Jump to content
IndiaDivine.org
Sign in to follow this  
Guest guest

Oregon's Sri Yantra

Rate this topic

Recommended Posts

Guest guest

Hi,

The person who made that Sri Yantra is Bill

Witherspoon. I got a chance to meet him at Iowa two

months back. He is in Fairfield, Iowa. He had send

documents and photos of his work. I will send u those

images in the next mail. Below is the document which

he sent in which he explains how he made that Sri

Yantra. He also had his work in vcd's. We are planning

to put that in a web site.

 

 

------------

 

 

Art as Technology

 

By Bill Witherspoon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Introduction

 

The following pages chronicle a series of experiences

and observations that have emerged from several years

of exploratory art projects. Necessarily, they are

personal. The experiences resulted from events that

were intuitively directed or were the response to some

environmental stimulus. Because of this, things were

often done without preconceived intellectual

rationale. Often I had questions and was seeking

answers, but at other times I did not know the

questions and seemed to be engaged in activities that

were following some barely perceivable thread. It was

often months or even years before I understood the

reasons, purpose and way the projects arranged

themselves. And, even with a feeling of

understanding, it has often been difficult to verbally

explain or place actions in the context of a commonly

acceptable model of how the world works.

 

In this chronicle, I have attempted to relate some of

the facts and simple observations that accompanied

these projects without attempting to describe the

delight of the exploratory process.

 

II 1989: Oregon Desert and the first Desert Design

(Fig. 1-2)

 

In the summer of 1989 I took my studio, a large

converted bus, to a remote part of the high desert in

southeast Oregon. I stayed there about four months in

a familiar place that I had painted from the previous

year and made paintings. After being there a few

weeks I made a design in my notebook, which I had

planned to integrate into a painting of the sky. For

some reason, instead I built the design with lines of

cairns (small piles of rocks), placing the bus in its

center. The design was about sixty yards across,

precise and symmetrical. The center of the design was

left open, in a sense unfinished, because it lay under

the bus, directly beneath the spot where I regularly

practiced meditation.

 

After the design was completed, animals started to

come into its boundaries. This was in complete

contrast to the previous year when only a few birds

and kangaroo rats came near this spot in a six-month

period. As far as I could tell, nothing had changed

except that I had made the design. In the next three

months, several hundred animals of all kinds appeared

inside the design. Many of them, such as the water

ouzels, had to come some distance from their normal

habitat. Others, such as the golden foxes that slept

by the door in the late afternoon, were undoubtedly

always in the area but because of their shyness had

never before come close.

 

The animals that came behaved in an unusual manner.

They did not seem inhibited by my presence and they

did not seem to be territorial or aggressive with each

other. For example, one night I watched owls, rabbits

and kangaroo rats all within a few feet of each other

without seeing any signs of fear or aggression.

Several times I saw twenty or more jack rabbits

gathered together, walking upright on their hind legs

and on more than one occasion antelope walked into

camp and stood looking at me attentively.

 

Later that fall in a gallery in the Midwest, I made

the same design from desert rocks mounted in columns

of white concrete. The design was more elaborate

because it included a vertical dimension and used

vertical and horizontal colored chalk lines to enhance

its articulation.

 

During the exhibition I remained in the gallery and

observed the visitors to see how the design might

influence their behavior. Classes of school children

who would visit the exhibition in groups of twenty to

thirty were the most interesting. They would

invariably remain within the boundaries of the design

even though there was far more space outside the

design than inside. When their teachers asked them to

sit down on the floor for discussion, they would

always collect in the center of the design and the

youngest ones would pile themselves two and sometimes

three deep on each other’s laps, filling the center

completely. Adults who visited the exhibition also

tended to stay inside the design and many remarked

that the place felt good and that they stayed much

longer than intended.

 

At this time, I began researching traditional designs

from different parts of the world. I found this

particular design almost exactly described in an

obscure Sanskrit text called the Vastu Sutra

Upanishad. According to this text the design was to

be placed on stone blocks before carving sacred

images. Carving the parts of the image in harmony

with the design was said to insure that the image

would be "attractive to consciousness" and this in

turn would result in the finished image being entered

by the consciousness of the deity. The phrase

“attractive to consciousness” caught my attention.

 

About this time a friend asked if I could make a Sri

Yantra. The Sri Yantra is a traditional design from

India that is thought of as an instance or occurrence

(rather than a symbol) of the deepest laws and forces

of Mother Nature or Mother Divine. I spent a few

months doing extensive library research on the Sri

Yantra and also spoke with people who had experienced

its use in India as part of the spiritual tradition of

Sri Vidya. Then I decided it would be consistent with

its traditional use to make one from gold leaf and

transparent pigments.

 

The process of research, and especially construction

of the Sri Yantra, produced a powerful influence. It

restructured my awareness and perception. I believed

that my sensory experience and understanding of deep

laws and forces of Nature was rapidly unfolded.

 

I had been in the habit of understanding reality as

being hierarchically structured in interpenetrating

layers; with successively deeper layers being simpler,

more comprehensive and more powerful. The activity of

these deep laws creates the surface of life, which we

experience as every day reality. (“Laws”, used in

this sense, contains the notion of ordering principle

or intelligence combined with force or energy.) It

may not be common to give our attention to the direct

perception or experience of these deep laws, due to

our absorption in the surface events of the world.

However, for those who are drawn to exploration of

reality’s deeper layers, the refinement of perception

resulting from a restructuring of awareness emerges as

an extremely attractive and useful tool. Therefore,

this experience of more refined perception coming from

my encounter with the Sri Yantra led me to wonder what

more I might do to amplify its effect.

 

III 1990: Oregon Desert Sri Yantra (Fig. 3-6)

 

In the summer of 1990, a group of friends, one of my

sons and I went to a remote alkali lake bed in the

high desert of southeast Oregon to inscribe a large

Sri Yantra in the earth. It was to contain a central

point large enough to live in. The site was chosen

because of its beauty and remoteness. Almost no one,

except a few ranchers, ever went there. Inscribing

lines in the alkali surface would not disturb any

vegetation and it would be a transitory event,

eventually disappearing back into the surface through

the natural action of wind and the occasional water

that floods the lake bed every few years.

 

The design was made without machines or modern tools

except binoculars and a simple hand plow. We used

only ancient principles of geometry and long wires and

sharpened poles as tools. When completed it was 1/4

mile across, covered over forty acres and contained

over thirteen miles of lines. The lines, plowed with

an old fashioned garden cultivator pulled by three

crew members and steered by the fourth, were about

four inches deep with the hard alkali crusted dirt

cast to both sides of the furrow.

 

During construction, we were careful to minimize the

disturbances to the land. We chose to walk several

miles daily from camp to the site rather than use

vehicles, and refrained from using other motorized

devices such as a tiller. We did not want to leave

tracks or other marks, not to preserve anonymity but

out of respect for the purity of the process.

 

 

Construction of the Sri Yantra took ten days to

complete. As soon as the last line of the design was

plowed, heavy clouds began to collect in the south.

Within an hour, our valley was filled with high winds,

intense lightning strikes and about 1/2 inch of rain.

