“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(As usual to begin we sat at the board, in our living room with the shades drawn and a soft light on, shielded somewhat from my view. At the appointed hour Jane and I touched our fingers to the board but did not ask any questions. The pointer began to move.

(By now, Jane was hearing the answers within, in advance of the board’s spelling. But we continued with the board.)

(“Jane has been very curious to learn something about her grandfather. Can you help us with this?”)

(“Why was Jane so attached to him when she was a child?”)

Besides normal reasons (Jane dictates:) he was psychically inclined, at a time when Jane was young and herself close to a past life. She sensed his deep and personal inner awareness. It confused and haunted him, since his inarticulateness applied also to thoughts within himself. He felt strongly but could not explain. In his solitary nature he came close to being a mystic but he was unable to relate his personality as Joseph Burdo with the social world at large, or even to the other members of his family. There was a block, regrettably. He felt strongly his connection with the universe as a whole and with nature as he understood it. But to him nature did not include his fellow human beings. The solitariness that besieged him—because it did besiege him—is dangerous to any personality unless it comes after identification with the human race.

(By now as usual Jane was pacing back and forth as she dictated.)

That is, in his feeling of unity with All That Is, he excluded other human beings, and on your plane it is necessary for the personality to relate to them. Only after such relation is isolation of that nature of benefit. Jane sensed her grandfather’s feeling of identification with the rest of nature however, and since she had not yet developed a strong ego personality as a young child she felt no sense of rejection as did, for example, the other members of the family. When he spoke of wind she felt like wind, as any child will unself-consciously identify with the elements.

He responded to his own attraction for her and was able to expand in her direction because she was not an adult. He was essentially childlike in one manner and yet he had little use for most people. Had he lived to see Jane mature the feeling between them might well have dissipated. (Joseph Burdo died in 1948 at the age of 68. Jane was 19.) He could not relate to another adult, and when in his eyes she joined the league of adulthood he would not have been able to retain his strong leaning toward her.

It was an unfortunate defect in the personality. The psychic nature grew in an oddly distorted manner in some aspects and yet remained stubbornly shrunken in others. From early age however Jane drank in his feeling of completeness with nature, and it had much to do with her later development. She now displays in some instances her grandfather’s closed attitude toward people. At times both you and Jane reinforce each other along these lines.

Such relationships, disciplined of course, will nevertheless yield richness for both of you that neither of you would get in any other manner. You do not have to take hordes into your house. On the other hand all stages of relationships are necessary, and a casual give and take between you and friends will expand your spirit in ways that neither you nor Jane personally can do alone. I am going into this matter because it has concerned both of you at various times, and I would like to state that your work will not suffer by expending energy in these other directions.

(Break at 9:50. To date the above monologue is the longest answer we have received. During its delivery Jane talked at a steady rate, just slow enough for me to be able to take it down word for word in longhand. Shorthand would be a great help. During this dictation Jane neither stopped, speeded up, backtracked, gave any indication of confusion, stopped or started anew.

(The reader will note that I did not ask Seth to comment on my writings concerning art, but that the subject came up during the monologue. I had given Jane my copy to read earlier in the day. We wondered if this method of acquainting both of us with involved questions before the session began might not save asking the question during the session itself.

(After break Jane promptly began dictating again. Resume at 10:05.)

Everything on your plane is a materialization of something that exists independent of your plane. Therefore within your senses there are other senses that perceive inward. Your regular senses perceive, or as Jane would like to say create, an outer world. The senses within them, that is within the recognizable senses, perceive and create an inner world, they perceive part of an inner world. This is difficult for me to explain to you. However as your regular senses are limited according to the plane which you inhabit—in your case dear friends on your plane extremely limited, I’m afraid—so are the corresponding inner senses limited.

(Break at 10:25. At last break 35 minutes ago, Jane had already said that she was exhausted. Her voice by now was even rougher, and now as then I suggested that we end the session. But she wanted to continue, mainly because Seth was coming through so well. Jane resumed dictating at 10:27.)

