“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Peggy Gallagher, a feature writer for the Elmira Star-Gazette, is in Washington DC for a few days this week on business. Seth volunteered to give information about Peg’s activities while she is in Washington, and Jane also plans to tune in on Peg via psychological-time experiments. Both of these methods were used with some success during the Gallaghers’ vacation in Puerto Rico last October.

(Jane and I have yet to prepare Seth’s material on the Puerto Rico experiments, for insertion into the record. We have now decided to present Seth’s hits and near misses only, plus Seth’s data on the Washington experiment, in one of the sessions falling due the week after this.

(Since Peggy has now been made aware of Seth’s predictions, Jane and I now wonder what part, if any, suggestion might play in the events that transpire in Washington DC. Is it possible that the recipient of such predictions can influence physical events, either consciously or unconsciously?

(A somewhat similar question arises concerning a dream Jane had on November 30th, and a few lines of the data given for the 22nd Dr. Instream test; see the following lines on page 104 of the 213th session: “He received a book by mail today, a biography sort of book, having to do with a personality of the late 1800’s. A medium.” This material is dated December 1; there follows Jane’s dream of the night before.

(Another possibility here is that Jane and Seth can work as a team, since Seth has said often that Jane has abilities of her own. If this is true in this particular instance, then the dream would contain elements of distortion. We find the study of dreams more and more interesting. Jane has now begun a book on dreams, to be done concurrently with her book on the Seth material itself.

(The 20th envelope test was held during this session. See the tracing on page 107. For the test object I used part of one of the paper napkins Jane and I were given when we varied our routine prior to the 213th session, and visited a local discotheque for a beer. See the notes on this on page 102. The results of tonight’s test were very interesting. While we were in the discotheque ultraviolet lights were turned on when the entertainment began; this means the test object was viewed by us in this unusual light, and this fact shows in tonight’s test data.

(Tonight’s session was held in our back room, and was a quiet one. Jane did not smoke while speaking. As usual she sat down; her eyes remained closed for the entire session. Her rate of speaking was good from the start, her voice quiet.)

(Break at 9:25. Jane was dissociated as usual for a first break. Her eyes had remained closed, and she did not smoke. Her pace had been good from the beginning.

(Jane has been reading J.B. Priestley’s book, Time and Man, recently. She is well aware that Seth often discusses her reading matter. She remarked that tonight Seth had elaborated on a few statements Mr. Priestley had made; that is, Seth was not paraphrasing, but carrying ideas further.

(We thought it might be time now for Seth to give some data on Peggy Gallagher and her activities in Washington, DC, since in giving the data on the Gallaghers in Puerto Rico last October, he had done so at 9:30 in each session. Jane now resumed with her eyes closed, and at a good pace. She was smiling. Resume at 9:35.)

(Jane, her eyes still closed, paused briefly at 9:37. Her pace now slowed somewhat, and she held a hand up to her closed eyes.)

(It will be recalled that during the unscheduled session of last Friday, December 3, Seth stated that Peggy would meet a man she wouldn’t like. Jane and I wonder what part, if any, suggestion can play in such statements, perhaps unwittingly leading the recipient to react adversely to an individual.)

(Break at 9:51. Jane was dissociated as usual. Her eyes remained closed. Her pace had picked up considerably by the time break arrived.

(It was now time for the 23rd Dr. Instream test. Once again Jane sat with her hands raised to her closed eyes. Her pace was not too slow, although broken by many pauses. Resume at 10:04.)

(I handed over the double envelope, and as usual Jane took it with her eyes remaining closed. She held the envelope in both hands for a moment, then delivered the data with short pauses. This is our 20th envelope test.)

(Break at 10:17. Jane was dissociated as usual. She said she didn’t particularly remember what she had said on the three tests, but could to some degree if she stopped to think.

(Jane felt that “white, snow white,” was valid data, even though she was thinking of a certain photo of my parent’s house, taken when there was deep snow. She saw this white as very bright. See my notes on page 109. When the ultraviolet lights were turned on in the discotheque, some colors were activated more than others. The light was actually quite dim, but the ultraviolet made anything white appear to be blinding white-paper, socks, white shirts, etc. The effect was very striking. The napkin was of white paper.

(There were two female dancers at the discotheque, and Jane felt that “a connection with another person” referred to one of these, although she couldn’t say why. We did not know either of them. One was brunette, one was blonde. Both of us liked the brunette the best, for whatever reason, and certainly she was the better dancer of the two.

(Jane felt good about “Purple. Large letters.” See the tracing. The word discotheque on the napkin was printed in a blue that was strongly on the red side, although actually short of being an outright purple. The letters are of course large. “Something fairly important... the following day” did not ring a bell with us. “automobile” could refer to our driving to the discotheque, though there could be other meanings here, we think.

(“yellow, as in sunlight,” is as interesting to us as the snow-white data listed above. Jane wore a white blouse to the discotheque. When the ultraviolet lights were turned on however, we were surprised to see a large, bright yellow stain on the front of her now brilliantly-white blouse. This stain was invisible in ordinary light. In addition, we discovered more similar yellow stains on both of Jane’s palms. We never did discover the source of the stains.

(“a gathering” can refer to the crowded discotheque, or bar. I wouldn’t say the napkin was an “item strongly connected” to me, although it was my napkin rather than Jane’s that I used for the test. Nor were my initials on it.

(Jane said that as she began giving the data, the association she made with Seth’s data, “white, snow white,” led her to consider the particular photo of my parents’ house taken after a deep snowfall. She said that at this stage of her development it is very difficult for her to tell when such personal associations enter in, unless Seth himself notes it by saying “Ruburt here thinks of a photograph,” etc. Jane said she saw the photo in her mind’s eye, but that as she continued to speak, she eventually received a hazy picture, a “nebulous impression,” of a bar. She did not mention the bar in the test data, and indeed had forgotten it until our discussion of the test brought it back to her mind.

(Jane finished her comments by noting that there isn’t much she can do at the moment about being sidetracked by such personal associations, except to keep it in mind. She does believe that this knowledge has in itself prevented her from being led astray from Seth’s data a few times in the past, and that her ability in separating Seth’s data from her own will grow.

(We now hoped Seth would comment on the test before ending the session. Jane resumed in a quiet voice, with her eyes closed, at 10:30.)

(There may be an outside chance that we can confirm this data. A friend of ours who lives in our apartment house knows the two dancers, who live together in the neighborhood. But we do not know them, and this was the first time Jane and I had been in the discotheque in over a year.)

(“What do you think of Jane’s book on dreams?”)

(End at 10:42. Jane was dissociated as usual. Her eyes had remained closed.)