The result of this storm was that all traces and

tracks from our working were dissolved. Like a

finished painting, it was as if the surface had been

varnished. Remarkably, the lightning and the rain

were limited only to the small valley where we were

working, a fact that was the source of much

speculation by a nearby rancher who wanted the rain on

his land.

 

In the three weeks that followed, I lived in the

nine-foot central circle of the Sri Yantra. During

that period and on several occasions during the

following years, other people and I observed

remarkable changes in the workings of Nature within

the design and in the valley where it was situated.

 

One of the more interesting subjective changes was a

modification of the “feeling” within the valley.

While a difficult parameter to describe or measure,

this change in feeling was noted by ranchers and other

people who have known the area for a long time.

People reported experiencing qualities of energetic

peacefulness, harmony with nature and enhanced

intuition when they were in the design and valley.

Another influence was a radical change in the quality

of meditation that would repeatedly occur if

individuals moved a few feet out of the central circle

into the innermost triangle of the design or vice

versa.

 

Changes in the environment were also observed. Within

the design, which had been inscribed in highly

alkaline silt, incapable of supporting any kind of

vegetation, there were remarkable changes in the

direction of increased fertility.

 

Two years after construction, even though the lines

were disappearing, the structure of the soil had

changed from a highly compacted mixture of silt and

salts to a loose, crumbly soil that smelled and tasted

more like normal soil. The surface of the soil was

also significantly changed. Instead of the flat,

layered and often cracked surface that had

characterized the lake bed before inscribing the Sri

Yantra, the surface became “rumpled;” formed into a

three dimensional configuration of regular ridges and

valleys that arranged themselves in the pattern of

hexagonal close packing, much like an egg carton. The

pattern was caused by modification of the surface soil

into a physically expanded, more adhesive and

resilient material.

 

Both of the soil changes were due to an extraordinary

proliferation of soil microorganisms and the resulting

increase in soil organic matter. The soil changes

were limited to the forty or so acres of the design

and were most pronounced in its center.

 

In other respects, the entire fifty square mile valley

was different. The ranchers noticed a continued

increase in the valley’s rainfall. This was

accompanied by increased vegetative growth, as well as

increased populations of several plants and three

animals species that were not previously common in the

valley.

 

Because of these observations, I began to speculate

about possible mechanisms by which the geometric

structures might bring about change. The most

interesting observation was that there appeared to be

an inverse correlation between the gradual

disappearance of the design as it melted back into the

lakebed and the increase in the presence or influence

of the enlivened laws of Nature. Other analogous

situations seem to exist as in Homeopathy, where

increasing levels of dilution are said to represent or

impart increasing levels of strength. An even more

striking parallel may exist with the principal of

Sangyama. Sangyama, as described by the Indian Rishi,

Patanjali, is a process in which the mind generates an

impulse at the deepest level of consciousness and then

allows that impulse to settle back into the field of

pure undifferentiated consciousness from which it had

been drawn. The result of this process is the

appearance of a new impulse that has enormous power

and direct support of fundamental forces of Nature.

 

The construction of the Sri Yantra was also

accompanied by other events that gave rise to new

understandings about how Nature might operate. Going

into the valley for the first time, I was driving the

converted bus and towing a pickup truck. We stopped

and I got out to open a barbed wire gate. Sitting on

the gatepost was an adult golden eagle. The eagle

looked at me squarely, swished its tail back and forth

several times, dropped a tail feather and flew off.

In the next several weeks, I had occasion to go

through the same gate many times and there was no

eagle. Then, on my homeward trip, as I passed through

the gate for the last time, a golden eagle was sitting

on the same gatepost. It waited for me to get out of

the bus, looked at me squarely, swished its tail,

dropped another feather and flew off.

 

Back home, several weeks later, the National Guard

discovered the Sri Yantra and the media, not knowing

its origins or implications, created a greatly

exaggerated hoopla. I was in a position of deciding

to speak publicly about the project or remain

anonymous. In order to clarify the rapidly growing

misunderstandings, I decided to speak publicly.

Immediately upon making that decision, I walked

outside my rural Iowa home and looked up into the sky.

Directly above the house were fourteen circling bald

eagles.

 

A year later, I had occasion to tell this story to a

Vedic scholar. He told me of a traditional yagya, or

ceremony, infrequently performed in India to honor the

Divine Mother, which is considered to have been

successful only if it results in the appearance of an

eagle. Finally, these events, related to several

Native American elders and medicine people, elicited

in-depth explanations of the ways Nature communicates.

 

IV 1990: Hidden Design (Fig. 7-8)

 

Later that fall, I continued by making a series of

paintings that incorporated geometric elements. Up

until that point I had thought of my paintings as

“windows” for seeing into Nature. The process of

making paintings was a way to gain familiarity with

the deep laws and forces of Nature. It seemed that a

painting was essentially the record of an experience,

not only of the surface experiences of the artist,

what is seen by the eyes or the mind’s eye, but also,

and more importantly, a record of the consciousness

present in the artist at the time of creation.

 

Consciousness in this context has two distinct

meanings. First is the “conscious of” aspect, i.e.

all the elements both inner and outer that might be

lively in the artist’s mind or awareness. The second

aspect is that of “pure consciousness,” the pure

undifferentiated awareness or “Being” that is the

foundation for “being conscious of” all things. This

pure consciousness is the basic fabric from which are

woven all the events of life. It seems that both the

specific limited and the universal unbounded values of

consciousness present in the artist, as well as their

respective intensities, are stored or embedded in the

forms and materials of a painting.

 

It also seems that observing a painting is the

reciprocal of the creative process. That is, when we

give attention to a painting, not only the information

but also the consciousness embedded in that painting

is recreated in the observers, awareness. This occurs

through resonance or entrainment. Therefore, the more

that Being is lively in the experience of the artist,

the greater the experience of Being will be in the

observer, and because of the universal character of

Being, the more It is present, the greater the

likelihood that a wide range of observers will find

that the painting provides a meaningful and beautiful

experience.

 

>From the point of view of the artist (and the

observer), a painting can be used as a device to

structure consciousness, modify physiology and

transmit information.

 

My idea now was to see if a painting might be

something more than a “window.” Could a painting

encourage some specific influence of Nature to be

amplified in the environment?

 

To this end, I made two paintings that were literally

window-like, similar in that a gold leaf design draws

the attention to a blue sky. Behind one of the two

paintings I placed a traditional geometric design (the

Sri Yantra) and a handwritten transliteration and

translation of an ancient Sanskrit text (Lalita

Sahasranama) that describes the most fundamental laws

or principles through which Mother Nature is said to

express herself. These two paintings were placed on

opposite gallery walls along with about twenty others.

 

I then invited a group of sightless people to visit

the exhibition. They spent a day in the gallery and

concluded that the feeling inside the exhibition space

was very different from the feeling outside, and that

the peacefulness and happiness that they identified

seemed to come from one painting - the one that had

the design and text hidden behind it. In addition,

during the exhibition, forty-two people spontaneously

remarked to me that one painting in the show seemed to

attract them most strongly. Thirty-nine of the

forty-two referred to that same painting. In another

case, about twenty-five grammar school children who

were milling about in the exhibition were asked by

their teacher to select their favorite painting. They

spread their choices among the twenty-two paintings.

