This beautiful 'snowflake' formation, some 320 ft in diameter, appeared on the same field made famous over the past two decades by stunning formations including the 'Julia set fractal' of 1996. The geometry echoes the hexagonal pattern begun at Barbury Castle earlier in the season and will quite possibly be the theme for this year.

Most will agree that this is a snowflake pattern. However, during the course of the overlay geometry I was quite fascinated by the way it bore little in the way of geometrical reference to the ice crystal structure and more with the Tree of Sephiroth from the Qabbalah (left- I hope to have a better diagram once some kind heart supplies me with a better overhead photo). The implications, if I am correct, may be of great impact on the validity of both this formation and the actual representation of the Tree of Life formation at Barbury Castle earlier this year, still disputed as being of, er, more earthly origin.

The diagram is a very close representation of the Qabbalistic tree as it sits below the ground, its roots- and route- bringing the adept upward toward the ground to begin his knowledge of the physical world. As you see, there are 32 spheres. This too is significant in that it is analogous to the 32 Paths of Wisdom. As Manly P. Hall wrote, "The Qabbalistic tree of organized manifestation is not only a macrocosmic symbol but also the emblem of humanity itself and its rootness in spirit". It is an emblem of philoshophic growth, symbolic of growth from without inward, a directionalization of consciousness to the center of being.

This sentiment begins to have far greater meaning when analysed in context of the rest of the year's formations. First, we have at Bourton the five pointed star, itself a symbol of healing, and a site where much healing was in fact performed this year; then the Torus at Alton Priors, an unusual formation in the sense that it contained a stillpoint of energy at its centre, enabling anyone who so wished to focus the mind on matters of the soul. Are we then to deduce that this was a year when we should all be experiencing and acquainting ourselves with the soul of the phenomenon? To establish a link by meditating? Our research team certainly went out with that intention this year and achieved incredible results (more on this later).

If all this conjecture is true then I would not hesitate on edging my bet for next year's formations- lots of 7-sided stars and diagrams, the symbol of mysticism.

This interesting formation appeared in barley at Winterbourne Bassett, a few miles north of Avebury, possibly on the same location as another similar formation in 1995. It measures 150ft in diameter.

Photo© Lucy Pringle

Exceptionally pretty and pristine formation near the site of a old WWII hospital.

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