CROP CIRCLES
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9 Basic Categories
Plasma-Gravitational Theory
Whirlwind (or Plasma Vortex) Theory
Earth Ley-lines and Gaia Hypothesis
Microwave Transient Heating
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FORWARD
The following outline is a summary of theories and working hypotheses
regarding the mechanisms of crop circle formation. Bear in mind that there
are literally thousands of scientists, mathematicians, researchers,
and physicists out there who have heard of crop circle phenomena, and
like yourself, harbor their own pet theories about how, why, and by whom
these glyphs are produced. Keep an open mind as you scan through the ideas
and conjectures. Remember that it is all too easy to grasp for certainty
at the beginning of a mystery, and then all too easy to throw criticism
at something which does not satisfy all the known facts. We encourage
you to enter fully into this enigma, applying everything you know to what
is unknown. Think of the whole phenomena as if it were an egg-shape of
an ellipse. One focus of the ellipse is common knowledge, the other focus
being the mystery. As you revolve around both foci, you will gradually
bring a new understanding into awareness.
What is presented here is a synopsis of published findings and theories,
and in no way does it pretend to be the final word. One of the interesting
epiphenomena around this whole thing is the interactiveness of the formations
with what various people are thinking and saying about it. Early on
Terrence Meaden went public with his theory of the plasma vortex, and
he treated it like a meteorology problem. Just as he had convinced the
media and many leading researchers that his theory was correct....the
circles began turning into pictograms, more complex, and unfortunately
for Dr. Meaden, unexplainable by his vortex theory. Further stories
of pattern premonitions and wish fulfillment have been common, but this
will not be covered here, because we are more interested in building
a bridge from conventional science to the crop circle phenomena. As
the ideas and theories build up into a heady ferment of thought, most
likely we'll see the crop circles step up to their new evolutionary
level. This would be miraculous to see, as if it hasn't been miraculous
already.
9 Basic Theories: An Overview (Colin Andrews)
1- Whirlwind Vortex
2- Plasma Vortex
3- Earth Energies
4- Extra-Terrestrial Origin
5- Underground Archaeological
6- Chemical Applications (no longer considered)
7- Hoaxes
8- God Force
9- Military Experimentation
PLASMA-GRAVITATIONAL THEORY
As members of the CCCS (Centre for Crop Circle Studies) will tell
you, the varieties and types of theories abound. The CCCS began in 1990
as a collaborative effort between professional researchers, authors,
gifted psychics and dowsers, to establish a base station for scientific
studies of the circles. The group is presently 400 members strong around
the world, based in the UK, and has branch convenors in different parts
of the U.S. and Canada. The scope of the research is quite open-ended,
and owing to its voluntary efforts, conducts research according to the
personal predilections of its authors and volunteers. Since many members
have a decidedly metaphysical bent, some of the experiments are concerned
with subjective effects on people, anomalous light, sound, and otherworldly
contacts. While the stated purposes of the CCCS are quite clear, the
elusive nature of the phenomena itself has made it difficult if not
impossible to reach a consensus of opinion over the direction of research
and the validity of results.
As a member of this group for less than a year, I have heard a number
of independent voices state clearly that a plasma physicist would be
the most valued person to enter the fray at this point. The idea that
we are witnessing a directed plasma, leaving aside the questions of
origin and intent, seems to keep re-emerging. All of the eyewitness
descriptions of light phenomena, the T. Meaden hypothesis of Plasma-Vortex,
the microwave energy of W.C. Levengood and others tends to point to
a plasma- based phenomena. Almost everyone has seen arc phenomena such
as lightning, the V-shaped Tesla spark ladder of Frankenstein fame,
or of more recent vintage, the clear bubble-glass discharge of rare
gases which you see in night clubs. As an experimental physicist, I
have used microwave cavities to locally heat a plasma, and deliver ionized
gas, such as O2 and N2 mixtures to a target. For me, the assumption
of plasma and microwave energies are not incompatible. It is well-known
in physics that there is a characteristic "plasma frequency" which is
a measure of its cut-off frequency. Frequencies below this will be attenuated
and/or reflected, while the frequencies above will propagate through
with a real-valued "index of refraction", ie, as if it were an optical
material. The unusual feature of the crop circle plasma is that it has
no obvious confining walls. In a lab-based plasma, the "sheath" is generally
a magnetic field, or a standing-wave pattern of microwaves. In the case
of arc-discharge, the ultra-fast current created by breakdown into ions
and electrons sets up its own constrictive "sheath" by Ampere's circuit
law. So where is the magnetic sheath in a crop circle? And how is it
positioned so carefully?