They were then informed about the experience of the

sightless people without revealing which of the twenty

two paintings had been selected, and asked to sit on

the floor quietly and close their eyes for a few

minutes. Afterwards, they again selected their

favorite based on what they felt rather than what they

saw. The group unanimously rearranged their choices

to the painting that was hiding the geometry and text.

On three different occasions I noticed people

standing in front of the same painting, apparently

crying. When I asked about their experience, they

indicated that they were overwhelmed with feelings of

happiness that did not seem to have any specific

cause.

 

>From these events, I realized that it was possible to

make paintings that need not be seen in order to

produce an influence, paintings whose purpose is

simply to Be.

 

V I991: Southeast Oregon Desert Design (Fig. 9-18)

 

In the following summer of 1991, a group of friends

and I built another large-scale desert design. It was

1/2 mile across, covered about 80 acres and was again

made in a dry lakebed; this time on a portion of the

Alvord Desert owned by rancher, Ed Davis. We used

machinery for the construction. In this design the

shallow furrows were filled with a red volcanic cinder

dust from the nearby mountains. The design was

inspired by the Vasu Purusha Mandala of Vedic origin

and certain Native American design elements. It was

intended to resonate with the fundamental and

universal laws of Nature that are beyond any

particular culture or, perhaps, fundamental to all

cultures. Believing that Nature is not separate from

human life and that Nature is not a mechanical system

but rather is alive and responsive, I also hoped that

the design would function as a device or space where

we would not only experience Nature more deeply but

also where Nature would speak out, where we might come

to better understand the language of Nature.

 

One evening, after the sun had dropped below the

western ridge of mountains, we were all in the design

working. I was on top of the converted fertilizer

spreader monitoring the flow of cinders down into the

conveyor belts. Another crewmember was on the ground

keeping the spreader’s aperture clean as the cinders

flowed into the plowed furrow. Other members were

elsewhere, making furrows or cleaning up. With the

sun suddenly gone, the wind stopped, the air

temperature dropped quickly and the sky became empty

of clouds. The driver of the tractor that was pulling

the fertilizer spreader stopped at the end of a line.

I looked out over the scene. The design was almost

completely plowed and the first of the red-cindered

lines were beginning to appear. From on top of this

big machine it was like looking out into a strange and

ancient city. Nothing was happening. Everything was

silent and still as only the desert’s evening expanse

can be.

 

Suddenly, a large dragonfly appeared, hovered about

two feet directly in front of my face and looked at

me. It then circled me slowly, dropped down, and

hovered in front of the crewmember on the ground.

>From there it went to the open window of the tractor

and hovered in front of the driver. As I watched, the

dragonfly flew off to visit two other crewmembers that

were about 50 yards away. A few minutes later the

dragonfly returned, circled tightly around my head and

then flew straight up until it was out of sight.

 

Later, sitting at camp after work, everyone spoke of

his or her visit from the dragonfly. We had all felt

something remarkable in its visit and were all in

unusually elevated spirits. In the last bit of

twilight we walked together to the very center of the

design and lay watching shooting stars. Everyone felt

in some way that we had been individually and

collectively “blessed” by the visit of the dragonfly;

that the dragonfly had “spoken” for Nature. That

night we all sensed the project had taken a new turn,

gained a new status.

 

After the design was completed, we held a celebration

to dedicate and consecrate the design. Local

ranchers, Nakai Breen, a Cherokee Medicine Woman from

Texas and an East Indian, N.W. Haran and his family

from the East Coast joined us. We stayed together for

two days and nights in the design and both Nakai and

Haran and his family performed traditional rituals and

ceremonies appropriate to their understanding of what

we were doing. Like the previous summer, the intense

desert heat changed and rain came as we were

completing the first evening’s activities.

 

After everyone left, I again remained in the design

for a few weeks. Later after I left, I heard that it

had rained one inch in fifteen minutes, just on Ed’s

land, and I returned for another visit. My experience

during these periods of living in the design was that

it simultaneously enlivened silence, stimulated

creativity, and produced an experience of greater

harmony with Nature. Because of publicity, other

people came too. Being in the design allowed us all

to ”hear” or feel Nature more clearly and deeply.

Many had strong intuitive experiences of “knowing” and

other unusual experiences involving animals, insects,

and other elements of the desert environment. Nakai's

“prediction” was among the more interesting.

 

A few days before construction on this design was to

begin, I had called Nakai and she told me that she had

had a vision the previous night. She said that the

design would "cleanse the guts of Mother Earth so that

She could burst forth." I did not understand her

expression at the time nor even after her visit for

the dedication celebration. About six months after

completion of the design and a year and a half after

completion of the Sri Yantra (which was about twelve

miles away), a geyser sprung up midway between the

two. This was the only natural geyser in Oregon. For

about three or four months it spouted 210 degree water

about 12 feet into the air, every 1 and 1/2 minutes.

On a visit to the geyser, I met a group of geologists

and hydrologists. Their explanation was that

“dislocations and rearrangements of the geology deep

within the earth” had caused the geyser

 

VI Media Criticism and Response

 

Publicity about the 1991 design brought some criticism

from Oregon environmentalists. The principle question

from media critics was "How do you know you are doing

something that has universal value and are not just

defacing Nature with egoism?" This is not an

unreasonable question to pose to artists who work in

public art. To begin with, there is no authority to

which one can appeal for approval of such actions. We

have no current tradition for such art forms.

However, if Nature is not simply an unresponsive

mechanical system but rather a sympathetic, living

ecology, one should be able to look directly to Nature

for an answer.

 

 

Generally speaking, there are three possibilities for

how one’s actions might interact with Nature. First,

if one is opposed to Nature, in conflict with natural

laws, one could expect to perform action only with

great difficulty, Nature would hinder progress. To

move ahead would require great pressure from one’s

individuality and ego. Second, if one were in harmony

with Nature and natural law, action could be expected

to progress smoothly. Third, if one’s actions were

positively pleasing to Nature, in support of evolution

on all levels and scales, then one could expect Nature

to marshal Her resources in support of that action.

Such support from Nature would provide unexpected

resources and change the quality and outcome of the

action in ways that might not have been originally

expected, generating the feeling that the action does

not even belong to oneself but is being carried out

and propelled by the agencies of Nature. By being

alert to Nature’s participation and monitoring the

progress of the project, the appropriateness of an

action can be evaluated.

 

In the desert design projects, many potential problems

were solved by unexpected solutions, long before they

ever became difficulties. Furthermore, solutions came

without any asking on our part. In short, those of us

who were involved in the planning and construction of

the desert design felt a strong and continuous wave of

support from Nature, a tremendous sense of freedom and

joy underlying every stage of the project. One such

example came out of our interaction with the local

ranchers.

 

Locating a proper site for the 1991 design had become

a major project. I drove through Utah, New Mexico,

Arizona and parts of Nevada before returning to Harney

County in Oregon. Because of the previous publicity

from the large Sri Yantra project (it had first been

hailed as evidence of extra terrestrial activity and

then later I had been fined by the United States

Bureau of Land Management for defacing the land

without a permit) local ranchers were curious about

this next project. When I approached Ed Davis of the

Alvord Ranch, it took him about three minutes to warm

up to the idea of doing the project on his land out in

the Alvord Desert. We climbed in a pickup and located

a square mile of deeded land without so much as a

blade of grass on it. To Ed it was a wasted resource,

land he had never been able to use. An hour after

that meeting, I was on my way back to Iowa to get

things organized.

