“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(According to her, ectoplasm formed the various changes and materializations about my hand in our previous seance with Bill Macdonnel. Sessions, she said, should be regular. Darkness or very dim red light will produce the best results for beginners. Rob asked if it would be possible for me to continue in full light. Malba said light would not bother her, but might bother me. She said that the way Rob and I work together, we need both of us to succeed, and that our channels were open before the session. The color experiments failed because we were not prepared. The closet experiment failed because I did not believe it would work. [Reading about mediums and their cabinets, I stationed myself in a dark closet while Rob checked from outside for any ectoplasm or aura.]

(Malba said the state before going to sleep is a good one in which to receive visions and should also be used to suggest good health to the subconscious, to suggest that it help you as far as your work goes, and to suggest that practical daily matters will be taken care of. Worry is bad—it reinforces negative attitudes and is corrosive. Practice will help in seances. Individuals vary in the types of manifestations they achieve. We can expect ectoplasmic creations separated from the body of the medium.

(Rob and I weren’t as alone as we thought, when we tried first seance. Friends helped us get good results so we wouldn’t be discouraged. But we couldn’t count on such help all the time, or we wouldn’t develop our own abilities. The fingers I materialized were ectoplasm, done with the help of friends.

(Speaking of worry, she said we were much better now along that line. Isolation was good when it expanded. When your mind is consciously tight it is like closing a switch; and when you open up you turn off the switch. Rob asked if I could travel in astral body outside room, she said possibly. We should experiment along our lines of interest: Bill with his travel experiences, Rob with his visions, me with my dreams of levitation. Malba said there is no sensation as far as medium is concerned when ectoplasm emerges.