Twinn
Crop Circle Weekend - Wiltshire - 2003
British Society of Dowsers
Earth Energy Group (EEG)
Crop Circle Weekend - Wiltshire 2003
While the rest of the Tamar Dowsers were enjoying a tour of the woods near Bodmin, I was on a tough mission – representing the group at the annual EEG Crop Circle extravaganza. This consists of two days of swanning around the golden prairies of mid Wiltshire, in glorious weather, with congenial company, studying the enigmatic and increasingly complex formations appearing overnight - as if by magic - in the ripening crops of wheat.
To avoid swamping any one formation at any one time , David Sangwine, the EEG co-ordinator had also organised a parallel series of outings, visiting some of the lesser known Sacred Sites in the area – and it was at one of these that the weekend began.
Churches at Alton Barnes and Alton Priors
These two unassuming little churches, hidden away amongst the trees, are veritable goldmines for the dowser. Under the floor of Alton Barnes church, and visible by lifting trap doors, are Sarsen Stones – remnants of a structure that predates the church itself. Both of these churches have recorded Saxon origins, which is remarkable in itself, but the presence of the Sarsen Stones under the current superstructure, indicates that organised spiritual activity was being carried out here long before the arrival of the Christians (or at least the Roman Christian Church). The presence of huge yew trees in the close vicinity - and the interplay of energy and water lines between the buildings and the trees - adds to the interest, and to the confusion. To cap it all, our group leader, local dowser Shaun Ogbourne, shares with us, in his wonderfully understated manner, a spot where the earth energy moves tangibly in a serpentine fashion – sweeping to and fro in real time under our feet. Suddenly, I wonder how many other places display this phenomenon; what it would be like if the church building did not ‘hold the line in place’ to some extent and whether the apocryphal
St George was in on the act. It is only 12:00, day one, and already my mind is racing away. We retire to the Barge Inn for some sustenance and stability.
Woodborough Hill
The first crop formation we visit is indeed a circle – albeit one containing a complex pattern inside. Novice Croppie, Ruth, is excited with her first circle. The rest of us appear more blasé, but in truth we are enthusiastic too. It is a nice place to start. All the components of a genuine (whatever that can mean in 2003) formation are present. We return to the car, only to be hemmed in by a herd of cattle off to the milking parlour. Today, the area may be beset by itinerant dowsers, but it has been a working landscape since before recorded history – and so it remains.
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Stanton St Bernard
Disappointingly, the nearest formation to my in-laws house turns out to be rather iffy. There is no tell-tale energy gate at the edge to the pictogram and the site itself seems empty of life. This is not helped by the presence of a Japanese film crew, who are making a documentary about Doug & Dave, two professional moon-rakers, who claim to have faked hundreds of circles in the early years. There has been an altercation between the Japanese, who don’t want the Croppies in their circle and the Croppies, who don’t want the film crew - or Doug & Dave - there at all. Thankfully no one mentions the war. As if to sideline the Doug & Dave theory of crop circle production, the formations have become more and more complex season by season, both in terms of pictorial eloquence and dowsable effects. Some contend that it is a game of cat and mouse (though with whom depends on who you are talking to), but other developments indicate more subtle explanations.
Milk Hill
We go from the sad to the superb. A few hundred yards away, right under the Alton Barnes White Horse chalk figure, lies a beautiful formation. It is wonderfully energetic, despite being a couple of weeks old, and resplendent with dowsable energy and water lines in abundance – and all in the ‘right’ places. A classic of its type. I am just getting to grips with the complex nature of sites such as this when someone introduces (literally) another dimension. I had read about the three-dimensional nature of the formations in journals, but, sorry to say, dismissed it as somewhat fanciful. Yet here it is. David Sangwine, who has recently abandoned rods altogether, is waving his hands around in the air to indicate the waves and flows of energy associated with the formation. I am still trying to get my head around this concept, when I am approached by some ladies from Argentina, one of whom is a medium, who inform me that the makers of the circles are trying to communicate with us and that we should do more to involve children in the process. I briefly contemplate the idea of bringing a school party to a field of standing corn! But she is very sincere and asks me to convey this to my leader. I tell David. Another tells me that her parents use dowsing at home in Argentina, to find water. Given my own experience of Costa Ricans in Edinburgh with a similar story, it seems the Church may not have been quite so proscriptive of dowsing in the Americas, at least not with dowsing for water, as perhaps it has been in Europe. I should stay to tell these amicable people more of what we are finding in the Wiltshire wheat-belt, and commiserate with them about their situation back home – but I am already on another planet and just wish them well.
