“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Monday’s session, due 6/22, was not held because Jane’s father was visiting us from California. This is the first session we have deliberately missed since the sessions began last December. Jane’s father arrived last Saturday, and as early as Sunday morning Jane announced to me that there would be no session Monday night.

(At the exact time the session was due Monday, Jane, Del, Midge and I were visiting our landlord and his wife on their farm in Pine City. As 9 PM approached I watched Jane to see if she would give any sign that she was aware of Seth, or that he wanted a session. She gave none; later Jane said she hadn’t the slightest inkling of Seth’s presence as session time passed. Del and Midge have left, and we anticipate a normal session tonight.

(It will be remembered that in the last, 63rd, session, pages 158-159, Seth stated that a narcotics scandal was to break in Elmira within 3 months. This information was given on 6/17/64. Today, 6/24, 1964, an article appeared in the Elmira Star-Gazette detailing a narcotics trial taking place in Ithaca NY, perhaps 35 miles distant. An Elmira tavern is named, along with the fact that a New York City detective has given Elmira authorities the names of Elmirans for further investigation. The names have not been revealed. Seth said that five people would be involved. It can be categorically stated that neither Jane nor I had any knowledge that such an investigation was underway involving Elmirans, before Seth mentioned it last week.

(Trying psychological time on Wednesday, 6/24, 8:00 PM, I had no results. On the same day at 7:30 PM during psychological time, Jane once again heard within the static sound described on page 167. At the time she was thinking about calling the owner of the gallery where she works on business this coming Friday. Jane then thought she heard the owner’s mother-in-law say “He’ll be gone by the end of the week.” Also during this period, Jane experienced an odd sensation within the black field of inner vision: as though she was moving quickly through space and changing perspective.

(By 8:55 Jane was a little nervous, though not as much as in the past. She had no idea of Seth’s subject matter for the evening. As session time arrived our cat Willy also became quite active. Many insects had accumulated on the screens of our living room windows, and a few had gotten inside the room. Willy rushed several of them, even climbing up the screens at times.

(Jane began dictating in a somewhat deeper voice. Her pace however was regular, and her eyes darkened as usual.)

(Willy had become increasingly active chasing insects. Finally as Jane began dictating he cornered a larger insect and then began to play with it about the living room floor. At first Jane stepped around him; finally, just beside my chair, she knelt, brushed Willy aside, and tried to pick up the insect he had been toying with. She was unable to do so, and then looked up at me.

(I told Jane to wait a minute, and laid my writing board aside. I knelt to pick up the insect, and found it quite difficult to do. I remember that it resembled a beetle, was about half an inch long, was a beautiful light red-brown color, and lay helplessly on its back with its legs thrashing. It was very nicely shaped; I seemed to see it as though under a magnifying glass; all the details of its construction seemed crystal clear. When I did get it in my cupped hand without damage, I felt it struggling with surprising strength. I went to the kitchen window, opened the screen and tossed the insect free. I sat back down and picked up my pen.)

(By now Willy was at it again, chasing more insects.)

We will take your cat and his bug. Your cat created the bug that he saw. The bug that he saw was a different construction from the bug that was seen by either of you, and all three constructions were different from the bug’s physical construction of himself. These bug constructions, by various means which we shall discuss, tallied in your camouflage space to an amazingly approximate degree.

However, they were not by any means identical, either in space, time, or physical bulk. Quite literally the cat’s bug was larger and heavier in bulk, existed longer in his—that is the cat’s—time, and also took up more space.

Your bug, Joseph, differed in actual physical construction also from Ruburt’s. It was better detailed and more precisely drawn, smaller in size from either Ruburt’s or the cat’s, existed less in your camouflage time, and took up a measurably less amount of your space.

(After resting, Willy was once again active, almost perversely so, it seemed. Giving up chasing bugs, he now was busily tearing a small carton apart in the living room closet; the noise was surprisingly loud and came close to interfering with my hearing Jane clearly.)

(Break at 9:31. Jane was dissociated until Willy nipped her. She said Seth had wanted her to pick up the bug herself, but even while dictating she carried the parallel fear that the bug would bite. Just before Jane began dictating again we let Willy into the room again, to see how he would behave. He answered us by curling up in his favorite cane chair. Jane resumed in the same good, somewhat deeper voice at 9:42.)

(Break at 10:05. Jane was dissociated as usual. She said her back, which had been bothering her during the day, felt fine while she was delivering the material; but as soon as breaks arrived the nagging discomfort returned each time. Jane resumed in the same strong, rather energetic fashion at 10:14.)

I was concerned at the time with other data. However we will go into this now. First, you and Philip and Ruburt, when you are all present in the room, each construct from energy your own physical materialization of the idea, television set.

(Break at 10:46. Jane was dissociated as usual. Once again she said her back felt fine during delivery of the material. She felt while delivering that Seth thought he had gone too far in giving us the hose-snake material at this point, since it raised too many questions he didn’t want to go into yet.

(End at 11:01. Jane was dissociated as usual. Her back felt much improved since the beginning of the session. My writing hand felt just a little tired. The sculpture Seth refers to above represents some done by students in Bill Macdonnel’s art classes; at the end of the school year the students did not claim their work, so Bill presented us with some pieces. We like them very much.)

(Thurs. 6/25, 8:30 PM: I achieved my usual thrilling sensation as I suggested to myself that I felt light. Once I had attained the desired state I am now used to, I then suggested to myself that I would enter a deeper, secondary state. This appeared to work; I felt similar to the state I experienced when Jane hypnotized me and used age regression. However on this first instance I had no phenomenon, and was somewhat distracted by children playing outside.

(Sat. 6/27, 2:30 AM: Due to a very busy day I missed the regular experiment, but as I was falling asleep for the night I saw quite clearly the white-haired, shaggy head of an old woman. She sat upon a chair, her back to a wall. Her hair was thick and tangled; she had striking overhanging brows and very dark, deep-set eyes. I made a crude sketch of the head. The head appeared to turn from side to side, looking about. There was some duration.

(Fri. 6/26, 11:30 AM: Not much achieved. I asked again about the trouble with John Bradley’s tongue, and received the very unclear word “callous.” As this answer came I saw a large sunny yellow room, with a table and chairs arranged against a far long wall. The room was shaped like our big living room.

(Also on Friday: On the way up our stairs tonight I had a sudden strong feeling that an envelope was under our door. I thought of a telegram. Rob was getting the groceries form the car so I had no chance to tell him. On reaching our door, I found a note left for us, from a friend.

(Also, I saw a big black spider on woman’s dress, over one breast. The spider was fat. I didn’t like this, and tried to change it to a rose! This also is probably imagination.)