Monthly Archive: April 2012

Jubilee Plantation 2011 & the last known words of Dr. Dave Bowman

Jubilee Plantation, nr Cherhill, Wilts. 15th August 2011

The Jubilee Plantation crop circle (August 10th 2011) was the last formation of the 2011 season, and was perhaps the most ambitious and complex of the year. It carries a small connection with the first formation of the 2012 season (Hill Barn April 15th 2012), in that it too was described as being messy inside and was written off as a piece of mindless vandalism. Whatever the Jubilee Plantation formation was, it could hardly be classified as mindless.

2010 had seen the first explicitly 4-dimensional formation, a Tesseract (4-D cube) at Fosbury Camp After years of showing us 2-D and 3-D images the crop circle phenomenon had evolved to another level. I must admit I had not expected that the crop circles would make another dimensional leap so soon, but then what do I know!

Fosbury Camp 2010 4D Cube (first 4D Image)

Allington Down 1999 3D Cube (first 3D Image)

The beautiful star-like pattern at the centre of the design is undoubtedly a Penteract (a 5-D cube), from fig.3 you can see how I have overlaid a penteract over a photo of the formation to show just how accurate it was. There are several ways to depict a penteract, the first thing we have to understand is that this image is what is called an orthographic projection, which is used to show the shadows cast by a higher dimensional objects in our 3-D reality. We cannot see a penteract as it would appear in 5th dimensional space, because we are limited by our 3-D existence, but we can calculate what it would look like. A penteract has 32 vertices, 80 edges, 80 square faces, 40 cubic cells, and 10 tesseract hypercells. Blimey!

Fig. 3 The Jubilee Plantation formation with overlaid Penteract (5D Cube)

The unfolding of dimensions in crop circle design has evolved beside the systematic unfolding of number in those same designs. The movement from one dimension to the next could be symbolically seen as some kind of ‘deepening’, or may signal the preparation in the ‘collective unconscious’ for an assimilation of a new depth. Often the unconscious can be seen to be working with material long before it is fully manifested into the conscious mind and into the world, I find this deeply interesting.

The evolution of human art has also followed a similar pattern, the development of dimension in paintings has often been remarked upon. The first truly 3-dimensional painting appeared in around 1455-60, a painting titled ‘The Flagellation Of Christ’ by Italian artist Piero della Francesca. It is generally accepted as the first painting to successfully add depth to height and width. It is interesting to note that the painter was also a mathematician and a geometer, and wrote much on proportion and perspective.

The Flagellation of Christ by Piero Della Francesca (1455-60). The first 3D painting?

He was a great influence upon Fra Luca Pacioli, and his ideas were illustrated in one of Pacioli’s books by none other than the great Leonardo Da Vinci. What this painting showed was that although we have always lived in a 3-dimensional world, and that humans have always seen the world in three dimensions, we had at that point in time only just began to assimilate that knowledge fully into our conscious minds – allowing us to project it onto board and canvas for the first time.

As we reach finally reach 2012, I wonder if that is going to happen again, only this time with an assimilation of other realities/dimensions into full consciousness? Perhaps the idea of the fourth dimension is symbolic of that. Clearly, we do not live in a 4-dimensional world and clearly we are not equipped to perceive fully dimensions beyond our own, but I think (as Holmes would say) that ‘something is afoot’ and that it has to do with consciousness, dimensions, perspectives, space and time.

These new tenets will not only shift the way we understand reality, but will also in turn affect our consciousness. How will consciousness look after these new ideas, perceptions and perspectives have been assimilated, how might we project them into the world?

Painting of the Jubilee Plantation formation 2011 by Karen Alexander Watercolour and Inks on Cartridge Paper

As I drew the Jubilee Plantation formation I was struck by two things; the first was its rotational (spiral like) properties, (this is self evident by looking at the five beautifully spinning crescents around the perimeter of the design), but the second was how the centre also had a rotational element. The centre pattern is drawn using a similar methodology to the drawing of a decagram star (ten-pointed star). There are in fact three (I think) different decagram stars, this particular one joins every third point around a circle divided into ten. If you follow this methodology (as I did), you end up drawing around the circle. The centre of the formation then contains two further smaller (nested) decagrams, each nested in the centre of the previous one, three iterations in all. If you follow the same method of construction for the next two nested stars you end up winding a spiral right into the heart of the penteract and the centre of the formation itself. It was a very satisfying synchronicity to find that the inner and outer parts of the formation complimented one another in this way. The crescents are not part of the penteract but they are rooted within its geometry. To me this is crop circle design at its very best, bringing together seemingly disparate components and entangling them in a complementary way. I see non-locality, entanglement & complementiarity at work here – symbolically of course. I think this is portentous and highly significant.

