Friday, October 24, 2008

What do modern crop circles mean? Part IV: Jaime Maussan and the Quetzalcoatl hypothesis

Now we will find it useful to depart from strictly conventional views concerning modern crop pictures, and begin to speculate a little, in an attempt to solve this difficult and fascinating problem. Thus, we would like to explore further the merits of a new hypothesis that was not proposed until 2005, when the Mexican journalist and ufologist Jaime Maussan visited Wiltshire.

One year earlier on August 3, 2004, a spectacular "Aztec Sunstone" had appeared in crops near Silbury Hill. It had illustrated certain long-term aspects of the Mayan Long Count calendar: namely four past historical epochs or Suns over the past 20,000 years, along with an upcoming end to our current Fifth Sun on December 21-23, 2012. It thereby caused much excitement around the world, especially in Mexico where the true historical Aztec Sunstone resides in the National Museum of Anthropology and History (see www.crystalinks.com/aztecalendar.html).

The dramatic events of August 2005

Hence one year later in August of 2005, the Mexican journalist Jaime Maussan flew to England to be there personally, when the last few crop pictures of 2005 came down (see www.cropcircle.tv/archives/2005/Waylands/LammasMessages.html). And he was amply rewarded: on the night of August 9, 2005, three new and spectacular crop pictures appeared in three separate locations across southern England. The most important of those appeared at Wayland's Smithy, and encoded binary information in base-16 using an ancient Mayan Sun-Venus calendar.

It was clear right away that something significant had happened. Thus, Jaime commented to Stuart Dike on the 2005 Crop Circle Connector DVD: "Those are dates. Something is going to happen then" (see www.cropcircleconnector.com/anasazi/circlechasers2005dvd.html). He did not anticipate that it would be the 2007 explosion of Comet Holmes, because its binary information was far too complex to be solved right away. But he did make an important connection between the unexplained appearance of many Mayan-type crop pictures in southern England, with the long-promised return to our modern world of an ancient central American god-teacher called Quetzalcoatl (see www.mininova.org/tor/208824 or www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPg-xOHblzc&feature=related or www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNSIVM1bdHw&feature=related).

Quetzalcoatl was a tall, bearded white man who had first visited the Yucatan area of Mexico around 0 AD, and had been greatly loved by the common people there for his positive contributions to their technology and morality. What possible relation could those events in central America long ago have to do with English crop pictures today? At first the whole idea seems bizarre: could there be anything to it?

Four days after Wayland's Smithy, another spectacular Mayan-type crop picture appeared on August 13, 2005 in the nearby field at Woolstone Hill (see www.lucypringle.co.uk/photos/2005/uk2005co.shtml#pic4). It showed symbolically a "birth of the Mayan Sixth Sun" in early 2013. Such a symbolic event---the start of a new world age in their Long Count calendar---is supposed to follow an end to the Mayan Fifth Sun in late 2012:

slide 33: Silbury Hill 2004, Woolstone Hill 2005 (photo credits to Lucy Pringle and Jaime Maussan)

The sixteen "spiral boxes" which surround a central six-pointed star in that new crop picture seemed to represent the same sixteen time periods of 52 / 16 = 3.25 years, which had been coded in binary format only a few days earlier at Wayland's Smithy. Clearly something very important was happening here!

To summarize, a legendary god-teacher from ancient central America by the name of Quetzalcoatl had always promised that he would return to our modern world, at the end of his Long Count calendar in late 2012 AD. And now midway through the first decade of the 21st century, a series of highly mathematical or astronomical Mayan-type crop pictures were appearing mysteriously in the fields of southern England. What could all of this mean?

Several other authors also noted an unexpected connection between Mayan-type crop pictures and the possible return of Quetzalcoatl: for example Geoff Stray with his excellent book "Beyond 2012" (see www.amazon.co.uk/Beyond-2012-Catastrophe-End-time/dp/095506080X), or Linda Howe with her many excellent articles about crop circles on the Earthfiles website (see for example www.earthfiles.com/news.php?ID=1434&category=Environment). It was an idea whose time had come.

