“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The 22nd envelope test was held this evening. The test object was a ball-point pen drawing of a dog; my four-year-old nephew made it while my brother Bill’s family and Jane and I visited my parents last Sunday. I thought David’s drawing good for one his age, and added notes of my own. I intended to file it for the future, but today decided it would make a good test subject. Jane had not seen it. The drawing is on paper the weight of this page. A drawing on the back doesn’t apply here. I sealed it in the usual double envelopes, between two pieces of Bristol.

(Once again, as described in the 215th session, a candle was lighted just before the session began. As before, it was sheltered from Jane’s vision. The room was well lighted. As soon as I lit the candle the flame soared up to a height that was easily two inches, and remained there without interruption for about twenty minutes. This was twice as high as in the 215th session. The same candle was used. Jane knew it was lit of course but we did not talk about it, and she did not see the flame until first break. I could not account for the extraordinary height of the flame. There were no drafts; the session was held in our small back room, and the windows were closed.

On that particular occasion he was, contrary to appearances, quite open to suggestion because he was off guard. You did him a service by going out with him that evening, although you may have not realized it. And in some respects he is good for you. Particularly you, Joseph. He stretches you, both your sympathies and your understanding, and you both benefit.

(Jane and I went dancing with Bill and his girlfriend, whom we had not met before, two weekends ago. Bill appeared to be much smitten, and during the evening paid little attention to us, much to our amusement. This evening he surprised Jane and me by telling us he was not seeing the girl anymore. Jane and I said nothing to him about his girl; we liked her very much. She is quite young. Bill is 27.)

Your parents definitely let him know that they wanted a new television set, and he quite uncharacteristically told them it was impossible as far as he was concerned. His physical action, his refusal, was based upon a telepathic communication with you, in the dream state, on those evenings when you had the dreams which I interpreted for you.

(Break at 9:30. Jane was dissociated as usual for a first delivery. Her eyes had frequently opened to some extent, though not fully; they had been very dark. Her pace had been quite fast.

(The candle flame had begun to subside about ten minutes ago, and was now down to about a 3/4-inch height, from its estimated high of two inches earlier in the session. It now burned quite steadily at this low point, just as it had burned equally steadily earlier.

On another level they represent something quite different. You saw your young brother in a fetus position, for he will be born again within the physical universe, and you will not. You averted the barrier, which was another existence within this field. He did not.

He will take particular joy in watching his own children develop, because he did not develop in that past life to maturity, though this of course was not definitely in your dream.

(Since I am nine years older than Bill, it appears that we will both be quite ancient at death. I do not believe that Jane would have allowed such data to come through too many sessions ago, although she did permit Seth to say quite a while ago that she herself would live to old age. That data was also connected to dream analysis and reincarnation.

(Seth was giving general reincarnational data on my family and on Jane’s as early as the 9th session, while avoiding such things as times of death, etc. Actually the concept of reincarnation made its appearance in the first session. Seth began to be more specific on family reincarnational data when he told Jane and me in a very early session that neither of us would be born again on the physical plane; this, he said, accounted for our lack of children and the desire for them. Seth explained that both of us had been parents before, experiencing both the male and female roles. We have a little material on this; we always are intending to ask for more but somehow don’t seem to get around to it. See Volume 1.)

You saw Ruburt outside the window because he was not directly involved with the relationship between you and your father.

The swing represented your feeling that after all Ruburt was relatively free, on the one hand, from the problem. Therefore you saw him as swinging free. This represented part of your feelings. The other part was represented by your concern for him, for although he was not as directly affected as you, he would still be involved.

(Jane’s eyes had again been opening and closing rather often. The candle flame, now, attained its highest point of the evening; it was well over an estimated two inches in height, rising up to such a height that a thin trail of black smoke escaped from it. Since the windows were still closed and there were no drafts, I could not account for the flame’s height. The candle is a large one, with a diameter of at least two inches and with very little taper. As before it sat out of the reach of Jane’s breath, and although it was closer to me I took care to keep my head averted so that my own breath could not influence it. Perhaps temperature changes within the candle could influence it after it has burned for a while, although it felt no warmer to me.)

Without her there would be no vividness for him, for he is unable to relate himself outward. It was because she wanted to feel close to you that she called you this evening, more than anything else, although there was a misunderstanding involved.

(It was 10:15, and time for our 22nd envelope test. Jane took the sealed double envelope from me without opening her eyes. Now she did something new for her in these tests. For several seconds she held the envelope directly against her forehead. Her eyes remained closed. Then she lowered the envelope to her lap.)

(Break at 10:22. Jane was dissociated as usual. Her eyes had remained closed, her pace had been fairly good. She said that nothing she said in either test made particular sense to her.

(See the tracing of the test object on page 131. During last Sunday there was a family gathering at my parents’ home in nearby Sayre, PA. There were twelve people in all: My parents, Jane and I, my brother Loren, his wife and son, and my brother Bill and his wife, and their two daughters and one son. Bill’s son is named David, he is four years old, and it is he who drew the test object, with a black ball-point pen on white paper.

(Jane said that Seth’s count of 1, 2, 3 was his way—or Jane’s?—of leading up to the number 4 that I wrote on the drawing, referring to David’s age. “A room” is too general. Also “Round shapes”; although there are round shapes on the drawing. “The number 12” can apply easily enough. Not only is the month of the test the twelfth month, but there were twelve people present in Sayre the day the test object was drawn. And again, the test object was drawn on December 12th, and so dated by me.

(“Light tissue paper” may be nebulous. Jane and I gave the children their Christmas presents Sunday, and rather than wait for Christmas they opened the gifts then. They were wrapped in regular Christmas paper; if this is called tissue It can be a connection. The test object was drawn in 1965 of course, not 1963. The thought here is that calligraphically the numerals 3 and 5 are quite similar.

(Finally, “Something missing, and someone who could not come,” is also interesting. As soon as the test was over, and I believe before she knew what the test object was, Jane told me that she believed “Something” and “someone” referred to the same thing. Only one member of the family was missing at the gathering Sunday, and this was my brother Loren’s daughter Linda, who was at work in Scranton, PA. It was too far away for her to make the trip up to Sayre, and back, in one day.

(Jane also said that Seth was going to say something about lettering on the test object, but she did not give voice to it. I had made notes on it.

(The candle flame was still down when Jane resumed, with her eyes closed, at 10:30.)

(As soon as Seth mentioned the candle, its flame began to grow. Rather quickly, the flame reached up to a height beneath its maximum for the session, which was well over an estimated two inches. its growth now was quite respectable however, perhaps to something just under two inches. Considering the earlier displays by the flame, I now had a question.)

(Jane’s eyes were still closed, and the flame was still up.)

(Seth paused briefly. The flame climbed a little more. It was quite steady, but still short of its high for the evening.)

(End at 10:33. Jane was dissociated as usual. Her eyes had remained closed. She now told me that once again she had felt the peculiar sideways thrust, as of energy, directed toward the candle to her right. See page 124 of the 215th session for the first instance of this effect.