One opinion which seems to keep rising to the surface is that there
has to be a "ground component" to this whole phenomena. A number of
facts support this idea. The stalks are bent at 90 degrees at a consistent
distance with respect to the topsoil (1 inch is typical). The CC sites
are located on ley-lines and points connecting other geographic features
(ie, roads, sacred sites, farmer's plough marks, etc). One researcher
has reported that there is a 90% correlation with water from the ground....and
the beginning of the plant stem is arguably the locale for the highest
density of flowing H2O throughout the plant. Anyone who wishes to pay
respects to Gaia as the mother of this whole invention may also do so
at this juncture....there is ample room for telluric forces and gravity
effects. (The stalks do fall downward, after all is said and done!)
My personal opinion is that we are not even scratching the surface
yet. If you look into current research in plasma physics, you will discover
that resonant structures such as "flute-shaped", toroidal, or "balooning"
structures can be formed inside of a plasma. If you classify the plasma
as "far from equilibrium" then you are opening up a Pandora's box of
unknown phenomena which may or may not be spontaneously generated. It
is a generally accepted notion since Ilya Prigogine did his work on
thermodynamics of dissipative structures, that in situations far from
equilibrium, new order is established internally by self-organization.
These new ordering "structures" tend to reflect the boundaries and "sheaths"
of the host medium. Perhaps the plasma light that people have reported
in crop circles is confined by sheaths of telluric fields which are
geomagnetic. Then that would imply that earth fields are moveable and
have fluid properties. Personally, I like what Barbara Hand Clow mentioned
in her new work, The Pleadian Agenda (see reference). While speaking
from her "Satya" channel, she mentioned that Pleadians consider the
interaction of gravity and stellar light to be the most essential in-formation.
(read: "inner formation"). I think that stellar light is the capstone
of the creative pyramid, which guides and directs certain transformations
of matter and energy. In this scheme, a plasma is only the fourth phase
of matter out of seven, with gases, liquids, and solids toward the base
of the pyramid. Gravity is the matrix which binds and gives continuity....in
the sense of Einsteinian curved space around matter. Gravity is traction,
while stellar light is inclination. Stellar light might be the plasma
that appears during crop circle formations, but governed internally
by a genius loci, not a laboratory emulation. (The dictionary defines
"genius loci" to be the presiding deity or spirit of a place....it has
the same root that appears in genesis and generation.) I think that
to procede further along the lines of these admitedly "New Age" ideas,
one would have to look closely at the evidence of the plants themselves,
to see what specifically has been transformed. Is it the conversion
of ammonia in the nitrogen cycle? Is it the cell turgidity changed by
some water diffusion process that has been altered? Are the dissolved
gases in the xylem tubes the same concentrations as in the control samples?
Or are the changes affected entirely at the genetic level, and somehow
rapidly dispatched into new cell copies? (This would accord with B.H.
Clow's channeled message that DNA has a "stellar component".)
In the long view, it may not even matter what the current theories
and public disclosures proclaim. The fact that you became interested,
and opened up just enough to look at some new ideas......THAT might
be the best occurence yet!
-B.H.
