“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(See the copy on page 197. For the test object I used a letter from my brother Loren, who lives in Tunkhannock, PA. It is typewritten in black ink on paper the weight of this page, and white. It was folded once between two pieces of Bristol, then sealed in the usual double envelope. My brother inadvertently dated the letter 1965 instead of 1966.

(I was three years old when my parents made the month-long drive to California, and my brother Loren was two. I have a few vivid conscious memories of the trip. I grew up listening to my parents talk about the trip. When I was drafted during the second World War I was given aptitude tests; to my surprise I did well on mechanical subjects, and ended up as an airplane mechanic and instrument specialist in the Air Transport Command.)

(“The habit of squirreling away” is a good reference to my father, in whose photographic studio my brother Loren took the pictures he refers to in the test letter. The studio is in part of my father’s cellar; the rest of the cellar is stuffed and cluttered with odds and ends my father has accumulated over the years. The rest of the family views the overloaded cellar as a fire hazard.

(“A connection with four people, I believe men.” Three men and one woman were present in the studio when the pictures shown on page 198 were taken, for the correct total of four people: Jane, myself, my father and my brother Loren.

(“Now this remark leads Ruburt to think of Lois.” This is a good example of the way personal associations can work. Our friend Lois took some photos of Jane recently, for use on the dust jacket of Jane’s ESP book. The photos my brother Loren took were also to be used in connection with publicity for the ESP book.

(“I pick up a very distant connection with Wisconsin, which I do not understand”, puzzled Jane, since she had no idea of what this could mean. I thought it might be a reference to the fact that my brother Loren, who wrote the test letter, is a model railroad fan. The magazine Model Railroader was, I thought, published in Wisconsin. There is a strong connection here because Loren has contributed articles and photographs to this magazine for many years. A trip to the newsstand to check verified my idea; Model Railroader has editorial offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Jane was especially pleased at this because she knows nothing of the hobby, or the magazine or its address. It took me two days after the session to come up with the connection with Wisconsin myself.

(“and with objects seen from above.” This is speculation: Loren’s model railroad layout is built at waist-high level in the cellar of his home in Tunkhannock, PA. Thus while standing before it one looks down upon the small models of trains, etc.

(“Also a connection with something like a flag.” More speculation: many of the symbols of the various railroads are designed in a flag shape, and Loren has made drawings of some of these symbols for publication, I believe, in Model Railroader.

(“Two o’clock.” would seem to be a reference to the time the photos were taken of Jane. On a Sunday after a noon dinner at my parent’s home Jane, myself, Loren and my father went down to the photographic studio.