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, whose 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 a number of designs. 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. Their theme appears more artistic than knowledge-based – which is the prefered style of the genuine phenomenon – so I have to say I am very skeptical of their origin, and since I did not have much time to observe these in any great detail I cannot express my certainty for sure. Personally I am skeptical of their origin.

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, although it has to be pointed out that since no o ne expect circles in this neck of the woods, people are free to explore more complex designs. 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 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 selected formations he'd analysed since 1999, 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 during this same period, particularly with respect to dowsing and EM energies found in certain crop circles, I am certain that at least 50-60% are believed to be caused by either hoaxers, military experimentation, or other forces unconnected with the phenomenon; these numbers also reflect the predictions by respected psychics that the phenomenon would be stepping back during later years, and hoaxing would dominate for a time. On a positive note, 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). It was well constructed but I must say it was so blatantly obvious a creation, and one which attempted to use the magnetic field already present by the location of the tumulus. At Cherhill, soon-to-be- arrested Williams, with some chums, devided a small circle by eleven lines and flattened each alternative segment, a work of art that looked more impressive from the air than on the ground.

But in stark constrast, 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 – nature's own mathematical ratio.

The End of the Hoax Argument.

Over the decades, a number of crop circles have presented an undeniable challenge to both the rational-minded, and those who still advocate human beings as the cause of the entire phenomenon. The honour of this year's challenge to the sceptic community goes to the sunflower crop circle at Woodborough Hill.

This spectacular design is based on the Golden Mean spiral, a mathematical ratio found in nature, and commonly refered to as phi. The diagram above shows how to build one Golden Mean spiral by using a square and applying the phi ratio (1:1.618) to generate the various compass points required to grow the spiral. In the case of this crop circle, this would then have to be repeated 22 times, reversed and overlaid (shown below); fourteen concentric rings are then inscribed to complete the matrix. Then it's a matter of simply laying the crop in alternate segments.

But it doesn't end there. The entire 'sunflower' crop glyph consists of 22x2 spirals (clockwise, and counterclockwise), followed by 14 radial circles. Effectively this produces 44/17, or 22/7 – that convenient mathematical ratio for that other unusual mathematical conumdrum, pi.

Once again, the Circlemakers have used beauty as a bait to lure us into wonder and enquiry. Perhaps it's time we returned the favour by enquiring why they are here, and what subtle messages are being given to us in this, the most benevolent form of communication.

Text and diagrams © Freddy Silva 2000. Images © Freddy Silva, Colin Andrews, Lucy Pringle, Phil Brookman, Andrew King