“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Before the session this evening I wondered what effects Seth might be able to demonstrate, on a consistent basis, if a candle were lit just before each session, as a matter of routine, and then ignored as much as possible. The idea being that if it became part of the regular session routine Jane would forget about it, thus allowing any possible effects to come through without worrying about them. At first I was joking about the idea, but when Jane said it was all right to go ahead with the idea, I took her up on it. When we were set up for the session, I placed a lighted candle on the shelf beside me, behind some books so that Jane could not see it. Since the room was well lighted the candle flame would make no noticeable difference, in the event it flared up while her eyes were open.

(The session was held in our small back room. No windows were open, and by measurement I determined that the candle flame burned at a remarkably consistent 3/4-inch height. Jane began speaking while sitting down and with her eyes closed. Her pace was rather slow, with many pauses, yet her voice was somewhat stronger than usual. She sat much of the time with a hand raised to her face. She was not smoking. She began speaking at 9:01.)

(I was not sure of what I was observing. Jane gave no sign of any kind, and Seth had not even mentioned the candle; I had thought he might smile at the idea. The increase in the flame’s height had not been as sudden and dramatic as in the two previous instances noted on page 117. But the candle flame now burned at this new height just as steadily as it had before the increase, and continued to do so.)

(Break at 9:21. Jane had been dissociated for a first break as usual. She maintained the heavier, emphatic voice, even with the pauses.

(The candle flame had maintained its increased height very steadily until close to break time, when I thought it began to fluctuate a bit. At break I thought it was mainly at its original lower height. Jane could not see it, and did not ask about its behavior. We agreed not to mention it during sessions, no matter what took place. I had wondered if the increased height of the flame had resulted from the body of the candle “warming up,” since it was a thick one, perhaps five inches tall. When the flame subsided however at break, I did not know what to think, and decided to merely record what I saw without being concerned.

(Jane now sat with her eyes closed and spoke in a slow voice with many pauses, most of them short. Her eyes remained closed. Resume at 9:31.)

(This bit of data was also given to Peggy on Friday, December 3, during the unscheduled session preceding her Washington trip. By now, also, I saw that the candle flame had climbed back up to its one-inch height; it continued to burn steadily at that height. Jane’s voice had lost its heavier edge.)

(Break at 9:45. Jane had been dissociated as usual, and her eyes had remained closed. The candle flame once more subsided to its original lower level. At either the 3/4 or the one-inch level, the flame burned very steadily, for there was no draft. Nor did it seek out intermediate levels.

(During this break Jane said she had the feeling the pocketbook data, given at the end of Peggy’s test, might not refer to Peggy at all, but to “something or someone else.” As it developed in our envelope test tonight, this could be true. If so it is an example of the “bleeding” of test material from one test to another during the same session. Seth has told us this is a possibility. In this specific case also, clairvoyance enters in, since the envelope test had not been held yet. Telepathy and precognition could also be factors.

(Jane said she didn’t see anything within while giving the Gallagher data.

(It was now time for the 24th Dr. Instream test. As before, Jane sat quietly with her eyes closed, her right hand raised to her face. The candle flame remained at its original 3/4-inch level. Resume at 10:01.)

(Jane reached out to take the usual double envelope from me. She did not open her eyes. She sat quietly holding the envelope in one hand, with the other raised to her face. Her pauses were brief. This is our 21st envelope test.)

(In the apartment below ours a baby began to cry. The sound was subdued, yet plain enough in our very quiet room. I was afraid Jane might be distracted, but she gave no outward sign. She continued after a pause. The baby soon stopped crying.)

(Break at 10:23. Jane was dissociated as usual. Her eyes had remained closed, her pace had been interrupted by many short pauses. The candle flame had remained subdued.

(At first the envelope test data left us at a loss, until memory began to work. To sum up first, we saw that Seth had used the name of the artist who had executed the block print, Roy Fox, as a starting point for data involving Jane and Roy and me, but for some reason had not dealt with the test object itself. We do not know why this happened, since Seth did not discuss the results this evening. Jane’s mother and a Christmas present also entered the test data, for reasons we do understand; here Seth tells us that Ruburt thinks of the package that his mother sent him.

(Roy Fox is a personal friend of ours. Last Christmas he arranged for me to have a show of paintings at Harris Hill Inn, just outside Elmira, in February 1965. The show lasted for a month. It opened on February 2,1965, and on the following Sunday, February 7, Jane and I were guests at the Inn, to discuss the show with anyone interested.

(This brings us to the first item in the test data, “Two people at a table with straight chairs.” On February 7 Jane and I spent several hours at the Inn, seated on straight backed chairs at a dining table, ready to answer questions from all and sundry.

