“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Malba said it takes time to prepare for a seance, 15 minutes at least in relaxation before; a black cloth on our table reaching to the floor would help, as well as drapes on the upper half of our windows, to cover the white Venetian blinds. She said that my old friend, Father Trainor was on her plane, and that both of them would probably reincarnate again. She is a female personality but does not operate sexually.

(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.

(Tired consciousness sometimes yields good results; so may a clogged-up consciousness. The middle state is usually too concerned with practical matters. Bill Macdonnel should be good in seance sessions, though he is somewhat like mercury, changeable; at times he may not do well, other times good. James Spaziani might be good. [Our landlord.]

(Malba said connection with her could be renewed by asking questions. Seth, she said, was an excellent teacher, a philosopher where she was not. Don’t be discouraged, remember poor Ouija sessions before success. We have been preparing ourselves for this since before our marriage nine years ago, but marriage reinforced our energies. Ego spits like a cat to maintain conscious control, but will relax when it sees it can come to itself whenever it chooses. A drink helps, a darkened room, pre-seance preparation.

(Malba will go over this material later if we want to check notes we intend to make. Malba said she was the girl I spoke about dying early in Levonshire, England, but that she died at 14 and not 17, as I said. The ego distorts material, as in this case. She also said that if we meet anyone who would be good in seance group, we would know it.

(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.