Other possible clues to the underlying nature of this strange phenomenon

Given the mysterious nature of this strange phenomenon, some authors have attempted psychic means to find its origin. For example, Isabelle Kingston, a respected English psychic, has identified those unknown crop artists with a traditional "Watcher" class of extra-terrestrials from our distant past, mentioned sometimes in the Jewish Old Testament or Dead Sea Scrolls (see www.cropcirclesecrets.org/predictions98.html or www.wholisticworldvision.org/tours/tour_menu.html).

More recently, the New York author Daniel Pinchbeck claims to have entered into psychic communication with an avatar Quetzalcoatl during his long trip to Brazil in 2003, and has even posted Quetzal's message for the people of Earth on his website (see www.breakingopenthehead.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-2525.html). Normally one should remain skeptical of psychic phenomena, but Daniel's comments seem so insightful that they should perhaps be considered further:

"Soon there will be a great change to your world. The material reality that surrounds you is beginning to crack apart, and with it all of your illusions. The global capitalist system that is currently devouring your planetary resources will soon self-destruct, leaving many of you bereft. But understand the nature of paradox: for those who follow my words, and open their hearts and minds, there will be no problem whatsoever. What is false must die, so that what is true can be born."

By 2006, Daniel had written a new book called "2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl" which shows the famous daylight crop picture from Stonehenge 1996 on its cover (see www.2012thebook.com/questions_about_2012.html or www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUfUA2Sojkc&feature=related):

slide 34: Stonehenge 1996, Pinchbeck book

Thus in a land practically without crop pictures, the legendary Quetzalcoatl seems to have found a way to get his message across to the common people there, in another fashion entirely!

The original mission by Quetzalcoatl and twenty of his skilled colleagues to central America around 100 AD

So who was this mysterious god-teacher of ancient central America by the name of Quetzalcoatl? No one today knows exactly, because almost all written records of the Mayans or Aztecs were burned by overzealous Catholic priests, after Cortés invaded in 1519. Most current academic historians dismiss the ubiquitous legends of Quetzalcoatl as no more than myths, produced by primitive natives in ancient central, south or north America for their own religious purposes (see for example www.questia.com/library/encyclopedia/quetzalcoatl.jsp or http://groups.google.com/group/utmesoamerica/msg/c412ee3a86e38b1a). Yet some popular authors, for example Graham Hancock, have argued otherwise (see www.bibliotecapleyades.net/egipto/fingerprintgods/fingerprintgods03.htm or www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d52uMqtsZ0&feature=related).

By most accounts, Quetzalcoatl (meaning "bird-serpent") was a tall, bearded white man of great skill, morality and knowledge. He arrived on the coast of Yucatan with twenty or so skilled colleagues by sea from the east around 0 to 100 AD, although some natives believe that he originally came from the stars. In the first ten to twenty years after he arrived there, he taught the local people all kinds of new or improved technologies by which to better their lives: for example farming, building or metallurgy. He also taught them improved concepts of morality and spirituality, possibly of a Christian nature (Jesus had lived in Israel only a few years earlier). Similar cultural or technological changes were noted at approximately the same time in south America where he was known as "Viracocha", or in north America where he was known as "Pahana".

For all of those reasons, Quetzalcoatl became a great folk hero to most native people in central, south or north America for 1500 years, beginning around the time of Christ, until a relentless Spanish invasion led by Cortés in 1519 AD completely destroyed all of their native cultures. Indeed, the Aztec leadership and priests in 1519 AD had been awaiting the long-promised return of Quetzalcoatl in some year "One Reed", which was one of 52 possible years in their Venus-based calendar. Quetzal had apparently promised long before that he would return to their shores, in order to bring them new and renewed prosperity:

"Their god Quetzalcoatl went to the heavens and promised, when he left, that he would come again and bring his children" (Hernando Tezozomoc in Crónica Mexicana).