WHIRLWIND VORTEX (also known as PLASMA VORTEX)
The first theory proposed by Dr. Terrence Meaden in the 1980's attempted
to explain all spirally generated circle patterns as a product of entirely
natural atmospheric phenomena. Meaden likened the vortex to dustdevils,
tornados, etc., but also including friction-generated plasma which could
account for the anomalous light phenomena which many eyewitnesses had
seen. Meaden claimed the forces involved were hitherto "unrecognized
helical or toroidal forces" which had "subsidiary electromagnetic properties
due to self-electrification." The vortex would presumably form high
above the ground, then suddenly "breakdown" to the ground level in an
axial strike. The theory was plausible for a number of years, with further
corroboration obtained in Japan by Dr. Y.H. Ohtsuki and Prof. H. Ofuruton.
Their lab reserach produced similar vortices by electrostatic discharge
and microwave interference. Theoretical work on the plasma-vortex was
carried out by Prof. H. Kikuchi, Japan, who modeled the vortex using
energy potentials including an interaction term between an axial electric
field and the earth's magnetic field.
Although Dr. Meaden was possibly the first to equate a meteorological
event with a plasma-vortex, the term is not new to plasma physics. A
1970 Nobel Prize winning physicist, Hannes Alfven, developed several
theories of wave propagation in plasmas. His broad vision embraces interstellar
and laboratory phenomena, for he was interested in those properties
of lab plasmas which could be used to form a cosmogony (a theory of
evolution). The bulk of his work relates to magnetohydrodynamics, an
area of plasma physics which investigates acoustic and magnetic interactions
within an electrically conductive fluid or gas. It is an advanced subject,
but Alfven wave concepts are at heart quite intuitive.
Basically, Alfven waves are ripples or propagating waves on top of
plasma-vortex structures. The vortex structures themselves form spontaneously
within a plasma from shear flows and instabilities. Once formed, however,
they can propagate waves in various modes, as well as deliver momentum
across large distances. How does this relate to crop circles? A plasma-vortex
structure such as a toroid, or a moving spiral, can explain the gentle
"groomed" appearance of the plant stalks after a formation has occured.
The stalks show no mechanical chafing or damage, which would be the
case if struck by a sudden whirlwind or tornado. I believe that Alfven
waves create the final "push" which pulsates along the axes of vortex
structures. How these are generated, and where they begin is still quite
an intruiging mystery.
The whirlwind vortex, or upward-axis vortex as it was promulgated
by Dr. Meaden, was sufficient to explain all of the true "circles" appearing
in the 1980's. However, the whirlwind theory became public "disinformation"
as soon as the first large-scale pictograms began appearing in Britain
as early as 1990. This new dimension to the shape of the phenomena began
to inform people that much larger, more complex forces were at work.
It could no longer be a simple combination of "hitherto unrecognized"
natural forces. In addition to the anomalous light phenomena, several
more reports of a 5KHz "trilling sound" were taken from witnesses in
the vicinity of the formations, none of which could be explained by
revolving wind and charge clouds. Straight lines began to appear in
the pictograms, with stems of the plants lying parallel to the outer
contours of the lines. Obviously, Meaden's theory was in need of modification.
-B.H.
EARTH LEY-LINES AND GAIA HYPOTHESIS
The unusual nature of the crop formations attracted many other researchers
from outside of strict materialistic science. Ever since the early '80's
when the basic circles became a frequent overnight appearance in southern
England, archeologists, mystics, ecologists, and specialists in indigenous
cultures began to recognize the symbolism in the shapes of the circles,
as well as their proximity to known sacred sites. In particular, the complex
of megalithic henges known as Avebury and Stonehenge, with the related
earthmound of Silbury Hill and the original site of Salisbury at Old Sarum,
were host to many of the circle formations in the late 80's and early
90's. The ancient arts of geomancy, sacred geometry, and dowsing were
given new life, at least from a speculative point of view, in relation
to the circle sites and the network of earth energies known as ley-lines.
While the original meaning of "ley-lines" has been lost to us, it was
considered by historians of sacred sites to be a "vital current" which
flowed through the earth, often running huge distances.
