“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

SESSION 55

(Tuesday morning Jane visited Miss Callahan in the front apartment, as Seth had suggested last session. Miss Callahan’s condition appeared to be remarkably good, compared to what it had been when last we visited her in the hospital some weeks ago. Jane said she did appear to have trouble with a faulty memory, however.

(Just before the session began Jane happened to remark that Saturday, May 23, Miss Callahan’s companion will be replaced by another, who is to take care of her weekends. Neither of these two companions are professional nurses, though they are used to taking care of people with troubles like Miss Callahan’s. May 23 is the date Seth gave us as a day of crisis for Miss Callahan; and Seth reiterated this along with a word of caution in the last session, the 54th, page 90.

(This afternoon Jim Tennant, who was scheduled to be a witness tonight, called Jane at the gallery and told her he would be unable to attend the session because his wife is in the hospital.

Cohorts, I see that we are having a quiet session, with no visitors. It is truly a lovely spring evening, and Ruburt is correct. I do enjoy the blinds open also.

(At my request, Jane repeated the word psychio-physical for me. Again, Webster’s Unabridged for 1951 lists no such combination. Along with extral value, used by Seth in the last session, this makes two such recent instances of unfamiliar words.)

The fact remains that the outer senses induce a conscious focusing along certain limited lines, grouping perceptions and comprehensions in a narrow fashion, and limiting the practical and imaginative range that consciousness might otherwise take. With these sessions you are yourselves broadening the range of your own consciousness, and therefore of your own abilities, with my help.

(Break at 10:44. Jane was much more dissociated than usual. Her neck felt fine, she said. The whole session, which she feels to be exceptionally good, has been like a dream to her. My right hand felt somewhat cramped after the above delivery, although in recent sessions it has been much better.

(As break began, I realized that my hands felt fat or enlarged; at the same time Jane said hers did also, and that she had been aware of it earlier in the session but forgot to mention it. My right hand, and especially the third finger, felt very full and engorged. At such times the skin acquires a taut, almost flushed look, and the fingers feel strained when they are doubled up. The phenomenon lasted for several minutes with both of us.

(At this moment I heard clearly the crunching banging sound of an automobile accident, through our open windows. Our living-room windows command a good view of our street, one of the main ones in Elmira, but a quick look told me the accident was out of our visual range. Jane heard it too, but merely cast a casual look through a window. As with the burning chicken described in the last session, she paid no attention; during delivery she seems to be largely impervious to distractions.)

(I was now most interested in taking some measurements from both Jane and myself while our hands felt this way, as Bill Macdonnel had helped me do in the 47th session, when we found definite physical evidence of finger enlargement. Not being able to do this at the moment however, I did recall Seth’s very definite statements in the 49th session, page 63, concerning his most conservative attitude toward demonstrations.)

I have endeavored to add an extra perspective this evening to the session, as far as sensations for both you and Ruburt are concerned. The extension or expansion of self momentarily and initially involves a slight expansion of tissue. I believe that you both have experienced this at various times, to varying degrees.

My most beloved friends, this is one of our best sessions to date. I think of you most highly, and I respect you both, not only as excellent pupils but as dearest friends. I will hereby close the session. Let me tell you, Joseph, that your room divider has proven of great psychic value to you both; and you have not had any gum boils since I suggested putting the refrigerator in the kitchen.

I look forward to many delightful summer sessions, although we will make allowances whenever you request.

(End at 11:31. Jane was fully dissociated; way out, she said, with no memory of her surroundings while delivering the material. Yet she knew the session had been one of the best yet.

(Below the knuckle the same finger measured 2 ¼” after the session ended. The next night it measured 2 ” plus, at the same spot, for a difference in circumference of a little more than ”.

(And again, I was aware that in spite of all the writing I had done for the session, my hand did not feel cramped or too tired.)