“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Before I speak about some of my students’ dreams, I want to give some further samples of my own, showing how precognition in dreams can give us pertinent information about events in which we have deep emotional interest. This particular book is a case in point: even before it existed in its present form, I was kept informed of publisher’s decisions toward it. In a long series of dreams, over a three-year period, I foresaw the answers to my letters and inquiries.

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.

On February 27, I sent the manuscript out again to another publisher. On the same day, I sent out a book of poetry, The Sky Will Send Down Ladders. On March 12, I dreamed that both had been returned. On March 22, both manuscripts came back.

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.

Each day I watched the mail. There were no letters, no calls. On May 30, I had a brief dream in which I was talking on the phone to a woman about the projected book. I had no idea what that meant. I had always dealt with Tam — who is a man.

Three weeks passed. Finally, I called and discovered that my dream had been correct. There was some resistence. Tam, with whom I had been corresponding, had to sell the idea to his boss — a woman. Tam asked me if I would consent to having a well-known psychic writer tell my story for me because of the built-in publicity his name would lend. Thinking of my dream, I refused. Now I understood the reference to losing my “job” and the connection with the “notorious” writer. Tam said he had great faith in the book and would continue to work on my behalf. And there it rested.

Then again, nothing. On June 23, I dreamed that the publisher of my first book called, giving me all kinds of information about sales. On June 29, Tam wrote me an encouraging letter asking me for the sales figures on my first book.

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.