 

About two months later I returned. The evening I

returned, about seventy thousand pounds of red

volcanic cinders were dumped in a long pile near where

we had set up camp at the edge of the design site. I

had not had time even to stop at the ranch to let Ed

and his family know I was back and going ahead with

the project. When I saw the pile of cinders, for the

first time I had a sense of the magnitude of work

required to put these cinders into nine and a half

miles of plowed lines. Were we going to do it with

wheelbarrows or what? What was I dreaming of? I

really had no plan.

 

The next morning I went to the shop at Ed’s ranch to

see if they remembered who I was and what I was doing.

Ed was not there but Paul, one of his sons, was.

Fortunately, he remembered me and I felt relieved that

everything was still on track, that we were still

welcome to do the project. While in the shop, I

noticed a huge machine that was up on blocks with all

its wheels off and under some kind of construction. I

asked what it was and Paul replied "It’s a fertilizer

spreader we’re converting to spread the cinders. Dad

got to thinking you’d need something like this." I

was speechless. When I had visited with Ed two months

ago, the use of cinders had only been a faint idea

whose possibility I wanted to pass by Ed for possible

objections. It was after I got home that the cinders

became a certain part of the design. Now that aspect

of the project was taken care of, not only by the

right piece of equipment but also by the loan of the

new Ford tractor and Mike, the middle son, who was

freed up from his usual work to operate it for

whatever time was necessary.

 

To respond to the media and environmentalists I gave a

series of public lectures in Portland to air the

issues and allow critics to interact with me directly

rather than let the media act as filter for my ideas

and communications.

 

Response of the public to these lectures and

discussion was positive and the dialog established

between the public, press and myself became an added

incentive and encouragement to carry out a fourth

design.

 

VII 1992 Desert Design (Fig. 19-24)

 

This desert design project was intended to enliven a

specific field of natural law. It used the

six-pointed star at its core. The six-pointed star

appears in many cultures throughout the world and is

often said to embody or symbolize the quality of

abundance, affluence or wealth.

 

The design project is sixteen hundred feet across and

was constructed on a sixty-acre dry desert lakebed.

It was constructed from 1,111 lodgepole pine poles

ranging from about eight to forty-five feet in height.

The poles were harvested in the mountains from a pest

infested Forest Service plantation and then hauled by

logging trucks to the desert. All the poles were set

in holes augured four feet into the ground. Each pole

was cut to height after being placed in the ground.

The heights are calculated to produce precise curves

in the vertical dimension of space.

 

The design has twelve radial rays or channels made

from pairs of poles. Each channel is about 700 feet

long. These channels, made by the poles, are one

meter wide and the distance between each pair of poles

is determined by precise mathematical progressions.

The center of the design contains a core of 138 poles

that generate a specific geometry of channels that

connect with the twelve radial rays.

 

At the outer edge of the design, between each of the

twelve rays, are twelve single, forty-foot poles.

These poles are connected by thin stainless steel

wires to corresponding shorter poles near the center

of the design. The wires have tuning devices on the

center poles to change their tension. The seven

hundred foot wires vibrate in the turbulent desert

winds and produce shifting musical sounds much like a

mixture of Gregorian chant and whale “songs.”

 

VIII Little Leaf

 

The stated intention of this design was to enliven the

fundamental force or law of abundance - the life

impelling force of Mother Nature. We expected that we

should see evidence of increased abundance and

affluence as a result of its presence - but what forms

would such expressions take? Through his actions, one

person in particular would help to answer this

question, a Native American named Little Leaf.

 

During the planning stages of this project I had

discussed various aspects of the project with Little

Leaf. He had attended one of the public meetings held

in Portland the previous winter and had not only been

highly supportive of the earlier projects but had

offered explanations for the natural events that had

occurred in their context. When we were talking about

the implications of cutting so many trees, even (or

especially) diseased ones, he suggested that we should

make some simple offering to the land and the trees.

Therefore, as soon as we arrived at the forest the

five of us followed his instructions. One person went

to a large tamarack, which would not be cut, and the

other four went out into the lodgepole pines in the

four cardinal directions. Each of us took a handful

of rice, which we silently offered. The result was

immediate. The birds that had been silenced by our

arrival suddenly flew about and sang and each of us

felt a strong wave of inner happiness and harmony with

Nature and the world.

 

After the design was completed, Little Leaf arrived

for the celebration. He made a camp, and set up an

eighteen-foot ceremonial teepee he had beautifully

hand painted. That night he invited everyone to

participate in a pipe ceremony early the next morning.

 

 

For this ceremony, which was unfamiliar to most of us,

Little Leaf had carved a special pipe out of pipestone

and a stem from white ash. He explained the symbolic

elements in the pipe and stem, which had uncanny

correspondences to elements that we had just built

into the design. After the ceremony was completed,

Little Leaf gave us the pipe and instructions for its

use as a gift honoring the purpose and completion of

the design. That evening Little Leaf performed

traditional dance and flute music. Both, he

explained, were expressions of the language of Nature

- ways to speak with and listen to Mother Nature. In

the days that followed, more and more people spent

time with Little Leaf. Construction crew, ranchers

and visitors, all were given some wonderful gift. On

the day that he left, he gave the teepee to my

twelve-year-old son.

 

The actions, in fact the very presence of Little Leaf,

were one of the first clear expressions of abundance.

But other concrete expressions followed thereafter.

The Davis family entered into a period of exceptional

affluence, expanding their home and even, through a

series of unexpected and highly unlikely events, added

tens of thousands of acres of exceptional grassland

and an adjacent ranch to their holdings. In the

following year, triplets expanded the eldest son’s

family. Snow and rain were plentiful and timely and,

according to local ranchers, the desert was never more

productive or beautiful to look at. New springs even

appeared. A television station from Portland, 450

miles away, came and made a news spot on the

unprecedented blossoming of the Alvord Desert.

 

Another of my interests in this project was to

objectify some of the experiences that people had

reported in the previous designs. I arranged for a

graduate student who was researching brain wave

coherence during different states of consciousness to

join us towards the end of construction. We borrowed

state of the art portable EEG equipment and eight

subjects were monitored for two, 18-hour periods each.

During these times they worked, ate, slept, and

meditated both inside and outside the design. Similar

recordings were made for some of the subjects once

they returned home. These data were computer

processed with special attention to periods of brain

wave coherence. Preliminary review of some of the

tapes revealed unusually high levels of coherence.

However the analysis was not completed due to shortage

of funds for mainframe computer time.

 

Since its completion, several hundred people have

visited this design. Their visits range from a few

minutes to a few days. Their subjective reports have

a striking similarity from one person to the next.

All who feel some influence notice silence and

peacefulness, not as something passive but rather as a

powerful force. Many remark on an unusual sense of

well-being or a sense of being in harmony with Nature

and the world.

 

As in the past, I lived in this design for some time

afterwards. An interesting observation was that in

spite of the constantly changing winds, the shifting

sounds generated by the twelve, seven hundred foot

wires appeared to produce melodic and rhythmic

patterns that repeated from one day to the next.

