“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Jane talked with Peggy Gallagher briefly on the telephone this morning and learned that the Gallaghers returned to Elmira yesterday, Tuesday, from vacation in Puerto Rico. Jane learned little about their trip other than that the Gallaghers took many notes to use in checking against Seth’s notes; and that Bill found himself involved in a “strange experience” with a piano player and what he thought was telepathy. The four of us get together this weekend to hash over all the notes.

(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.

(Jane has been working hard these days, and before the session tonight she remarked that her eyes were tired. The session was held in our quiet back room. Jane spoke while sitting down. Her eyes were closed, her voice somewhat deeper than usual, although not loud; and her pace was rather slow in the beginning.)

(Break at 9:27. Jane was dissociated as usual for a first delivery. Her eyes had remained closed. Her voice had been somewhat deeper than usual, her pace quite even after a slow start. Jane spoke almost as though she were reading aloud, with an occasional emphasis.

(Jane’s pace was again slow, her eyes closed and her voice quiet, when she resumed at 9:36.)

(Break at 10:02. Jane was dissociated as usual. Her eyes had remained closed, her pace good, her voice about average.

(It was 10:24, and too late for an envelope test in my opinion. In the 197th session, Seth had suggested I give Jane these tests unannounced during the middle of the session. I had forgotten to do so, and when I realized this at last break had assumed it would be better to wait until next session.

(Jane took the double envelope, her eyes still closed, and sat quietly holding it in both hands. Her pauses were rather brief. This is the 16th envelope test.)

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.

(Break at 10:31. Jane had been dissociated as usual. Her eyes had remained closed, her voice quiet. She said she had been surprised to hear herself ask for the test.

(We discussed the test results and made some connections. We did not think Seth would clear up the doubtful points, at least not all of them, because of the lateness of the hour. This I regretted, though thinking the test was a good one. Jane was now tired.

(The design on Bill Macdonnel’s handmade name cards can be “The shape of a star” as far as conventional symbols go. At least it can to me, as an artist; Bill is also an artist. Jane and I drew a blank on “a particular event, with some unpleasant connotations” at the moment.

(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.

(Jane resumed in a quiet voice, with her eyes closed, at 10:37.)

(End at 10:37. Jane was dissociated as usual and her eyes remained closed.

(The unpleasant event referred to by Seth made several pieces of information given in the test data fall into place for us. The errors in introduction made by Jane at the gallery reception were humorous, but also so obvious that their significance could be hardly missed. One involved a cousin of mine whom we hardly see; the other involved the director of the other gallery in town, the Arnot, for whom Jane had worked until a couple of months before the reception at Bill’s gallery, which we now believe did take place in February.

(Jane’s relations with this man became so acerbic that she left his employ in the fall of 1964. At the time Seth said it was a wise move, and that from that point on Jane would do well with her writing. This has been the case. Seth also dealt rather extensively with the conflict between Jane and the director of the Arnot in the following sessions: 74, 75, 77, 79, 82, 84 and 85. All of Seth’s material on the situation has worked out. At the time, we found the psychological information contained in these sessions very helpful. See Volume 2.

(Jane and I encountered her ex-employer at the reception at Bill’s gallery last winter. Jane was acting as an unofficial hostess. In introducing this man to another couple, or trying to rather, Jane discovered in mid-sentence that she had forgotten his name.)