To look into the Jubilee Plantation formation is to fall headlong into another world, another reality, or at least to glimpse it. To me it is a embryonic projection of a new stage in human consciousness manifested in our 3-dimensional reality – it is therefore, in fact, anything but mindless, it is, in my humble opinion, filled with mind.

This circle reminded me of the final words of Dr David Bowman, the ill-fated fictional commander of the USS Discovery in Clarke’s and Kubrick’s mighty vision ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’. As he approached the ultimate unknown, the mighty Monolith, he exclaimed “My God, it’s full of stars”, I felt like saying the same thing I as drew the centre of the Jubilee Plantation formation. Consciousness is the next great unknown, the metaphorical modern Monolith, are we about to transcend our current limitations of perception and, like Dave Bowman, become something entirely new?

KAREN ALEXANDER – APRIL 25th 2012

The post “My God, it’s full of stars” appeared first on Temporary Temples.

Jubilee Plantation 2011 & the last known words of Dr. Dave Bowman

Jubilee Plantation, nr Cherhill, Wilts. 15th August 2011

The Jubilee Plantation crop circle (August 10th 2011) was the last formation of the 2011 season, and was perhaps the most ambitious and complex of the year. It carries a small connection with the first formation of the 2012 season (Hill Barn April 15th 2012), in that it too was described as being messy inside and was written off as a piece of mindless vandalism. Whatever the Jubilee Plantation formation was, it could hardly be classified as mindless.

2010 had seen the first explicitly 4-dimensional formation, a Tesseract (4-D cube) at Fosbury Camp After years of showing us 2-D and 3-D images the crop circle phenomenon had evolved to another level. I must admit I had not expected that the crop circles would make another dimensional leap so soon, but then what do I know!

Fosbury Camp 2010 4D Cube (first 4D Image)

Allington Down 1999 3D Cube (first 3D Image)

The beautiful star-like pattern at the centre of the design is undoubtedly a Penteract (a 5-D cube), from fig.3 you can see how I have overlaid a penteract over a photo of the formation to show just how accurate it was. There are several ways to depict a penteract, the first thing we have to understand is that this image is what is called an orthographic projection, which is used to show the shadows cast by a higher dimensional objects in our 3-D reality. We cannot see a penteract as it would appear in 5th dimensional space, because we are limited by our 3-D existence, but we can calculate what it would look like. A penteract has 32 vertices, 80 edges, 80 square faces, 40 cubic cells, and 10 tesseract hypercells. Blimey!

Fig. 3 The Jubilee Plantation formation with overlaid Penteract (5D Cube)

The unfolding of dimensions in crop circle design has evolved beside the systematic unfolding of number in those same designs. The movement from one dimension to the next could be symbolically seen as some kind of ‘deepening’, or may signal the preparation in the ‘collective unconscious’ for an assimilation of a new depth. Often the unconscious can be seen to be working with material long before it is fully manifested into the conscious mind and into the world, I find this deeply interesting.

The evolution of human art has also followed a similar pattern, the development of dimension in paintings has often been remarked upon. The first truly 3-dimensional painting appeared in around 1455-60, a painting titled ‘The Flagellation Of Christ’ by Italian artist Piero della Francesca. It is generally accepted as the first painting to successfully add depth to height and width. It is interesting to note that the painter was also a mathematician and a geometer, and wrote much on proportion and perspective.

The Flagellation of Christ by Piero Della Francesca (1455-60). The first 3D painting?

He was a great influence upon Fra Luca Pacioli, and his ideas were illustrated in one of Pacioli’s books by none other than the great Leonardo Da Vinci. What this painting showed was that although we have always lived in a 3-dimensional world, and that humans have always seen the world in three dimensions, we had at that point in time only just began to assimilate that knowledge fully into our conscious minds – allowing us to project it onto board and canvas for the first time.

As we reach finally reach 2012, I wonder if that is going to happen again, only this time with an assimilation of other realities/dimensions into full consciousness? Perhaps the idea of the fourth dimension is symbolic of that. Clearly, we do not live in a 4-dimensional world and clearly we are not equipped to perceive fully dimensions beyond our own, but I think (as Holmes would say) that ‘something is afoot’ and that it has to do with consciousness, dimensions, perspectives, space and time.

These new tenets will not only shift the way we understand reality, but will also in turn affect our consciousness. How will consciousness look after these new ideas, perceptions and perspectives have been assimilated, how might we project them into the world?