"Because of the place from which you come, namely from the east where the Sun rises, and what you tell us of the great lord or king who sent you, we believe that he is our natural lord, especially since you say that he has known us for some time." (the Aztec emperor Moctezuma speaking to Hernan Cortés in Letters from Mexico).

In summary, those Aztecs were definitely waiting for some kind of tall, white-skinned, bearded group of sailors to return! Little did they know that Cortés was a ruthless adventurer in search of gold, and not the benevolent god-teacher that Quetzalcoatl had proven to be 1500 years earlier. When the Spanish continued their invasion toward South America in later years, they found to their surprise that some of the ruling classes there were blond and blue-eyed like themselves, and were known as children of the gods. They also found some surprising Christian influences which should not really have been there: for example at Palenque, one can see crosses in some of the temples, or on the coffin lid of Pacal the Great, dating back to 600 AD (although those symbols do not mean "crucifixion" but have other meanings).

In any case, the ancient Olmecs, Mayans or Incas suddenly acquired a vast store of new knowledge and technologies, that they used to embark on remarkable building programs all across central or south America. Their greatest city was later called Teotihuacan, meaning "city of the gods". There they built three great and magnificent stone edifices that are now called the Pyramid of the Sun, Pyramid of the Moon, or Feathered Serpent Pyramid (see http://archaeology.asu.edu/teo or http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=vALQwt1TqRo or http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=PYbvlgpBsZw&feature=related):

slide 35: city of Teotihuacan

"The earliest buildings at Teotihuacan date back to 200 BC, while the Pyramid of the Sun was completed by 100 AD. That city reached its zenith between 150 and 450 AD, when it was the center of a powerful culture whose influence extended throughout much of Mesoamerica" (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teotihuacan).

slide 36: Pyramids of the Sun, Moon or Feathered Serpent

"When the Aztecs arrived on the Highland Plateau at the beginning of the 14th century, they came across an enormous and abandoned religious centre which they named Teotihuacan. It is hard to believe that such a city could have been built by a people who did not know metal tools, had no beasts of burden, and did not use even simple machines to aid them in their constructions. Teotihuacan is located in a large valley about 50 kilometers from modern Mexico City. Although the area was populated from very early times, the construction of that large ceremonial center did not begin until around 100 BC. The ceremonial zone of Teotihuacan was surrounded by a great urban population of 150,000 during its peak, and covered a land area of 20 square kilometers. The ceremonial complex itself is formed by two great stone pyramids, known today as the Pyramids of the Sun or Moon, together with temples, platforms and residential buildings distributed along both sides of the long Causeway of the Dead. Its main building, the Pyramid of the Sun, measures 215 meters on each side, making its base similar in size to that of the largest Egyptian pyramid at Giza." (see www.elbalero.gob.mx/kids/history/html/conquista/teo.html).

One should also take note of a special architectural feature found within the Feathered Serpent Pyramid. Thus, twice every year on the spring or autumn equinox, the shadow of a huge, carefully fashioned stone serpent descends at sunset "from the sky to Earth" along its northern steps (see www.world-mysteries.com/chichenitza_sn.htm). Why would the original architects of that pyramid have built such a clever feature into its construction, unless they were sure that Quetzalcoatl and his colleagues had once come from the stars?

In summary, these sudden and remarkable technical advances do not seem to admit any simple, conventional explanation. On the other hand, if the original mission by Quetzalcoatl and his twenty or so skilled colleagues to central America around 100 AD was some kind of civilizing effort by a hypothetical Interstellar Peace Corps, who intended to bring improved technologies or improved concepts of morality or spirituality to other humans less advanced than themselves, living on an obscure planet far out on the Orion Arm, then everything would be explained nicely!

