Nexus - 0806 - New Times Magazine-pages

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SIGNS OF THE TIMES Crop Circies OF 2001 SIGNS TIMES THE Crop CIRCLES 2001 This year’s crop circle season in England had a slow start, but some spectacular patterns and recurring themes finally graced the landscape. here had been dire warnings from sceptics about this season. The first ever, and much publicised, legal prosecution for a man-made crop formation in late 2000 meant that the land-artists they believed responsible would all stay at home for fear of the law. The threat of hefty trespass fines imposed during the Foot and Mouth crisis afflicting the UK would ensure even further that hardly any circles would appear. Even if a few did, no-one would be allowed in. None of these doom-filled predictions came to pass, and though the season was later to start than many before it, the first UK formations did actually arrive during the height of the Foot and Mouth outbreak in mid-May. No apologies were forthcoming from the scep- tics, naturally. Though access to fields was tighter than before as far as visiting new cir- cles went, the movement restrictions had eased enough by high summer for some farmers to open up their fields without qualms. The first designs picked up on themes begun in 2000. One recurring motif in Wiltshire was a type of mandala based around triangles with curved edges, while one formation at Badbury revived the chequerboard idea founded the year before, but this time encircled by a coiled snake eating its tail, which had a flavour of Aztec or Mayan culture. Aztec sym- bolism eventually came big time in what for many people was the best formation of the year, up at Wakerley Woods, Northamptonshire: a circular segmented arrangement of Aztec calendar signs. In fact, some of the year's most ambitious designs appeared in the north of England. Another spectacular, recurring trait was a form of star mandala, radiating small standing circles in rays, and some other new surprises and unexpected themes such as an ingenious style of interlocking wavy curves which began in July at Windmill Hill, Wiltshire. One universally acclaimed formation, christened "the Angel", was a cluster of crescents with over 70 radiating, perfectly straight lines within it, laid in one continuous sweep of crop without any deviation or wobble. Despite these, though, for some there was a slightly lacklustre feel to the first 50 or so UK glyphs, with few to match the intense impact and ingenuity of masterpieces from for- mer years. The evolution of the designs was perceived to have faltered slightly —though not everyone agreed, citing unrealistic expectations on the part of some observers. However, at the time of writing (mid-August), a major formation has just appeared— which looks like the season may have saved the best for the latter part of the summer. A six-armed fractal "Julia Set" at Milk Hill, Wiltshire, reminiscent of the classic designs from 1996—around 800 feet (244 metres) across and containing around 400 circles of many sizes—has stunned observers with its scale and genius. With a late harvest and at least three weeks still left for the chances of something even more remarkable, and with formations appearing almost by the day, perhaps the circles have just been pacing themselves. But those who believe the phenomenon to be psychi- cally interactive with human expectation have pointed out that the seeds of deliberately spread confusion may have stunted the early development of the crop glyphs in 2001. Certainly, for a year that began with doom-ridden prophecies and low expectations, there was much confusion and hoax paranoia—similar to the feeling which prevailed in 1993, a year which preceded a major renaissance in 1994. The paranoia was boosted late in 2000, with the aforementioned prosecution for the making of one man-made formation. The paltry £100 fine given to the hoaxer hardly proved a disincentive to others, and the upshot was that the wide media coverage given to the story brought an unbalanced focus onto the man-made component of the crop circle phenomenon. This was deliberately stirred further by the prosecuted individual by way of by Andy Thomas © 2001 Southern Circular Research 13 Downsview Cottages Cooksbridge, East Sussex BN8 4TA, UK Email: info@swirlednews.com Images from the Crop Circle Connector website: www.cropcircleconnector.com Images from the Crop Circle Connector website: www.cropcircleconnector.com NEXUS = 61 by Andy Thomas © 2001 OCTOBER — NOVEMBER 2001 www.nexusmagazine.com