“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The session came about because Ron B. and his wife, Grace, members of ESP class, requested help with a problem involving their family. After winding up some very interesting material concerning that situation, Seth launched into the Speaker data at about 11:15. All of us present were surprised. The term “Speaker,” as Seth uses it, was as unknown to Jane and me then as it was to Ron and his family.)

We have known several people who were monks in a previous existence. Now. (To Ron): In a life in the east before the time of Christ, 1200 B.C., you were a member of a body of men who belonged to an esoteric heritage. You were wanderers and traveled also through Asia Minor.

Your people learned them from their elders, and they were called Speakers. You were a Speaker. This is why you find it so easy to call others your brothers. Now: Three men in particular who are under you (in the manufacturing plant where Ron holds a supervisor’s position), were part of that original band of men. Your wife, your daughter-in-law and your son (all present this evening) were also members of that band. Your wife and your daughter-in-law, however, were brothers. Now give us a moment here. (Pause.)

(The Essenes were one of the four known Jewish sects active in the Holy Land at the time of Christ. They were a peaceful, contemplative group. They aren’t mentioned in the Bible. If Seth means that the Essenes were promulgating the Speakers’ codes of ethics in, say, the first century A.D., then this of course is a time many centuries later than Ron’s life in 1200 B.C.

(Ron’s wife, Grace: “Seth, did we fulfill our purposes in that time?”)

There was a major distortion having to do with B-A-E-L (spelled). A group gathered together with Bael as their idea of God. You (Ron) were with the other group. There was a city in a jungle — M-E-S-S-I-N-I (spelled) as nearly as I can translate it. In Asia Minor, and fragments of a past civilization were then there. A new city was built which in its turn also disappeared. There were writings on rocks, however, as the old messages were once again put into written symbols. But your people were gone, and you are only now finding them again.

(Ten sessions after this one, Seth told Jane and me that we had been Speakers also, although he said nothing about dates or countries, or whether Jane, Ron, or I might be renewing acquaintances made in other, perhaps very ancient times. It seems to me that in this life at least, Ron and I encountered each other in quite a strange way: almost of an age, we grew up in the same small town near Elmira many years ago; we knew of each other’s family — and yet we didn’t meet until 1970….

(Possibly reflecting his early Speaker practices — which may be continuing on subjective levels — Ron is active in lay church work, and knows much about the Bible and related subjects. He elaborated upon some of Seth’s data; later, I checked portions through various reference works. Jane, since she knows practically nothing about the historical periods in question, was very pleased that Seth’s data was so evocative.

(Seth-Jane spelled the god’s name Bael. Most sources spell it Baal, possibly pronounced as Bael. The Akkadian form, Bel, was used in ancient Mesopotamia. Baal — lord — was the name or title of a number of local deities of ancient Semitic peoples. Baal worship appeared in Syria and Israel many centuries before the birth of Christ — as early as 1400 B.C., according to Syrian cuneiform texts. This date is very interesting, in light of the 1200 B.C. Seth mentions for Ron, and the conflict within his group over Baal. Baal was most often a god of fertility, its image of stone probably a phallic one. According to orthodox Israelite belief, Baal or nature worship was idolatrous, a denial of any moral values.

Now: Since our little friend over here (Ron’s daughter-in-law, Sherry) is worried lest I annoy the neighbors (very loudly), I will smile what I hope is a gentle smile, and bid you a gentle good evening, with what blessings I have to give.

(After the session Ron explained the Second Coming as given in the Bible in Matthew 24. He also told us about Jesus predicting his own death and resurrection several times in Matthew, Mark and Luke, and of the resulting uncertainty and misunderstanding of the disciples. Even after his crucifixion the risen Jesus wasn’t recognized on various occasions.)