CROP CIRCLES REAL OR HOAX?

Our world is filled with mysteries and is far more amazing than any of us can presently imagine. But now and then a mystery reveals a little of itself to us and we are left in awe at the beauty and the precision of it all. Such is the case with crop circles

During the last eight years, wonderful pictograms have been arriving in the cereal crops in more than a dozen countries worldwide, including Australia, Canada and the U.S. Formations are even found in the rice patties of Japan, where the swirled and woven patterns appear 2-3 inches above the water. England has the highest number of crop circles with more than 3,000 in the last fifteen years. In the late 80’s, they started out as simple circles and slowly have progressed to more complex patterns. We don’t know how they are formed or who is making them but we have gained a little knowledge of them, due to the careful research of biophysicist and crop circle expert, Dr. William C. Levengood in Michigan. He is convinced that whatever causes the crop circle phenomenon uses a rapid and intense energy (possibly microwave) which produces cellular changes in affected plants. These plants have shown consistent changes in cell structure and seed germination rate.

I want to elaborate on some of the changes found in crop circle plants so you will understand how researchers and scientists can easily tell the difference between a legitimate circle and a hoax.

Each cell in a plant has what are called cell pits. These are microscopic cavities variously arranged throughout the cells which allow metabolic processes to occur and gasses to flow through living plants. In the cells of plants in a crop circle these cell pits are greatly enlarged, due to the intense heating and expansion of the water within each cell. Numerous experiments have shown that if a plant is heated for longer than 40 seconds with microwave energy, dehydration takes place and the plant will burn. Since the plants in a crop circle are not burned in any way but show the enlarged cell pits, then we have to assume that the forming of these crop circles takes place in about 30-40 seconds. If the time were longer than that, the plant would literally be cooked, but instead crop circle plants continue to grow.

Seeds in the formation plants germinate faster than normal and, in fact, grow 45% faster than plants outside the circle. It has always been felt that if scientists can affect even a 5% increased growth rate, they were doing very well. And here we have a 45% growth rate which cannot be explained.

The cereal crops are swirled, usually counter-clockwise, and woven together. Generally this weave is like a basket or like that of cloth. Multiple layering is a common phenomenon and varies in complexity from 2-5 or more layers. Each layer running the opposite direction from the one above it.

There have been several cases in Canada and England that are quite unusual — the circles contain compressed porcupines. Most animals, given the slightest warning of impending danger, will fly or run away. The porcupine, however, stays put, relying on its sharp quills for defense. A mature porcupine weighs about 25 pounds and stands at least 12 inches tall. The ones that have been found in the crop circles have been compressed down to 2-3 inches by some tremendous force. Also, there have been at least two cases where a skid mark in the soil, embedded with broken quills, showed the unfortunate porcupine had been dragged by force from the edge of the formation into the center. Its quills were oriented in the same direction as the swirled wheat.

The geometry of crop circles is most amazing. Astronomer and mathematician Gerald Hawkins analyzed the photographs of a number of crop circles in terms of geometry and discovered a surprising relationship. He found that in many circles there was a consistent pattern of diatonic ratios that matched the white keys on a piano. Diatonic ratios are fundamental to music, with a ratio in the diatonic scale being the step up in pitch from one note to another. It can be measured exactly. Said Hawkins, “The probability that this was random chance was 1 to 25,000.”

Crop circles have strange qualities about them. Electrical equipment usually jams or malfunctions. People walking in the circle hear a strong buzzing or humming sound. There seems to be a very real energy, felt during the first three days or so of its existence, that can do one of several things to people who are walking in a new circle: they can develop a migraine headache and nausea, they can become unconscious and fall to the ground, or they can go home and feel generally awful for several days. Not everyone feels this energy in every circle; the energy seems to target certain people in a group and work on them. But after the ill effects wear off, the person feels better than they have felt for years. In fact, if you get “zapped,” you are actually the envy of your fellow circle walkers because it means that in a few days you will feel absolutely wonderful and this will stay with you for some time.

There are so many beautiful circles that it is hard to pick a favorite, but if I had to choose a couple that I expecially like, one would be the Mandelbrot Set formation found in Eckleton, England in 1991 and the other would be the formation found the same year at Barbury Castle, Wilshire, England. An IBM research fellow, named Benoit Mandelbrot, utilized high-powered computers to develop the field of fractal geometry used to study Chaos Theory and its application to patterns of growth in the natural world. Essentially, he discovered the computerized form that represents the mathematical formula where order in the universe breaks down into chaos. The crop circle formation found that day in England was a precise replica of the computerized form, called the Mandelbrot Set. Here for the first time, in this crop circle, was a clearly recognizable mathematical shape. If communication is one of the motives of the circle-makers, then at least we could understand this formation they sent our way. But what a form to use — the one where order breaks down into chaos. Are they trying to tell us something about our world….. and are we listening?

Another absolutely fascinating circle, the Barbury Castle formation, was an equilateral triangle, 177 feet on each side with a 75-foot diameter circle at each corner. Its longest overall measurement was approximately 330 feet and embodied geometry at the very highest order. Most interesting is the fact that there was a direct symbolic link between the circles at the corners of this triangle and the lower circles on the Tree of Life of the Qabala, these circles representating the activating agents through which the Divine becomes Manifest in the relationships which permeate all living things and objects. The Barbury Castle configuration can be seen, then, as a symbolic figure of the Divine order that exists at the interface between one level of matter and another.

Whereas the Mandelbrot Set operates as a modern fractal geometry image showing the boundary between one level of reality and another, the Barbury Castle formation is an ancient symbol of this relationship between one level of reality and another.

Most crop circle researchers believe that something is trying to communicate with us in the only way it knows how … symbols. We must learn to understand what all this means for ourselves and our planet. At this point, crop circles are a beautiful mystery but I’m hoping that soon we will decipher what they are trying to tell us.

References:

Center for Crop Circle Studies Newsletter, California, Summer 1993.

Davis, Beth (ed.), Ciphers In The Crops, Gateway Books, Bath, England, 1992.

Deetken, Chad, “Comparison of British & Canadian Crop Circle Lays,” MUFON UFO Journal, August 1993.

Howe, Linda Moulton, Glimpses of Other Realities, Volume I: Facts and Eyewitnesses, LMH Productions, Huntingdon Valley, PA, 1993.