 

IX 1993: Yantras and Diatoms (Fig. 25-28)

 

In 1993, I spent much of the year exploring the

relationship between fifteen Vedic yantras derived

from the fifteen principal verses of the Sri Sukta

which in turn come from the fifth Mandala of the Rig

Veda, and the underlying principles of form and

symmetry exhibited by single celled microscopic

organisms called diatoms. Diatoms, at a certain stage

of their life cycle, create internal geometries of

silica that correlate highly with the mathematical

principles and symmetries of these fifteen yantras.

Keeping in mind that the yantras of the Sri Sukta are

expressions of the principle of abundance and its

subsets, it is interesting that diatoms are among the

most abundant and all-pervading life forms on the

planet. They have been here, many of them virtually

unchanged, for hundreds of millions of years and are

found wherever water is present. They are at the base

of the oceans food chain and are also important

contributors to the planet’s oxygen supply.

 

Plant physiologists who study diatoms remain puzzled

as to why these single celled organisms should produce

their geometric structures. Certainly they are not

necessary from a structural or probably even

functional point of view. Furthermore, the two most

common theories for locating the source of information

that leads to generation of these structures - the

interface between the distinct phases of cell membrane

and cytoplasm or the interface between different

phases of the matter that makes up the cytoplasm -

sound much like descriptions of the junction between

consciousness and matter, the layer where the geometry

of yantra is said to have its first expression. One

is led to wonder: could the presence of these

geometries be a mechanism Nature has built into the

life cycle of diatoms to insure their abundance and

proliferation?

 

There is a striking parallel between the appearance of

these geometries and the uses of yantra as described

in the Vedic and Tantric traditions. Traditionally,

yantras are, among other things, used as tools to

modify or structure awareness or consciousness. The

directed attention of an individual is the link

between the intelligence embedded in the form

(geometry) of the yantra and the experience of that

intelligence as an active and lively element in the

individual’s awareness and life. While we do not

commonly consider the consciousness or attention of

single celled organisms, there is no reason not to

think that there is similarity and that when the

diatom goes through the preprogrammed process of

creating its internal geometry, it is a process in

which the diatom’s consciousness automatically

resonates with and enlivens the intelligence that

resides within the geometry. There is very little

difference between such a process and the mechanisms

that underlie the process of worship - the only real

difference being one of automatic versus intentional

or willful. Finally, if one leaves the domain of

microscopic life and goes to both smaller and larger

realms, one continues to encounter these and other

geometric structures embedded in the forms of life,

linking, perhaps, all the forms of matter with the

fundamental intelligence of Nature.

 

X Eagle Mounds (Fig. 29)

 

In the early spring of 1994, I visited a complex of

Native American mounds in Wisconsin. This particular

group of mounds is referred to as Eagle Burial Mounds

because they contain human ashes. There are

sixty-four mounds along the Wisconsin River. The

plowing of the ground for agricultural purposes has

destroyed most but a few remain intact in what are now

wooded areas. I found them interesting because I

sensed similarities to my own work and because they

are an example of the use of large-scale geometry in

ancient cultures.

 

The images of the birds are clearly not intended to be

realistic representations of an eagle or any other

bird for that matter. The largest is about 1600 feet

from wing tip to wing tip with the vertical dimension

of the body being only a few hundred feet. A similar

geometric bird, identical except for the extreme

elongation of the wings, appears in Vedic texts on the

use of geometric structures as well as in other parts

of the Americas as the “Thunderbird”.

 

If the birds are not intended as realistic

representations of birds that fly in the sky, I could

not help but wonder what their reference might be. Is

it possible that these geometric forms correspond, as

do the Vedic shapes, to fundamental laws or forces of

Nature?

 

Apart from the pure geometry of the bird design one

has to wonder how the materials might relate to its

purpose. Assume for a moment, that a geometry, which

is the object of regular human attention, is livelier

or resonates more strongly than one that does not

involve the element of human attention. If that is

true, could some materials or combinations of

materials resonate more strongly under the impact of

attention? Could certain materials or combinations

transform, amplify, store and radiate consciousness

more readily than others? It seems likely that the

distribution of human ashes combined with layers of

other dissimilar materials may not reflect

requirements for the burial of an individual or group

as much as be a way of including even remnant products

of human consciousness as a permanent “activating”

feature of the design. The presence of ashes may also

have functioned as a way of “tuning” each design to

the blood or family line that was responsible for its

construction and for it’s ritual maintenance.

 

It also seems significant that the mounds are not

randomly oriented. As is the case with many such

artifacts throughout the world, they have a clear

orientation to non-magnetic cardinal directions or

directions determined by solar or celestial events.

These orientations have led to speculation that such

structures function as calendar devices. I would

suggest that another reason for such orientation is to

accurately align the resonant structure of the

geometry to the largest or deepest possible framework,

the physical web of the cosmos. This would insure

that the structure’s effect in the local environment

would be of maximum effect.

 

When I spent time in these mounds I began to realize

that these and many other ancient geometric

constructions might be part of a practical technology

whose purpose was to establish and maintain balance

between human life and Nature. How would it work?

 

By constructing specific geometric structures that

correspond to specific forces or intelligences of

Nature and by giving them focused attention through

honoring or “worship,” these forces or laws of Nature,

a field was created and strengthened. Then by means

of entrainment with the amplified field, these same

forces became more strongly expressed in the lives of

the individuals and in all local expressions of

Nature. The entire process is a kind of amplifying

feedback loop in which an individual deliberately

gives energy and attention to the intelligence that

resides deep within Nature and in return receives

strength and reinforcement from the resulting

enlivenment of those forces. This process also

protects environmental purity by creating and/or

strengthening a field that acts like a blueprint that

is periodically reread by the object it describes to

insure correct interpretation and creation of that

object. The result is increase of power and harmony

at all levels.

 

XI 1994 Iowa Capitol Design

 

Early in 1994, I began the Iowa Capitol Design Project

with a $5000 grant from the Iowa Arts Council. The

principal notion of this project was to bring the

quality of thinking, decision making and legislation

of the Iowa State Government more into harmony with

Nature by building a design of about 150 miles in

diameter that would situate the Iowa State Capitol

building in its center. A secondary issue was

exploration of the practicalities of building a large

geometric structure without physically articulating

all of its lines.

 

The project used a design or yantra that corresponds

to the Sanskrit word "Durga." In the Vedic tradition,

Durga is said to be the life impelling force of Nature

that simultaneously drives forth and nourishes all of

creation. Durga is the unseen, unchanging support of

life, as well as the complete range of all expressions

that flow from creation. Durga is the Mother, the

divine creative layer of life at the root of

existence.

 

The core of the Durga yantra is made with two circles,

an outer in which the design is contained and an inner

or “bindu” which is at the very center. Within the

large circle are nine chord lines that intersect at

eighteen points to create a balanced bilaterally

symmetrical network of triangles. To construct the

design without actually inscribing all the lines, the

nine points where the chords intersect the outer

circle were to be used. A simple example may serve to

illustrate the concept.

 

If one were to construct an equilateral triangle with

one hundred mile sides, one might locate the three

apexes and place a marker on the ground at each apex.

