The 8/16-fold theme continued at the South Field of Alton Priors, where a beautiful 'daisy' design was presented. Walking at sunrise into the formation one could still see the undisturbed dew upon the gently laid wheat.

During a meditation with a group of musicians and a sound healer, a number of us experienced seeing pentagrams and a turquoise colour. Esoterically, this is the colour spectrum typically associated with fivefold geometry; the Pythagoreans, in particular, associated the pentagram with healing, much in the same way that sound is today. We also felt strong impressions upon the throat chakra (it was later discovered that the 16 petals refer to the throat chakra, who colour association is turquoise!)

I later conducted a dowsing survey that detected a number of fine concentric bands of energy outside the formation, and a subsequent computer analysis revealed how each band was generated by pentagonal ratios. Perhaps the meditators had picked up the underlying energy pattern.

Once again, in one form or another, the pentagram lay behind many of the year's crop circles.

Meanwhile, Hampshire revealed its own gems. The patterns of this southern English county are generally softer than their Wiltshire counterparts. Over the past three years a design theme appears to have developed, using a series of overlapping circles which, when combined, create the visual effect of spheres within spheres, or molecular structures. This year was no exception; and for the second year in a row, one even appeared beside Chilbolton radio telescope.

Reports throughout the Midlands also grew in number, partly due to the efforts of local enthusiasts who have formed a strong network. Some of the region's crop circles easily surpassed their southern counterparts in size and complexity, and one wonders just how many of these have gone unreported in years past. One formation at Brighurst resembled a closing mechanical iris; at Wakefield, a rotating hexagon consisting of 55 large circles measured over 300 ft in diameter. Some extraordinary designs were only found months after their appearance, giving the undisturbed plants the chance to rise, appearing only as strange embossed shapes in the fields.

Amidst the excitement came veteran researcher Colin Andrews' public statement concerning his findings that the Earth's magnetic field is definitely altered inside crop circles. According to his research, Andrews concluded that out of the formations he'd analysed since 1998, 20% showed no signs of human involvement, and 5% clearly showed that the Earth's magnetic grid had been altered between 3-to-5 degrees; the remaining 80% were deemed to have been man made. Although Andrews quickly became the focus of much vitriol from many ardent croppies, the statement nevertheless confirms that, at minimum, and if taken as a general figure across the entire history of the phenomenon, there exist some 2000 cases where a genuine phenomenon is at work

From my own personal investigations, particularly with respect to dowsing and EM energies found in certain crop circles, 50-60% are believed to be caused by either hoaxers, military experimentation, or other forces unconnected with the phenomenon. The Crop Circular therefore supports Colin Andrews in his quest for honest answers to this magnificent riddle. And besides, it is worth remembering that it takes just one circle that science cannot explain to make a phenomenon.

The curiosities continued. At Milton Farm appeared an old-fashioned Celtic Cross formation, with its central circle made of swirled stinging nettles atop a 15-ft tall tumuli (Neolithic mounds erected at intersections of Earth's electromagnetic energy grid); at Cherhill, soon-to-be- arrested Williams, with some chums, devided a circle by eleven lines and flattened each alternative segment, a work of art that looked more impressive from the air than on the ground. Further north, below the imposing figures of the Uffington white horse and ancient Dragon Hill, appeared a 24-petal flower with curving tail of circles. The petals posed a new problem for hoax advocates- now the real Circlemakers began to construct forms not based upon the standard bisection of circles, but using spirals closely related to phi.

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