Quetzalcoatl and his colleagues arrived in the Yucatan by sea, from across the Atlantic Ocean to the east, meaning that his primary base was somewhere in Europe: say in England or Germany. And that is where most modern crop pictures are appearing today, next to ancient megalithic sites such as Avebury Ring, Silbury Hill or Stonehenge, just ten to twenty years before his long-promised return at the end of our modern year 2012 AD.

Three traditional symbols for Quetzalcoatl often appear in modern crop pictures: who could be making them?

That strange hypothesis, first suggested by Jaime Maussan in 2005, might seem bizarre or overly speculative on first notice. How could anyone possibly link putative extra-terrestrial visits to ancient central America with modern crop pictures? But once the idea is examined more carefully, with due regard to many unexplained crop pictures that have appeared over the years, then it begins to make a lot of sense.

For example, not only do ancient Mayan calendars or Mayan binary codes appear sometimes in modern crop pictures, but also three traditional symbols for the legendary god-teacher Quetzalcoatl as his (i) feathered serpent, (ii) planet Venus or (iii) jester's hat motifs. All three of those symbols have been associated closely with the person of Quetzalcoatl for the past 2000 years:

slide 37: East Field 1999, Chilcomb Down 2001, East Field 2006 (photo credits to Lucy Pringle)

The Olmecs or Mayans called Quetzal a "feathered serpent" because he could fly and was wise, or perhaps because he rode around in a long silver craft that they called a flying snake. Looking for example at Stela 19 from the ancient Olmec city of La Venta (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmec or http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:La_Venta_Stele_19.jpg), one can see a remarkable depiction of Quetzalcoatl riding around in his flying snake, that appears very modern to say the least (see below).

"The serpent was an important symbol to the Mayans. They described serpents as being the vehicles by which celestial bodies cross the heavens. One of their deities Quetzalcoatl was even represented as a feathered serpent" (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vision_Serpent).

"The mythological figure of a feathered serpent, once depicted all throughout north and central America, probably originated in Olmec times. Quetzalcoatl as a Feathered Serpent was said to be the inventor of books and the calendar, a giver of maize to mankind, and was often associated with planet Venus" (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmec_mythology).

Now the small serpentine crop picture which appeared at East Field on June 12, 1999 (above left) was apparently just his signature, for having designed and laid out another 300-meter-long crop picture in a neighbouring field on the same day (see www.lucypringle.co.uk/photos/1999/uk1999bf.shtml or www.lucypringle.co.uk/photos/1999/uk1999be.shtml). Stuart Dike noted at the time: "Its design shows snaking pathways and an arrow-like head, pointing strangely toward the other large pictogram nearby. Its interpretation seems to be that of a Sun Serpent from South America" (see www.cropcircle.tv/archives/1999/Eastfield/Eastfield99b.html).

See frame 00:15 on the video www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MLvq73TX94&feature=related for a good photograph of those two crop pictures in the same field next to one another. Thus, the arrow-like head of that "feathered serpent" pointed directly towards a long astronomical glyph nearby, which featured many symbols from the ancient science of Ptolemaic astronomy. Those told about an upcoming Grand Conjunction of the planets on May 5, 2000 (see www.cropcircleconnector.com/anasazi/time2007f.html). In all seriousness, who else would have the detailed knowledge required to make those two pictures, except for Quetzalcoatl himself?

The Mayans likewise associated Quetzalcoatl with "planet Venus", because he taught them all about the naked-eye astronomy of Venus, as well as their Venus-based calendar (see www.civilization.ca/civil/maya/mmc07eng.html). A crop picture from Chilcomb Down on July 14, 2001 (above center) shows the usual five-pointed star for Venus, plus a row of five circles between each pair of arms. Those remind us that Venus will complete five orbital cycles about our Sun, in any eight years as seen from Earth (see www.lucypringle.co.uk/photos/2001/uk2001bo.shtml).

