My journey with crop circles started whilst on holiday in the late 80’s, I saw the photo’s on the front page of the ‘Today’ newspaper, showing the now immortal ‘Led Zeppelin’ formation. It looked so outlandish, so, well, alien… I made my first visit to Wiltshire (the heart of the crop circle scene) a few years later. I remember visiting my first crop circle. It was one of the first scorpion formations that appeared. It looked amazing. So pristine, so clinical in the way it had almost been carved into the crop, it had an unusual presence. It was opposite Silbury Hill as I remember, highlighting another aspect of the ‘phenomena’, namely the placement of crop circle and an aspect of the landscape.
For quite a while after that I believed there was some paranormal phenomena behind the circles, not that there was any hard and fast evidence to that belief, I just tapped into the zeitgeist of the time. I followed the myths of the time: they were too complex for humans to make, it was too dark to do this accurately, people would notice, wouldn’t they?
I soon met a few people who finally convinced me what exactly was going on… I went one evening and made a crop circle. It wasn’t the worlds greatest crop circle, but it showed me that something complex could be achieved quite easily with a surveyors tape a wooden board and more importantly, patience and practice. It showed me that in the dead of night, in the middle of the unlit countryside, my eyes adjusted and I could see a great distance. I could see the people working around me, and more often than not, I was attached to somebody via a surveyors tape so visibility wasn’t too important.
But what convinced of the true nature of the crop circle phenomena was peoples responses after we made it. They saw so much in it, it spoke to them, and the landscape played its role. The formation was made opposite an aging nuclear power station, some people noted how the design looked similar to a fusion reaction… was this a warning? Were aliens warning us about some imminent nuclear accident? Many people believed so. And when the Fukushima nuclear plant went into meltdown the following year, everyone pointed to the formation we had made and continued to state it was a warning that had come to pass. Somebody even made a video that showed how all the angles from our formation pointed to major disasters that had happened recently. Make a circle, and they will come, and they will have theories…
For a community that speaks so often about ‘truth’, the crop circle community has a huge problem with the truth behind crop circles. When I admitted to making that formation some people who were aware of what is behind the phenomena were complimentary of me coming forward to tell what the crop circle phenomena is truly about, many people refused to believe me and still claim it was made by aliens, many people now refused to talk to me as if I had done something unspeakable. It is easier for people to point at human circlemakers and say ‘you’re lying/you work for MI5/you’re an agent of disinformation/ etc etc’ than confront the fact that crop circles are made by people and not aliens/fairies/Gaia etc etc
It’s not just the truth of who makes crop circles, but it’s the truth of what is peddled as ‘evidence’. This is the whole drive of why I feel that Suzanne Taylor’s film ‘What on Earth?’ is so dangerous. Her evidence is so disingenuous, so slanted and unobjective, and she is leading an awful lot of people to false conclusions by telling a slanted version of reality. The version of ‘What on Earth?’ I saw was downloaded from the internet, someone had super-imposed a strap-line across the bottom of the screen that read: “Beware! This film is made by evil cultists who are trying to convince the world that crop circles are made by ETs’. It’s a bit strong, but I empathise with the drive behind this statement.
Don’t get me wrong, crop circles are a wonderful thing. It pushes people into learning about so many things from sacred geometry and the sacred landscape to ancient teachings and UFOs and all points inbetween. People travel from all over the world and forge new friendships and connections. People have amazing experiences in crop circles. Crop circles change lives. They are a wonderful thing. I just think there are some people (not just the Suzanne Taylor’s of this world) who need to stop herding people in a direction that is a lie. Just let people find their own truth…
So in my journey I lost a few so-called friends, learnt alot and experienced many amazing things. There are many mysteries and questions yet to be answered around crop circles. That is one of the amazing things about them: a team of people can go into a field, lay down a design and people will travel and have wonderful experiences and insights within them. Strange things can happen around the formations, newer mysteries and more layers of myths and wonderment.
So I am here to speak my little bit of truth. Make of it what you will…
Circular State of Mind 
No, I do not claim all creations as my own. I don’t think the artists will stop if people stop coming. Do people stop painting if they know their pictures may never see the light of day? I doubt it. Creation for creations sake is usually what drives artists.
“Real” artists never confuse the public? I disagree. The art-world is full of intrigue and back-stabbing, whether its crop circles, fine art, scultpture… bitching about it is commonplace., it’s not unique to crop circles.
“You cannot be any real inspiration through your art if you do not live a harmless (Ahimsa) exemplary life” – again, I would suggest you read a bit more about artists.
I believe a true artist is also a work of art in themselves – there are many artists – but when one is striving to influence the collective unconscious at the level that the circle makers are striving for -then more is expected. There is a great waxing lyrically on the Circle Makers site about the nature of the calling – and how important their role is in playing upon, stimulating or beguiling that part of the collective consciousness of humanity that is drawn by the mystery of the crop circles.
I have a very high standard re aesthetics. I am not partial to the metabolic regurgitations of some artists who are working out poorly integrated parts of themselves. The good thing I will say, about a good portion of the circle makers offerings is that they are positive yantras. If they were executed with mindfulness, humility and a desire to bring healing and balance to the land, then that would be a true service.