“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(On February 17, 1964 our neighbor Miss Florence Callahan who lived in the front apartment on the same floor as Jane and I, was taken to the hospital suffering from arteriosclerosis. See Session 25, in Vol. 1. On March 9, 1964, Seth said that April 15 would be a day of crisis for Miss Callahan in the hospital. See the 33rd session, page 262. On April 15, Seth stated during the 44th session that Miss Callahan would undergo brain damage. See page 17, Vol. 2.

(On Wednesday, May 13, Miss Callahan’s relatives asked Jane if we could move Miss Callahan’s blue divan into our apartment, and in its place let them take a hide-away bed we had in storage; this bed to be used for a nurse who was to live with Miss Callahan when she was brought home from the Town House. We agreed to the swap and it was made Thursday, May 14.

(Jane and I learned later that indeed on this day Miss Callahan had behaved so erratically at the hospital [throwing things, screaming, struggling, etc.] that her relatives were notified she must be moved, since the hospital could not furnish 24-hour care. On April 18 Miss Callahan was moved to a local rest home, the Town House.

(Jane liked the blue divan; I thought it crowded our own quarters too much. After much discussion we decided to offer the divan to our neighbor across the hall, Leonard Yaudes, who needed one in good condition. Leonard, a school teacher, knows Miss Callahan, and his apartment abuts hers on the south. But in order to make room for the divan, Leonard first had to get rid of his old one. A friend helped him move it out to the garage; then on Monday, May 18, I helped him move Miss Callahan’s divan into his apartment.

(There followed a very confusing [and to me upsetting] several hours during which Jane and our neighbor, Leonard Yaudes, tried contacting Miss Callahan’s doctor, her relatives, her friends, our landlady, and a hospital. The relatives at first refused to help, seemingly out of fear of Miss Callahan herself. There were mix-ups, in which Miss Callahan’s doctor was waiting for her at the emergency room at the hospital while Miss Callahan stayed home, and during which time Jane called the relatives several times, pleading with them to help, etc. It finally ended when Jane and Leonard secured the help of another doctor, who arrived by midnight and stated that Miss Callahan should be in the hospital.

(Also after supper it developed that Miss Callahan, the retired school teacher who lives in the front apartment on our floor, had evidently had an attack of some kind and was in urgent need of help. [...] Jane went to see Miss Callahan, who had difficulty answering the door, was suffering from lapses of memory, and was indeed in poor condition. [...]

(This is the second time we have missed a session, the first being over the Christmas holidays. [...]

[...] I did not really feel like taking fifteen to twenty pages of dictation from Seth; I was concerned lest I miss some of the material.

A few nights following Miss Cunningham’s hospitalization, we went to visit her. [...] I told Rob on our way to Miss Cunningham’s room.

At the precise time of Ruburt’s dream, Miss Cunningham was deciding to leave this plane of reality. [...] The unwillingness on Miss Cunningham’s part represented her present personality’s protest against the change that a deeper part of herself deemed necessary and proper.

It was Miss Cunningham’s discovery that she needed operations on both eyes that caused this deeper decision. [...] Part of the subconscious fantasy in the dream was valid, representing a watered-down version of the actual communication — for example, Miss Cunningham’s dark apparel.

During this period I was trying the psychological time exercises suggested by Seth, and often, just when I got started, Miss Cunningham would interrupt me. [...] Several times Miss Cunningham came to mind: I wanted to ask her doctor about her condition but hesitated because I wasn’t a member of her family.

(On July 29/63, Jane had a very vivid dream, in color, involving Miss Callahan. In the dream, Jane saw Miss C in a hospital; Miss C was very thin, and dressed in black. She had been crying, and tried to tell Jane something to the effect that she, Miss C, was going away. [...] In this hospital where Miss C was, things were also being sold.

(The next day, Jane visited Miss Callahan, to ask for the use of her telephone since our television set was not working, and we needed the help of a repairman. Jane had not seen Miss C for a month. Jane was very surprised when Miss C, apparently quite upset, told her that she had just learned from her doctor that she needed operations on both of her eyes, for the removal of cataracts. But Miss C had to wait for some weeks or months yet, until the cataracts progressed to a certain point before the operations could be done. Miss C then asked Jane if she would bring in the mail, etc., while she was in the hospital.

