“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(At 8:55, while Jane and I were discussing their visit and information, Bill Macdonnel arrived, to our surprise. He asked to be a witness and of course we agreed. It will be remembered that Bill had participated in the single seance the three of us have tried, on January 1, 1964; and was scheduled to be a witness to the 36th session, March 18, 1964, but couldn’t at the last moment.[See Volume One.]

(Bill barely had time to get his coat off and take a pencil and paper I offered him so that he could take his own notes, when the session began. As usual Jane was nervous before 9 PM. She began dictating in a fairly strong voice, and somewhat more rapidly. I had the feeling she was a bit nervous because of the witness. Her pacing was rather fast, her eyes darkened as usual.

(It might also be noted that Willy, our cat, jumped up on Jane’s lap a minute or two before the session began. Jane said it was the first time in all of the sessions that Willy had done so; evidently, if he sensed Seth’s presence, he was not perturbed.)

I certainly, most certainly, admire your interest and concern with Frank Watts. You always manage to bring him into a discussion. Frank Watts is aware now of Miss Callahan’s condition, and he will be there to greet her, to her surprise, since our Frank always considered himself a friend of hers, although she was scarcely aware of his existence.

Our witness, our Mark, has had many experiences, as far as what you call apparitions are concerned, and in his case these have been of various types and he has seen them for various reasons.

Obviously, to some degree he has been able to use his inner senses. However many of the fragmentary apparitions that he has seen, for he has actually seen more fragmentary apparitions than he realizes, many of these have been fragmentary through his own inability to organize the material from the inner senses.

That is, because he “saw” (in quotes) a partial apparition, this does not mean that the so-called apparition was in itself not whole, he only perceived part. His abilities are natively strong in this respect. What is needed is additional inner confidence, and even the development of inner discipline.

This passive discipline also allows inner data enough durability to be realized. Mark needs to wait and listen longer when such experiences present themselves. He accepts them, but then in an intellectual attempt to capture them he smothers them to death.

This one, that one, is one of your favorites, and one of Ruburt’s, and for that reason I myself do feel a warmth. I would suggest that Mark also exercise himself in the use of psychological time. He should progress fairly rapidly. His impulsive nature is actually somewhat more restrained in this life than it was in the previously past life. Nevertheless, one of the problems for the personality is still the need for a more disciplined ego.

Three lives ago, Mark was contained in a remarkably cruel and violent nature. He is now extremely kind to make up for past cruelties. In the immediately previous life he was a woman, living in your own west, midwest.

He was erratic. You might say that Mark was too erratic to be erotic. He at that time was fairly wealthy, and gave away much money in a subconscious attempt to make up for the aggressive and cruel male existence just previous. The choice in the past life of a woman’s personality represented a somewhat understandable weakness on his part, and yet it also represented bravery in a sense.

The impulsive and warm quality began with that midwest existence as a woman. Through the erratic nature of the woman’s personality he was actually able to be much kinder. A male’s personality at that point would have held too many temptations as far as overaggressiveness and cruelty were concerned.

In the midwest in the 1840’s, in what is now Iowa, in a town which is now one of the major cities. He had three children.

His present mother was a wife to him when he was overly aggressive, and he chose to be born as her son in this existence in order to pay an old debt. He was unkind to her when she was a wife to him, and here we run into another case where the subconscious knows what it knows.

Sometimes you read me correctly. Mark was one of your children in the existence of which I have spoken. One of Mark’s present brothers was a son of Mark’s when he was a woman in Iowa.

(Break at 9:39. Jane was fairly well dissociated. Bill had noticed that at times he would be quite aware of what Jane was going to say before she gave voice to it.

Any art form touches the generations. Karma can be worked out in many ways, and here again we return to Mark’s earlier male oriented, aggressive personality. This time, through the creation of beauty in paintings, he more than makes up for past errors; not only because paintings certainly should possess beauty, but because they instill positive creative thoughts in the mind of the beholder.

I did want to make one comment of a light nature, concerning Ruburt’s unbounded joy with the new clothing which he has recently acquired. He goes by spurts and starts; being masculine for so many lives, he sometimes is quite bewildered by this quite feminine flurry, and I find it quite amusing.