This would establish the presence of a triangle. To

make its presence somewhat stronger, one might place

more information at each point. For example, instead

of a single marker one could position several markers

to form two lines, sixty degrees apart, each of which

pointed to an adjacent apex. Now directional lines

from two other points would also locate the position

of all three apexes of the triangle. To still further

increase the strength and presence of the triangle one

might add to each directional line, additional

information about its length. This could be done if

the line were made of a series of markers whose

precise placements predict an end point one hundred

miles away. Finally, one might choose to replace

markers with more relevant and energetic sculptural

objects, perhaps specially made equilateral triangles.

This would insure that the parts used to generate the

whole, are not different from the whole and, in

themselves tend to generate the whole.

 

The principles involved in the construction of

“energetically linked objects” are consistent with the

function of certain Buddhist and Vedic temples built

as residing places for specific deities, impulses of

cosmic intelligence or laws of Nature. Even

two-dimensional renderings of the ground plans of

these temples reveal a resonant, waveform structure.

Such structures were made as physical expressions of

precise fields, translated by means of ratio,

proportion and rhythm. They are three-dimensional

forms that correspond to the sound frequency of the

impulse of cosmic intelligence. In fact, the esthetic

of these structures is deeply bound to the

requirements of translating ”name” or sound into form.

When the resultant form is that of an oscillating,

resonant structure, then the appropriate impulse of

intelligence is enlivened or generated by that space.

The component of human consciousness, directed through

appropriate worship and ritual within that space,

further amplifies the field. The stronger the field,

the more it fulfills its role, creating balance in the

local environment and in the cosmic ecology.

 

The Capitol Design covers roughly eighteen thousand

square miles. By using USGS 1:2400 topographic maps

and Global Positioning System devices, we expanded and

contracted the scale of the design, keeping the State

Capitol Building in the exact center and maintaining

the precise east/west orientation, until all key nine

points were located on agricultural land.

 

I still had to design and make the “energetically

linked objects” that would be located at the key

points and determine a way to integrate those objects

into the landscape without their being considered an

interference by farmers or others who use the land.

These design challenges were taken up in several

subsequent projects.

 

XII 1994 Forest Preserve Planting (Fig. 30)

 

In the early spring of 1994, a series of projects

arose that provided opportunities to begin research

for the Iowa Capitol Design Project. The first was a

commission for the design of a forest preserve

planting. The design of the Durga Yantra was used.

It was precisely laid out with conventional surveying

techniques. Planting about 5000 tree seedlings of

eight different varieties created the image. As these

trees grow, they will fill out the pattern. Being a

mix of conifers and deciduous trees chosen for their

colorful leaves, the whole pattern will continually

change, especially in the autumn. Twelve-foot wide

paths further articulate the design so that even when

the trees are mature it will always be possible to

walk the geometry of the yantra in its entirety. It

seemed that being able to move one’s body through the

exact pattern and along the precise lines of the

geometry might be an interesting way of honoring or

enlivening the qualities of intelligence embedded in

its geometry.

 

The owner of the property who has planted tens of

thousands of trees in the area noted a remarkable

survival rate for the seedlings in the design, as well

as changes in the behavior of the deer and other wild

animals. The preserve is thirteen acres, a relatively

small part of a rural development project. The

development has been unexpectedly successful and has

attracted an eclectic group of people who represent

widely divergent interests. People who know the owner

also see a marked growth of softness and prosperity in

his life. The use of this design was very satisfying

and the feeling that it generated confirmed my

intention to use this form on a larger scale.

 

XIII Iowa Farm Project (Fig. 31-39)

 

In April of 1994, an Iowa farmer, his wife and I

embarked on an agriculturally oriented project. The

farmer’s concern was that the vitality or energy

seemed to have gone out of his land. He felt that his

production was no longer what it should be and that,

in contrast to his neighbors, he had not had a decent

harvest in four years. We began our discussions by

addressing these issues but were soon led to other

considerations.

 

As the project progressed, we abandoned all concern

with our individual goals, be they agricultural

production or artistic experimentation. We knew that

we wanted to do something that would be useful on a

different scale. Our intention became to simply make

an offering to Mother Nature. It was an offering

intended to generate waves of gratitude flowing from

our hearts to Mother Earth, Mother Nature and Mother

Divine. If other things came out of the offering

fine, but our priority was simple and clear.

 

After our first all day meeting we went out into their

fields. Their farm consists of four separate parcels

that total 280 acres. It is a regular Iowa farm:

soybeans, corn, alfalfa, small grains and cattle and

most of the land has been in the family since 1906.

 

When we arrived at the parcels, I walked out into the

middle and offered some rice. By the time I arrived

home I knew exactly what to do for each of the

parcels.

 

Back in the studio, I began art works for each parcel.

They were made from paper, ink, watercolor and gold

leaf. These fragile materials were used deliberately

because we wanted them to quickly dissolve in the

soil. Quick dissolution was desired because of the

observations at the site of the large desert Sri

Yantra - namely that there seemed to be a correlation

between the geometry’s disappearance and the increase

of its influence in the environment. Furthermore, for

practical reasons we wanted whatever we did to be well

below the surface of the ground so it would not

interfere with farming.

 

The size of the artwork ranges from 30 inches square

to 15 inches square. One of the four pieces consists

of seven separate sheets of handmade paper layered

with gold leaf and pigment that, when bound together,

progressively articulate the final image from the

center outwards to both surfaces. All of the pieces

use traditional geometric designs from the Vedic

tradition and three of them include thousands of words

of Vedic text inscribed in Sanskrit with minute pens.

In addition to these four pieces, sixteen, seven inch

square designs were prepared. They were small

versions of the principal geometry. In this case, the

structural lines of the geometry were actually fine

lines of hand-written text. The small designs, the

“home-place” design, and the multi-layered design all

used the Durga yantra as their prototype. Much of the

text that was integrated into their construction came

from the Devi Mahatmyam, an ancient Vedic text that

describes Durga.

 

Having made the four objects the next consideration

was the way in which they would be placed in the land.

At the center of each parcel of land we dug a large

hole with backhoe and shovels, carefully orienting and

building each according to its own geometric

principles. Each was different according to what was

being placed in it.

 

On the morning of May twenty fourth, we held a

dedication ceremony to honor Mother Nature and to

consecrate the art works and their sites. Directly

after, the art was buried in the center of each field.

The sixteen small pieces were sent home with

participants to other farms in Iowa, Illinois,

Minnesota, Missouri and South Dakota. They were

buried about two feet under the surface in the

Northeast corner of each of these farms.

 

To see delicate work covered with earth instead of

being carefully framed and hung on a wall was an

unusual experience. But for those of us involved with

the construction and production, it was exhilarating

to part with it in this fashion. Where does the “art”

go? Where does the energy, time and attention go;

where is the consciousness that has permeated these

forms and materials, where is the life of the piece?

The life of the art will, in time, return to the field

of unstructured potential from which it came. As the

materials and the forms of the art dissolve, their

content, especially their Being, their life, will

resonate with, enliven and amplify, the deep laws of

Nature that are embedded in and correspond to their

content. In this way, dissolution actually brings

forth fullness. It is like the planting of a seed.

The form of the seed, in which information and

intelligence is encoded, disintegrates and from that

disintegration a new form emerges.

