Form is no other than Emptiness

Emptiness no other than Form

Form is exactly Emptiness
Emptiness exactly Form
- Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra

If you were going to run an intervention on mankind at disaster’s

brink, what would you do? If you were, say, a 5th dimension non-human entity
with vastly superior intelligence and technological prowess, grounded within
deep spiritual awareness - with boundless compassion for the rapidly
unfolding fearfulness on Planet Earth - what could you and your brethren do
to move us troubled humans toward a peaceable, sustainable existence?
What would your action plan look like?

It is abundantly evident to me that human populations, in the face of

their enormous problems, are highly fearful, reactive and belligerent. They
are susceptible to gross misinterpretation, denial and delusion. Predictably,
any kindly approach from “on high” will be cynically received and thwarted by
many. Sending an intergalactic mothership to hover over the United Nations
headquarters in New York, to boom down practical advice (in English of
course) seems an unlikely strategy to succeed in advancing noble human
behavior. Our news media would be incapable of dealing with that sort of
event. Talk radio would go even more insane. Many, many would automatically
react with terror, and the current political order would come unraveled.
Advanced intelligences would know better, would not be so silly as to come at
humans in so crude a fashion.

Humankind would have to be approached very gently, lovingly, in ways

that do not frighten or alarm. The early strategy might well be to simply
raise awareness that intelligences beyond the reach of Homo Sapiens
actually exist. That alone would initiate an epistemological revolution on the
order of Copernicus – who declared that the Earth was not the center of the
Universe – but rather just a tiny part of a larger, heliocentric system.
Reconciling ourselves with the fact that we are but one form of conscious
awareness among many in this Universe awaits us in the next revolution in
our existence. That, in my evolving view, is the role of crop circles.

◊ ∆ Ο

It is with this perspective that ZuVuYah (Diana), my life partner, and

I set out for Wiltshire, England, in the summer of 2009. We wanted to
explore the crop circle phenomenon, which has visited that area for unknown
centuries, but most intensively and under greatest scrutiny for the past 30
years. For every year, without fail, these formations have mysteriously and
spontaneously appeared in the crop fields –
always original, sometimes thematic, some
with magnificent rocket science complex-
ity. Their origins cannot be wholly proved
or disproved; the vast majority go
unclaimed by humans. In 2009 some 60+
crop formations manifested in south-
western England, beginning with this one
reported on April 14th, near Avebury,
Wiltshire, in oilseed rape, a tall, rather
brittle, beautiful yellow flowering plant,
from which canola is made. 118 ft across.
 We arrived July 31st, at the height of the season, after the oilseed,
barley and oats had been harvested, and just as the wheat fields were
rapidly ripening. Most crop circles appear in wheat, and several occurred
during the 11 days we were there. Here are a couple that we were privileged
to enter. These photos were taken by me from a small helicopter I hired for
an hour for an aerial tour:

Ogbourne Maizey, near Marlborough – reported July 29th

 West Kennett – reported June 21st – wheat has ripened

So, do they always happen in England, and why? goes the oft-asked
question. Actually there is credible documentation of crop formations from
all over the world, including Wilbur, in eastern Washington – hosting three so
far - including one this past July. Few are reported from Africa and South
America. But the Wessex Triangle of South Central England, an hour or so
west on the M4 from Heathrow Airport, is the cradle of the phenomenon.
Here lie the rolling quilts of green pastures and oddly shaped fields of
ripening wheat, oats and barley. The patterns are angularly conjoined with
hedgerows, and islet copses float in the cropland - a composed and verdant
hamlet sits here or there – forming a visually compelling tableau and medium
into which to settle a divinely beautiful piece of installation landscape art.
Seems an obviously wonderful choice, say I.

Smeathes Plantation, below the Ridgeway national trail, Ogbourne Downs

August 6th fly-over
Alton Barnes – reported June 29th - over 1,500 feet in length – laid down in
three stages
 South Field, near Alton Priors, reported June 27th

Now, if the presumption is made that some federation of wise

corporeal, or non-corporeal entities are communicating in an ineffable and
symbolic fashion, interpretable in countless ways by anyone, and their
intention is to be seen, photographed, measured, walked in, meditated in,
napped in, dowsed – then locating these formations in a wired countryside in
the First World makes sense. Microlight aircraft, helicopters, high-speed
internet, mobile phones, digital cameras, a network of roads, bridleways, and
trails all ensure that images and text spread the news of a new formation
around the world, often in less than a day - in English, a widely understood
language. And England, and the nearby countries of Germany, the
Netherlands, France, Italy and Scandinavia supply the highly educated
eccentrics and liberal thinkers who ponder, film, discuss, lecture, and write
books about this mystifying phenomenon.