The impulsiveness on Mark’s part is in many ways an excellent and usable quality that can be built upon, but discipline of a mental and psychological nature must be used to give him direction, purpose, and a sense of continuity. In his case this is extremely important. He has not married, and as a merry bachelor many times myself, I applaud.

For example, having as a mother a woman who has once been your wife is rather bewildering, and certainly can lead to all sorts of psychological uneasiness. Nevertheless my sense of humor to the contrary, Mark is coming along extremely well. The earlier errors are being somewhat over-compensated for, but he will be the gainer in this respect.

I have said much along these lines in previous sessions, and Mark should refer to them. He was a sailor on a ship that carried exotic spices. The ship was mine.

Nevertheless, in a barn one October evening, a sailor came drunkenly tip-toeing from the fields, Mark being our tipsy sailor. He expected to find his fair damsel there in your son’s arms, and he was quite prepared, having a knife in his belt. He heard the girl’s nervous titter—

—she was a numbskull, hardly worth your notice, and he came rushing in, to find what? Not his contemporary, your son, but a barrel-chested, white-haired and lecherous, lustful old geezer—

Mark, when he realized who you were, damn near strangled you. But there is a postscript. You went back into the house, weeping at your old man’s fate. Mark grabbed the girl for one revengeful embrace. Ruburt came across the same fields with his horse, led the horse into the barn, and found Mark and his mistress.

You told me this story the next morning when both young men showed up with black eyes, and Mark with a broken wrist. But Mark, out of the goodness of his heart, never told your son who he found first in the barn, and of such small but tasty incidents is the history of the race composed.

He was attracted to the painting, and subconsciously he resented giving into the impulse of giving the painting to his mother. As a subconscious punishment he allowed the painting to be lost through a series of small slips, errors and mistakes of his own, and others.

(While Jane was delivering the material on Denmark and Triev, Bill said that he recalled quite vividly his experience with his “lost town” episode. This involves a time when Bill was 11 years old. Out walking in the fields and woods just north of Elmira, he came upon an old-fashioned-looking town. It was quite small; he remembers a blacksmith shop and a few other buildings, and people in odd clothing. A few weeks later, attempting to return to this strange place, he could not find it. He never has found it, although at odd times he has attempted to over the years. It made such an impression on him that he never forgot it. He is now 25, and a school teacher. He first told Jane and me about his experience a year or so ago.

(Bill also said that from Seth’s description of the location of his missing painting, it could be in the office of a school principal, or some similar place. He knows several principals in the area and is going to check with them.

Mark’s energy resources are scattered this evening. On another occasion, when he is in better control of them, doubtlessly we will be able to do better. His abilities are vibrant, but the discipline of which I spoke is needed to enable him to focus and concentrate his abilities along constructive and purposeful lines.

The town was indeed Triev. However, he projected only that portion of the town with which he was at one time intimately concerned. His name was Grand Graley, G-r-a-n-d G-r-a-l-e-y.

The family had been living in Denmark for two generations. He left for Spain at the age of 32. I will go into more of this material at another time. I covered it this evening by way of variety and diversion.

May 23rd will represent another, and perhaps the last crisis as far as Miss Callahan is concerned. I would advise Mark to go ahead with his plans to find an apartment, but to look over all aspects of any particular apartment that he has in mind, foreseeing difficulties of a temperamental rather than practical nature with the landlord. This would have nothing to do with practical arrangements, but would rather be a more or less mutual antagonism that would rise up between them in a little time.

Good night most fondly, and my regards to Mark. If he had brought more of himself with him tonight, then I could have been more help. I will speak to you Monday, if not before.

(End at 11:26. Jane was dissociated as usual. Bill said that Seth stated something about him which he especially agrees with—the fact that he, Bill, is often taken advantage of. Bill said he has often wondered why this was so.

(He was smiling straight at me, a very kind and compassionate smile. His expression was very sympathetic. His lips were wide, indenting deeply at the corners under the cheekbones. The most arresting feature was the eyes. They were sparkling bright, not widely opened, and yet were brimming with tears. There were no tears upon his cheeks. There were also tiny light, or white, crosses centered upon each pupil; these, coupled with the brimming tears and the smile, formed a most striking and unusual effect. The whole manner was compassionate and understanding and sad.