 

There were some objective indications of change in the

productivity of the land. The 1994 harvest was a good

one and subsequent harvests have improved as well.

The farmer believes that there has been a positive

change in the land and in the microclimate even though

there still exist the issues of fertility, pest

control and weather that face all farmers.

 

Several of the farmers who became involved in this and

subsequent projects use interesting if unconventional

methods for monitoring such factors as soil fertility,

availability of plant nutrients, and land “energy”

levels. They use a system called radionics.

Radionics was developed in England as a general

diagnostic tool early in the 20th Century. They used

this system to measure energy levels of the land

before and after the project’s completion. After

installation of the designs they recorded a fifty fold

increase in energy in the land. This increased to a

two hundred-fold increase in the next few months.

According to their measurements, the influence also

extended radially outward to a distance of about 120

miles.

 

Exactly what form of subtle energy is being measured

here is unknown to me. The farmers who use these

measurements seem to interpret them in practical ways

that support their farming practices with both crops

and animals. Because of my association with these

farmers, I have continued to track the results of

their radionic reports even though I do not fully

understand their significance.

 

In this project as in others, people reported many

subjective experiences, which continue to be connected

by a clear common thread.

 

One farmer who helped with the project and buried one

of the sixteen yantras on his land wrote:

 

 

Just a few thoughts and observations concerning our

offering to Mother Earth.

First some comments about our farm and the planting

of the small painting. I feel an

even stronger connectedness with Mother Earth.

 

I have always enjoyed working and walking in our

fields. This year I have a

yearning to be out in the fields, walking, weeding,

observing, enjoying, relaxing.

Sounds a bit much doesn’t it, but it’s true.

 

Our crops have a healthy look to them. The leaves

have such a perfect color,

a deep sheen to them. I have never had crops like

this. Perhaps Mother Earth is

speaking!

 

The whole project gave me a very good feeling.

 

Thanks, Allen R. Schnoor

 

In this letter, Allen suggests that there has been a

real, measurable change in the quality of his crops

that is linked in a causal way to the “planting” of

the small design.

 

He also says that because of the presence of the

design and his experience with the project he sees

more beauty in the same things that he has always been

experiencing. And because of his refinement of

perception and the joy that it generates, he feels

more deeply connected to the world. With the vision

described in his letter it is difficult to imagine him

knowingly doing anything that would be damaging to the

earth, the crops or the ultimate end users of the

crops. In fact, one year after this event Allen took

the difficult step of converting his entire farm to

organic, sustainable agricultural practices.

 

Allen’s letter is a beautiful illustration of the

practical value of Art that refines perception. When

we see beauty, we are automatically drawn into

feelings of appreciation and love, and ultimately, as

the intensity or fullness of beauty increases, into

the experience of intimacy or unity with that which we

see as beautiful. It is true that we take care of our

own interests and ourselves. But we also take care of

that which we perceive to be intimate or close to

ourselves.

 

One of the more common subjective reports of people

who have spent time within the large designs is richer

or more refined perception of beauty. If by refining

the senses of perception we can experience the deeper

beauty of the world, why shouldn’t we strive to

experience every aspect of reality at it’s deepest,

most beautiful layer? If we could see beauty

everywhere, we would spontaneously expand our

day-to-day working definition of what is intimate and

would find ourselves to be less separate and

consequently more careful of all the aspects of life

that surround us. Carry this process to its fullest

extent and we would find ourselves to be completely

intimate, even unified with all expressions of Nature

and caring for the whole world as we care for

ourselves.

 

The farmer who sponsored the project found it

difficult to find words for his inner experience and

feelings, but he continues to state emphatically that

it is one of the most significant things he has done

in his life, for himself, for the land and for the

world. Even living in a remote and isolated farm in

Iowa he no longer sees the world and its people as

something separate from himself.

 

His wife summed things up very simply.

 

"The biggest thing this has done is draw the love out

of the people. Everyone

who has come in contact with the project has more

love now."

 

 

XIV Nebraska Park project (Fig. 40)

 

In the spring of 1995, I worked with several people in

a small Nebraska town. For this project, I made

artwork similar to that which had been used in the

farm project and a large copper version of the Durga

yantra. These were buried with additional ceremonies.

 

I kept the Iowa farmers informed about our intentions

and the project’s progress. We had been discussing

the Iowa Capitol Design Project together. Knowing

that I needed the approval from nine farmers to

install design elements on their land and that I would

have to convince farmers that their land should be

used in the project, my farmer friends were helping by

reviewing my installation and presentation ideas for

acceptability and relevance to the farming community.

Unknown to me, they decided to monitor the energy

levels of the land at the Nebraska site to see if it

changed and if there was any simultaneous change at

the Iowa farm site. They did this with the radionics

techniques they had used previously. They found that

after the weekend’s events, the energy level of the

Iowa farm site went up about five fold from its base

level of the last nine months, the Nebraska site

increased about one hundred fold to match it and the

area of influence created an oval shape with the

sites, which are 450 miles apart, at the two centers

of the ellipse. Further observations of this nature

continued with later projects.

 

These radionic observations supported my intuitive

perception that elements or points can be connected

without physically articulated lines and that size

need not be considered a limiting factor when

constructing an extremely large geometric design.

 

XV 1995 Iowa Farm Project

 

On Sunday, May 21, 1995 the Iowa farm was again the

site of an artistic experiment. Three days of Vedic

recitation, puja and yagya conducted by D. N. Sharma,

followed by a Sunday celebration marked the

consecration of 108 Sri Yantras specially prepared for

the occasion. These yantras were about fifteen inches

square, individually made on paper with watercolor and

pen. They were made by hand according to a

traditional procedure. After their consecration they

were sent to people to bury in the ground of their

farm or garden. Each Sri Yantra was accompanied by

specific installation instructions and questionnaires

that attempt to assess if subjective changes in

perception or objective changes were noted in the

immediate environment after burying the yantra.

 

About sixty of these Sri Yantras were buried in

various parts of North America.

 

XVI 1995: Oceanside, California (Fig. 41-44)

 

In November 1995, another project was completed in

Oceanside, California for Victor Villasenor’s fourth

annual Snow Goose Celebration, a gathering to promote

World Peace.

 

The project began with a trip to the north side of Mt.

Palomar. We found a tall Digger Pine that had been

killed in a forest fire nine years ago but had

remained standing and over the years had become well

cured. We climbed the tree, cut out the top

twenty-five feet and used the horses to drag the

‘pole’ out to the road. It was taken to a studio

where we worked for several months to transform it

with gold leaf spirals and Sanskrit text.

 

We also made a six-foot diameter Durga Yantra. This

was formed from pieces of round copper stock brazed at

all intersections and junction points. It was

complete except that it did not have a bindu or

central point.

 

The installation celebration began on Saturday,

November eighteenth. Again we invited D.N. Sharma to

perform traditional Vedic pujas and homas to ‘install’

the soul of the yantra and bring about an upsurge of

silence and peace in the environment.

