“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(In beginning these notes, let me mention that there are certain definite changes in Jane when she is in trance and speaking for Seth.

(Usually Jane goes in and out of trance with remarkable speed. Her eyes aren’t closed during sessions, except for relatively brief periods — but they can be barely open, say, or half open, or wide open and much darker than usual. She sits for sessions in her Kennedy rocker, but on occasion she gets up and moves about. She smokes in trance and sips a little wine, beer, or coffee. Sometimes, when her trance has been very deep, it takes her a few minutes “to really come out of it,” as she puts it. Almost always she joins me in a snack after the session, no matter how late it is.

(Jane’s voice in trance can be almost conversational in tone, volume, and pace, but is subject to a wide range of these qualities. Usually it’s somewhat deeper and stronger than her “own” voice. Once in a while her “Seth voice” is very loud indeed, much more powerful, with definite masculine overtones and with an obvious, tremendous energy behind it. Most of our sessions however are fairly quiet.

(Seth speaks with an accent that’s hard to pinpoint. It’s been called Russian, Irish, German, Dutch, Italian, and even French. Seth once humorously commented that his way of speaking was actually due to his own “cosmopolitan background,” acquired through many lifetimes. Jane and I think it is simply individual, and that it invokes various responses in people according to their own ethnic and emotional backgrounds.

(There are two more effects that Jane always manifests while she is in trance. One is a more angular quality in her mannerisms. The other is a rearrangement of her facial muscles; a tautness resulting, I believe, from an infusion of energy — or of consciousness. At times this effect is quite pronounced, and I can easily sense the immediacy of Seth’s presence.

(I think these changes in Jane during sessions are caused by her creative reception of a portion of an entity, an essence, that we call Seth, and by her own ideas of what this certain segment is like as she casts it in the masculine gender. Her transformation as Seth is original, and absorbing to watch and participate in. Regardless of degree, Seth is uniquely and kindly present. I am listening to, and exchanging dialogue with, another personality.

(Before the session, Jane said she felt rather nervous; she thought Seth would start his own book this evening. Her feeling of nervousness is quite unusual in these sessions. I offered reassurances, telling her to forget the whole thing and let the book come out in its own way.)

Names are not important, however. My name is Seth. Names are simply designations, symbols; and yet since you must use them, I shall also. I write this book with the cooperation of Ruburt, who speaks the words for me. In this life Ruburt is called Jane, and her husband, Robert Butts, takes down the words that Jane speaks. I call him Joseph.

(10:18. Jane left trance rather easily, although it had been a good one. She was quite surprised that so much time had passed. She was also much relieved that Seth had started the book, while keeping her well under. “Oh, he’s smart,” she laughed. “Somebody’s pretty tricky.”

(Willy was sleeping — snoring, actually — on top of our old-fashioned TV set. His position put him just in back of Jane’s head as she sat in her rocker.)

(11:00 P.M. Jane was out of trance quickly. Her pace had been good throughout the session. She said she was glad Seth had begun work on his book. “For ages in the past,” she said, “whenever I thought Seth wanted to start the book, I was afraid to let him do it.”

(Jane wondered now about reading the book as Seth produced it. It might be impressive to say that she didn’t see the script until it was finished. We decided that it didn’t matter whether she did or not, though, so she will read this material when I finish typing it up.)