Posted by Michael Glickman on July 4, 2013

As the enigmatic and much debated 2012 slides gently away over the horizon we find ourselves, a little bemused, half way through 2013.

The poles did not shift and the earth’s magnetic shield appears still to be in working order. We did not have three days of darkness and nor were the righteous whisked away to salvation in mother ships leaving us, the wretched and sinful Unredeemables, to fry down here.

In fact, nothing calamitous seems to have happened on the 21st December 2012!

A FEAR-SEEKING SPECIES
We earthlings are a charmed and charming bunch. Often angelic, creative and gracious, we lurch easily into the dark and fearful. Our default position is too often paranoia. Thus the Mayan prophecy which, as I understood it, predicted changes in the nature of time was widely (and gleefully) interpreted as a prediction of the End-of-the-World. Why do we always embrace the bleak and the scary?

We should remind ourselves that, at the start of the Millennium, people confidently predicted the breakdown of all systems of communication. Airliners, they believed, would flutter down from the skies like autumn leaves. They were wrong.

The 2012 Event (we assumed it would be an Event) was anticipated in Cinemascope or Imax. Whatever our individual leanings, we expected a tangible, cataclysmic, one-off Hollywood-style incident. We expected a massive world-wide revelatory happening. And, just like the Millennium, nothing appeared. What did we learn?

A PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Last October I was taken to hospital. I will neither whinge nor bore you with sickness narratives or “poor me” details. Suffice it to say that this week in hospital marked the start, for me, of a seemingly endless period of serious illness and depression. Bleak and Scary.

I have never been blessed with radiant good health but I thought that I was fully up-to-date with my Sickness Fairy Fund dues. I was, however, in for a rude awakening. Without ever fully understanding or being told what was wrong with me, I was discharged after eight days, unable to eat, unable to walk and with a consignment of no less than fourteen separate pharmaceuticals.

My sons, concerned about my miserable condition, urged me to move to London to be closer to them and, at my lowest ebb, I agreed. I started seeking housing options in London (shockingly dispiriting), boxing up my books (depressing) and facing the reality of leaving my lovely house in the Vale of Pewsey with its memories of many crop circle seasons, adventures and friends. The reality of this move became intolerable and was soon abandoned. At about this time I faced the fact that I had no idea how the pharmacy mountain was supposed to be helping me. Not only was there no tangible benefit, in fact it was making me feel worse than ever. I took a deep breath and told my doctor that I would not take any more pills. This decision (though it evoked dire professional warnings) marked a turning point for me. I started slowly to recover my mobility. my appetite and, above all, my working mind.

This episode lasted months. With brilliant clarity I was forced to confront just how fundamentally random and flimsy is our life here on earth. During these months, I saw a remarkable number of marriages and relationships breaking up (though others formed), people changing careers and occupations, others moving house and sometimes country. There was an unusual amount of anxiety, searching and depression and, though the individual story was different, I was not alone.

For others there were many appalling diagnoses. My mother died, as did an old and dear friend, each after a long illness. And then, a few weeks ago, Stanley Messenger, the true elder of the crop circles (though I imagine few of you have even heard of him) died in Glastonbury at a venerable 96. Three of my most important guardians of the Mortality Portal had slipped sideways.

Eventually, and gratefully, I emerged from this dark and baleful period.

AN EXPLANATION AND TWO APOLOGIES
I used to believe it was de Gaulle who said “Never apologise, never explain” but Google informs me that it was, in fact John Wayne.

Thus, instead of defying the General I find myself defying the Duke.

The previous account explains – I hope – why the site has been silent for so long. I apologise (a) for my absence and (b) I am very sorry for the “misery memoir” nature of that explanation. I have hated writing it and it has taken longer to complete than any other piece I recall.

A SMALL REVELATION
It had to be written though because it generated for me an arresting revelation. As I lay, sick and immobile, contemplating gloomily my relationships with the Universe, with Mortality and with the Future and – inevitably – with Crop Circles, 21st December 2012 came and went with as little fanfare for me as for anyone else.

And then I realised that this experience, broadly centred on December, had been my own, my personal 2012. This tentative insight led me to observe and question my friends and colleagues. Many of them, though certainly not all, felt that they, too, had been through strange or disturbing events which, though not alarming, had been unusual. The idea of a personal 2012 sat comfortably with many.

I spoke to Jeff Stray, our preeminent 2012 scholar, and he tells me that several people have reported similar experiences.

As the weeks passed there were other revelations.

N.E.W. – THE NEXT EVOLUTIONARY WORLD
I found that, during my virtual absence, registrations for the website newsletter and bookings for Crop Circle Teatime had increased dramatically. To find pleasant and unexpected occurrences at the end of this period of isolation and darkness was an encouragement. And then I noticed other unsolicited, but equally gratifying, events. My health improved, I started to write (and think!) again. There were synchronicities, intuitions and a surprising number of small gifts.

I put forward these ideas tentatively. However, since I emerged, I notice a real though subtle shift. All those things we hoped 2012 and the N.E.W. would bring appear to be – little by little – manifesting. The Universe seems to be more responsive, even obliging. I am learning not only to ask but to expect.

Many will read this with derision. Some will read it as yet more optimistic ramblings of a delusional Bliss Bunny and indeed, it might well be! They will complain that a most superficial view of the world will reveal unprecedented levels of horror, conflict, disaster and deprivation. Clearly this is so. But as the great John Michell said “You will find what you look for”. And an increasing number choose to seek and notice only that which confirms their pessimism.

For me, depressing as the headlines might be, I find occasional but persistent bright new shoots poking through the dank earth. Here in England, formerly bulletproof institutions such as the police, the banks, the hospitals and the press are now subject to stringent and unaccustomed enquiry. Words like “accountability“ and “transparency” are used. The notions of conscience, ethics and probity are more in evidence. Surely this is encouraging. The media, when scanned with a little forbearance and discernment will often reveal surprisingly hopeful items. There are small hints of transformation in public consciousness.

AND THE CROP CIRCLES…
These are only speculations and conjectures about 2012 but they might illuminate our shifting relationship with the crop circle phenomenon.

I had assumed for years that 2012 would bring an evolutionary change which would be comprehensively available to all. My experience confirmed that the 2012 shift was, for me at least, a personal and salutary event. Others have reported similar reactions.

Perhaps this offers an insight into the function and purpose of the crop circle phenomenon. For over a quarter century we have approached it as a problem to be solved or an enigma to be explained.

John Michell, again, said “To comprehend a phenomenon you must first understand its effects on people.” John Martineau, speaking of the circles in the mid ’90 said “They’re actually designed as mirrors. You have this idea in a lot of Metaphysics that you polish your soul to become like a mirror so that, in everything that you do, you’re mirroring God back to himself. And

I think they’re very much like that. They’re almost perfect mirror things. So as a set or family of glyphs, whatever state you’re in, whatever you’re thinking about, you will be enriched by their contemplation.”

So this 2012 experience confirms for me a long-held intuition: the circles will never bring a final consensus flash of understanding. Instead they offer, season by season, formation by formation a curriculum for individual transformation. The more we give our attention, the greater will be the reward.