“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

3. Yes, I learned from several reference works containing photographs, drawings, and maps, Jerusalem before A.D. 50 had been walled in. Not once but several times, and in various peripheries enclosing various portions of that ancient site: the old city, the new city, the upper and lower cities, and so forth. Aerial photos show that now, at least, there’s more than one southeastern corner of the city formed as the battlemented, meandering southern wall turns north in a series of steps or right angles. I could see no recent indications of towers there. However, the situation way back then would have depended on what walls existed (as well as upon my own psychic “vantage point”). There could have been other southeastern corners, with or without towers: Not all of the authors I consulted agreed upon the location of certain of Jerusalem’s fortifications (in the first century or any other), or when they had been built or destroyed.

6. My ruminations in notes 3 and 4 should indicate how difficult it can be for the conscious mind to interpret psychic data arising from other “layers” of itself. Jane and I haven’t been to Jerusalem, although we’d like to make the trip some day, but even if we did I don’t think it would be easy to identify the physical site of my “fourth Roman.” To do so would take much cautious study. For one thing, I’m sure that my imagery — and drawings — of Jerusalem’s fortifications would turn out to be much too meager in scale; surely those “real” works would be far more overpowering in height and mass. To insist upon interpreting my mental information in literal terms only might lead into a labyrinth of supposition, then.

“Not long after I closed my eyes I saw, almost in silhouette, a Roman soldier standing on the top of a square, crenelated tower that formed a corner or angle in a massive stone wall. My position was at ground level. I’d lost all sensation of my body lying on the cot. The scene was very faint, so much so that it might almost be called more of an idea than an image. The sky behind the soldier was darkly overcast; I was aware of very little color. I ‘knew’ that the tower I faced marked the southeastern corner of Jerusalem, and I ‘knew’ that the wall itself was an enormous fortification that had surrounded that ancient city sometime during the first half of the first century A.D.

“As I looked up at the soldier’s head and shoulders, I believe (with some hesitancy) that I confronted another version of myself. The whole thing was so nebulous — I was almost a disinterested observer, as I’d been while perceiving my first three Roman episodes. Perhaps this affair was engendered by a book I’ve just started to read; it contains descriptions of the long siege that Imperial Rome, whose military forces had occupied Palestine for 60 years, began against a rebellious Jerusalem in the year 66. I don’t know whether or not the city had a wall surrounding it earlier in that century, but assume it did.³

[...] Not long afterward I came across an illustrated article about Jerusalem in a travel magazine. [...] Jerusalem’s arid environment, coupled with its incredibly complex and active history, led us to speculate anew about the mysterious forces of religious creativity that seemingly had always emanated from there, and were still doing so.

(In a private session on September 3, Seth discussed some of the reasons behind Jerusalem’s unceasing fascination for certain segments of mankind. [...] Then in the next session — which concerned other subjects — Seth unexpectedly added this aside: “You can have more material on Jerusalem or Christ now, or when you want it. [...]

[...] In last Monday’s deleted session Seth had included a section on Jerusalem, which I’ve included in the records as the 678th session for September 3, 1973. Seth told us we could have more on Jerusalem and related events whenever we want it, or have the time, so presumably the Christ Book idea stems from that. [...]

[...] You can have more material on Jerusalem or Christ now, or when you want it. [...]

[...] Christ was crucified near Jerusalem at the order of Pontius Pilate; Herod had John beheaded; and Paul was beheaded near Rome during the reign of Nero.

[...] The interpretation of scanty records, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, has given rise to debate, but it appears he was either Menahem ben Judah, who was killed in A.D. 66 in Jerusalem, or a nephew, who survived and succeeded him.)

Then do you want some Jerusalem material now?

[...] The Jerusalem material will be found in the 678th session.)

[...] This was around Jerusalem in the sixth century. [...]

[...] I called my version of it my “fourth Roman,” and presented an account of it in Appendix 22; through internal pictures I saw, in Jerusalem in the first century A.D., the violent death of my traitorous Roman-soldier counterpart.

[...] Once you ‘killed your enemy,’ (and therefore yourself) — like the Roman soldier in Jerusalem — and realized it, did something change the counterpart connection? [...]

[...] I also lived in Jerusalem.

[...] Later in the session Jane felt that Seth was taking her on a guided tour of Jerusalem, way back in the first century A.D. None of this consisted of book work, though, so the session remains in our files along with other material that we hope to publish one day.

[...] The Qumran settlement was but fifteen miles from Jerusalem and Bethlehem. [...]

[...] I thought it interesting that Nebene’s land, Jerusalem, say, was geographically next door to Egypt, and not great in physical distance, as far as miles go.

[...] The 647th session for Chapter 21 of Personal Reality was held on July 2, 1973, and in it I quoted a remark Seth made to me the following September: “You can have more material on Jerusalem or Christ now, or when you want it. [...]

[...] He was drunk the night I spoke to him in a stinking stall outside of Jerusalem. [...]

[...] We ended up calling a portion of one of those the 678th session and added it to our records, since the material, which Jane received at my request, concerned probabilities and Jerusalem. [...]