Photos © Colin Andrews, Steve Alexander, Lucy Pringle.

back... Another barrage of hoaxes greated the Avebury area while the real Circlemakers were hard at work back in Clanfield, Hampshire, with a curious configuration of circles and rings. Then on July 7 appeared the first predicted sevenfold pattern, below Danebury Hill fort. The Stockbridge formation was a meticulous seven-cusped wheel, energetically aligned to the hillfort and an ancient track which could just be seen between a gap in the trees surrounding the field. As with all genuine formations it dowsed in line with the flow of the wheat. A sound could also be heard here. A message channeled within this formation revealed this position as "a listening post. Sound maintains the balance... a place to ascertain your balance between spirit and matter." Later it was discovered that the influential leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski, had been buried in the nearby village.

Meanwhile near the Avebury complex someone had etched out a crop circle for an advertisement for Hamlet cigars. Later, the fabled East Field played host to a car crop circle ad for Mitsubishi- the phenomenon now finds itself ironically amidst materialist messages, the very antithesis of its existence. On July 8th, presumably while no one was on watch above the East Field, a major sevenfold design materialized; over 9000 sq. feet of crop downed, with erratically-placed outer circles. A complete lack of electromagnetic energy raised suspicions, although early visitors to the site noticed many genuine trademarks on the ground. So, a very well executed hoax, or a new type of design? The jury is out.

It was two days later that a local farmer was astonished to see two levels of the cloudbase part in abrupt circular fashion, "as if a glass tube had been sent down from the sky." The next day a dragon-type of formation appeared at Lockeridge. It carried the most enlightening message: "The time is at hand for transformation. Learn from the wise serpent as he sheds his old skin to begin a new life. So must all of you- don't look to what has been, look ahead." We met Isabelle Kingston a few days later and she pointed out that the design appeared beside the location where her group had opened up the dragon energy of the land. Several formations of the year were later to appear in reaction to her group's work with energizing sacred sites, the designs confirming the work of the group.

In Hampshire, more undisturbed formations embellished the theme of interlocking circles and rings and if one particular entity was going about its business undisturbed by all the negative workings of the mass hoaxing in neighbouring Wiltshire. On July 17 a bizarre design appeared below the White Horse at Cherhill. Invisible from the road, hidden by the surrounding wind damage lay one of the most powerful designs of the year, again in response to another of Kingston's openings. A complex array of eighteen circles arranged like a brain made up one section; lying uphill was an eightfold snaking ribbon connected to a large semi-circle. At the base of the ribbon, a snake-head connected to a native American venom sack, spewing forth a tight grapeshot where the vortex had rotated the plants almost two feet above the ground. Iroquois native Willie Lone Bear described it as the essence of the creative life force manifesting matter through the application of kundalini energy. Incredibly, it tallied with channeled information at the site: "This is the energy of fire. Through the controlled and expanded application of kundalini energy, your eyes will be opened to the truth of the new reality that is before you. Male and female polarities must join together in balance to complete the whole."

Another fascinating aspect of this design was the dowsing response- the rods rapidly responded to the waveform of the design, opening and closing appropriately to denote positive/negative energetic reaction. But what about the figure eight represented by the number of curves in the path and the venom sack? "This is the eight house," said Willie Lone Bear, "death and transformation." A pattern was now emerging, more pointers to a completion in the crop circles cycle.

Three weeks went by with further insults to the farming community. On July 26, the well-choreographed team of Dickinson, Lundberg and Rusell (Team Satan/the circlemakers, just to confuse the issue), went to work below Milk Hill, this time for the BBC, in a reenactment of their notorious exercise for NBC in New Zealand earlier in the year After giving crop watchers the slip, aided by local police, they proceeded to mark out a simple grouping of over 100 circles- a far cry from their effort downunder, which had the benefit of two enormous lights suspended from 40-ton cranes. Once again the media was able to pull the wool over the public's eyes. As always, to the trained eye, the evidence of man's involvement was all over the field. Dave Bower, surviving member of the infamous duo, also lent a hand nearby for the cameras, this time replicating a design that once killed the weather theory and changed the course of the phenomenon back in 1989. Not only was the man unable to complete the simple four-latticed circle, but he also required the enlistment of the other group next door because he miscalculated the measurement of a simple circle!

next page