Finally, they associated Quetzalcoatl with a "jester's hat" because he was apparently a bit of a jokester, and often wore one around! See for example a remarkable statue on display at La Venta Park in Tabasco, Mexico, in which a long-nosed white man is meeting some other European colleague, and wears a three-lobed jester's hat (see www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/mexico/olmec/olmec3.html or www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/mexico/olmec/11.jpg):

slide 38: two Quetzalcoatl stelas from La Venta

A very similar crop picture appeared in East Field on July 28, 2006 (previous slide, right). In that 2006 crop picture, Quetzal seemed to be showing his wry sense of humour, by adding a vagabond's bag to indicate that he is now a star-faring or travelling jester! Certain visitors to that Wiltshire crop formation got its interpretation all wrong: "Some tourists from London said that, from the air, the new East Field picture looked like a jester's hat, and thus was an obvious hoax, or perhaps a mockery toward people like ourselves" (see www.cropcircle.tv/archives/2006/eastfield/eastfield2006a.html or www.lucypringle.co.uk/photos/2006/uk2006bn.shtml).

Those people were simply not informed as to central American history! By 600 AD, a three-lobed jester's hat had become the accepted crown of Mayan kings, as a kind of cargo-cult symbol in honour of Quetzalcoatl's memory (see www.mesoweb.com/pari/publications/RT08/JesterGod.pdf). That is why we see Pacal the Great wearing one at Palenque in 615 AD, when he was made king (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacal_the_Great). You can just imagine some humorous fellow showing up in central America around 100 AD, wearing brightly coloured clothes like their quetzal parrot, riding around in a long metallic craft like their coatl serpent, and wearing a funny-looking three-lobed jester's hat. The natives could only have been amused, especially when he expressed a strong and legendary aversion to war or violence:

"When we spoke of war against a neighbouring tribe, Quetzal would put his fingers in his ears."

But where did he and his friends come from? From somewhere in the ancient British Isles, from ancient Scandinavia, or from a more distant source entirely?

A crop picture from West Overton in 2002 identified his home star in the constellation Hercules about 160 light-years from Earth

Two weeks before Crabwood of August 15, 2002, which was the most famous picture in the history of this phenomenon, another very informative picture appeared at West Overton on July 28, 2002 (see www.cropcircle.tv/archives/2002/westoverton/westoverton2002a.html). Not many people paid any attention to it at the time, but there is good reason now to believe that the mysterious crop artist who made one picture also made the other. And that is quite significant, because the West Overton picture shows our old friend the "feathered serpent", flying away from some very complex group of stars off into space, presumably on his way to Earth:

slide 39: West Overton 2002 (photo credits to Stuart Dike)

The feathered-serpent image as portrayed there has a much longer "neck" than the one shown at East Field in 1999, because the artist is trying to portray a sense of motion or distance: leaving behind one group of stars to travel to another. It seems almost humorous! But then Quetzalcoatl always was a joker. When we study the many different stars shown in that 2002 crop picture, to learn where the "feathered serpent" comes from, we find that they represent the well-known Keystone of Hercules, with a bright globular cluster M13 on the right:

slide 40: West Overton 2002 (photo credits to Stuart Dike)

Looking even more closely, to see which star the "tail" of that feathered serpent connects to, we find that it joins to a small star which lies close in Earth's sky to epsilion Hercules, a fairly bright star that lies 160 light years from Earth (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules_(constellation):

slide 41: West Overton 2002 (photo credits to Stuart Dike)

Both his home star and epsilion-Hercules have been connected by a thin line, to suggest that both stars lie close together in space. That makes him essentially our backyard neighbour on the Orion Arm, since it is a much greater 25,000 light years to the center of our galaxy!

Now in light of West Overton from 2002, there seems to be little remaining doubt. Quetzalcoatl was probably a true extra-terrestrial visitor to ancient central America, although he could have been based at that time in England or Europe. Yet we still don't know where he is now, or how he might be sending us these crop pictures through the use of small robotic probes. Could he and his colleagues still be located in central America, waiting to jump through time from 100 AD to 2012 AD? Or have they since returned to their home star, and plan to arrive on Earth in the near future through space?

END OF PART IV