The new crop picture from Secklendorf, Germany shows near-future orbital locations for Earth, Venus and Mars on an upcoming date of June 6, 2012 (Venus transit), as well as orbital locations for Earth and Venus on an upcoming date of December 21, 2012 (end of the Mayan Long Count calendar). 

Two sets of binary numbers in base-128 from its inner rings then confirm those two dates, when read in terms of a Mayan Sun-Venus calendar.

A spectacular new crop picture appeared at Secklendorf, Germany on June 23, 2008, in combination with three other minor crop pictures on the same day. What could they mean?

A six-pointed star in three dimensions, overlaid upon a large triangle or pyramid  

The Secklendorf picture shows at first glance a "six-pointed star in three dimensions", overlaid upon a large triangle or pyramid. What could such a strange combination of symbols be trying to tell us? That star in one sense may have a definite astronomical meaning, as "bright Venus" in transit across the face of our Sun (see below):  

Yet in another sense, it may have a separate geometrical meaning, that could help to explain why two great pyramidal monuments were built on Earth in a certain shape long ago. Thus, if one were to draw a flat circle around the four horizontal points of that star with radius h, where h is the height of either of its two vertical points, one would find a ratio for circumference-to-height of C / h = 2 pi. For purposes of comparison, the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan shows a ratio of square-circumference-to-height of 12.560, nearly equal to 4 pi = 12.566. Similarly, the Great Pyramid in Egypt shows a ratio of 6.280, nearly equal to 2 pi = 6.283 (see www.world-mysteries.com/mpl_7.htm). Could those crop artists have interacted with local humans on Earth at many times in our distant past?  

Bright Venus in transit across the face of our Sun on June 6, 2012  

Apart from its geometrical symbols near the centre, the vast majority of symbols in that new crop picture from Secklendorg, Germany refer to modern astronomical phenomena. I therefore used the NASA NEO website and its orbital diagrams (see http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/orbits) to solve for their meanings. 

To be concise, the large central triangle or pyramid shown above seems to represents our "Sun" in an astronomical sense. Its clever double meaning might be for the famous Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico, which has been shown several times before in crops (see www.lucypringle.co.uk/photos/2001/uk2001ar.shtml#pic2). 

Next, the six-pointed star in three dimensions that has been drawn over that central triangle seems to represent "bright Venus", which will next be in solar transit across the face of our Sun on June 6, 2012.

The largest outer circle at the bottom represents "Earth", as a constant (if moving) frame of reference over four years from 2008 to 2012 

Finally, the small outer circle at lower left shows where "Mars" will be located on June 6, 2012, relative to Earth (largest outer ball) and Venus in solar transit (six-pointed star covering the triangular Sun): 

Several other crop pictures from the past seem consistent with those interpretations. For example, another six-pointed star appeared at Etchilhampton on August 1, 1997, again overlaid across the face of our Sun (see www.lucypringle.co.uk/photos/1997/uk1997cg.shtml): 

It was accompanied by a 26 x 30 = 780-circle grid, meaning "780 weeks" or 15 years from the summer of 1997 to Venus transit on June 6, 2012.  

Stanton Bridge of July 14, 2007 likewise showed a triangular symbol for our Sun, surrounded by various planets including Jupiter, Saturn (two large balls), Mars (three small balls) or Moon (three medium-size balls). Those orbital locations told similarly about Venus transit on June 6, 2012. Its two outermost balls represented Venus and Earth during inferior conjunction with the Sun on August 18, 2007 (see www.cropcircle.tv/archives/2007/stantonbridge/stantonbridge2007.html).  

Stanton St. Bernard of August 12, 2007 then showed the Mayan number six, meaning "six Venus-Sun conjunctions left until transit in 2012". It appeared six days before a Sun-Venus conjunction on August 18, 2007 as a clever double meaning
 (see www.cropcircle.tv/archives/2007/stanton/stanton2007.html).  

Six orbital locations of Venus from March 27, 2009 to December 21, 2012  

So far, so good. Now those five other medium-sized balls from Secklendorf seem to show where Venus will be located relative to Earth (largest outer ball) on upcoming dates of:

V1 = March 27, 2009, inferior conjunction with Sun, next to Earth
V2 = January 11, 2012, superior conjunction with Sun, opposite Earth
V3 = October 29, 2010, inferior conjunction with Sun, next to Earth
V4 = August 16, 2011, superior conjunction with Sun, opposite Earth
V5 = June 6, 2012, inferior conjunction with Sun, solar transit (bright central six-pointed star)
V6 = December 21, 2012, three months before superior conjunction with Sun, far right opposite Earth (end of Long Count). 

When read in terms of their 104-year Sun-Venus calendar, which began on April 23, 1909 and will end on March 28, 2013, those six orbital locations of Venus V1 to V5 would count as conjunctions from number 125 to 129, while December 21, 2012 would count as a fractional 129.68  

Any two successive Sun-Venus conjunctions (whether inferior or superior) are separated in time by 292 days. Hence 130 conjunctions will last for a total of 130 x 292 = 37,960 days, equal to 104 years minus 26 days. We learned about that Mayan Sun-Venus calendar originally from the Dresden Codex, which was one of only a few ancient Mayan manuscripts not burned by invading Spanish priests
 (see http://members.shaw.ca/mjfinley/4VENUS.htm or www.tulane.edu/~danny/dresden.html).  