(Miss Callahan was referred to by Frank Watts in the 1st session; Frank Watts stated that she was a mutual acquaintance of the three of us. Yet when Jane asked Miss Callahan if she remembered any Frank Watts, shortly after the first session, Miss C could not place him; on the other hand, she did not claim definitely that she did not know, or had not known, Frank Watts. Since she has at times exhibited a faulty memory, and suffers from hypertension, Jane and I did not think much, for or against, Miss C’s inability to place Frank Watts. [...]

(Jane mentioned her dream to Miss Callahan, but she did not tell Miss C she had seen her crying, or dressed in black. In her notes on the dream, Jane wrote that she hoped the black did not symbolize death for Miss C. Jane was quite relieved to learn that while Miss C did have to go to the hospital, it was for a more or less routine operation, and nothing more serious.

[...] The heart of the chain of events resulted in their meeting Miss Dineen on the sidewalk in front of Rubin’s bookstore as they were putting money into a parking meter. Miss Dineen told them they needn’t do so on a holiday, and the conversation among the three of them took off from there—culminating in Miss Dineen remembering that she knew us when Miss Callahan was alive, etc.—all of this after Carol and Fred had asked Miss Dineen if she knew us.

(These notes hardly do justice to the string of events that led to Carol and Fred meeting Miss Dineen—from the couple’s leaving Watkins Glen, motoring to Elmira, deciding upon how to find us, asking a policeman finally for directions to a book-store, going to the wrong bookstore—Rubin’s—just as Miss Dineen came out of the religious bookstore almost next door, Miss Dineen first directing them to 458 West Water, then remembering that we’d moved, etc. [...]

[...] Jane and I haven’t seen Miss Dineen except once soon after Miss Callahan’s death at least 10 years ago. [...]

[...] (When Carol opened the screen door, she let Willy Two out, but picked him up easily.) Miss Dineen remembers you kindly also because of Miss Callahan, of course.

(Jane and I were back home from visiting Miss Callahan, in the hospital, by 8:30. We spent the time remaining before the session was due in discussing the flash Jane had received from Seth, concerning her dream about Miss C., and then in sitting quietly for a few minutes.

At the precise time of Ruburt’s dream, your friend Miss Callahan had, or rather was, deciding to leave this plane. [...] The unwillingness on Miss Callahan’s part represented of course her present personality’s protest against the change that a deeper part of herself deemed necessary and proper.

It was Miss Callahan’s discovery that she needed operations on both eyes that caused this deeper decision. Miss Callahan herself was conscious of natural dismay over the projected operations. [...]

[...] Frank Watts would be aware of the approaching death of a previous child, for example, though not of the approaching death of Miss Callahan at this time. [...] For a while his energies were directed toward your plane in a strong, almost compulsive personal manner, and had Miss Callahan been ill then he would have known.

[...] A sister of Miss Price’s is connected here. You will also hear from Miss Healy again. [...]

[...] The emotional effects of the letter to Miss Healy superseded even those of your note in this case. [...] The arched windows, Miss Healy’s. The date the approximate date the house was built.

[...] The letter to Miss Healy was important here; but more than this, intuitionally Ruburt became aware of insights that were necessary if the symptoms were to vanish.

[...] Ruburt had several dreams concerning Miss Price, also a therapeutic dream last evening that he did not remember. [...]

[...] At 8:35 two of Miss Callahan’s relatives knocked on our door: Miss Betty Dineen, an older woman who is a teacher, and a distant relative but close friend of Miss Callahan’s, and Miss Callahan’s nephew John. We keep the key to Miss Callahan’s apartment, and bring up her mail each day; periodically one or another relative comes to pick up the mail and check over the apartment.

(Miss Dineen gave Jane information evidently confirming Seth’s prediction that April 15 would be a day of crisis for Miss Callahan. Without going into all the details about Seth, Jane learned from Miss Dineen that in the middle of that week, which would be on April 15, Miss Callahan’s condition became so bad that hospital officials insisted she be moved to a rest home as soon as possible. Miss Callahan required constant care, which the hospital could not provide.

[...] Seth had given us on the condition of Miss Callahan. [...] She learned instead that a week or so previously Miss Callahan’s relatives had moved her to a rest home. [...] To me this implied that Miss Callahan was in better condition, but Jane said she felt otherwise, that Seth’s material here was not distorted.

(When Jane called the hospital on April 20, she talked to a nurse who did not know the details of Miss Callahan’s case, Miss Dineen said; otherwise we would have learned of the real circumstances of Miss Callahan’s removal much sooner. [...]

(Returning home from a drive on Sunday, we were surprised to see Miss Callahan and her companion sitting on the front porch; this was something we had never seen her do in the four years we have lived here; Jane said that Miss Callahan appeared to be very restless, and that the last time she had visited her Miss Callahan had doodled and written constantly on a pad without seeming to be aware that she was doing so.

The Miss Callahan mentioned in connection with the 23rd was the first mentioned of that date, as Ruburt somewhat belatedly realized today. The restlessness which was apparent in Miss Callahan’s behavior when Ruburt saw her, was but a small tangible evidence of the inner crisis. [...] Miss Callahan was forced to realize that even her home surroundings were no longer familiar, nor is she easy within their confines.

[...] All was quiet as far as Miss Callahan’s apartment was concerned. [...] Jane had visited her a couple of times through the week, and Miss Callahan now recognized her when she saw her. [...]

As far as my mention of May 23rd in connection with Miss Callahan, this was not a distortion; and the crisis, which was a psychio-physical crisis, came as I said that it would.

There followed a very confusing and, to me, upsetting several hours during which Jane and Don tried to make arrangements with Miss C’s doctor, relatives and a hospital. The relatives refused to help, seemingly out of fear of Miss C herself, who had always been quite independent with them. In the meantime, Miss C was hysterical, pulling at her hair and so forth. Miss C’s family (nieces and nephews) finally said they would take the patient to the emergency room at the hospital; her doctor told Jane he would be waiting for her there. [...] Jane finally contacted another doctor who arrived at midnight and authorized Miss C’s hospitalization.

More About Psychological Time
and How to Use It
Excerpts From Sessions 24, 27 and 28
Miss Cummingham and a Missed Session

[...] This is the second time we have missed a session since they started in December. The first time we missed one was during the holidays. [...]

Also, after supper, it developed that Miss Cunningham, the retired school teacher in the front apartment, suffered an attack of some sort and was in urgent need of help. [...] Jane went to see what was wrong and found that Miss C had fallen on the floor, was suffering from severe lapses of memory and was in very poor condition. [...]

[...] We of course realize there might be other connections in the private life of the patient, Miss Margaret M. Bunn. Lorraine does not know Miss Bunn. It is possible the hospital records contain more on Miss Bunn that would be revealing here, but I did not ask Lorraine to try to check.

(Miss Callahan is an elderly retired school teacher who lives in the front apartment.Her memory has been affected by a series of small strokes. [...] These took place at the beginning of Miss Callahan’s illness. [...] Jane is still very solicitous for Miss Callahan’s welfare.

(In addition, Miss Callahan is the only person we have located who taught Frank Watts’ children in grade and high school; Frank Watts was the first personality Jane contacted in these sessions and was soon replaced by Seth. According to Seth Frank Watts had a high regard for Miss Callahan as a person and as a teacher. Miss Callahan however, cannot remember Frank Watts; only that she taught some “Watts children”. [...]

[...] “An event of 1965” can apply, since Miss Bunn was admitted to the hospital on June 7,1965.

(After leaving the hospital, Miss C returned home, to live with a housekeeper. Miss C, preferring to be alone, finally let the housekeeper go a few weeks ago. [...] Miss C’s memory is very poor now, and evidently her energy is low also. [...]

[...] Miss Callahan is an elderly retired teacher who lives in the front apartment of our second floor here. [...] Jane has also had clairvoyant dreams involving Miss Callahan.

[...] I would suggest that you keep watch on your Miss Callahan from Thursday on of next week.

(See also the 63rd and 83rd sessions about Miss Callahan.)

