“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(For the envelope test I used a pair of name cards made by our friend Bill Macdonnel for his art studio, the Cameron Gallery. Bill gave us these cards perhaps a year or so ago, shortly after he opened his gallery. Each card is handmade and thus somewhat unique. More than anything else, I was interested in seeing if Jane could distinguish that the test involved two objects. I placed the cards between two pieces of Bristol board, then sealed them in the usual double envelopes.

A connection with music, and somehow a more distant impression of a seesaw. That is, not here (Jane held the envelope up, shaking it, her eyes still closed) but connected with what is here; as a children’s game. Brown and gray.

(The “impression of a seesaw... as a children’s game,” is quite interesting to us, and we believe a good example of the way associative memory can work while also being accurate. At the time of the exhibition I participated in at Bill’s gallery last winter, he had not had the gallery open very long. Building was still going on; in the back room were sawhorses he had borrowed from a carpenter, plus many other tools, scraps of wood, etc. Note that the sawhorse shape and the support for a child’s seesaw would be practically the same. Jane is very attached to playground accoutrements; she has especially fond memories of children’s seesaws and swings. Indeed, playgrounds have an almost mystical significance for her and she uses them often in her paintings.