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Crop circles are mysterious phenomena that practically everyone in the western world has become familiar with over the last thirty years, stimulating our imagination, our curiosity and our desire to find the truth as to their origins.

Due to the wider publicity they receive, many people have the misconception that these formations are confined to America, Canada and Europe, but they have actually appeared in dozens of countries. Even countries like Nigeria and Kenya have seen their fair share. The earliest reports of these strange formations actually date back as far as 815AD when one was documented in Lyon, France. In the 17th Century a legend called the 'Mowing of the Devil', tells how an entity visited a farmer's field in England and created a circle in the crops.

The phenomena began in earnest though in Warminster, England in 1972 when Bryce Bond and Arthur Shuttlewood became the first modern crop circles witnesses.

One of the gentlemen was quoted as saying:

“Suddenly, I heard a noise. It seemed as if something pushed down the wheat. That night the air was completely still. I looked around. The moon had just appeared, shining brightly. In front of my eyes I could see a great imprint taking shape. The wheat was forced down in a clockwise direction."

This renewed interest in the crop circle mysteryseemed to be brought crashing to its knees in 1993 when England’s ‘Today�?newspaper revealed that two UFO enthusiasts, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, claimed that they were responsible for many of Britain’s crop circles, saying they had been inspired by strange flattenedcircles which had appeared in reed beds in Tully, Queensland, Australia in 1966.

As the media hysteria subsided and the sceptics gleefully clung onto their 'prize', it became clear that, while Doug and Dave certainly had been busy, the phenomena was so widespread that it was physically impossible for them to have done everything they claimed. So the question on many people's minds suddenly became, if Doug and Dave hadn't made all the circles, who - or what - was making the rest? Could they be a natural phenomena? Was it possible they were being created by extraterrestrials? With circle designs becoming increasingly complex, ranging from the bizarre to the mundane to the truly awe-inspiring, people had also began to question the source of their inspiration. Was it really just the reed beds of Australia? And if these complex designs weren't being derived from nature, then whose mind was creating them?

Are our thoughts really our own?

German existentialist philosopher Martin Heidegger is one of many philosophers who postulated that we don’t actually create thoughts, rather, they come to us. This theory implies that despite what we may believe, our thoughts aren’t our own, rather, they are attracted to us by some as yet unknown universal mechanism. Many metaphysical philosophers believe that in effect, beyond our own awareness, there may be a pool of conscious thought that we all draw upon. We exist under the illusion that our thoughts are our own, but there is no tangible evidence to support that assumption. How do we know that those thoughts don’t already exist in the Aether?

Scientists are aware that as an organ, the brains primary function is to act as a receiver. If that is the case, we could simply be a tool for the transportation of thought to the physical environment we live in. This possibility alarms or confuses a good many people because it would mean that it was possible that every work of art, every invention and every idea we've ever had as a species, came from outside ourselves. Who amongst us can describe where our ideas actually come from? Like Doug and Dave, we might be able to point to a specific stimulus, (in their case, the reed beds), but every single crop circle design had to be imagined in the mind prior to its creation. But where does this imagination originate?

In truth there is no answer to that question. We can’t pinpoint exactly how ideas originate �?they just do. Thus it seems reasonable to wonder, when people create ‘fake�?crop circles, where the original inspiration comes from. The designers assume the ideas which inspire their creations are their own, the same applies to all our thoughts. We merely assume that they are our own; that there is no greater power than the power of our own minds.

We also assume that we have ownership of our own thoughts. But do we truly own our thoughts? Or could it be that we simply tap into a greater power that is external to ourselves; a universal ‘well of thought�?for want of a better expression? If we don’t have ownership of our own thoughts, then it’s quite possible that the hoaxer is just a tool in the divine plan of the universe which would mean that there is no such thing as a fake crop circle, but rather that crop circles may actually originate in a univeral mind, which sometimes expresses itself through the human mind, and sometimes through less obvious means.

Crop circles �?a Nocturnal Phenomena

As most people will be aware, crop circles invariably appear at night. From a practical point of view, this is the only way ‘hoaxers�?can create their circles without risking detection. But another important consideration is that, during sleep, our subconscious minds are in control. Sleep and the subconscious could well be a key factor, because it is our subconscious that interacts with symbols and mandalas. This has led some researchers to wonder if our subconscious could be responsible for somehow projecting symbols from this ‘well of thought�? such as crop formations.