Painting of the Jubilee Plantation formation 2011 by Karen Alexander Watercolour and Inks on Cartridge Paper

As I drew the Jubilee Plantation formation I was struck by two things; the first was its rotational (spiral like) properties, (this is self evident by looking at the five beautifully spinning crescents around the perimeter of the design), but the second was how the centre also had a rotational element. The centre pattern is drawn using a similar methodology to the drawing of a decagram star (ten-pointed star). There are in fact three (I think) different decagram stars, this particular one joins every third point around a circle divided into ten. If you follow this methodology (as I did), you end up drawing around the circle. The centre of the formation then contains two further smaller (nested) decagrams, each nested in the centre of the previous one, three iterations in all. If you follow the same method of construction for the next two nested stars you end up winding a spiral right into the heart of the penteract and the centre of the formation itself. It was a very satisfying synchronicity to find that the inner and outer parts of the formation complimented one another in this way. The crescents are not part of the penteract but they are rooted within its geometry. To me this is crop circle design at its very best, bringing together seemingly disparate components and entangling them in a complementary way. I see non-locality, entanglement & complementiarity at work here – symbolically of course. I think this is portentous and highly significant.

To look into the Jubilee Plantation formation is to fall headlong into another world, another reality, or at least to glimpse it. To me it is a embryonic projection of a new stage in human consciousness manifested in our 3-dimensional reality – it is therefore, in fact, anything but mindless, it is, in my humble opinion, filled with mind.

This circle reminded me of the final words of Dr David Bowman, the ill-fated fictional commander of the USS Discovery in Clarke’s and Kubrick’s mighty vision ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’. As he approached the ultimate unknown, the mighty Monolith, he exclaimed “My God, it’s full of stars”, I felt like saying the same thing I as drew the centre of the Jubilee Plantation formation. Consciousness is the next great unknown, the metaphorical modern Monolith, are we about to transcend our current limitations of perception and, like Dave Bowman, become something entirely new?

KAREN ALEXANDER – APRIL 25th 2012

The End of One Great Cycle & the Beginning of Another

Drawing of the Hill Barn Formation 2012 – Reported 15th April.

The first formation of the 2012 Crop Circle season (in the UK) has arrived. It is located near Lurkley Hill in East Kennet. One popular reporting site has the location given as Hill Barn, East Kennet. It is a circular design, containing a simple twelve-petalled flower. The petals are standing, apart from an area in the centre where they all intersect, creating a flattened twelve-pointed star at the centre of the formation. The circle appears to be around 60-80ft – covering almost two sets of tractor lines. From the images available, it seems that the circle may have been there a couple of days, certainly the crop appears to not be very flat. This could be due to any number of reasons including; phototropism (if the circle has indeed been there a couple of days), or it could be an indicator that the immature plants are just not ready yet to hold the impression of a formation. A first report indicates the formation is messy inside, but there is, as yet, no other reports to compare it with. Certainly, rapeseed formations are prone to damage, I’ve never seen a truly pristine one. At this early stage we simply await more information.

The Flower of Life

The first circle of the season is almost universally greeted with elation and cynicism in equal amounts. Elation for those who love the circles and cynicism for those who are perpetually conflicted by the whole phenomenon and are unable to turn the cynicism they feel into action and withdraw from the subject entirely. It is one of the ‘greater mysteries’ of the entire phenomenon why those that deride the subject continue to engage with it so vigorously.

It seems perhaps appropriate that the 2012 season should start with a twelve-fold formation. It has already been labelled a ‘flower of life’, although I am unsure exactly what that phrase means in this context. I always thought that a ‘flower of life’ was a circular mandala of intersecting circles that had a distinct 6-fold geometry, although I readily admit that I am no expert on that particular branch of study.

However, all of that said, twelve is an important number in human culture. It is has also been a number that has pervaded crop circle geometry over the years. If you take the time to look back through the many forms the circle-makers have offered us, you find many twelves. Traditionally, twelve is associated with time and space. We divide our day into twelve hours and our night in to twelve hours. We divide our year into twelve months and our year is also ruled by twelve constellations that make up our zodiac. In the UK (as in some other cultures), twelve has been used as the base number of both counting and measuring systems. The UK’s currency was base-12, before our current metric (base-10) currency system was introduced in 1971. Imperial measuring systems also used base-12, for example there are 12 inches in a foot. Many cultures were organised into twelve tribes, and of course there were the twelve disciples of Christ’s inner circle. Almost all its associations pertain to the passing of time and the measurement of space, but it is also a traditional way of diving and organising cultural and social structures.

