“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Since today was a holiday, Jane and I had some extra time. We used part of it to copy the 179th, 180th and 183rd sessions, plus Part One of the 184th, to send to Dr. Instream. We also agreed on a letter to him. Jane will mail the material tomorrow.

(Once again I planned an envelope test for the session, should the opportunity arise. I prepared the usual double envelope while Jane was working at the front of the apartment. For the test I used a color photograph of my brother Bill, his wife and two young children, taken in Webster, NY, in 1959. I found the photo accidentally in my files earlier in the day while looking for something else. I knew Jane hadn’t seen it for some time, perhaps years. Bill is 37 years old.

(The photo is of a winter scene, with brilliant contrasts of light and shadow. I have indicated the colors crudely in my tracing on page 242 . The group of four sit on the edge of a concrete patio at the back of Bill’s house. I did not mention a test to Jane, but she is well aware that they are in the offing now; earlier in the day she casually mentioned tests, without asking specifically whether I had one planned for tonight.

(The session was held in our small back room. The window was closed, for my hay fever bothered me most of the day. In spite of this however, I believe I have been helping myself to some extent through suggestion. Jane began speaking while sitting down as usual, with her eyes closed. Her voice was quiet. She began rather slowly, but soon picked up her pace considerably.)

(My hay fever bothered me enough so that I made some noise using a tissue. Jane sat quietly waiting, her eyes closed.)

(Jane’s eyes opened briefly. She looked at me then closed them again.)

(Break at 9:27. Jane had been dissociated as usual. Her delivery had been rather fast. Her eyes had remained closed after the one look she gave me.

(I thought my head was a little better, following Seth’s suggestion; but the difference was slight and I hoped for more improvement. It was a relief not to be sneezing however. During break I mentioned that each new tack the material takes usually leaves some other subject dangling. I expressed concern because Jane was interested in receiving all the material on dreams that she could get. She thought her next book might deal with dreams.

(Jane’s eyes opened again after a few sentences following break. She looked at me but casually as she spoke, and at times let her eyes close. I would say her eyes were open about half of the time until next break. Her voice remained quiet. Resume at 9:35.)

(Break at 9:56. Jane was well dissociated. Although her voice had been rather average this evening, she said now that she felt it to be strong subjectively. Jane told me it is hard to explain, but at times she feels she is more a part of the voice than at other times.

(I was now aware of some improvement in the state of my head, and felt much better. I hoped the improvement would continue. Jane now resumed while sitting down, and with her eyes closed, at 10:02.)

(It was 10:06. Reaching over, I dropped the test envelope in Jane’s lap as she spoke. Her eyes were closed. They did not open now, nor did her delivery falter. Actually she gave no sign that she was aware of the envelope. I chose this method of introducing the envelope into Jane’s awareness to see if it would halt or interfere with the material of the moment, and was pleased to see that it did not. I had taken care to see that Jane had not seen the test envelope during breaks, or before the session.)

(It was 10:11. Jane had been speaking with pauses. Now she paused again, then picked up the test envelope. Her eyes were still closed. As during her previous four tests she held the double envelope lightly in both hands. She did not appear to be nervous.)

(Jane’s pause was very brief.)

(Break at 10:15. Jane had been dissociated as usual. Her eyes had remained closed, her voice quiet. She delivered the test data without hesitation or fumbling. She told me she had felt the envelope drop into her lap but that it had not bothered her.

(Once again the test data was interesting. This was the first time, also, that Seth had separated his own data from that of Ruburt’s, or Jane’s. Refer to my tracing of the photograph on page 242. Seth’s data can be seen to apply rather directly, with the exception that the photo is of four people instead of three. This is dealt with after break, along with the matter of chimney shapes.

(Jane told me that in the past she would have given her own interpretation of the photograph she had in mind along with Seth’s information. On one level she had a distinct impression of her own photograph. But now she allowed Seth to separate the two impressions.

(Jane resumed while sitting down and with her eyes closed, and in a quiet voice, at 10:21.)

(End at 10:31. Jane was dissociated as usual. As before, her eyes had alternated between opening and closing. Her pace had been good. She said that Seth was in a good mood and would have liked to continue the session.