Crop Circle - Tree of Life

The crop circle phenomena has increased steadily since the 1970's, in concert with our increased interest in (and active participation in) meditation, magick, and yoga, as well as belief in metaphysics in general. Interestingly, many crop circle formations reflect key metaphysical pathways, with mystical, magical and spiritual formations such as the tree of life, cube of space, magickal stars and sacred geometry playing prominent roles. The more the people can recognise and relate to these symbols, the more they can subconsciously make a deeper connection to the phenomena itself through them. As a result the ‘new age�?movement continues to expand and grow, delving ever further into the esoteric (i.e. symbolic) side of our nature. Many people view crop circles as 'signs'. We should consider the possibility that the circles and the new age community feed on other - with both being outward expressions of an expanding collective consciousness.

Orbs above Crop Circle

People are very aware of the non-physical experiences that meditation and energy work can bring, but as this develops, is it possible that, in addition to these more subtle energies, meditation may also manifest physical signs that show in our environment as crop circles? We often find that crop circles appear in the same places year in year out, a classic example of this is Avebury in Wiltshire, England. Avebury is home to the largest Neolithic stone circle in the world, making it a so-called ‘sacred site�? Like Stonehenge, Avebury is situated on two of England’s most important ley lines, the Michael and Mary Leys. Ley lines carry energy across the surface of the earth and much of this is psychic energy. Orbs, spheres of energy that manifest when psychic activity is high are often photographed in crop formations. People who have dowsed crop circles, report unusual energetic differences between circles which turn out to have been 'hoaxed', and those of unknown origin.

Fields of thoughts �? Or thought fields?

Gene Roddenberry imagined a future in which Star Trek's Spock could “mind meld�?with others, but what we think of as science fiction might be science fact. Cultures such as the Australian Aborigines have long held a belief in the validity and necessity of the collective consciousness.

The field of quantum physics has been aware of the existence of gravitational, electric, and magnetic fields for a long time. Scientific research in the field of parapsychology indicates that other types of fields, including so called ‘thought fields�? may also exist. Research carried out by Roger Nelson's Global Consciousness Project using RNG (Random Number Generators) for example has suggested that groups of people produce far stronger results than either individuals or couples, even when the group members are unaware of their participation in a group activity. The classic example for this is the universal outpouring of grief experienced when Princess Diana was killed. The question is, whether this same kind of group conscious could be used to create crop circles and if ley lines could provide the channel for these thoughts.

According to Robert Kenny of the Fetzer Institute, the results of current research suggest that millions of minds, when united with a specific focus, can have a powerful effect on the material world, mysteriously influencing normally random physical systems toward higher degrees of order.

Any martial artist or healer will tell you that energy follows thought. If witness testimony is to be believed it seems to be the energy that physically creates crop circles as many report observing balls of energy creating the formations. Science has proved that sound waves of specific frequencies create geometric patterns in sand. It would be foolish to discount out of hand the possibility that thought patterns under certain conditions might work in a similar way.

If some crop circles are the work of human beings that have connected to specific thought forms in a universal ‘well of thought�? and others are the result of the manifestation of group conscious or ‘field of thought�? the third option we need to consider takes us back to the work of Gene Roddenberry. It’s reasonable to consider that we really aren’t alone and that at least some formation could be the work of extraterrestrials who want to either make contact or observe our reaction to the crop circle phenomena.

Chilbolton 'Arecibo message' Crop Circle

Chilbolton 'Arecibo message' Crop Circle

There does seem to be a definite connection between UFO sightings and the appearance of crop circles. Of course, this could be simply ‘coincidence�?but it could also be an indication that at least a percentage of these circles are clear evidence of extraterrestrial contact. Careful analysis of the Chilbolton 'Arecibo message' formation discovered in Chilbolton in England in 2001 revealed binary code embedded in the formation that appeared to reply to a radio transmission that SETI (the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) sent from the Arecibo radio telescope in 1974. Likewise there have been numerous sightings of UFOs around crop circles, whether these UFO’s are responsible for their creation or are sometimes just as curious as us about where crop circles come from, we may never know.

Often what we see in crop formations is based on mathematical models. According to holographic theory and quantum physics, the universe is a mathematical construct, geometrical and fractal imagery factors very highly in these formations and there must be a reason for that. These are not cases of random doodling. Regardless of how they are created, crop circles reflect the signature of the universe �?mathematics, structure and order coming out of the chaos, in the same way, as a species we attempt to establish an understanding of the still uncertain message of the circles.

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