“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Seth periodically asked if any of us had questions. For myself I avoided questions that might lead to answers I would wish to have on paper. The Gallaghers’ questions were of a more general nature usually; and many of them had to do with Bill’s family history. Seth usually addressed Bill as the “friendly or inquiring Jesuit,” and Peggy as the “cat lover.”

(A new physical effect concerned the candle, standing on the table against the wall perhaps three feet from our group. All the windows in the apartment were closed with the exception of one kitchen window, because the night was extremely windy; this wind aggravated my hay fever. The candle burned with a low flame, one perhaps a quarter-inch high. Seth, talking about physical effects, said that he could probably have levitated the small coffee table we sat around tonight, with Ruburt’s help. But Ruburt still needs to develop his abilities further, Seth said. Abruptly the candle flame shot up to a noticeable degree, at least twice its previous height. The increase in brightness was plainly noticeable, causing all of us to look at the candle. Seth then said he had caused the flame to grow. It stayed brighter for several minutes as he continued talking, then died down. Bill confirmed my own thought at the time, that a stray burst of wind had affected the flame. We had no way of knowing if wind was responsible or not; the kitchen window was perhaps fifteen feet away, and around a corner. Seth went on to say that the candle flame would not grow higher again, because Ruburt was alerted to the effect now, and was watching it.

(Seth said my special sensitivity to windy days during hay fever season, [and one I was well aware of], stemmed from an incident that took place while I was traveling to California with my parents when I was about three years old. [This would be about 1922.] On a windy day on the prairie, somewhere west of the Mississippi, but short of the West Coast, I stood by a hill with my parents. My mother and father were arguing loudly. Father threatened to leave my mother and my brother and me. My father also had hay fever. I had had attacks before, but after this incident I had hay fever each year. [I have always had it since I can consciously remember.] When I remarked that my father had got rid of his hay fever, Seth said he gave it to me. Seth said this is a common occurrence in illnesses being passed about among a family group. I identified with my father out of fear, Seth went on, because he threatened to leave me and thus must be all powerful; and since my father had hay fever, I acquired hay fever as a mistaken sign of strength.

(Seth told Bill he subconsciously blamed his father for his mother’s condition, after Bill remarked that whenever he and his father were together for a few minutes they would end up arguing. Also, when a small child Bill had overheard a sexual encounter between his parents, in which his mother cried out. Bill took it to mean his father had hurt his mother. Later when his mother fell ill, Bill made the subconscious connection with her illness and this earlier incident, and blamed his father for his mother’s illness.

(Seth made one short remark I would have liked to question him further on, to the effect that we would have plenty of go-arounds with “your parapsychologists.” He did not elaborate.

(Seth said he had unfortunately been involved with some other groups on our plane, in seance gatherings. He spoke very harshly of such “idiotic” gatherings and personalities. At the same time Seth stated he was not a spirit, although if he materialized in the middle of the floor we would pay more attention and not take him for granted.

(A Freudian slip that Jane made in reference to her own mother in the past tense, “was,” whereas Seth wanted Jane to say “is,” was duly noted. Jane, he said, would be perfectly happy never to see her mother again.

(I told Seth I hadn’t felt like going out dancing tonight because of the windy weather, and that I thought Jane would be disappointed. I had wished some company would drop in. This was just before darkness fell. As soon as the Gallaghers entered, they told us they had thought about us while eating dinner in Ithaca, NY, some 30-odd miles away, and had decided to stop by just in case we were home, even though it was Saturday evening. Seth said there had been telepathic communication between us, and as near as we could calculate we had been thinking about each other at roughly the same time.

(The session had been going for perhaps half an hour when Bill suggested to Peggy that they leave because the hour was growing late. He felt tired. Seth then said he would wake Bill up, or get him interested, and he proceeded to do this by launching into the discussion on Bill’s mother.