circles

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

field count double paces, e. g. every time your right foot touches.)
Note the crop type and stage of ripening and date of formation, if known. Photography is obviously
useful to record events, so take a camera.
Record the location; the Ordnance Survey grid system is a standard tool for this in the United
Kingdom.
6. The New Age The Paranormal and the Circles
The circles have had a continuing association with a range of beliefs, ideas and theories that could be
considered under the general heading of 'New Age'. They have attracted interest from channellers,
visionaries and dowsers. This chapter explores some of these themes and looks at some of the
paranormal events that have been reported from within the circles.
Early researchers were quick to notice the proximity of many circles to the numerous ancient sites in
southern Britain and, as we have seen in Chapter 4, it has become accepted amongst some researchers
that these sites can be connected to the circles by temporary modifications to the local ley system. The
primary method used to detect these lines has been dowsing. Dowsing has assumed such importance
in investigation of the circles that it is worth considering in some detail.
Dowsing
Historically, dowsing was used to detect underground water and, traditionally, payment for a dowser's
services was made by results. This pragmatic approach is important, because it underlines a reality to
dowsing, which some of the more extravagant claims made for the technique stretch considerably.
Dowsers generally use a small Y-shaped hazel branch, angle rods or a pendulum. Whilst there is no
concrete evidence of how dowsing actually works, there is some consensus that the instrument used,
whatever it is, acts to amplify small muscular movements of the arms, wrists and hands. Some
dowsers even claim to be able to dowse with 'bare hands' (Pat Delgado found he was able to dowse in
this way).
When dowsing with a hazel 'wand' or rods, the dowser looks for a movement from a stationary
'neutral' position as they walk over or into a hidden line of force, or an underground water course.
With a pendulum, a neutral swing is set up and, as either a mental question is asked, or a line crossed,
the swing changes to a circular motion, the direction being interpreted as a positive or negative
answer.
A traditional dowsing rod
Circle investigators who have adopted this method are not confined to the New Age 'true believers'.
Dr Meaden, whilst wishing as a scientist to understand dowsing as a response to the ambient magnetic
field, used it as a diagnostic tool.
It is said that similar patterns are detectable at crop circles as those found in stone circles, and these
findings have led to speculation that the stone circles might mark the sites where 'crop' circles
appeared in antiquity. This theme is elaborated in Dr Meaden's book The Goddess of the Stones.
New Age Ideology
Amongst the New Age fraternity this connection between ancient sites and crop circles has become an
article of faith and is woven in a loose association with ecological concerns, spiritual/earth energies,
channelled messages and extra-terrestrial contact. As the early messages of UFO contactees tended to
comprise warnings about human behaviour, in the wake of the nuclear age, so the interpretation of the
circles' significance has tended to be apocalyptic warnings about our treatment of the Earth. Often
these are linked to native American traditions which speak of the Earth as a living entity. Another
aspect of this is the belief that human consciousness is undergoing a transformation or shift as we
move towards the next millennium.
The case of Mary Freeman's sighting illustrates how these themes come together. Paul Devereux has
described how the monuments of the Avebury area can be interpreted as a 'mythic landscape' and
Michael Dames' books paint a picture of an ancient worship cycle set round the same sites. This was
the backdrop for Mary Freeman's sighting.
On the night of 18 July 1988, she was returning home to Marlborough from Winterbourne Monkton,
driving along the stone avenue which leaves Avebury to the southeast. Her attention was drawn to a
light in the west. She saw an illuminated column or tube, of a white colour, stretching between the
cloudbase and the ground at a slight angle, striking the ground in the vicinity of Silbury Hill. The tube
had appeared from a glowing patch on the cloud.
Schnabel's account of this in Round in Circles (see Further Reading) describes Mary Freeman
experiencing a surge of energy inside her car as she witnessed this and she later told investigators that
she felt 'privileged' to have witnessed the 'ethereal' beam. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Pokrewne