Crop circles!

near Salisbury, Wiltshire, May 5th, 2010
Photo by Steve and Karen Alexander www.temporarytemples.co.uk

I seem to have found a new passion, which is the extraordinary phenomenon of crop circles. I had no idea about the scope of the phenomenon, and plan to attend the Circles of Knowledge conference next summer in Wiltshire, UK. held by the Wiltshire Crop circles study group.

Here's a great video I found showing crop circles 2009-2010 - just amazing.

The Wiltshire Crop Circles Study Group describe themselves as "such called because the group is located in the county of Wiltshire in the UK, the most active area for crop circles in the world. The Group was established in 1995 to study the crop circle phenomenon in all its aspects -Physical (scientific evidence - the physical effects on plants and soil),Metaphysical (the meaning encoded in their symbolic designs),Spiritual (their transformative effect). They continue with:

"Since 1980 thousands of designs have been investigated and recorded in databases worldwide. This is impressive by anyone's standard.

• They are found all over the world.
• More than 6,000 have been documented since 1980.
• Over the last twenty years analyses of thousands of plant and soil specimens from hundreds of formations worldwide have been carried out in laboratories in various countries, and most extensively in the UK and in the USA.
• These analyses show that the cellular structure of the plants has been strongly affected and that the composition of the soil greatly altered in crop circles (man made designs exhibit no such results).
• Their designs are based on complex geometry, ancient symbology and advanced mathematics.
• They can be decoded.
• The message that comes through is important for mankind at present."
  

I was stunned to learn, from a related site, Crop Circles and More that over 47 complex circles
have appeared in the UK this summer alone, predominantly in southern England. All the images herein are circles that manifested this summer. Without touching the metaphysical, geomantic, historical and physical mysteries of the Crop Circles, I have to say that they are simply amazing Earth Art! The "Spiral Jetty" in the Great Salt Lake (below), the famous earth work by Robert Smithson in the '70's occurs in many art books, and photos can be seen in the Smithsonian. But to the best of my knowledge, there are no crop circles in the Smithsonian, in fact, they are pretty much ignored in that corner of civilization ..... but almost 50 of these "Earth Works", beautiful mandalas and mysterious symbols......in one summer! Amazing.

"The Spiral Jetty"

Photo by Lucy Pringle (http://www.lucypringle.co.uk/)

Photo by Lucy Pringle (http://www.lucypringle.co.uk/)

Photo by Lucy Pringle (http://www.lucypringle.co.uk/)

Photo by Steve and Karen Alexander www.temporarytemples.co.uk

Last, I couldn't resist the circle below, which is (I believe) something similar to the archaic "Spider and Cross" or "Spider Woman" motif. This occured in West Kennett, Long Barrow, Wiltshire on the 19th of April, 2009, while, interestingly, an important native American conference ("the return of the Ancestors") was going on in New Mexico. See the Spider, Cross, and the Web?