Twelve can be divided by, 2, 3, 4 & 6, it is often found in tiling and other ancient decorative arts. Triangles, squares and hexagons can be picked out of twelve fold designs, and often twelve is associated with imagery of the World as a whole. It can also be seen in our musical scales when we add in half-tones to a piano keyboard – seven notes, plus five half-tones. I think twelve is a ‘satisfying’ number. There is something about it’s correspondences and connections are edifying and harmonious, perhaps it has something to do with the relative ease by which it can be divided into further sub-components and constituents.

If 2012 truly is the end of one great cycle of time and the beginning of another, then twelve, would perhaps symbolise that transitional point, after all, thirteen (the next number) is the number of transformation.

KAREN ALEXANDER – APRIL 18th 2012

Some Historical Twelves…

Honey Street 2002 – classical division by 12

Stephen Castle Down 2000 – soap bubbles

Bishops Sutton 2000 – more soap bubbles

East Kennet 2005 – 12 paperclips

Windmill Hill 2002 – the relationship between 12, 3 & 4

Lurkley Hill 2005 – relationship between 4 & 12

The post The First Formation of the 2012 Season… appeared first on Temporary Temples.

The End of One Great Cycle & the Beginning of Another

Drawing of the Hill Barn Formation 2012 – Reported 15th April.

The first formation of the 2012 Crop Circle season (in the UK) has arrived. It is located near Lurkley Hill in East Kennet. One popular reporting site has the location given as Hill Barn, East Kennet. It is a circular design, containing a simple twelve-petalled flower. The petals are standing, apart from an area in the centre where they all intersect, creating a flattened twelve-pointed star at the centre of the formation. The circle appears to be around 60-80ft – covering almost two sets of tractor lines. From the images available, it seems that the circle may have been there a couple of days, certainly the crop appears to not be very flat. This could be due to any number of reasons including; phototropism (if the circle has indeed been there a couple of days), or it could be an indicator that the immature plants are just not ready yet to hold the impression of a formation. A first report indicates the formation is messy inside, but there is, as yet, no other reports to compare it with. Certainly, rapeseed formations are prone to damage, I’ve never seen a truly pristine one. At this early stage we simply await more information.

The Flower of Life

The first circle of the season is almost universally greeted with elation and cynicism in equal amounts. Elation for those who love the circles and cynicism for those who are perpetually conflicted by the whole phenomenon and are unable to turn the cynicism they feel into action and withdraw from the subject entirely. It is one of the ‘greater mysteries’ of the entire phenomenon why those that deride the subject continue to engage with it so vigorously.

It seems perhaps appropriate that the 2012 season should start with a twelve-fold formation. It has already been labelled a ‘flower of life’, although I am unsure exactly what that phrase means in this context. I always thought that a ‘flower of life’ was a circular mandala of intersecting circles that had a distinct 6-fold geometry, although I readily admit that I am no expert on that particular branch of study.

However, all of that said, twelve is an important number in human culture. It is has also been a number that has pervaded crop circle geometry over the years. If you take the time to look back through the many forms the circle-makers have offered us, you find many twelves. Traditionally, twelve is associated with time and space. We divide our day into twelve hours and our night in to twelve hours. We divide our year into twelve months and our year is also ruled by twelve constellations that make up our zodiac. In the UK (as in some other cultures), twelve has been used as the base number of both counting and measuring systems. The UK’s currency was base-12, before our current metric (base-10) currency system was introduced in 1971. Imperial measuring systems also used base-12, for example there are 12 inches in a foot. Many cultures were organised into twelve tribes, and of course there were the twelve disciples of Christ’s inner circle. Almost all its associations pertain to the passing of time and the measurement of space, but it is also a traditional way of diving and organising cultural and social structures.

Twelve can be divided by, 2, 3, 4 & 6, it is often found in tiling and other ancient decorative arts. Triangles, squares and hexagons can be picked out of twelve fold designs, and often twelve is associated with imagery of the World as a whole. It can also be seen in our musical scales when we add in half-tones to a piano keyboard – seven notes, plus five half-tones. I think twelve is a ‘satisfying’ number. There is something about it’s correspondences and connections are edifying and harmonious, perhaps it has something to do with the relative ease by which it can be divided into further sub-components and constituents.

If 2012 truly is the end of one great cycle of time and the beginning of another, then twelve, would perhaps symbolise that transitional point, after all, thirteen (the next number) is the number of transformation.

KAREN ALEXANDER – APRIL 18th 2012

Some Historical Twelves…

Honey Street 2002 – classical division by 12

Stephen Castle Down 2000 – soap bubbles

Bishops Sutton 2000 – more soap bubbles

East Kennet 2005 – 12 paperclips

Windmill Hill 2002 – the relationship between 12, 3 & 4

Lurkley Hill 2005 – relationship between 4 & 12