiar but diagram (11) shows how, if folded and glued, the shape (eight triangles) will form two pyramids, which can then be hinged together, base to base like a clamshell, to make an octahedron (12).
Arriving later on 4th July, but still an exploration of an aspect of the square, the West Kennett fractal marked the culmination of the square sequence of 1999.
It was as though the crop circle phenomenon was saying “So. You want squares? We’ll show you squares!” The Stanton formation included a Celtic cross, which for me had long been a metaphor for the square. Allington simply took the square to its solid 3D form, the cube, while West Overton illustrated the cube’s sibling, the octahedron. And this extraordinary display was concluded with the beautiful and meticulous West Kennett square fractal (13).
THE ELEVEN OF 2000
Readers will have noticed that I am infatuated (if not obsessed) by the numbers generated by the crop circles. Seven and eleven, the rhyming sisters, have fascinated me especially for many years and for many reasons. Their relationship to π, pi, twenty-two divided by seven is particularly arresting.
And so, encouraged by the results of 1998 and 1999 I tentatively mentioned 11. On the morning of 25th July 2000 an excited Andreas Muller called me to say “You’ve got your eleven. I’m standing in it!” (14)
The elegant turbine-like formation had eleven gracefully tapering “blades”. The angle between every pair of blades was 32.7272…°, an irrational or infinite number. Yet another enigmatic gift of eleven.
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?
These events took place about twenty years ago. I have never written about this and nor have I ever referred to it in a lecture. Looking back, I confess that I was embarrassed. I am not psychic and I am not given with premonitions. Embarrassed because people, my friends and colleagues, assumed that I had somehow gained the gift of prophecy. They expected me to be able to predict future events!
I found this to be irksome. At the Glastonbury Symposium in the early ‘90s I had suggested that Humility and Discernment were absolute prerequisites for anyone involved in Crop Circle research and now Temptation was winking seductively at me through one of the many doorways to self-agrandisement. I was horrified. Though thereafter I have occasionally speculated (lightly) about future formations, I am wary about predictions.
So how could this happen? My adversaries and cynics and explanologists generally will trot out the usual three lines – 1. I made the formations myself. 2. I am a liar. 3. It is all simply a coincidence.
But, over the last quarter century it has become normal – boringly normal – for those close to the circles to experience synchronicities and interactions. These are often so specific that we must accept that there is a working interactivity or telepathy at play. And, if this is so, it cannot be unreasonable to suppose that we, any of us, might sometimes be roped in (knowingly or not) to play a small part in a larger enterprise.
NUDGES FROM ELSEWHERE
Given my abiding interest in the circles and in particular the number, geometry and symbolism they embody, I was pleased to see that this year, 2018, has a relationship to eleven, 2 + 0 + 1 + 8 = 11.
Perhaps this might indicate that 2018 will bring a significant season.
During 1999 and 2000 the formations seemed to reiterate the number 29. The Silbury Hill formation (15) of 24th July 2000 had six small pentagrams each perfectly made of five triangles. A total of thirty with one of them conspicuously dislodged. Thirty minus one – 29!
On 6th August 1999 we had the seminal Bishops Cannings basket (16). It had seven arms, each formed of four precisely diminishing rings. A total of twenty eight with a small central ring. Twenty eight plus one, 29!
The number 29 had no significance for me. My geometer numerologist friends could add little. Working on Windmill Hill (17), 22nd July 2000, I noticed that each of its twin “lobes” displayed twenty nine (again!) points but, even more crucially, I saw the date – 22nd July or 22/7. Now of course twenty two over seven or twenty two divided by seven is a simple method of deriving Pi (π). But perhaps the idea of division is too complex to be conveyed in laid wheat. Perhaps, someone somewhere supposed, a simple addition, 22 + 7 =29, would be more easily understood.
Here we touch another idea that appears to be central to the crop circle programme, the circling of the square. For this to be achieved, or even approached, Pi is essential. The insistent presence of twenty nine is not the only reference to Pi. We have had several formations presenting twenty two and seven as separate components.
And looking back, I realise that 2018 will be my twenty ninth crop circle season. Perhaps this indicates that 2018 will be, for me at least, a brilliant year. My birthday will be in mid May. I will be 77, the product of 7 x 11.
Please excuse these perhaps overlong numerological and self referential ramblings. Meanwhile we have had the first and exquisite circle of the year.
THE POND SKATER
Pond Skaters, or Water Skippers tread lightly on their chosen surface. It might be a stretch to remind ourselves just how lightly the crop circles dance over their surfaces.
The Pond Skater formation (18), the first this year, arrived on the 8th May and is an optimistic overture to the 2018 season. Precisely what this insect is intended to represent is beyond us but diagrams (19) and (20) demonstrate how this crop event conforms to the Flower of Life geometry.
It is interesting that the skater has six legs with two small ones at the front small and hidden. The FoL diagram is normally based on six circles but here only four are used. The four circles representing the centres of the four FoL rings are located at the “feet” of the insect and they might be viewed as metaphorical flotation aids. It can skate because of its lightness but also because it is able to exploit the surface tension of still water. Image (21), shows how the water surface is “buckled” by the insect’s weight.
I hope this humble insect is a foretaste of this seasons offerings.
I have been seeing the reoccurring numbers 7-11 for many years. It also happens to be my birth date 7 November.
Thank you for this thought provoking article.
A great start to the season, from the circle phenomenon & yourself.
Cheers Michael
The song When You Wish Upon A Star came to mind as I read and looked at the designs. What a beautiful communication device. And the numbers are so interesting too.
Yes! A reminder of how dear and extremely important our insects are, for life and crops all over the world.
Thank you for sharing your personal experiences and your wise observations. Your “ramblings” give those of us appreciating the formations from a distance, a deeper experience of their beauty and significance.
Ha ha – the delightful (or not) paradox of being ABLE to refer to synchronicity with the term ‘boringly normal’
Here’s to treading lightly, for the time being xo
I too am a numerological 7-11
Convenience store karma, perhaps.
…and circular logic.
Oh, thank heaven!
My name in Tibetan numerology is 1179. I vibe to this no. & also to 8’s. I believe
that numbers are a universal language leading us to truth & revelation.
Hair raising logic! thank you.
Lovely. Thanks again Michael for your insight!
Michael,
Do you know if Denni Clarke still offers tours? I visited you three times with her groups, last time in 2004.
Do you know how I can reach her?
Are you still available for Circle Visits?
Thanks for you and all you do!
Susan Lobo
USA
Awesome! Happy I revisited your site, it’s been about five years for me and this was spectacular. Your numerology is very reflective of another contemporary blogger serialbrain2! The patterns and the language the decoding of the numbers speaks volumes!
I’ve had 7-ll on my mind for many years – I was born in England – 7-11-43. I was always aware that there was ‘something’ about those numbers. I didn’t know ‘exactly’ what it was until years later.
I remember having my mind BLOWN wide open in the 80’s by the initial crop circles phenomena.
Then, in the 90’s, I had a stroke. I forgot everything. But this year, I happened to see Michael on
YouTube, talking about these marvelous things and I was “back in business”.
Thank you Michael – for all that you are and all that you do.