“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Peg and Bill Gallagher visited us sometime before 9 PM this evening. Peg is a reporter for the Elmira Star-Gazette, and will do the news story about the sale of Jane’s ESP book. After the conversation had turned to matters psychic, Jane played the tape recording of the Father Trainor episode of last February 11. In Volume 3 see the 131st and 132nd sessions, and the notes on pages 261-63.

(Jane said later that listening to the tape did not “bother” her very much, although she felt some emotional and psychic reaction. On the tape she manifested many voice changes, while reading G. K. Chesterton’s narrative poem Lepanto, that were quite reminiscent of the way the deceased Father Trainor had read it. Afterward Jane endeavored to answer a question of Bill’s by reading a few lines from the poem aloud. Because of her cold and her still impaired voice, she thought she could get through a few lines at best.

(Since we had been taken by surprise by this development, we had made no plans to record the reading. I hesitated to interrupt, remembering Seth’s comments about the value of spontaneity. Jane’s eyes were open, but much darker and more luminous than usual. At times the almost deafening power of her voice, and its emotional content, were indeed thrilling. At the end of the reading Jane closed her eyes; when she opened them again she was out of the trance. She said she was subjectively aware of the gestures she executed with her left hand, yet she felt the hand was not really hers at the time. She felt that it was a fatter hand, belonging to a much heavier arm. Father Trainor, in the photograph we have of him, was a very heavyset man. Bill Gallagher felt that while she was reading Jane spoke with a brogue. Father Trainor was Irish.

(After this our conversation turned to what Seth might say about the origins of Bill Gallagher’s ulcer. The ulcer had bothered him all day while Peg and he attended a family gathering. Jane announced that she felt the rapport in our group was favorable, that Seth could hold a session now if we requested it. Not long after this she asked me to get my notebook. The session then began with Jane sitting in the same chair, facing us.

(Her eyes remained closed this time, but she was very active in her delivery, using many voice effects and gestures—the most active, I think, since she began to deliver material while sitting down and with her eyes closed. Jane said later that the presence of Bill and Peg seemed to give her extra psychic energy somehow; that she felt a greet freedom while giving the session that was most enjoyable. Seth has remarked in the past about the special value and character of unscheduled sessions.

(Seth had also referred to Peggy Gallagher’s undeveloped psychic abilities in the 63rd session. This however is the first session Peg and Bill have witnessed.)

(Here, her eyes still closed, Jane pointed at Bill Gallagher. At last break I had poured a glass of milk for him.)

(Break at 11:48. Jane was again well dissociated—“far-out”, as she puts it. She had no memory of the material. Bill said his ulcer was, now, not bothering him.

(Bill Gallagher’s ulcer was not bothering him. He said he felt fine, and that it was a most welcome situation. I had not observed any change in Jane’s features, the few times I had managed to take a look. Bill however remarked that he thought he had detected a change; he thought Jane’s lower jaw line had become more rounded, losing a little of its angularity. As it happened Bill could see Jane full-face from his position on the couch. I sat beside him and saw more of the left side of Jane’s face, and Peggy from her position was looking at the right side of Jane’s face. Peggy also thought she noticed some change.

(Jane had pointed to Bill. Her eyes remained closed.)

(Bill’s ulcer was still not bothering him, and he was still free of symptoms at 1:20 AM when Peggy and he left for home. Bill again mentioned that he thought he saw a change in Jane’s features while she was speaking, especially in the jawline and the shape of the face in general. I had noticed nothing. My writing hand felt only a mild fatigue.

(Jane and I talked for a few moments after Peggy and Bill said good night, and I then walked back to the studio to put these notes away. I heard Jane call me out to the living room. When I reached her she was again sitting in the Kennedy rocker; she asked me to get my notebook once again.

(It can also be noted that in the second half of the session Seth made no reference to my watching out for physical changes in Jane, as he had when Peggy and Bill Gallagher had been present. Bill and Peggy had seen changes. I observed my own set of changes later. It is my thought, at least at the moment, that Bill’s observations and my own would not coincide. This may be explained later.)