Conference Organisers visit their brand new 2010 venue.
About the Organisers
The Summer Crop Circle Lectures are organised and hosted by well-known and seasoned crop circle researchers Karen Alexander, Michael Glickman and Steve Alexander, who bring their considerable knowledge and experience of the crop circle subject to the organisation of this prestigious event.
Karen Alexander is a long time circles researcher who has for many years brought a thoughtful and introspective touch to researching the crop circles. A respected and influential speaker and writer, her work seamlessly fuses sacred art, spirituality, psychology and philosophy - the scholarly and the intuitive. Karen is perhaps best known as the writer behind the annually published Crop Circle Year Books (1999 - 2009) and Crop Circles: Signs, Wonders & Mysteries, Arcturus 2006.
Michael Glickman is a much-loved, respected and influential figure of the crop circle community, whose work on the geometry and interpretation of the crop circles has spanned 20 years. A former architect, inventor and teacher, he is now a renowned and inspirational speaker and writer; he has long occupied a central space at the heart of research into this phenomenon. Michael has written many articles on the crop circles. His book, Crop Circles (published by Wooden Books), is now in its third revised edition. He is also author of Cornography (2007) and most recently his book Crop Circles: The Bones of God was published in June last year (2009).
Steve Alexander is an internationally renowned photographer, whose images of the crop circles have graced books, media, documentaries and cinematic films worldwide for over seventeen years. Steve has long set the standard by which all other crop circle photography is judged. He is well-known for his influential annual presentation of the year's crop circle images, which he now presents exclusively at The Summer Crop Circle Lectures. Steve is perhaps best known for his photography in the Crop Circle Year Books (1999-2009), the book Crop Circles: Signs, Wonders & Mysteries, Arcturus 2006, and for his five crop circle films (his latest is Chasing Daylight 2009)
Alton Barnes 1990 - © Bertold Zugelder
Barbury Castle 1991 - © Bertold Zugelder
Windmill Hill 1996 - © Steve Alexander
Crooked Soley 2002 - © Steve Alexander
Gratitude for the Circles
by Michael Glickman
An overwhelming characteristic of the Crop Circle Phenomenon is its intractable mystery, its stubborn refusal to hold still for explanation.
The initial marks in the fields, during the 70s were simple and elegant swirled circles. These were to evolve in the following decade, first to include rings and second to form the enigmatic quintuplet or dice five-spot. The formations were - simultaneously - complex enough to persuade some observers that they were in the presence of the numinous unknown while yet simple enough to lead others to the conviction that a conventional scientific solution would reveal itself.
In July of 1990 the complexity of the programme was transformed by the arrival in East Field, Alton Barnes, of a gigantic linear formation. It incorporated completely novel geometries and design features and established East Field, then farmed by Tim and Polly Carson, as the symbolic centre of the phenomenon. There have been few seasons since 1990 when East Field has not received a major crop circle.
The seminal East Field formation marked a turning point. It became difficult after this remarkable apparition to give whirlwinds or incidents of fungal growth the credit for these elaborate events. The door was thrown open to what has unquestionably become the worlds most charming and puzzling annual exhibition.
Each summer, hundreds of enthusiasts from around the world gather to await the seasons show. They are rarely disappointed. They will discover, like children released into a gigantic enchanted toy emporium, an unlimited abundance of riches. But instead of train sets, dolls houses and Lego we are shown Barbury Castles, Windmill Hills and Crooked Soleys. We have learned that, while the toys can break and start to bore us, these elegant and enigmatic patterns will remain with us forever, like some enchanted thumb print on our consciousness.
And by the end of the season, each of these visitors will have collected their own set of prints. Each with its unique narrative, its own history of events witnessed, of meetings and of friendships, of endless conversations and speculations but, above all, of their personal confrontation with the inexplicable.
Perhaps most perplexing of all is that, when they recall finding their favourite formation, they often realise that it found them.