“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(This is our first session since December 15,1965. The rest was our longest since the sessions began two years ago, and did us both much good. We were ready to go back to work, although Jane confessed to some feeling of nervousness as session time approached. But she did well. She had no urge to speak for Seth during vacation.

(See the tracing on page 169 for the test object for this evening’s envelope test. It was furnished by Lorraine Shafer, who witnessed this session. Details will be presented in the body of the session, as they developed. The last session witnessed by Lorraine was the 195th, of October 4,1965. See Volume 4.

(The session was held in our large front room. Jane began speaking while sitting down. Her eyes were closed, her voice a little stronger than usual, and her pace quite good. She smiled as she began. Her voice was rather dry.)

(Consider the whole of the next paragraph underlined for emphasis. Jane was by now speaking more rapidly and with much intent and conviction. She used many forceful gestures, although her eyes remained closed.)

(Break at 9:16. Jane was dissociated as usual for a first delivery. She had been wrapped up in the material, speaking fast and with much emphasis.

(During break Lorraine asked if we still conducted envelope tests. When we said yes, she told us she had brought a test envelope with her. Moreover, it was one I had given her myself when she witnessed the 172nd session of July 26,1965. Handing her the two envelopes and the two pieces of Bristol, I had asked her to pick a test object, seal it up, and give it to me the next time we saw her, without telling me what the test object was. She had picked the test object last August, then mislaid the envelope and forgotten it; in addition I hadn’t asked her for it.

(Lorraine handed me her envelope while Jane was out of the room; thus Jane did not see it before the test. It was tightly sealed. I did not mention to either Jane or Lorraine whether I had planned a test for tonight. Lorraine did not tell me the contents of her envelope. Jane didn’t comment on it and I let the matter rest.

(Jane resumed in the same fast and active, emphatic manner, again with her eyes closed, at 9:30. Her voice was still dry.)

To this degree Dunne was correct. But the important point, if you will forgive a pun, is that these moment points are all intensities, electrical realities, and traveling through such dimensions involves a transformation of energy from one intensity to another. The whole self, or the entity of which I speak, is composed of all of these selves, but it must be realized that all divisions between these selves are illusions, basically speaking. For the sake of discussion we separate them, but in doing so we almost manage to change the very nature of that which we attempt to study.

(Break at 9:50. Jane was dissociated as usual. Her eyes had remained closed. Her delivery had again been fast and very emphatic. Jane said she “felt” parts of the delivery. She said she could have spoken much faster had my writing been able to keep up.

(At break Jane mentioned something that had been on her mind. She was aware of course that Lorraine had brought a test envelope. Jane now wondered whether I would try to be tricky, and perhaps keep Lorraine’s envelope for a later test, while giving her the usual envelope that I had prepared. Jane took it for granted that I had a test envelope ready also. I didn’t commit myself in any way.

(It was now time for the 27th Dr. Instream test. As usual Jane sat with her eyes closed, her left hand to her face, her head down. Her pace was slow at the start, but picked up rather well as the test proceeded. Resume at 10:05.)

(I handed Jane Lorraine’s sealed envelope. Jane reached out for it without opening her eyes at 10:16. As she has done a few times recently, she held the envelope flat against her forehead while speaking a few words, then lowered it to her lap. Her pace was again broken by pauses, none of them very long with one exception. This is the 24th envelope test.)

(Break at 10:25. Jane was dissociated as usual. Her eyes had remained closed, her pace had been slow.

(Since the test object was picked by someone other than me, I had thought that some of Seth’s connections might be difficult to trace, and it appears to be the case here. Since the part of the data we can judge is pretty much on the ball, we think it reasonable to assume that the rest of Seth’s data may be equally good. Jane was pleased by the test.

(This is the first envelope test wherein the test object was picked by someone from outside.

(As stated before Jane was somewhat nervous this evening, resuming sessions and tests after the vacation. As soon as she gave the initial M, in the beginning of the data, she thought of Lorraine’s entity name, Marleno. Jane caught herself at once, she now said, in order to prevent possible distortions growing out of this thought. She said “To hell with it,” to herself, relaxed, and kept on speaking for Seth. She completely cut off her own associations; this ability to discriminate, Seth has told us, is very important, and will grow steadily on Jane’s part.

(“Blue saucer” rings no bells, or “winter,” or “an event I believe occurring approximately 1947.” “An event of 1965” can apply, since Miss Bunn was admitted to the hospital on June 7,1965.

(Jane had no idea as to why Seth referred to a box again. She told us she enjoyed the test involving a more impersonal object, in the sense that I did not choose it. However Jane was as much aware of the emotional charges surrounding this object; she felt that she was quite aware of the emotional disturbances involved in a hospital stay in this particular case.

(I would like to add a curious note. Note that Miss Bunn lives on Wellsboro St. in Mansfield, PA. Mansfield is a college town about seventy miles distant. I was born there. In addition, my father was born in Wellsboro PA., a small town perhaps twenty miles beyond Mansfield. As far as I know Lorraine Shafer doesn’t know of my family connections with Mansfield and Wellsboro. She also told us she merely picked the test object out of a group, without paying particular attention to it.

I am not going to keep you. I wanted however to mention one small point concerning the box image that was repeated in both tests.

This has to do with two separate principles. First of all there was a retention of image. Second of all, there was quite separately an association because of the size of the card given as test object. In the second case the association was Ruburt’s, for on his own he picked up a file-card image, but he translated this into the image of a box in which such file cards are often kept.

Now while this association was his own, it was caused by the image retention carrying over from the first test. I want it clear that two rather than one causes existed for this second box image or impression.

Actually it was fairly legitimate, but not carried far enough on Ruburt’s part. In this case he did very well in closing off his own associations.

(“What about the pair of eyes I saw so clearly last month, while I was in bed? Can you say a few words about this?”

(Jane opened her eyes. Since Seth did not go into my latest vision this evening, I’ll save a description of it for next session. The last vision of mine that he discussed took place on August 30,1965, and is dealt with in the 183rd session. It was of the head of a man I had known centuries earlier in a previous life, according to Seth.)

(End at 11:09. Jane was very well dissociated, she said, even though her eyes had been open at times. She said Seth could have continued indefinitely; Seth had her in a “low” state that seemed to require hardly any of her own energy, Jane said. She now felt very good. The dryness had left her throat; she thought it the result of nervousness at resuming the sessions.

(Miss Callahan is an elderly retired school teacher who lives in the front apartment.Her memory has been affected by a series of small strokes. Seth has considered her in earlier sessions, and she was also the subject of some of Jane’s first recorded clairvoyant dreams. These took place at the beginning of Miss Callahan’s illness. Seth discussed the progress of her troubles for a while in succeeding sessions, apparently accurately. Jane is still very solicitous for Miss Callahan’s welfare.

(In addition, Miss Callahan is the only person we have located who taught Frank Watts’ children in grade and high school; Frank Watts was the first personality Jane contacted in these sessions and was soon replaced by Seth. According to Seth Frank Watts had a high regard for Miss Callahan as a person and as a teacher. Miss Callahan however, cannot remember Frank Watts; only that she taught some “Watts children”. See Volume 1 for Callahan and Watts material.)