In summary, the astronomical part of Secklendorf tells us mainly about two near-future dates of June 6, 2012 (Venus transit or V5) and December 21, 2012 (end of the Mayan Long Count calendar or V6). Note also that its final symbol V6 for Venus lies two-thirds of the way between the last two Sun-Venus conjunctions in our current 104-year calendar as numbers 129 or 130. In other words, V6 lies 120 degrees from Venus transit V5 or conjunction 129 on June 6, 2012, or equally from Earth as the biggest ball at bottom. Likewise, V6 lies 60 degrees from 126 or 128 at top which mark where the final conjunction 130 of March 28, 2013 would be located, if it were shown. 

Binary coding of those same dates within two "inner rings" using the Mayan Sun-Venus calendar  

There have been several past examples in crops, where the Mayan Sun-Venus calendar was used to date certain events using binary code.  For example at Crabwood in 2002, binary base-32 as 30-25-14 was used to give a certain fraction of 104 / 2 = 52 years to remind us that "50 years had passed" since an unfriendly alien grey race contacted
Earth (see www.cropcircleconnector.com/anasazi/time2007o.html).

Likewise, Wayland's Smithy 2005 used binary base-16 as 13-10-7 or 14-5-11 to tell us two important dates in terms of their current 104 / 2 = 52 year Sun-Venus calendar: the date when that crop picture appeared on August 9, 2005, plus the date when a newly-exploded Comet Holmes would conjunct with a bright star Mirfak in Perseus two years later on November 20, 2007 (see www.cropcircleconnector.com/anasazi/time2007g.html or www.cropcircleconnector.com/anasazi/time2007h.html).

Wayland's Smithy 2006 then told us that "56 Sun-Venus conjunctions had passed since April 10, 1961", meaning that there were 9 left to go until March 28, 2013 (see www.cropcircleconnector.com/anasazi/time2007m.html). Stanton St. Bernard in 2007 said that 58 Sun-Venus conjunctions had passed since April 10, 1961, and that "6 were left until Venus transit on June 6, 2012", while 7 were left until March 28, 2013 (see www.cropcircle.tv/archives/2007/stanton/stanton2007.html). 

Therefore, if those crop artists wished to provide a second message to reinforce the identities of two dates given at Secklendorf by means of astronomical symbols, the Mayan Sun-Venus calendar would be a good place to start! How might they code for those two dates in a binary fashion, using their Sun-Venus calendar? The simplest way would be to choose binary base-128, since since the total number of conjunctions in any 104-year period equals a similar 130:  

Reading next along its second inner ring, we can see a series of three binary symbols: "127" as 0111-xx-1111, then an unstructured "decimal point" 111, and finally another binary string 0100-xx-0011 meaning "67" = 0 + 64 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 2 + 1, or possibly 0100-xx-0110 meaning "70" = 0 + 64 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 4 + 2 + 0.  

Those three symbols add together to give either 127.67 or 127.70. Both possible field values lie close to our theoretical value of 127.69 for December 21-22, 2012 as derived above.  

Three other minor crop pictures in Germany on the same day

Three other minor crop pictures appeared in Germany on the same day as Secklendorf. One from Edendorf showed a central Sun with 12 wavy lines, which is the standard signature for Quetzalcoatl as a "Feathered Serpent"
(see www.cropcircleconnector.com/inter2008/germany/Edendorf/Edendorf2008a.html).
 I have argued elsewhere, following a proposal by Jaime Maussan, that Quetzalcoatl may have been a benevolent extra-terrestrial visitor to Earth 2000 years ago, and may also be our modern crop artist today (see www.cropcircleconnector.com/anasazi/time2007k.html).

A second minor crop picture from Reinsdorf seemed to show in schematic form the Pyramid of the Sun from Teotihuacan, along with 12 linked sundial motifs. It was signed using an ancient German rune for "algiz" or "Z"
(see www.cropcircleconnector.com/inter2008/germany/Reinsdorf/Reinsdorf2008a.html)

A third minor crop picture from Gifkendorf showed orbital diagrams for Venus, Earth and Mars in highly schematic form. Each planet was symbolized by a "clock", which told how long it takes to orbit the Sun by 120 degrees. Venus showed the least increase of time, Earth somewhat greater, and Mars even greater, consistent with the relative speeds of those planets about Sun. see www.cropcircleconnector.com/inter2008/germany/Gifkendorf/Gifkendorf2008a.html).

The purpose of those three minor crop pictures was apparently to help us interpret the major one at Secklendorf. We were shown: (a) Quetzalcoatl as a crop artist, (b) the Pyramid of the Sun, and (c) orbital diagrams for Venus, Earth or Mars. Since Quetzalcoatl first taught those Olmecs or Mayans all about Venus astronomy, it became a simple matter to look for near-future orbital locations of Venus, Earth or Mars in the major drawing, and subsequently to confirm its two astronomically-derived dates using binary code from the inner rings.  

In summary, the overall intent of that new crop picture from Secklendorf, Germany was apparently to remind us of the following:

"Venus will transit the Sun on June 6, 2012, while the Mayan Long Count calendar will end on December 21, 2012. Those are both very significant dates that you should pay close attention to!"  

The Mayan Sun-Venus calendar from an artistic perspective 

This essay has been dry and mathematical, and may be hard for the ordinary person to understand. Yet the same subject may be perceived in a very different and more beautiful way through art! While preparing this essay, the Italian crop circle researcher Marina Sassi sent me one of her original oil paintings, that she had made to illustrate her personal conception of the Mayan Sun-Venus calendar. It is shown below, along with real planetary configurations for Venus in orbit about our Sun: