“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Was I pregnant? I was in the middle of my monthly period. There was no physical way to tell. Was the dream symbolic? Rob made a note of the dream and planned to ask Seth about it in our next session. As it happened, Seth interpreted the dream at once, without waiting to be asked. It was Session 233, February 14, 1966 (Valentine’s Day). Seth said,

At the time, I had just begun two books — an initial draft outlining the ideas in the Seth Material and a manuscript on dreams that I thought of as my “dream book.” It didn’t occur to me that these two manuscripts could have anything to do with the dream interpretation because they were in the present rather than in the future. They were definitely two books, each with its own identity, and covering different subjects.

In the meantime, my book, How To Develop Your ESP Power was released. In 1967, I finished the dream book manuscript, and did much more on the Seth Material. I wasn’t pleased with how I was handling that book, however, so I filed it away to look at later. It wasn’t until February 1, 1968 that I sent the dream manuscript out to a publisher. On February 17, I dreamed that it was returned and that the person to whom I had addressed it no longer worked there. On February 23, the manuscript was returned. The letter was dated the day before my dream and written by a different editor than the one to whom I’d written.

I was disappointed, naturally, but again I sent the dream manuscript out; this time to Prentice-Hall, on April 2, 1968. On April 12, as I did psy-time, I received a strong impression that Prentice would give me a contract if I revised the book rather drastically. On April 19, I received a letter from Assistant Editor Tam Mossman, stating that the house might be interested in a book on Seth, utilizing parts of the dream book manuscript. I wrote back to see exactly what they had in mind.

There were several normal dreams. Then I saw a letter about my book from Prentice. It was on normal typing paper and requested, first, some further work on the book — either an outline of a projected book to include portions of the dream manuscript, but stressing Seth, or some sample chapters — before a contract would be signed. One sentence read, “Or better, send on some notes from the original Seth material, and maybe we can consider that as advance work for a contract.”

On May 5, I received a letter asking for a prospectus stating Seth’s views on various topics and strongly suggesting that this would be considered a basis for contract. From the letter I took it for granted that I’d have to go through the forty or so notebooks of Seth Material that we had then, and find sections dealing with various topics. This involved work that I really didn’t want to do, until the proposed book was begun. The next day, though, I started to work on it.

In the end, I combined portions of the dream book manuscript into a new book called The Seth Material, which was published by Prentice-Hall in September, 1970. That book was one project, then, that seemed to be two entirely different ones. I had begun it on May 9, one day after my birthday. Seth’s interpretation of that first dream, some three years ago, had been correct. In a series of dreams, I also knew that the unused portions of the original dream manuscript would appear in another book — and they are — in this book you are now reading.

That day, in the art department where Rob works mornings, a co-worker told Rob that he had just read my story and liked it. It had appeared in the current issue of the magazine, then on the stands. The magazine had just come out and Rob had not seen it. I wrote them and received payment and their apology for the “oversight.” In mentioning the dream during a session, Seth told Rob that he had also translated the title into the sensation of feeling chilly upon awakening — a fact that Rob had forgotten.

Notice that his own death was not seen in the dream! But death dreams do not always foretell death, in any case. Some of them may simply allow us to release repressed wishes. Others may involve reincarnational data. Seth says that we use our inner perceptions as we use our outer ones — to discover more about things in which we are interested. If you are inclined to be pessimistic, most likely you will often have pessimistic dreams as well.

But is the future predetermined? Seth says no — that time is being changed at each point. It’s impossible to speak of time and precognition without considering probabilities. The following two chapters on probabilities and dreams contain some of the most intriguing material Seth has given us — and precognition must be seen against this larger perspective. First, however, here are some excerpts dealing more specifically with dreams and precognition.

In telepathic, clairvoyant or precognitive dreams, exactly what is transmitted? I looked to my own dream records for some answers, but Seth discussed this point in Session 197 for October 11, 1965:

In the future, Seth said, the ego and intellect will expand to contain, use and appreciate all the other portions of the self which they now mistrust. Individual identity will expand to include a greater variety of impulses and stimuli. … The ego will become more of an organizer, in general, letting in, literally, a barrage of experiences and forming them into meaningful patterns. Now it fears such experiences because it is not certain of its strength or of its ability to organize them. …

If we can see future events in dreams, does this mean that the theory of free will is a myth? Not at all. But in order to answer this question, Seth considers it along with the nature of time and probable events.

(The term “probable universe” was fairly new to us then, so Rob asked, “Will you tell us more about the probable system and its connections here?” Seth replied,)