We can only speculate today that it may have something to do with
either geomagnetic activity of the earth's crust, or perhaps charge
accumulations from groundwater running through porous chalk deposits,
known to be ubiquitous in the U.K. Such charge accumulations can redistribute
and spill over to other sites on the ground, giving a "moving target"
for electrical discharges coming from the air. Here we are on thin ground
because we are trying to apply modern science to ancient religious custom
and belief. The ancient indigenous tribes may well have had a direct
understanding of earth cycles and "ley lines" which they used to build
their religious and archeo-astronomical sites. The only remaining connection
between crop circles and the ancient peoples are to be found in symbol
and legend, also in ancient prophecy. The Mayan and Hopi religion are
two examples of cultures which maintained prophecies of signs appearing
at the end of the millenium, although the details and references are
beyond the scope of this outline. Certain similarities can also be drawn
between the pictograms in the crops and cup-and-ring markings on the
stones of pre- historic sites in Britain, Ireland, and Whales, but it
is not known what kind of knowledge and communications these pre-historic
people actually had.
The Gaia hypothesis of James Lovelock has had considerable support
since the appearance of crop-circle phenomena, and this is closely related
to earth energies. The Gaia approach is a holistic, all-encompassing
way of looking at earth phenomena in terms of a vital, living being
which is self- protective and self-adaptive to its own environmental
stresses, much the same way an organism or an animal would respond to
external and internal stimuli. The controversial aspects of Lovelock's
hypothesis are the cybernetic versus the organismic components. If a
natural feedback cycle--- suppose we take the nitrogen cycle of plants
for instance--displays parts which behave in a predictable, controlled
feedback loop, then Gaia is demonstrating a cybernetic feature. However,
if we see a unique and creative response to known stimuli, then Gaia
evinces an organismic feature. Scientists generally find this dualism
to be a logical contradiction. If there seems to be a larger, global
purpose at work, then local phenomena cannot be reduced to a mechanism...which
is generally maddening to most scientists. The crop circles tend to
fall into this category of "organismic" responses, and most scientists,
lacking solid answers to the "how" of crop circles, would like to bow
out of the "why" of crop circles altogether.
There are exceptions, however. Researchers such as Colin Andrews and
Pat Delgado, authors of the best-selling books Circular Evidence and
Crop Circles: The Latest Evidence, have embraced the Gaia hypothesis
as a meaningful explanation that the earth is now undergoing a realignment.
It can no longer support the anti-life tendencies and continuous disregard
the human populations have shown, and seeks to readjust all forms of
consciousness to its new directive. The crop circles are a "spiritual
nudge" which is designed to awaken us to our larger context and milieu,
which is none other than our collective earth soul. This type of theory
is teleological, in that it answers more of the "why"-type questions
regarding purpose, instead of the "how"-type questions usually posed
by modern academic science. It is legitimate, and avoids the myopic
views of cybernetic and mechanistic reductionism.
Both the earth energy and Gaia approach to understanding the whole
crop-circle phenomena will be needed if one is to arrive at a satisfying
explanation. There are just too many factors surrounding the placement
of CC's, their juxtaposition to known sacred sites, their inherent symbolism,
and of course, their arrival at this time for anyone to ignore the earth
connection. It is a shortcoming of modern science that it places too
much emphasis on technology and economically-driven research. This leaves
us largely unconscious of the larger forces of nature which environ
us but are only recently beginning to be felt.
-B.H.
MICROWAVE TRANSIENT HEATING
Several years of incomplete theorizing, and still more circles appeared
with similar characteristics. In January 1991, Dr. William C. Levengood
approached Pat Delgado with an offer to apply some scientific methods
to study the affected plants. Dr. Levengood has impressive credentials
which include six patents and fifty papers for international scientific
journals. He is a biophysicist who specializes in bioelectrochemical energies
in plants and seeds. Working out of his Pinelandia Biophysical Lab in
Michigan, he proceeded to examine many samples of affected stalks using
microscopic techniques. One of the qualitative features which emerged
directly from his comparison of affected plants versus control plants
(obtained from the same fields) was the expansion of the "nodes", or elbow
points along the stalks. In these particular regions, expansion of the
cell walls had occurred, as well as enlarging of the "pits" or exchange
pores in the cell walls. These holes are the exchange sites for ions and
electrolytes in water to transport into and out of the cells. The curious
feature about these holes was their sharp outline of trapezoidal-shaped
edges, as opposed to a rather flat round appearance in the control samples.
