“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.

On February 12, 1966, I dreamed that I was on a bed, with Rob on one side of me and another man nearby. There was no pain but a movement in the pelvis, and I delivered a baby. But then a doctor held up two infants and I thought with a laugh, “Oh, no! Twins. Really, this is too much!” — meaning that after having no children, two at once was really something. Then the doctor reassured me that only one baby was involved. The hospital was in my own childhood neighborhood. I was pleased that the delivery was easy and painless.

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,

Ruburt’s dream represented several layers of information. On a superficial level, it represented his inner knowledge that he is not physically afraid of childbirth. On another layer, it represented the knowledge that a future endeavor would at first seem to be two separate ones — two accomplishments, but on later examination, it will be seen that they are unified. These have not yet come to pass and they represent a new birth — from the unconscious. This spring will be the time. I am one of those represented in the dream, as Joseph is the other. The affair will be beneficial from many viewpoints and represents a creative endeavor. Again, he will think that two are involved and will realize that one unified product has been achieved instead. He saw a female baby because the product will be intuitive and psychic rather than born from logic. It will begin about the time of his own birth date, another reason why birth symbolism was used.

“The same to you,” Rob said, with a smile. He’d forgotten it was Valentine’s Day.

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.

A few weeks went by, and I heard nothing. On April 29, I lay down, telling myself I would have a dream giving me some information, letting me know whether or not a contract would be signed. It was 8:00 A.M. and I set the alarm for 9:00. I fell asleep instantly.

First there was an extremely vivid dream in which Rob and I were in a little town in New York. Then I experienced a false awakening: I thought I was awake, and about to get up to write down the dream. The phone rang. I jumped out of bed, rushed into the living room. But as I reached the phone, it stopped ringing. At the same time, I felt an instant sense of strangeness. It had been bright and cloudless before I went to bed; now the sky was much too dark. A brooding quality filled the room, and outside the windows, everything was dimly lit as if it were suddenly the hour just before dawn.

Then I recalled my previous experiments with dream states and knew that I wasn’t normally awake as I thought, but was wandering out in the living room, in an out-of-body state and hallucinating. The phone had never rung. My body was still in bed. The darkness was an effect caused by the state of my consciousness. So, while I had the chance, I decided to do some more experimenting and went out the hall door, downstairs and outside.

At this time, the alarm rang. I snapped awake, in my body in bed. Angry at having the experience cut short, I dozed off again, once more giving the suggestion that I would learn what was going on at Prentice-Hall.

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.

On May 14, I dreamed that I was doing something wrong about the prospectus. The dream bothered me so much that I called Prentice and learned that I’d misinterpreted Tam’s letter. All I needed was a simple prospectus and outline. Except for the dream, I would have spent considerable time gathering data long before it was needed. I felt much better and mailed the whole package off on May 17.

Ten days passed without word. Then I had another dream that upset me considerably. In it, Rob had gone downstairs to get the mail. There was a letter from Prentice. Rob opened it, and began to read.

Again Rob assured me that I wasn’t dreaming, but now I was sure that I was and afraid that I was about to awaken. Rob handed me the letter. Hurriedly, I grabbed it. Later I forgot much of what I read, but I knew that a contract would not be given yet — there would be a lag. Some obstacle had arisen, but there was still hope. There was also something about my being fired from a job because I was notorious as a writer.

From this, I went into a long dream sequence that involved the death of a young Italian man who was somehow connected with our landlord and another about the death of someone close to a student, Lanna Crosby. When I awakened, and wrote the dreams down, I wasn’t too happy. I’d hoped that my prospectus would be followed quickly by a contract; and the other portions of the dreams weren’t too cheerful either.

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.

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 series of dreams was important to me, for each of them gave me additional information about a project in which I had the highest emotional interest, and they cut down the waiting period involved in normal communication.

Apparently Rob, too, has his dream eye out for my writing interests. Back in 1964, a national magazine accepted my short story, “Big Freeze.” Payment was to be on publication. As time went on, I heard nothing from them, and the magazine was not one that we regularly purchase. I made a mental note to write them but kept putting it off. Then, on October 21, 1965, Rob dreamed that my story, “Big Freeze,” had already been published. Rob told me about the dream and recorded it in the morning.

A friend, Jim Lord, realizes how helpful dreams can be, because one literally saved his life. Jim had only just begun dream recall experiments when he was sent to Vietnam. Just as I started working on this chapter, I received a letter from him:

That night, though, I dreamed that I was walking along the beach in the usual direction I take. As I did so, I wondered what would happen if we had an incoming rocket attack in camp while I was out walking. I could see myself strolling along, even as I wondered. Just then I could also see a rocket hitting the water and heard the siren go off at base. In the dream, I ran all the way back.

The next morning, I was all ready to go for a walk when I remembered my dream. Was it a warning of a future event? I decided that I’d better take the side of caution, so I stayed at the hutch. At 10:00 A.M., we had an incoming rocket attack. The place of impact was the exact area where I usually go for my walk.

I couldn’t have known about the attack through any normal information, of course, and there was no talk around the base about rockets or anything in the past to suggest the dream — except that such a possibility existed. We’ve only had two such attacks in the nine months I’ve been here, though, so they are hardly everyday occurrences.

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.

Sometimes we seem to tune into unfortunate events that do not even concern us. On June 20, for example, Virginia Mallery, one of my students, told our class the following dream: “I saw freight cars on the ground by the railroad viaduct. … I think the Gray Street viaduct in Elmira, though I’m not sure. They had fallen off the track. No one seemed hurt, and the cars weren’t smashed badly. As I remember, two were lying down, and one was up on end. I don’t recall seeing any automobiles.”

On January 25, there was a train wreck in Elmira. Two freight cars fell off the same viaduct that Virginia had seen in her dream but a few blocks south of Gray Street. No one was hurt, the cars were not badly smashed and no automobiles were involved. Two, rather than three, freight cars had turned over, one on its side and one flat.

Clair McClure, a friend, had the following dream several times from June 26 through June 29. She saw herself having an automobile accident at an intersection. Two other cars were involved, though only one hit Claire’s car. On the corner was a Mobil gas station. The dream upset her, since she was planning a trip to New York on June 30. During the trip, she was very careful, and she told her dream to her family, to me and to a friend in New York. Three days after her return, she was in an accident just outside of town. Everything, including the Mobil gas station, followed the dream events.

I mentioned in your last session that your scientists do not realize that man has, indeed, evolved since the development of the brain. For it has learned to form millions of new connections, meanings and concepts, new gestalts that have made man something different than he was. All of these are new electromagnetic patterns which are now indelibly a part of the race. …

(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,)

Take an example: Frederick Y. becomes ill whenever he smells a certain perfume. He does not know the reason. A psychologist might explain the reaction by presuming that some unpleasant event from the past was connected with his perception of the perfume. The explanation is a good possible one; however, it is often the only one that would be considered.

Frederick may be reacting to an unpleasant event experienced in the dream state in which the upsetting situation was accompanied by the particular odor. [But] he could also be reacting to a future event of the same nature, for again, the mind does not break time into a series of moments. This is done by the physical brain.