“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

SESSION 170

(The regularly scheduled session for last Wednesday, July 14, was not held because Jane and I were on vacation.

(We had indicated to Dr. Instream last week that we would record a session upon returning home, and ship him the tape for his own use. Jane and I had not used our recorder much lately, so we practiced with it last night, establishing proper distances from the microphone, and volume settings. The session was recorded with the Gallaghers as witnesses, at their home, and turned out well. There follows the little talk Jane gave on tape before the actual session began:

(“This is Jane Butts, speaking in my usual voice. My husband, Robert Butts, and I live at 458 West Water St., Elmira, NY. The date is July 19,1965, the time is about 8:30 PM. The following Seth session, number 170, is being recorded at the home of Bill and Peggy Gallagher, Pine City, NY, with them as witnesses.

(“The recorder is operated by my husband. It is a Sears Silvertone. The Tone and Volume One controls are set as far to the left as possible during recording. The Volume Two control has been set at 4, and unless otherwise noted this setting will not be changed for the rest of the evening, whether I am speaking as Seth or myself. I am sitting between five and six feet from the microphone, and will keep this position throughout the session. The entire recording is being made on Monaural One, Side One and Side Two.

(“Breaks during the session will be indicated by my husband announcing the time. The next time you hear my voice it will be 9 PM, and I will be speaking as Seth.”

(Jane had felt for several days that Seth would address the session to Dr. Instream, and so he did. Jane’s eyes remained closed for the entire session. She began the session while sitting down. More or less as I had anticipated, she began speaking too rapidly for me to take notes effectively, although at times during the session I was able to keep up with her. Peggy Gallagher also took notes. Thus this session is taken from the tape itself, largely, and necessitated replaying it several times.

(Jane had slowed her pace somewhat, and I was now having some success in keeping up with her. Peggy Gallagher evidently was having better luck; she had been writing steadily ever since the beginning of the session.)

Those who will not see, they will not see. I will do my best. However, such effects will appear in the middle of quite ordinary sessions. For again, only spontaneity will give us any results at all.

(Break at 9:35. Jane was well dissociated as usual. Her eyes had remained closed, she had remained seated. Her voice had been strong and expressive, if somewhat on the same keel throughout the session so far. The voice effects began to show themselves after this break. Footage at break was 552, Mono One, Side One.

I can indeed give you, and quite easily, evidence of clairvoyance, and I will in future sessions. But my dear Doctor Instream, what will this prove? It will not prove my existence to those who will not accept it. It will simply be said that Ruburt is clairvoyant.

(With the above paragraph Jane rose to her feet and her voice grew stronger. She did not move from her position before her chair, and thus the distance from her face to the microphone did not vary a great deal. I believe it increased a little. I know the angle changed somewhat, since we had set the mike on the table so it directly faced her when she was sitting down. Now she spoke from above it, but we believe the stronger voice more than made up for the increased distance, and was still able to show the variation in the volume of Jane’s voice as the session progressed. She took to her feet at about 9:50.)

(During this paragraph Jane’s voice really grew in strength and volume, although it was to become stronger later on. She began to approach the volume of the voice used in the 158th session. When these effects came on, Jane usually stood upright, with her head back to some degree; this made me think of a trumpet. Strangely enough however her mouth did not open more than an inch. And of course during these effects she displayed no evidence of strain. This voice is not a shouting voice, but simply an innately stronger voice.

(The massive voice effects continued from now on in greater or lesser degree; they will not all be listed. One will have to listen to the tape of this session to really achieve any idea of the voice range Jane displayed.)

(I now had to resume the session on Mono One, Side Two. I made a brief announcement of this on the tape. I also announced the times of breaks on the tape. Jane resumed while sitting down and with her eyes closed, and in a good voice, at 10:18.)

(Jane’s voice again climbed the scale in volume. It became very loud and strong, rising and falling. During some passages, up until break time, the volume of sound she produced made my ears ring. I would say that in these passages she exceeded the effects produced in the last part of the 158th session. It will be remembered that the Gallaghers were witnesses to the first part of that session.

Again, I apologize if this session embarrasses you, if I am too personal. But regardless of our scopes of activity we are not young men. We know what we want. You have more time than you suppose, not only in your present life but in others.

Now. Quite practically your personal and practical interest in immortality will give the impetus, the emotional impetus that will indeed allow me to deliver what you want. This is perhaps one of the most important statements of this evening’s session. Emotions are more important than you suppose. There is no fraud in me. There is no fraud in Ruburt or Joseph. They are not stupid and they are not gullible. You are not stupid nor gullible. They are not caught up in pseudoreligious nonsense. This will serve us well.

(Seth has discussed the God concept and related subjects in the following sessions, among others: 31, 51, 62, 66, 81, 95, 97, 115, 135, 147, 149, 146, 151.)

I will now suggest a brief break, and we will then conclude our brief session. I regret, my dear doctor, that it remains a monologue.