All Cannings
With the main events of the day completed, I trundle back, stopping off at an older formation near the village of All Cannings. Given the level of activity and interest, it is unusual, even in the late evening to have a crop circle to yourself. This is an older pictogram and the wheat in the outer rings has started to stand up again – a sure sign of something not produced by the crush of rollers, which tends to break the corn down permanently. There is still tangible energy here and the experience is both calming and powerful. I put my rods away and just sit in the circle. I have become a Croppie.
Hackpen Hill
Day two starts with the untimely news that the formations we were to visit on Windmill Hill are being harvested that day. Not unreasonable for the farmer to cut his crop - and those circles had been there for almost a month. But, co-incidentally (!?) another formation has been mooted under Hackpen Hill, north of Avebury. Bristol dowser and long-standing Croppie, Tony Hathaway, is despatched to check this out and shortly a message comes through the ether that this is indeed an A1 site. Wagons roll! Being last away, taking a rather laid-back attitude to motoring and having some local knowledge, I soon lose the back of the convoy. As we approach Hackpen Hill, I am obliged to ask my co-pilot, St. Keverne dowser and artist Bart O’Farrell, to check if this is the correct turn off the Swindon Road. His massive U-shaped roads swing across the windscreen to indicate a ‘yes’, but I have neglected to ask him for the best vehicular route. We turn into a bridleway. Bart confirms that this is indeed the quickest route, but not for cars, so we take the next turning with more success. Walking into the newly-patterned field is like opening a Christmas present. The circle (in fact a circle of circles) is fresh and bright. The energies are crystal clear. Those who can visualise such things are ‘watching’ the energy flows and Bart is sweeping his huge copper rods through the air in pursuit of the lines of force. Even I can detect the energy at different heights in different places and sense energies above and below the ground in opposed concentric spirals. No wonder the hard-core Croppies get so excited about these places.
Avebury Trusloe
This formation is a few days old, but it too has a calm, yet energetic, feel. Again, all the essential elements are present in a complex and meticulously-executed design. Here another part of the EEG is carrying out some scientific experiments into the effect of the formations on the aura and brainwaves of volunteers. They are being assisted by professional photographer, and alumni of the fraternity, Lucy Pringle, who’s beautiful Crop Circle Calendars appear in many a Croppie’s Christmas stocking. Here too is another new phenomenon. Foreign visitors are watching the Croppies investigating the formation. Despite the international draw of the circles, it seems that only the Brits are thought crazy enough to take them seriously. I have become a tourist attraction in my own lifetime.
Beckhampton (South)
We get wind of another new site, and on the way home I decide to check it out. It is always a dubious sign when the farmer is at the field gate collecting donations, but I have learnt the hard way not to prejudge anything to do with crop formations. I pay up and look small. There is no energy gate and indeed little energy at all – but it is a good yardstick against which to consider the other sites. I dowse that the formation is man-made, but not by the farmer, or at his behest. Two Belgian lads are making a video and earnestly compiling notes. What do you think? – they ask looking at my rods. ‘It’s a fake’ I reply with a degree of authority which I did not own yesterday.
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This is written in the log for posterity.
One odd feature of the weekend’s crop circle dowsing is that even where there are ‘obviously’ man-made pictograms, these often still exhibit small energy spirals at their centres and even water lines in vaguely appropriate places. Are there rogue dowsers at work, assisted by the ‘Sons of Doug & Dave’ or do the formations attract this energy in the way that more permanent temples seem to?
As Tony Hathaway commented to me ‘Each year we get a few more facts and a lot more questions’. Fact merges with fiction - and the real with the surreal. After a few hours in the field I have enough material to write a book on several levels. The Crop Circle tapestry has a long way to unfurl yet.
Nigel Twinn
Tamar Dowsers
July 2003