I have certainly mentioned before that the 2009 season was the richest and most enigmatic that we have ever known and probably we will be obsessing over it until we are overwhelmed by next year’s gifts.

At last year’s Devizes Lectures I spoke of the season’s life-forms. We were shown, among others, mushrooms, owl’s heads, carp and jellyfish but, looking back, the theme of winged creatures seemed particularly assertive. I wondered why this might be and I have spent many hours staring at the images of these formations   more »

On 20th August 2008 I posted The Etchilhampton Cross and Two Colleagues in which I referred to the Barbury Castle Menorah of 31st May 1988. I want briefly to digress on the Menorah (1) because it contained an interesting numerical premonition of this year’s Jellyfish of 29th May which is the main topic.

The Menorah was a sacred lamp-stand in the Jerusalem Temple which maintained seven flames. It was not fabricated or assembled but was in fact beaten out of a huge single piece of gold ...   more »

I think it was General de Gaulle who said “Never apologise, never explain”. Despite that, and in a mutinous defiance of his instruction, I must start with both an apology and an explanation. I apologise for my lengthy absence from this column and my explanation is that I found the 2009 season so overwhelming and perplexing that only now am I reassembling my wits.

I was both dazzled and dazed by the quantity, the intensity and the astonishing range of this year’s offerings. I think we all were. Unlike previous seasons, we were left little time to assess, to contemplate or to take stock before the downpour continued. Further confusion was added by the frequent arrival of two, three or more formations on a single day and by the tendency of existing circles to be revisited and amended. This has happened before ...   more »

Nothing has been posted for a long time and certainly much longer than I would have hoped. There are two reasons. First, this last crop circle season, my nineteenth, was by far the most astonishing I have witnessed. The most articulate, the most taxing and, in terms of its legacy, the most demanding by far. It has taken some time to recover and it requires much work.

I was horrified by the speed with which some no-brain lout invaded the immaculate, hermetically enclosed central ring of the West Woods Wavy Cross (see Selfish, thoughtless and stupid 22nd July 2008). Of course it is all too easy to criticise and blame. The truth is, however, that - unless some guidance and some rules of behaviour are available it could be argued that we have no right to expect better ...   more »

During the 1998 crop circle season I was approached by John Vidal, a journalist with the Guardian newspaper who wanted to put together an article on the crop circles. I was a Guardian reader and I knew John Vidal’s work. He reports for the paper on environmental issues and he had written some outstanding material ...   more »

The 2009 season seems to have opened with an explosion. I write at the start of May and we have already had eight formations in rapeseed, each one of which establishes a new standard of quality in the medium. I had been working on analyses of the Morgan’s Hill formation of 24th and the Longbarrow of 3rd May but these were interrupted by the arrival of the majestic Manton formation.   more »

There had been the first dusting of rape blossom yellow in the fields for the past week or so but the crop, or at least the crop that I had seen, appeared a little low. I hoped we might get a formation by the end of the month.   more »

It took me over eight years to finish my book. It was to be called The Bones of God. I found a publisher who told me that - in the information age - this title would not move product. It was changed to Crop Circles: The Bones of God and I am happy enough with that.   more »

A season rarely offers insights about its meaning before the end of the year. Like a good wine, the complexity of this imagery needs some time to settle. Looking back, I see that December, January and February have usually been most productive. It is during these months that intuitions and dimly understood connections clamour most insistently at the door.   more »

In my last piece I said: “The real formation always brings with it a decisiveness, a will and an intent. The real formation carries a sense of completeness. Nothing needs to be added or taken away. There is never the spirit, often found in a fake, of an improvised enterprise.” and “I do not know why the circles arrive here or how they are made. However, it is clear that they come from elsewhere, they are designed elsewhere and their appearance in our reality takes only moments. When a crop circle is delivered, it arrives fully formed.”   more »

Some time ago, I posted a piece called Discernment in which I stated my view - no, my conviction - that the Vesica formation of 6th June by the Kennett Longbarrow was not only a hoax but a remarkably poor one.

This is a recurring dilemma for me. The overwhelming lesson that the crop circles have brought me is that there are no certainties and certainly no Certainties; the phenomenon seems to speak of Perhaps, of Maybe, or of What If? I come away from these years depressed by those who are convinced of their unquestionable Truth and yet, here I was, offering my own version.   more »

Nothing has been posted for a long time and certainly much longer than I would have hoped. There are two reasons. First, this last crop circle season, my nineteenth, was by far the most astonishing I have witnessed. The most articulate, the most taxing and, in terms of its legacy, the most demanding by far. It has taken some time to recover and it requires much work.

Second, I finished the book I have been working on for the last eight years, Crop Circles: The Bones of God. The preparation of text, photographs and diagrams for the publisher was a lengthier task than I had imagined. I hope you can forgive me.   more »

An American friend, making bookings for next year’s accommodation at the Bear Hotel in Devizes, was told that they were fully booked for July 2009. “It’s all those crop circle people” said the bemused receptionist. I can believe her.

I have never seen such a crowded season. We have worked, I suppose, for a greater recognition and, now it is here, I must admit, it carries a sting in the tail. All those buses, all those X-Files ...   more »

I have heard the idea, from several different sources, that the galactic federation of our cousins out there have kept Planet Earth quarantined because of our lack of respect for life.

Now, this sounds eminently reasonable to me ...   more »

When I posted “Discernment” a couple of weeks ago I knew, deep down, that a can of worms would be opened. I did something I do not recall ever having done before in sixteen or seventeen years of writing. I stated that, in my view, a specific formation was man-made. ...   more »

First, matters arising.

In “The return of the Ratchet Spiral” I suggested that the length of the spiral path was 2,880’. I was wrong and, in mitigation, I did say “by rough calculation”. I hope nobody was seriously misled and I hope that you can forgive me.

Now, in a substantially calmer frame of mind, I have recalculated and the path length is about 2,298’. This is extrapolated from an accurate measurement of the centre circle diameter which was 43’. I would have liked to have walked it but did not. The ratchet-steps are 10’9” from centre-to-centre of paths. The spiral path, throughout its length, is 3’4” wide and the internal diameters of the ellipsis circles are 34’8”, 26’8” and 16’8”. I hope this information is useful ...   more »

Rereading my last posting on the Barbury Castle Stepped Spiral I realise that the overwhelming significance of Pi and its appearance now merits further discussion.

Before starting this I should report that there have been some queries as to the precise timing of my work. Bear in mind that both the spiral of the Barbury Castle 1991 formation and the role of Pi in the crop circle narrative have been twin obsessions of mine for many years. To say that Barbury 2 attracted my interest would be a colossal understatement ...   more »

In the middle of July 1991 I got an excited call from George Wingfield. He spoke of "the mother and father of all crop circles" and said it was too enormous and complex easily to be described. I quickly made arrangements to see this marvel ...   more »

Somehow, over the years an early crop circle (sometimes, but not always, the first) has seemed to offer a trailer, a harbinger, a prediction of the pattern and the quality of the season to come.

It seems to me that the lovely Waden Hill formation of 20th April carried those characteristics. Predictions are always dangerous but I sense that Waden Hill bore signals of future geometries and forms ...   more »

Steve and Karen have invited me to write a regular column for their website and I am both grateful and excited.

Since 1991 I have written for various crop circle magazines and websites. It started with John Michell’s Cerealogist (New Swirled Order), went on to Andy Thomas’ SC Magazine (Cornography) and transferred from there to his Swirled News website. That contribution was entitled, despite my vehement objections, The Voice of Reason. I was never happy with this title but Andy insisted that it was intended to be ironic. I bit my tongue ...   more »