According to the Sherwoods, the crop-circle designs are symbolic and literal metaphors that contain a wealth of encoded information. Sometimes, they observe, the genuine crop circles are so deceptively simple-looking that one might wonder if they really have something significant to say.

But the Sherwoods have concluded that even the simplest formations have multiple layers of meaning. The designs in certain crop circles even seem to be tied to sacred symbols from more than one culture.

"When we first look at a pattern, we might not immediately recognize it," Ed explains, "or we might recognize some aspect of it, and go off to investigate it — which I think is what we are meant to do. You may explore connections and associated symbols, and you may discover that one crop circle actually has multiple layers of meaning, all cross-referencing each other."