 

On Sunday, November nineteenth, the yagya was

completed and the pole was lowered into a specially

prepared vertical hole in the earth. A well drilling

rig drilled the hole. It was deep enough so that the

tip of the pole remained about two feet below the

surface of the ground. Additionally, the pole rests

on and is packed in flake mica, a natural insulating

mineral. At the precise level of the tip of the pole,

the hole was widened from twelve inches in diameter to

twelve feet. This flat, circular earthen platform

accommodates the copper Durga Yantra. The tip of the

pole and its faceted ruby form the bindu of the

yantra. While the pole is completely encased in its

“nest” of mica, the balance of the Durga Yantra rests

on bare earth. The entire assembly was covered with

mica and finally with earth and new grass.

 

Before the pole was installed in the ground several

people remarked that it seemed to generate a

directional, standing wave that was quite perceptible,

even, for some, on the level of hearing. Those who

claimed to “hear” frequencies emitted by the pole

described changes in pitch that were surprisingly

consistent with the mathematical relationships

contained in the pole’s segmentation and the changing

pitch of the spirals.

 

About fifteen minutes after its installation, two

people drove up to the installation site and asked

what was happening. They had been driving North on

I-5, the freeway that passes through Oceanside and for

several miles had noticed a peculiar high cloud that

reached down to the ground. They described it as

funnel shaped, being made up of spirals going in

opposite directions. It had gotten more difficult to

see as they had gotten closer and they had found us by

guessing where its base would have been located.

 

Looking back at the project, the assemblage of

sculptural elements, pole, hole in the earth and

yantra have the character of a transducer-like object

that might cause modulation of subtle energy, perhaps

producing an influence that goes deep into the earth

and even deeper into space.

 

XVII Conclusion

 

What can be concluded from these artistic experiments?

 

 

Certain geometric structures enliven and amplify

specific laws or forces of Nature. When these laws or

forces of Nature become stronger, they consistently

influence the total environment, including human

physiology and consciousness.

 

Art of this kind has the power and role of a

technology; it can bring the beauty, balance and

wholeness of Nature into our day-to-day lives; it can

help to create a venue from which Nature can speak; it

is art that can assist in transforming our world into

a fitting expression of the real possibilities

inherent in life.

 

Where should this technology be applied? The range of

man-made geometric structures where Nature could be

made livelier is almost unlimited.

 

Certainly our cities are filled with flowing streams

of energy, be they roads or water or electrical

distribution system that are, even if by default,

geometrically arranged. What are the influences that

we unwittingly create? What could we accomplish by

deliberate design?

 

What about the architecture of our working and living

spaces? Could we reduce the stress and increase the

creativity of our environments? How could we better

arrange our hospitals and medical facilities? Can we

enhance the body’s natural healing processes by

strengthening its fundamental intelligences? What

about the way that we provide and house social

services? Could we reduce the stress levels in

prisons?

 

Could our parks be filled with deeper and more

powerful silence by virtue of properly designed

plantings, gardens, walkways and sculptural elements?

 

 

Could we reclaim damaged land? What if Chernoble were

to be placed within an appropriate geometry? What if

water reclamation facilities, where enhanced microbial

activity is the key to efficiency, were to be designed

according to these principles?

 

Could we develop an agriculture that not only produces

food and fiber but also honors the forces of Nature

that support and enhance such production by including

art and ceremony into the process of farming?

 

Could we use communication systems such as telephone

and Internet to create geometric structures that exist

electronically? How would they affect the systems

from which they are made? Could we develop new kinds

of “artificial” intelligence from micro-geometries?

 

And the Planet? Why not create meaningful designs that

encompass the whole, that extend inward and outward

into the space of our cosmic environment? Why not

honor the cosmic intelligence of Nature on a cosmic

scale?

 

There is no shortage of possibilities. Neither is

there a shortage of human or financial resources.

Perhaps those with a shared vision will, in time, join

together.

 

Ó 1995-2003 Bill Witherspoon All rights reserved

 

 

-------------

--- Tatwamasi <tatwamasi wrote:

 

> Does anyone have any information on this?

> Uma

> -------

>

> "As you may know, Eastern Oregon was Gifted with the

> Sri Yantra Mandala

> Formation in August 1990. It arrived in a dry

> wilderness lake bed east

> of Steens Mountain, and consisted of 13.3 MILES of

> lines, each 10" wide

> and scored to a depth of 3 inches in the hardpan.

> The graphic below is

> the Sri Yantra, and the Pattern discovered in the

> dry earth was

> identical in all respects..."

>

> http://cropcircleconnector.com/ilyes/ilyes9.html

>

>

>

>

>

> ------------------------ Sponsor

> --------------------~-->

> Click here to rescue a little child from a life of

> poverty.

>

http://us.click./rAWabB/gYnLAA/i1hLAA/XUWolB/TM

>

--~->

>

>

>

> Links

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

 

 

 

 

________

India Matrimony: Find your partner now. Go to http://.shaadi.com

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest guest

Four jokers claimed it - the joke was that they alleged they pulled a 'garden cultivator' like a plow for OVER 13 MILES, in an officially designated Wilderness Area, in the August desert heat - where not even cars are permitted. They concocted the story that they hauled all their gear 3/4-mile to the site each day. (It turned out that that was one of many discrepancies in their story, for they'd allegedly told a sergeant from the Air National Guard that their campsite was actually two miles from the Formation.) A second discrepancy: In their initial 'confession letter' to the newspaper they wrote that all four of them were hitched up simultaneously to pull the cultivator, but the video shows only two of them attempting to pull it. Another one I found of interest is the apparent major exertion seen to be required to gouge a thin 1/2"-deep line into the earth (as seen in the video) Vs that needed to create a trench 10" wide and 3" deep - apparently without effort, according to the same video. (The reason the 'real' line was easy to dig out is because it was already there - they had apparently filled in the trench with the soft dirt, and hoped to give the illusion that they were digging the furrow with their plow.) These 'variations', as well as various others, stretched my own and others' credibility well beyond believability. One can reasonably conclude that the only creativity these four expressed was through their over-active imaginations and not through any grand desert artistry.

 

Interestingly, the skies above the Sri Yantra are regularly used as part of the Idaho Air National Guard's pilot training area. According to the lieutenant pilot who first spotted the huge Pattern on August 10, no pilots had reported a design-in-progress; the Pattern had simply 'appeared' one day...

 

Various points in the purported 'documentation' which those who claimed the Sri Yantra offered were easily picked apart by researchers who subsequently visited the site. I, too, have noted non-sequiturs and blatant manipulation in previous fraudulent 'Crop Circle documentaries', manufactured and aired solely to convince an unknowing public that the Circle Phenomenon is not worth serious study. I strongly urge each of you to use critical discernment when evaluating any kind of 'evidence' presented by anyone about anything - perhaps most especially so-called 'expert' testimony - and especially as regards the Circles.

 

NO video footage or photographs anywhere document an alleged creation of crop art (alleged man-made patterns) in progress from ground level AND SIMULTANEOUSLY from the air, to confirm that the alleged 'finished product' is indeed what the people 'below' are alleging to have stomped out in the crop. (Showing people stomping around in the dark, then in the next sequence showing a Formation from the air *does not mean that the aerial is the 'finished product' shown in the previous scene*! Through clever and manipulative editing, that is precisely the conclusion the viewer is being 'set-up' to accept. It is not, however, the truth ... )

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest guest

Even the video in Youtube says that this fellow's claim(Bill Witherspoon's) has been disproved

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...