Further, it is often postulated that the standing stones of Avebury

and Stonehenge, the iconic earthen mound, Silbury Hill, and many smaller
tumuli mounds and barrows were so situated by Neolithic groups capable of
sensing energy channels in the Earth’s magnetic field. They marked powerful
locations in the most reverential way they could imagine: with enormous
blocks of hard sarsan sandstone and earthen mounds. Crop circles often play
off of these ancient constructions, or appear in alignment with one or more.

Silbury Hill, reported July, 5th - wheat

 The Farmers

In the two summers visiting England I haven’t met any farmers. Not
that I’ve tried. ZuVuYah and I had to leave a formation when the farmer’s
daughter arrived and in an impatient huff began ordering everyone to leave –
perhaps a dozen of us – because the machine was coming to begin harvesting,
or sadly, to just cut out the offending formation. There seems to be a
cultural schism between the admirers of crop circles, and the owners of the
land and cereal grain crops in and upon which they are created. To be sure,
farmers’ attitudes vary. Some are as awe-struck as anyone, and while they
would not have wished for an event in their field, will allow it to remain and
accept that there will be visitors. Others insist on believing they are victims
of vandalism by organized groups – with vague motives – and feel the best
way to discourage further occurrences is to immediately deface the
formations or cut them out. But then, sometimes the circle makers get
playful . . .
 In this sequence the original formation is
defaced by the farmer, only to have
embellishments added over two successive
nights. What must he have thought? The
original was never photographed from above.
The first photo (previous page - left) was taken
of an apparent exact replica which appeared
close by - two weeks later.

Certainly there is unrecoverable damage to a portion of the crop after

an impressive formation has been walked in by hundreds of people. And this
translates into a financial loss, seasoned with farming families’ anger and
resentment. Crop circle activists have begun providing farmers with “pay
drums” which are placed in or near a formation to receive donations, and
thus provide some recompense for the damage and permission to enter the
field. I have heard that well-managed access has in fact returned greater
revenue than the value of the lost grain. The pay drums, or “honesty boxes,”
come in a variety of configurations, but all must be heavy and awkward to
discourage theft! Here are a few examples:
Farm tractor delivering a Pay Drum – Milk Hill near Alton Barns
 Many people whose imaginations and hearts are fired by crop
formations feel compelled to enter them; to physically experience and
confront them; to marvel and talk and walk the gestural spaces created by
the standing and laid crop. Observing from the flank of a nearby hill, if that
is even possible, doesn’t satisfy this primal drive to be in them. And if one is
of the conviction that these formations are important communications to all
Earthlings – that they are perhaps sacred gifts from divine entities, then
they are ours, not the farmers’ – the land owners are under moral obligation
to allow people access. In exchange for access, some rules: make fair
payment; stay on the tram lines (parallel tracks which tractors drive on to
seed and spray) and out of the surrounding crop; keep dogs under tight
control; caution children to be mindful walking the laid crop; no smoking or
fires; and whatever other restrictions make sense.

If a farmer, whose field now sports a new crop formation of wondrous

complexity and graphic beauty, can rise to the challenge and bring a small
degree of organization to this event – pay box, sign, stakes or flagging to
guide people a bit – he is likely to be greatly appreciated and rewarded in
many ways. By choosing to run his harvester over the formation in a rage, he
not only distresses many others, he loses out financially and creates
animosity. Such is the love/hate tension in the fields. There are reasons to
suggest the circle makers keenly perceive in just whose field they are
creating a formation – whether it will be scorned and made the object of
outrage and damaged; or grudgingly admired albeit with the frustration of
having to cope with intruders, for a few weeks, until harvest.

Martinsell Hill, near Wooton Rivers – reported July 19th – wheat - note how
the harvester has avoided cutting the formation - for a short while.

Harmonic & Sacred Geometry

There are these rather intriguing and brainy people who spend
intensive hours geometrically dissecting complex patterns, by hand or with a
computer. This “back-engineering” exercise begins to reveal in detail how
the pattern is proportioned, and how one element relates to another. The
level of intelligence underlying the designs, bordering on astounding genius,
begins to shine out. Humankind has universally ascribed meaning to number
and to geometrical shapes: the circle, square, triangle, pentagram and
pentagon, etc. And because the human imagination grounds itself in
archetypal images and symbols, the integral composite of these geometrical
assemblies evokes interpretation and meaning, even if not perceived
consciously. Thus, some say, gazing at these patterns directly communicates
with deep, unconscious layers of our minds, engaging the archetype:
Definition: an inherited idea or
mode of thought derived from the racial
experience and present in the
unconscious of the individual.
This is how a Hindu or Buddhist
mandala is thought to work. Geometric
diagrams can be contemplated as still
moments revealing a continuous, timeless,
universal action generally hidden from
our sensory perception. Are we
therefore being guided in some direction,
toward some fundamental place within
our collective consciousness; toward a
more evolved awareness, a quantum leap
in perception, as from a chimpanzee to
Homo Sapiens, and thence to . . .

Windmill Hill - reported May 25th

in barley

It has been discovered that some crop circle patterns encode diatonic
ratios, the mathematical laws that govern the Western musical scale.
Cymatics - the capturing of sound waves as they travel through physical
substances is relevant here. Powder scattered on vibrating metal disks
assumes different geometric expressions as a function of pitch. Shape and
sound are directly related; they create one another. There is also a
symbiotic relationship between sound and light. When the learnėd minds of
crop circle studies advance ideas around the possible mechanisms that cause
immense numbers of cereal grain stalks to lay over so precisely, they discuss
light and sound frequencies, perhaps un-measurable with current technology.
Crop circles can be seen as tonal patterns from an unseen reality.

Wayland’s Smithy, Oxfordshire - Reported August 12th

 So are crop circles . . . sacred? Does it make sense to call them
“temporary temples?” And are they a genuine art form? “Art is the
beginning of vision into the realm of higher life,” I once copied down while
listening to Ideas on CBC radio. Well, crop circles certainly qualify under
that criterion, as I attempted to describe above. They are the largest,
most mathematically complex, most mysteriously created form of landscape
installation art – and they are used as temples, spontaneously and unbidden
by chanters, meditators, singers, dancers, drummers, gongers. All are
intrigued with experiencing, on some level, that realm of higher life. Higher
life? That’s where form and emptiness merge, and all is light, and all is
sacred. And God is therefore both immanent and transcendent, wave and
particle, matter and spirit.

Silbury Hill – reported August 3rd - destroyed within a day

 Sacred geometry offers a direct conduit to primal consciousness… to
Source. It is a configurative language, a systems language, of the elemental
components of the creative force that gives birth to all life. This language
bypasses the dogmatic perimeters of the intellect to transmit knowledge
that exists beyond the reach of religion, philosophy, belief or disbelief.

“The Universe begins to look more like a great thought, than a

great machine.” Sir James Jeans – physicist, cosmologist

Of course, not everyone behaves reverentially inside crop circles.

There are plenty of unconscious visitors with dogs, loudly yakking on mobile
phones: “Yeah we can tell that it’s been faked, and we know who done it.”
But worse, Muggles will
crash through standing
crop, thereby leaving a
path of crushed wheat,
marring the design,
especially when seen
from the air. Michael
Glickman, a well
regarded author,
geometer, and speaker
on crop circles has
funded from his own
pocket a pink booklet:
Crop Circle Etiquette –
guidelines for visiting
formations. The
intention is that they
be handed out to
people at formations
and thereby encourage
behavior that treats
these delicate
creations with respect,
if not reverence.

Woodborough Hill - reported August 9th – the last formation we visited

 Ambivalence, Doubt & Fear

I like to think the circle-creating intelligences understand full well

how their creations will provoke, threaten, confuse, anger, enchant, inspire,
and awe. Indeed, there may be a well thought-out, organized narrative
unfolding, precisely orchestrated and tailored. If the purpose is to engage
human consciousness in the challenge to expand, evolve, mature, and inspire
us to make the quantum leap into veneration for Life on Earth – they’re
certainly doing that – for growing numbers of people.
The history of crop formations over the past three decades includes
countless stories of attempts to debunk and obfuscate, criminalize and
discredit crop circle enthusiasts personally. Early crop circle researchers
have been intimidated by secret service operatives, and research
organizations were infiltrated; rumors and disinformation were spread to
disrupt working relationships and credibility. Playing off all this the
newspaper, magazine and television media have created an atmosphere of
censorship toward crop circle proponents. This allows the saboteurs and
hirelings un-refuted access to the public ear, dominating the discussion with
goofy jokes, skepticism and fabrication.
Why do our various institutions feel so threatened by crop circles
that they have so effectively reduced these miraculous creations of
prodigious intelligence to the very periphery of public consciousness?
Governments, militaries, academe, and the media all reflexively conspire to
deny the in-our-face reality of this phenomenon. WHAT IF we are in the
early stages of a process of Universal multi-cultural co-mingling?
Institutions recognize, intrinsically, that to allow this idea to enter the
public consciousness would destabilize and unravel their legitimacy and
power. There are Others, and their artistry in the fields is evidence enough
that they must enjoy a quality of consciousness vastly superior, more
enlightened, more mature than our own. They are a beacon of salvation;
Bodhisattvas of the Cosmos. We should be welcoming and celebrating them
with glee and gratitude.
The denial of this, then, forms the tension between those who are
drawn toward the formations, and those who won’t look into the face of the
Gentle Giant. The ego chooses to fight, to preserve its reality constructs,
to pull up the belief blanket of self-constructed thoughts. How sad that so
many people will shield themselves from seemingly incredible amounts of
positive energy, if not unconditioned love itself, to feed the ego-attachment
to power, authority, and wealth. And they seek to invalidate the efforts of
others to confront and understand the mystical. But the formations keep
showing up! Right under our chins; original and enchanting, one more time.

