“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(It was already dark outside, but we pulled our blinds and put one red Christmas light on. We sat at our dark-topped walnut table in the living room. Upon it we had spread a triangular piece of black cloth. We also wore dark clothing. On the cloth we lay Jane’s wedding ring. It was very dimly visible; we sat opposite each other, hands flat upon the cloth and sometimes touching, with the ring always visible between our hands. We sat quietly. Nothing happened, though we felt we might be cultivating a mood. After a while we substituted for the ring a Spanish-American military insignia, of brass, that Jane’s grandfather had secured from his brother. It was part of a medal; Jane had polished it the day before, and removed the ribbon.

(Now Jane remarked that at times as she sat at the table, her hands seemed to disappear; that is, she could no longer see them, although she was not worried that they did not exist. At times, she observed the same phenomena with the metal insignia. She also stated that she could still “do something” tonight, but after an hour of silence without results thought that some kind of communication, or talking, was necessary to achieve it. We took a break.

(We resumed at 8:40. I began to ask Jane questions at random. She answered each one, and if one of her answers suggested a line of thought I followed it up. Sitting in the darkness, we talked thus for a few minutes. The lights were off, but by now we could see fairly easily. The room was not pitch black. I had laid pen and paper by my elbow, and now I reached for them.

(Jane began to talk, spontaneously, in a regular voice. The following copy represents the sum of what she said, minus my questions. It was not necessary for me to ask many questions once she was under way, and finally I ceased altogether as I became confident that she would resume after a pause.

(Jane’s monologue:

(Albert and Sarah had 4 children. Two died when they were babies. Those that lived were Billy and Jane.

(They always carried pistols. The pistols were black and long, much longer than pistols of today. There was a jigger at the top that they used with powder. They kept powder in it, I don’t know what for. [Jane laughed.] They made bullets and put the powder into them. The powder and bullets were kept separate until they were put into the gun, though one or two bullets were always kept ready.

(The following is an account of the brief vision I experienced during our session of Saturday, January 4, 1964. I had it while sitting quietly in the dark with Jane at our walnut table in the living room. It came before Jane began her recitation about Levonshire, England.