(Break at 10:37. I was concerned lest Jane’s voice give out. I urged her to call it a night although we were both eager to continue. We decided to take a short break and then resume briefly. Jane resumed pacing and dictating at 10:40.)

(Here Jane pounded on the desk for emphasis and began, surprisingly, to speak in a stronger voice. I had thought without becoming consciously involved that her voice had been strengthening and deepening since last break. Now, the deeper tone became unmistakable. As she talked it became even more pronounced, more formal and louder.

(As I looked down to write I now had the feeling that I was listening to someone else’s voice. If Jane was surprised or upset by this phenomena she gave no sign that I could see. Her manner with this more formal and strong voice was almost that of a lecturer. I said nothing to her about the voice change as she talked on.)

(Pause. Looking at Jane and knowing her natural feminine voice so well, I had to think twice to realize that this other new voice was issuing from her in such volume, and with no strain at all. I don’t know whether I was more surprised at the fact that Jane appeared not at all disturbed by it, or by the fact that it had a definite deep and masculine tone.)

(At the board, Jane and I said good night to Seth. With our hands on the pointer we received an answer.)

(11:05 PM. Jane’s voice now was perfectly normal. As we laid the board aside she said, “He feels very affectionate tonight—I almost got a lump in my throat. He’s real sentimental. He’d go right on if we went back to the board, he’d go on for hours if we could stand it. He doesn’t want to quit.”

(Jane also said that Seth was quite pleased with the new voice, and that she now knows what he is thinking sometimes, even though he does not relay it to or through her as part of a message.

(We debated whether to continue. Jane felt better now, and of course we were interested to try resuming in this fashion since it would be something new. Almost as if by signal Jane began to dictate again. We did not touch the board.)

(Here again, Jane’s voice began to deepen.)

(Jane, pacing back and forth and talking in her deep strong voice, touched the large begonia plant we have on a coffee table in the center of our living room.)

I like Jane’s plant very much. Green things are a touchstone of your existence. You notice I do not use the word planet but plane, since you do not have the whole kettle to yourself.

As a man’s voice I fear Jane will sound rather unmelodious. I do not have the voice of an angel by any means, but neither do I sound like an asexual eunuch, which is all I’ve been able to make her sound like all night. And incidentally, Ruburt, you were a good brother at one time. The so-called male aspect of your personality has always been strong, but by this I mean powerful. Without the loyalty that you are learning as a woman your character had serious defects. And there, I said I would not get into anything serious.

(Jane lit a cigarette, and sipped some wine.)

(Along in here I had the intention of laying my notes aside, yet the habit was so strong that I continued writing rather automatically. Seth however began to talk faster than I could follow, so for the balance of the session I recorded key words and phrases and filled in between as soon as the session ended, while memory was still fresh. Jane and I agree that the following material is an accurate sum of Seth’s remarks.)

One of the reasons Jane does so well with her male characters—if you insist on notes go ahead—is that she has been a male so many times. She has retained the better male characteristics.

(The following is from Jane’s account of the events of the evening of January 10, 1964, when she induced a trance state, or a rather strong state of dissociation, within herself. It was written on the morning of January 11.

(Jane’s account:

(A few quotes from the three handwritten pages Jane attempted while in the trance state… Most of this writing was extremely small and quite unlike her normal hand. Twice she made determined efforts to write larger; when she did she wrote very large and with much force, and the letters leaned at odd angles and had a stiff feeling to them. She also tried twice to use the typewriter. The first time, at about 10:45 PM, she could not exert enough pressure to use the keys; the second time at about midnight was more successful, but still uneven in pressure and lacking punctuation and capitals.

(I can add one fact to Jane’s account. By experimenting we found that she could make a rapid decisive movement while in this trance or dissociated state, but only with great effort. For example, in the kitchen I had her try to lift an empty cup up from the counter. Jane found that the only way she could do this was to concentrate as best she could on what she wanted to do, then make a supreme physical effort. As a result her hand holding the cup would fly up head high suddenly, then just as suddenly bang the cup back down on the counter.)