[...] The plant from which the two leaves were taken was once the property of our neighbor here in the apartment house, Miss Callahan, an elderly retired teacher. Jane first saw it in Miss Callahan’s apartment at Christmas of 1964, when Miss Callahan received it as a Christmas present.

[...] The plant I acquired secondhand via Miss Callahan is the only poinsettia we have. [...] Interestingly enough, Jane used to see our present plant in bloom in Miss Callahan’s apartment, before Miss Callahan disposed of it.

[...] As stated, Jane saw the plant which furnished tonight’s objects, as a Christmas present in Miss Callahan’s apartment at Christmas of 1964. Jane considers it possible that here Seth is getting at the idea of a folded note or card being attached to the plant when Miss Callahan received it as a gift. [...] Nor can we check with Miss Callahan, who has suffered a considerable loss of memory as a result of a series of strokes since 1964.

[...] The third plant I found on the back porch of the apartment house last winter, where it had been discarded by Miss Callahan. [...]

I do not know now to what the following refers exactly: a connection with Miss L. Were you in a class together? With a teacher who was Miss L... [...]

(Jane for instance did not know of Miss Lennon or Miss Prince.)

(“I had a grade-school teacher in Sayre, named Miss Lennon.”

[...] Upon reflection, and without checking records, I believe Miss Lennon could have been my teacher in junior high school, or perhaps when I was a freshman.)

1. Helen Bowman — Miss Bowman, my parents and I always called her — was my art teacher in the Sayre, Pennsylvania, high school from 1935 until my graduation in 1937. Through an arrangement with my mother, Stella Butts, Miss Bowman loaned me the money to attend commercial art school in New York City from 1939 to 1941. [...]

[...] Jane missed the September 3 session, but when she asked me about it a few days ago I replied that I was up to date. [...]

[...] You were lucky in your relationship with Miss Bowman.¹ Your talent brought you into correspondence with her. [...]

A note added 14 years after Jane/Seth delivered the magical-approach material: Miss Bowman died in 1994, at the age of 96. [...]

[...] We offer this: Miss Callahan has a nice view from her apartment windows. [...] Jane says Miss Callahan favors the adjective “lovely” instead.

[...] Miss Callahan, who gave Jane the parent begonia which led to the making of the envelope object, is inordinately fond of blue. [...] Miss Callahan’s apartment is largely blue. [...]

[...] Miss Callahan of course being considerably older than Jane—about 78, we believe. Again, Miss Callahan gave Jane the parent begonia which furnished eventually the office begonia; a drawing of the office begonia was used as the envelope object for tonight.

[...] This parent plant, given to Jane by our neighbor on the same floor of our apartment house, Miss Callahan, also has other descendants growing very well.

I here mention once more that you keep some watch upon Miss Callahan, and would indeed suggest that Ruburt, for a period of three or four days, brings up the mail to Miss Callahan. This will prevent Miss Callahan from attempting the stairs, at least for this purpose, and it is during the afternoon periods that concern is felt here.

[...] To date Miss Callahan appears to be all right. [...] Jane has been picking up Miss Callahan’s mail as suggested, and also sometimes manages to look in on her at another time of day.

(Miss Callahan is not completely alone. [...]

[...] You will meet both men at parties in New York, and one man directly through the Miss Taylor who called this evening.

[...] He needs it badly, and I have a note for Miss Taylor: it will hurt Jim Crosson badly if he does not have a part in the program. [...]

[...] If probabilities continue as they are now, there will be some considerable relationship with the group Miss Taylor represents through the years. [...]

I suggest, if I may then, that Miss Taylor so inform him.

Even though such a period is due, I find myself jealous of missing any sessions, as you might guess, knowing me by now.

(December 9, Wednesday: Missed.

(December 11, Friday: Missed.

(December 14, Monday: Missed.)

[...] 12-15 for Miss Callahan, our neighbor in the front apartment. Miss Callahan and her illness, and her connection with Frank Watts, who purportedly was the first psychic contact Jane actually achieved, have been dealt with at length in various sessions. Seth did not specify the meaning of this latest date for her, and Jane and I saw Miss Callahan the day after our return from vacation, looking quite well. [...]

(I had thought that if there was a session tonight, and it was a short one, I would wait to ask Seth what transpired with Miss Callahan within the above time period. [...]