The Mesoamerican World Tree as drawn in three English crop pictures from Etchilhampton 2008, Avebury Down 2008 or Clatford 2009: an eclipse of our galactic center in December of 2012?

"Every major image from Mayan cosmic symbolism is probably a map of the sky"---Linda Schele

A new and highly impressive crop picture from Clatford near Manton on May 4, 2009 has inspired a great deal of interest and speculation. For example, there remains fairly mixed opinion about whether it is paranormally real or a human-made fake? Also, nobody seems to have even the faintest clue what it might mean!

In this article, we will first review two other crop pictures from last year at Etchilhampton or Avebury Down, in order to understand the general kind of symbolism shown at Clatford; and then we will study Clatford intensively with regard to its symbolism, paranormal reality and field location. Our conclusion will be that Clatford is probably paranormally real, or too complex to have been made by local fakers; and that it was made to remind us of a rare eclipse between our Sun and part of the galactic centre in December of 2012.

The Mayan World Tree: a symbol of crossing between the Milky Way galaxy and the ecliptic path of our Sun

All three of the crop pictures to be studied here use a very general kind of astronomical symbolism taken from ancient central America, namely that of the Mayan (or Mesoamerican) World Tree:

It shows up most famously within a Temple of the Foliated Cross from Palenque, or on the sarcophagus lid of Pacal the Great (600 AD). In the latter case, we can see Lord Pacal resting on his back, looking up at the night sky and that World Tree. He must have been a keen astronomer for his day! But why did the Mayans (or Aztecs) call part of their night sky a World Tree?

“The Mayans called the diffuse, white path of our Milky Way through their night sky a World Tree, because it appeared erect like a tall ceiba tree in summer, when the constellation Sagittarius was located well above the horizon. It was also called Wakah Chan meaning ‘six’ or ‘erect’ and ‘sky’. A certain location in Sagittarius near the centre of our galaxy, where the World Tree meets the solar ecliptic, was given even more attention by the Mayans. That solar ecliptic was often represented as a bar crossing the major axis of their World Tree, thereby creating an image similar to the Christian cross” (see palenquecross or creation).

Two cross-like crop pictures from the summer of 2008 at Etchilhampton Hill or Avebury Down both showed a Mayan World Tree 

Now that new picture from Clatford on May 4, 2009 clearly shows a World Tree, but it was not the first. Thus on August 15, 2008, the first Mayan World Tree to appear in crops was found on top of Etchilhampton Hill (see Etchilhampton2008):

Many people at the time believed it to be a Christian symbol, because it closely resembles a Celtic cross. Yet it used a characteristic symbol for “eclipse” taken from Furze Knoll on June 20, 2008, repeated ten times, to make up its World Tree (see furze2008). A large round “Sun" also appears at its very centre, where the two arms of that cross intersect (see above, upper left). So it more probably was meant to tell us about a certain astronomical crossing between the plane of our Milky Way and the solar ecliptic (see above, upper right), than anything religious per se.

The next Mayan World Tree appeared one month later on September 28, 2008 at Avebury Down (see aveburydown2008):

It used long-forgotten symbols from ancient Mayan astronomy to portray its World Tree, especially those from the Codex Fejervary-Mayer (see Mayer or fejervary_mayer) First it showed six large circles going up, consistent with a double meaning of “Wak” in the phrase “Wakah Chan” as either “erect” or “six”. Then it showed three branch-like protrusions on the left, right and above, although the ancient Mayans would often draw a funny-looking bird on top!

The latest Mayan World Tree at Clatford shows “two world trees” from the same Codex

So far we have seen only single World Trees. Yet the Mayans (or Aztecs) would often include two or even four World Trees in the same drawing, in order to represent cardinal directions in their sky of North-South, or even North-South-East-West. Indeed, the latest World Tree at Clatford seems to show “two world trees” from the same Codex:  

That means they are trying to tell us about two cardinal directions in our night sky, whether North or South along the plane of the Milky Way galaxy (as seen from Earth). Those “two world trees” were drawn slightly differently in another Mayan-Aztec codex: 

There we can see two possible sky directions of North or South, along with a flat horizontal bar to represent the surface of our Earth.

"The World Tree represents a Mayan view of the sky. Just after sunset on August 13 of any year (the day when their Long Count calendar began in 3114 BC), the Milky Way runs overhead from south to north, almost like a large tree. The southern or northern skies are located in branches of those two trees” (see maya). 

An anomalous dark strip which runs down the centre of Clatford suggests the central North-South axis of a Mayan World Tree  

The Mayans would often draw their World Tree with a distinct vertical stripe, in order to represent the dark central axis of our Milky Way where most stars are obscured by dust. An indeed, such a strange feature also appears at Clatford:  

Charles Mallet, one of the leading field inspectors of crop circles, wondered what it might mean: “Most notably, a certain kind of damage shows up as dark strips that run down the centres of narrow avenues in the formation. All of that damage looked systematic and intentional, and did not convey the appearance of standard hoaxing.”

