“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(This morning while I was at work, John Bradley stopped by briefly while on a hurried business trip to give Jane some information relating to a prediction of a narcotics scandal that Seth had predicted for Elmira in the 63rd session, of June 17. See page 158. Seth stated the scandal was due within three months.

(For other narcotics material that has developed since Seth made the prediction, see the notes on page 170.

(This evening after supper, while busy with other material, Jane received the thought that it was time to begin work on Book One of The Seth Material, a project we had discussed sometime before vacation. She thought the title should be The Physical Universe as Idea Construction. She came to the studio to tell me this, and that she also received the thought, evidently from Seth, that Donald Wollheim, her editor at Ace Books, could or would write the introduction for Book One.

I do not want you to take any time from your own painting to work on Book One of the Seth sessions, nor do I want anyone else to record the sessions.

(“Good night, Seth.”

(In the 68th session, July 6, 1964, page 221, Seth stated that our friend Bill Macdonnel, who was going to vacation in Provincetown, Cape Cod, for a few weeks, “will of course go to the seaside. There is a man, perhaps fifty years old, with whom he will become acquainted, or with whom he may become acquainted, with prickly hair. I see a rowboat with a symbol of some sort on it. I do not particularly see any women. That may be because my interests are somewhat different now, though this could be misleading.”

(In the 75th session, July 29, 1964, page 273, Seth stated regarding Bill: “Your friend has made two friends, one older and one approximately his own age. He is of course, or has been, near water. He has been at a bar with a large keg in it. There are two houses nearby, and a front room across from a beach. There is a boat and dock. I also believe he was in a group with four men, maybe something to do with a string of shells, also.”

(Bill returned from Provincetown last Saturday, Aug. 29, 1964. Visiting us the next day, Sunday, he confirmed Seth’s statements in almost all instances.

(Bill reached Provincetown the second week in July. He had not been there long, he said, when he did meet a man as described by Seth in the 68th session. His name and address will be furnished on request. The man was 54 years old actually, and his “prickly hair” turned out to be a brush cut. Bill first got acquainted with him in the Old Colony Bar in Provincetown. The man is from New York City, and was spending a week in Provincetown to “get away from his wife and family.”

(In the 68th session Seth mentioned a rowboat with a symbol. Bill recalls no such boat, stating he did not pay particular attention to boats. His acquaintance wore a cap with an anchor symbol on it, although we do not regard this as being what Seth referred to.

(To leave the cottages for a moment, down the street within three blocks is a bar with a large keg in it, as Seth stated. Thus, the locale described in the session encompasses a relatively small physical area. The name of the bar is the Atlantic House, and Bill states that it actually is made up of several smaller bars, each featuring a different decor. In one of these smaller bars is a very large keg, which had been cut in half; each half is set into a wall, forming a striking display.

(Bill states that on or somewhere either just before or after July 29, the date of the 75th session, he attended a party at Larry O’Toole’s cottage. Attending the party were Bill, Gary, Larry, and two other men Bill did not know. Thus, as Seth stated, Bill “was in a group with four men.”

(Bill Macdonnel also states that as one looks out the front room of Larry O’Toole’s cottage, he sees just to the left a dock with boats, although Seth stated it as “a boat and dock,” singular. To the right of the joined cottages is the Provincetown Playhouse.

(The front room overlooking the water is, contrary to expectations, rather an unusual one in Provincetown, Bill said, since the cottages are rather crowded in against other buildings in somewhat of a helter-skelter fashion, and actually most of them do not command a view of the water. In this O’Toole’s cottage was out of the ordinary. The bar in the cottage has a small beer keg, Bill said, but he does not believe this is the one referred to by Seth.

(Regarding Seth’s statement about a string of shells, the only association with shells that Bill recalls is that shell ashtrays were used at the party. He does not think this is what Seth referred to.