Windmill Hill, Avebury Trusloe- reported August 6th

 A profound illusory sense of self dominates the general public’s
response to crop formations. Every ego is a mind-made set of constructs,
tenaciously held; most people are heavily identified with their beliefs and
perceptions. The ego is a master of selective perception and distorted
interpretation. Opinions and viewpoints are confused with facts. When
something extraordinary enters their consciousness they must find a way to
integrate the novel perceptions into their existing mental constructs of
reality, or redact and deny them. Denial keeps the status quo in place. The
blinders and filters go on, and dissonant information is distorted or blocked
out. Self censorship, inculcated by societal censorship keeps the
phenomenon on the fringes of public perception.
Personally, I have experienced internal turmoil sorting out what I
trust to be true, empirically sound and experientially valid. There are many
claims that 80 – 100% of crop formations are made by various teams of
skilled (human) artists, paid by businesses and governments – to catch out all
those gullible New Agers and their naïve frivolity. Or it is glibly surmised
that the military is behind most of it, testing various secret microwave or
laser beam technologies. But, the evidence is vast and deep, and my faith
resolute that, in Michael Glickman’s words:
“They are made by a federation of intelligences interested in the
passage of Planet Earth from one state of mind to another.”
 There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
- Wm Shakespeare – Hamlet

Miracles are not contrary to Nature, but only contrary to what we

know about Nature.
- St. Augustine AD 353

Many possibilities have been suggested as to who or what creates the

crop circles: earth spirits, extra-terrestrials, extra-dimensional
intelligences, Gaia (the consciousness of the Earth itself) and, large scale
international hoaxing. But whoever, or whatever it is, they or It seem to
prefer anonymity. The etheric qualities and meanings, perturbations and
discomfitures, transcendent beauty and mathematical precision, are what is
available to contemplate and digest, not the storyline of a set of crafty
hijinksers.

Stanton St. Bernard

June 2nd - barley
 There is much to say about the crop circle phenomenon and words can
pile upon words. The last thought I have to offer with respect to the
Circlemakers, is that their minds, and our minds, and the minds of all the
great saints, avatars, bodhisattvas, and metaphysical alchemists, are cognate
with one another. I like the word cognate. It means to be of the same
nature as, to come from the same stuff, to share identical or ancestral
roots. There are no boundaries between the energy fields of minds, which
are coherent conscious awarenesses. But, most Earth-bound minds are beset
with thinking on top of thinking that is involuntary, automatic and repetitive.
We filter out our essential awareness, erect walls between minds, and
defend our positions. Crop circles are here as suggestive symbols of
conscious unity, reminders of a transcendent reality, just beyond the veil.

*************

We departed England with regretful ease, having soaked deeply in the

atmosphere, personalities, ideas, artistry, corruptions, and landscape of this
maddeningly mystical corner of the planet. We learned a lot but came to no
conclusions, save one: we have the fully-formed intention to return next
year! Where else on Earth does source consciousness hit the ground in a
splash of magnificent splendor, fraught with symbolism and meaning. What
else to do but rub shoulders with it, and follow from the bleachers wherever
it leads. It’s immensely entertaining, full of drama, mystery and . . . love.
 Resources

Internet

www.cropcircleconnector.com/
www.cropcirclesandmore.com/
www.temporarytemples.co.uk/

Books

Crop Circles – Signs, Wonders and Mysteries by Steve and Karen Alexander
Arcturus Publishing - 2006

Vital Signs – A Complete Guide to the Crop Circle Mystery and Why it is Not
a Hoax by Andy Thomas – Frog, Ltd – 2002

Secrets in the Fields – The Science and Mysticism of Crop Circles by Freddy
Silva – Hampton Roads Publishing – 2002

Crop Circles – The Bones of God by Michael Glickman – Frog, Ltd – 2009

Crop Circles – the most enchanting ever and Crop Circles – the evidence by
Janet Ossebaard – Benign Publishers, The Netherlands – 2007 & 2009

Cornography – The New Swirled Order- Despatches from the Crop Circles by
Michael Glickman – The Squeeze Press, Glastonbury, Somerset – 2007

DVDs

Crop Circles – Quest for Truth – OpenEdge Media – 2002

Star Dreams – Sacred Mysteries – 2004

What on Earth? Inside the Crop Circle Mystery – Mighty Companions – 2009