(“A connection with two other people... male and female,” refers to the fact that Jane and I were scheduled to meet a young married couple, friends of ours, later in the afternoon at the Inn. They did appear: Judy and Lee Wright, who witnessed the unscheduled 129th session, incidentally, that was held that same evening, February 7,1965. See Volume 3.

(“A lack of discretion” is of particular interest to Jane and me, since this is a most apt description of a situation Roy Fox was involved in during that February, 1965, and for several months before and after that month. The situation was common knowledge, so no confidences are violated to say that at the time Roy was keeping company with a woman who was separated from her husband, but not divorced. She had several children. Roy is a man in his sixties, had never married, and since he seemed so completely happy in this situation we had assumed marriage would follow. The woman’s husband returned to Elmira last summer, however.

(The rest of the test data applies to the Christmas package Jane’s mother sent her early this week. The package was wrapped with twine, contained a blue knitted sweater, etc. Why this information cropped up in a test we do not know. We can see the connection with the Roy Fox data however, since Roy made the block print; his name is also on the test object. We would like to know why Seth chose to use Roy’s name as a springboard, however, instead of sticking to the test object.

(See the notes on page 120, dealing with the data in Peggy Gallagher’s test, concerning a misplaced pocketbook of the shoulder variety. As stated, Jane at the time of the Gallagher test said she believed this information did not refer to Peggy. After the envelope test material was in on tonight’s test, she then realized an incident involving a lost shoulder-variety pocketbook of her own.

(Harris Hill Inn was closed on Monday, February 1,1965, and Jane and I met the proprietor there Monday evening and hung the paintings. When we left Jane left her favorite pocketbook behind; she did not realize this until sometime later. The next day the proprietor of the Inn brought Jane’s pocketbook to her. If this information was misplaced in the earlier Gallagher material, then what accounts for it? It appeared in the Gallagher material before the envelope test was held, and of course Jane could not know what the envelope test object was beforehand, by ordinary means. Seth has stated that such terms as telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, etc., are of but relative usefulness; perhaps this instance is but an example of the ability of part of the mind to dissolve the time barrier.

(It is actually Friday, December 11 as I type this. We have now obtained a written detailed report on Peggy Gallagher’s trip to Washington, as compared to Seth’s material on Peggy in the last two sessions. Seth scored many hits—Jane’s best effort in these tests by far. The material will be incorporated in a very early session, along with the material on the Gallagher’s Puerto Rico vacation of last October. I am leading up to the statement that Peggy detected a very clear example of bleeding through of data in the 214th session. She states that the material at the beginning of the Dr. Instream test data, on page 113, applies to a cocktail party she attended in Washington on Monday, December 6. Peggy states Seth’s description here of the cocktail party is quite correct, even to the fact that a woman was the main hostess, and that a man, her husband, was present with her. The smallish crowded room data applies also here. More details will be given later. See Session 214.

(Jane would like me to add here that she believes the envelope test data of this evening developed the way it did because of the emotional content of events involving Jane, Roy and myself. Whereas Roy’s blockprint, while appealing to us both, was comparatively lacking in such emotional content, intrinsically.

(Jane now resumed at an average pace, with her eyes again closed, at 10:33.)

(The candle flame had been burning quite steadily at its original 3/4-inch level since break at 9:45. Jane now smiled.)

(Jane now sat quite still. Her eyes remained closed, The candle was to her right, approximately at right angles to her body as she sat facing forward. Remember she could not see the candle in any event, since it was hidden behind books, and that the room was well lighted. As the moments passed and Jane did not move or speak, I had plenty of time to observe that her eyes did not open. The candle was some three feet away from her, and well away from any draft possibly created by her breath, for instance.

(As soon as I realized that Jane or Seth might be attempting something, I sat very quietly myself so as not to stir the air, and breathed shallowly through my nose with my head somewhat averted. I did not even move my hand to write until close to a minute had passed. The air in the room was very still. Yet soon after this strange interlude began, the candle flame grew quite definitely back to its one-inch height, and remained there steadily.

(End at 10:36. Jane was dissociated as usual The candle flame remained high, but was not as steady as it had been. Jane said that while she sat silently she felt as though Seth was somehow focusing “sideways” on the candle.

(Jane told me she felt a definite thrust of what she presumed to be energy toward the candle. It was a feeling she had not experienced before. She also had the thought as she sat quietly that Seth wanted to say something about the candle. Jane felt she might distort the information, however, because she realized that whatever she wanted to say was not automatic as it usually is; therefore she said nothing.

(Jane was relaxing on the bed, as she often does after a session, with her head propped up on one hand. She was smoking as we discussed the candle experiment. Both of us stared at the flame. It was now a little higher, and bright and steady, reaching the highest level of the evening. We stared at it for perhaps a minute. Seth then came through again, briefly; Jane was still smoking, and her eyes were closed. Resume at 10:45.)