(Break at 11:18. Jane was dissociated as usual, and was not displaying any undue fatigue from the long session. She remained standing until break, her eyes closed all the while. Her voice had been good, yet quieter than the really strong display of the earlier delivery, and I had been able to keep up in my notetaking. Peggy had no trouble either. Footage at 686, Mono One, Side Two.

(I did not know exactly how many feet of tape were left on our recorder, due to inexperience, yet saw that the session would have to end before too long or we would run out of tape first. Although Seth/Jane started out in a relatively quiet manner on this last delivery, another voice display, perhaps even better, began to develop. Jane resumed the session while sitting down and with her eyes closed. Her pace was faster, and after a few sentences she rose to her feet once more. Resume at 11:29.)

Now. Because I have been called upon to give a voice display, so shall you see that I can do so. (Very loud and strong.) You will also find at the end of this session that Ruburt’s vocal chords are in no way fatigued; and I can so speak here for hours, nor would this bother Ruburt in the slightest degree. If such a display serves to convince you of my validity then so shall it be. I find it difficult to imagine that you need such childish play to convince you of that which you already know. (Loud and strong.)

All those here present may take a break, or end the session as they prefer. This will indeed be a most significant session.

(“We’ll end the session then.”)

(End at 11:45. Jane had been dissociated as usual. She remained standing in her accustomed spot until the end of the session. Her eyes had remained closed, her voice had been good all the way, with some very strong and vibrant passages. In my opinion these exceeded the loud passages in the 158th session. Jane had cleared her throat a few times toward the end of the session, but now displayed no strain, or unusual fatigue.

(This point was abundantly made, for although we did not know it at the time, the session was due to resume at midnight. At the moment the footage scale on the recorder read 860, Mono One, Side Two. We had a little tape left, so I decided to use it to demonstrate for others the fact of Jane’s immunity to voice fatigue. The following is taken from the tape verbatim, and includes a statement from Bill Gallagher, who witnessed the session with his wife Peggy. It was made immediately after the end of the session; perhaps a few minutes were lost here when I made a false start on the recorder, due to inexperience, and had to start the exchange between Jane and myself over.

([BG:] “This is Bill Gallagher. I want to verify the fact that the 170th Seth session was held in my home on Holden Road, where it was witnessed by my wife and myself on July 19,1965, from 8:57 to 11:45. What you hear on these tapes has in fact occurred, and Jane was within view at all times; and I don’t know what else I can add, other than the fact that it was a very astounding presentation.”

([Jane:] “This is Jane Butts. I just wanted to add that Peggy and Bill, in some way we don’t understand, seem to be of a great help in our sessions. And whenever they come to our sessions I seem to feel some kind of reinforcement that I don’t quite understand either, that appears to be most helpful.”

([RB:] “This is Robert Butts again, speaking two days later on July 21st. I would like to add that the 170th session, which you have just heard, and which formally ended at 11:45 PM last Monday, July 19, resumed that night at midnight. It involved an informal exchange between Jane, Seth, Bill and Peggy Gallagher and myself, and lasted until about 1:30 AM. Our tape was almost exhausted and so it was not recorded. Seth also stated he did not care particularly to have it on tape, or have notes taken. During this exchange Seth was in an excellent good humor. I joked with him about the voice display, and he responded with another which was both stronger and longer-lasting than the one on tape here. Our ears rang, really, before it was over. And when it was over at last, and we were all weary, Seth, or Jane, was as capable as ever. Jane had no voice strain or fatigue that we could detect. Seth said he could continue until dawn, and I believe it quite possible. Jane just threw her head back and let the sound come out.”

(The session resumed without preamble at midnight. Our active discussion after I had finished with the tape brought it about, and it involved an exchange between Jane, Seth, Bill and Peggy, and myself, in the manner of the 169th session held in Dr. Instream’s office.

(Although Seth said to forget about notes, I found myself making a few after a few minutes, out of habit. Peggy also made some, and what follows is taken from these two sources; nothing is included here that is not touched upon in the notes. Seth talked at a normal rate, and neither Peggy nor I made a serious effort to get it all down. Some of the material was a repeat, in a more informal way, of what Seth had said during the session itself. During this exchange it was obvious that Seth was enjoying himself immensely. More than once he referred to Bill Gallagher as his favorite Jesuit, and this is getting to be something of a standing joke between Bill and Seth.

(I joked with Seth about the great voice effects, and Seth agreed that he had not yet reached the peak in voice effects, at least as far as volume went. Whereupon Jane rose to her feet again and treated us to a voice display that in my opinion exceeded to some small degree the voice effects we had taped this evening. This was a prolonged display that lasted more or less for the balance of the session, and seemingly could have continued until dawn without effort on Jane’s part, just as Seth said. The volume of sound hurt my ears at times.

(What I think could be a very important point now came up when Peggy asked Seth about the question of proofs. Seth said that proofs she would accept would not be accepted by science. One proof to come, he said, would involve very strong facial changes in Jane during sessions. When I asked if these could be photographed he said yes.

(There was more to this part of the session, but I believe that between us Peggy and I covered most categories discussed. End between 1:30 and 1:45 AM. Jane seemed as fresh as ever. The rest of us had had it.)