Furthermore, Dr. Levengood performed an analysis of seed embryos from
the glumes (husks) of the plant heads. In 40% of the glumes he found
seed deformation of some kind as compared with the controls. "Most of
these deformations can be explained by premature dehydration of the
seeds," according to Dr. Levengood. However, a large fraction of these
glumes showed "alterations" which he has assumed are genetic, but are
rare conditions of "polyembryony" and arrested growth of the embryos
without the next layer of endosperm. To study this condition further,
he has proceeded to grow new generations of these affected seeds, and
the results have been remarkable. I leave it up to the reader to find
Dr. Levengood's paper and learn more. (See reference at end.)
In some of these affected nodes, there was a split or hole opening
to the outside air, indicating that some internal pressure had released
at that point. It is known that the node areas contain more water per
volume than other areas of the plants, so it appeared possible to Dr.
Levengood that some kind of steam heating was taking place. He was also
able to bend nodes of unaffected plants quite readily after a brief
exposure to microwaves in a standard microwave oven. This result, coupled
with the alternation of the seeds has led Dr. Levengood to a working
hypothesis of microwave-type energy at work, rapidly heating and depleting
the stored water regions within the nodes. It is known from military
research and development that microwave radiation in the low gigahertz
range can be directed from far away, provided that atmospheric conditions
are permitting. (There has never been a report of a crop circle being
formed in a rainstorm, for example.) The genetic part of the seed alteration
cannot be explained by microwave radiation alone. For this, Dr. Levengood
is simply reporting observations, and not jumping to any conclusions
about genetic changes.
Other researchers, such as Omar Fowler have also concluded that microwave
radiation is involved based on his study of "crease and burn marks"
in the plant stems. He saw single standing stems of 22 inch height consistently
in otherwise flattened circle areas. He believes this to be consistent
with microwaves in the low gigahertz range of frequency. Another current
researcher in the public eye, Roy Dutton, has assumed a microwave radiation
combined with gravitational waves is responsible. Although he does not
develop a model for the radiation interaction, he has put together a
computer model of the flattening process which mimics the layout of
the plant stalks remarkably well.
Credits to this article go to Brian Hussey
References:
Bartholomew, Alick, Crop Circles - Harbingers of World Change, Bath, UK: Gateway Books, 1991.
Clow, Barbara Hand, The Pleiadian Agenda--A New Cosmology for the Age of Light, Santa Fe, NM:Bear & Co., 1995, pp. 65-66.
Hesemann, Michael, The Cosmic Connection: Worldwide Crop Formations and ET Contacts, Bath, UK:Gateway Books, 1995; in particular see chap. 7, "A Solution to
the Mystery?"p.77.
Hollweg, Joseph V., "Alfven waves," McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia
of Science and Technology, Vol. 1, 1993, pp. 351-354.
Levengood, W.C., "Anatomical Anomalies In Crop Formation
Plants," Physiologia Plantarum, 92:356-363 (1994).
Lundin, R. and Marklund, G. "Plasma-Vortex Structures and the
Evolution of the Solar System -- The Legacy of Hannes Alfven,"
Physica Scripta, T60:198-205(1995).
Nicholson, S. and Rosen, B.(ed.), Gaia's Hidden Life: The Unseen
Intelligence of Nature, Wheaton, IL:Quest Books, 1992. See
Lovelock, James, "What Is Gaia?", p59.
Noyes, R. and Taylor, B., The Crop Circle Enigma, Bath,
UK:Gateway Books, 1990. In particular, see Meaden, T. "Crop
Circles and the Plasma Vortex," p.76, also Wingfield, G., "Beyond
the Current Paradigms", p.99.
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