Andrew Pyrka likewise commented: “A certain perfection is visible throughout the formation, with swirls and twists everywhere. Yet a central construction line is also quite clear, where plants show a strong parting left or right as if something came through the centre” (see fieldreports)

A slight curvature of Clatford down its long axis matches that of our Milky Way galaxy pretty closely  

While preparing this article, I was contacted by Linda Howe following her interview with Charles Mallet (see www.earthfiles.com), because both of them were wondering what the slight curvature of Clatford down its long axis might mean?  

I knew already that “two world trees” as shown there were meant to symbolize two cardinal directions in our night sky as either “North” and “South”, but remained uncertain which was which!  After receiving that important clue from Linda and Charles, it all became clear:

Just line up the long axis of Clatford with a good photograph of our Milky Way galaxy, and you have the answer! A constellation Cygnus can be seen at the northern end of our Milky Way (above right).

Two long curved lines in the upper part of Clatford suggest a crossing between the Milky Way and the curved ecliptic path of our Sun

The very reason why those ancient Mayans called the Milky Way a “World Tree” was because it crossed halfway along its length, with the curved ecliptic path of our Sun. Such a feature shows up quite clearly in the upper part of Clatford (below left), as well as in the Codex Fejervary-Mayer (below right):

On the right, our solar ecliptic (near the “bird”) has been drawn as going in two possible directions as either “up” or “down”. Those two directions correspond to our Sun’s path through the sky as seen either above or below the equator, say in central America versus South America. A two-ended “pointer” from that Codex (top right near the “parrot”) also appears commonly in modern crop pictures, where it is used to indicate direction: say at Serpent Mound in 2003 or South Field in 2008.

When viewed from northern latitudes, the curved ecliptic path of our Sun always leans toward the South

The solar ecliptic can of course be viewed in two possible directions, whether “up” in the northern hemisphere or “down” in the southern hemisphere. Yet when viewed from northern latitudes, the curved ecliptic path of our Sun always leans toward the South:

In fact, we can use such astronomical knowledge to confirm that we have assigned our North-South axis correctly at Clatford, and indeed we have! For example in England, the Sun rises in the east, goes south by noon, then sets in the west. Alternatively in Australia, the Sun rises in the east, goes north by noon, then sets in the west.

The curved double-ball symbol shown there for “solar ecliptic” was very important to the ancient Mayans. They called it a "double headed serpent", and their kings often wore a "serpent bar of authority" to symbolize the same thing (see mayastudies).

The uppermost part of Clatford along its central axis shows a crop symbol from the early 1990’s which means “eclipse”

Now we can understand most of the symbolic elements shown at Clatford, in terms of ancient Mayan astronomy and their World Tree, but what is the picture trying to tell us as a whole? 

Well, at the very top of Clatford along its central axis, just above its two curved lines for “solar ecliptic”, one can see a classic “solar eclipse” symbol from many crop pictures in the early 1990’s (see time2007f):  

But what kind of eclipse? That symbol could refer in principle either to an ordinary eclipse of our Sun on July 22, 2009, or else to a rare eclipse of our galactic centre on December 21, 2012 (at the end of the Mayan Long Count calendar): 

Last summer in 2008, most of their pictures dealt with ordinary eclipses of the Sun or Moon (see 080808). How can we know which kind of eclipse they are talking about this time?

Field orientation at Clatford: why does its North-South axis point southeast rather than south?

While pondering this question, one interesting clue came from the local field orientation at Clatford, which was toward the southeast rather than south:

Why would they deliberately misalign their crop picture away from where it should be? When choosing field location, they seemed to be very careful, and focussed on a big clump of trees nearby that point precisely north or south. Those trees even seem to resemble a photograph of our Milky Way as shown above!

The southern end of our Milky Way points southwest in summer on August 13, but southeast in winter on December 21

In order to address the question of field orientation, and its possible relation to the earlier question of “which eclipse?”, I prepared a series of maps of our night sky relevant to central America near Teotihuacan for just after sunset local time (see controls). Using those maps, I soon found that the southern end our Milky Way points southwest in summer on August 13, but southeast in winter on December 21:

Thus, their “eclipse” symbol as shown at Clatford was meant to tell us about a general eclipse of the galactic centre by our Sun on December 21 of any year, when it passes through the constellation Sagittarius; or perhaps even a rare eclipse of the galactic centre (in some particular part) on December 21, 2012, when the Mayan Long Count calendar ends.

In summary, Clatford of May 4, 2009 showed us the ancient symbols for a Mayan World Tree, apparently in relation to an upcoming eclipse of our galactic centre by the Sun on December 21, 2012.

The CMM Research Team

P.S. We would like to thank Charles Mallett, Steve Alexander, Lucy Pringle, Tammi Paxman, Olivier Morel and Andreas Muller for some of the photographs used here.

Appendix. First page of the Codex Fejervary-Mayer

For the reader’s convenience, we have provided below a complete view of the first page from Codex Fejervary-Mayer, which shows eight “world trees” in total. Four of those represent North-South-East-West, while another four in the corners represent Northeast-Northwest-Southeast-Southwest. The little man in the centre is their “god of fire”

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