“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(In the 198th session of last Wednesday, October 13, Seth stated that financial matters and our kitchen problem would be settled by Saturday, October 16. Jane did hear from the secretary of her publisher on Saturday; she does not regard the situation settled however since the publisher is out of town and could not reply personally.

(For the envelope test object I used the appointment card for Jane’s visit to the dentist last May 5,1965. This is the appointment that Jane kept while in a trance state, and thus had her teeth cleaned without discomfort. For an account of this episode see the 152nd session. See also my tracing on page 1. The card is on white stock, printed in black ink, with the handwriting in black pencil. I enclosed the card between two pieces of Bristol, then inserted the whole into the usual double envelopes.

(Jane said at 8 PM this evening that she did not mind if we had an envelope test. I remarked that it was going to be a busy session, what with the material on the Gallaghers and Dr. Instream, a possible envelope test, and the chance that Seth might discuss two very long, vivid, and complicated dreams Jane had while taking a short nap last Friday morning. See Jane’s account in Volume 4, on pages 336-38. She believes that at least one of these dreams is a therapeutic dream, resulting from suggestions she gave herself following Seth’s material on therapeutic dreams in the last session.

(A development that may be of interest is that I had a strong sneezing spell just before this evening’s session. It came upon me abruptly at about 8:45, while Jane was reading to me her account of the two dreams in question. For some reason the sneezing made me quite angry and impatient, briefly, and I asked Jane to hold up in her reading. For reasons I was not aware of, I nevertheless felt the sneezing was related to the dreams.

(The session was held in our back room. Jane spoke while sitting down and with her eyes closed. Her pace was a little slow in the beginning but soon picked up speed. Her voice was average.)

(Jane has had other experiences, both in dreams and in psychological time, in which she heard Seth’s voice but did not recognize it. For an account of an instance occurring during psy-time, involving John Bradley, see the unscheduled 190th session. As it happened John witnessed this session also.)

(Here, Jane reached out in front of her as though turning off an invisible radio. Her eyes were closed. Her pace however was now quite fast, her voice stronger, and she was quite restless. She changed her position, to lean forward with her elbows on her knees, her head down.)

(Break at 9:30. Jane had been dissociated as usual. Her eyes had remained closed. Her voice had strengthened a bit during the delivery, and her pace had become so fast that my hand was already cramped. Jane said she felt that no more than ten minutes had passed.

(Jane laughed with me at first, then asked me to stop, saying that my data might confuse her. At the same time I felt touches of my familiar thrilling sensation that I have often felt during psy-time, or when I see a vision; this gave me the feeling that I might be half right about what I had said; Seth however said nothing about it. Perhaps he will mention it next session.

(Jane’s pace now slowed a great deal. As when giving the material for Dr. Instream, she sat with her eyes closed and her head down, usually with her hands to her eyes. Her voice was quiet. She used many pauses, a few of which are indicated. I will also indicate where I used a phonetic version of Jane’s utterances, on two occasions. Resume at 9:40.)

These are impressions. A large white, or pale pastel building, they had something to do with today. Flowers here. Iron grillwork. Hacienda... Lucinda (phonetically; I asked Jane to repeat the word). They passed here. Bars at the windows of iron, not in jail.

They stay at a pink stucco building, with porch enclosures that are round. (Jane paused and gestured with her hands.) The base is not round. The portion between the... (gesture; groping for words) what would be the porch railing and the roof is round.

Give us a moment again, and we will try to pick them up now. (Pause at 9:50. Jane, her eyes still closed, wagged a finger at me.) Ruburt was correct, Joseph. You should not have given your impressions.

(Break at 10:00. Jane was well dissociated, she said—much more so than usual. Her eyes had remained closed, her voice quiet. Again, she had the impression that time had passed quickly.

(While giving the above data Jane had no visual material to accompany it, and said she was just as glad. She took this lack of imagery to mean that her own feelings and ideas were bypassed; she felt free of concern about the accuracy of the material, and thought it might be better for this.

(When she began speaking again, Jane’s pace was slow, her voice quiet. As before, she sat with her eyes closed, her head down and her hands to her eyes. Resume at 10:09.)

(I had made a noise turning a page in the notebook. Jane took a long pause at 10:10. Because it was a warm night we had a window open. Abruptly I became conscious of traffic noise, and Jane told me later that she did too. This is the 9th Dr. Instream experiment. Each week we send Dr. Instream Seth’s material for him.)

(I too had just become conscious of the baby below us. Actually the child cried but briefly. Jane had paused at 10:15.)

(Jane took a pause that lasted for one minute, at 10:22.)

(I handed over the usual double envelope, and Jane took it without opening her eyes. I had decided to forget the envelope test unless Seth asked for it, for it would make three tests in a row.

(Jane held the envelope lightly in both hands and paused briefly. This is the 15th envelope test.)

(Break at 10:33. Jane was dissociated as usual. Her eyes had remained closed, her voice quiet. She told me she had no idea that there would be an envelope test.

(See the tracing of the dental appointment card on page 1, and my notes about the card on page 2. The card refers to the appointment that Jane kept while in a trance state, to have her teeth cleaned. The test data appeared to contain some far-ranging impressions, but we seemed to be able to connect some of them up without trouble.

(Jane particularly remembered the appointment because it is the first she ever made voluntarily. This she calls “a turnabout” from previous habit. The card can be “Part of a missive.” We both saw “something swinging” as the dental drill suspended over the chair. We thought “The number 5” good, since the appointment was for May 5.

(Jane was sure “The color yellow” referred to the fact that she well remembers wearing a new, bright yellow shift while keeping the appointment.

(We regarded, offhand, the data on my parents as probably distortive or associative, as the material on Jane’s aunt and uncle. We thought it possible that “a man and woman, not yourselves. Older than yourselves”, referred to the parents of Marie Colucci, the dentist’s wife. The Coluccis are personal friends of ours. On a visit to their home this summer we met Marie’s mother, in Elmira on a visit from New Jersey. Marie had made the trip to New Jersey, to get her mother, by train.

(Jane was sure “death of a dog” referred to the last dental appointment she had had previous to May 5,1965. This would be 3 years ago; Jane said she recalled this vividly because our dog, Mischa, died within two days or so of that long-ago appointment. The appointment itself had also been a painful one.

(Jane had been relaxing on the bed during break, and resumed speaking from there. She lay on her side, her head propped up by one hand. Her glasses were on; because of this I thought her eyes might open eventually. Her pace was good, her voice quiet as she resumed at 10:45.)

(As soon as Seth said this, I remembered seeing the automobile parked before the Colucci’s house on the evening Jane and I visited there. Since their home is in the country, and not even close to any other house, the car couldn’t be connected to anyone outside the Colucci family. And of course it was not the dentist’s car, which we are familiar with. This is the somewhat complicated sequence of events here: Marie Colucci took the train to her parents’ home in New Jersey, and drove her mother back to Elmira in the parental automobile. When Marie’s father died of a heart attack in NJ, Marie drove her mother back to Jersey in the parental car, then returned to Elmira herself by train.)

(Jane still lay on the bed. Now she groped for her pack of cigarettes, and lit one. Her eyes opened very briefly, and barely enough for her to see, as she struck the match. Then she resumed talking and smoking with her eyes closed.)

(Jane’s eyes opened briefly. They were very dark as she looked at me.)

([Jane, after a pause:] “It’s me again. At least I think I am.”

(End at 11:03. Jane was dissociated as usual. Her eyes were open at the end of the session, her voice quiet, and she was smiling. I might add that while Jane was reading her dreams to me just prior to the session, I was only half listening as I got ready to take the notes. But it seems that actually I listened very well.)