“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The 30th envelope test was held during the session. I cut out ten small pieces of colored construction paper, put them between the usual two pieces of Bristol board and sealed them in the usual double envelope. I was aware that there wouldn’t be much emotional charge connected with these, and Seth was too. As is the case also, Jane did not do well on the resumption of such experiments.

(After the second foot of snow fell last weekend, the tenants of the house waited as usual for the landlord to appear with his plow. Drifts several feet deep had piled up in the driveway and against the garages. The landlord did not appear. Three days went by. It developed that he had thought we could shovel our own way out. By this time of course recriminations were beginning to fly back and forth by phone, although this did not involve Jane and me. Finally one of the tenants threatened to move, after feelings had been bruised all around. The situation was not without its comic aspects.

(The specialist, actually the man who keeps the house in good running order for the landlord, is a personal friend of his. While talking to Jane he mentioned that our landlord’s books had been called in by the Internal Revenue Service.

(The session was held again in our front room. Jane began speaking while sittingdown and with her eyes closed. They opened just once briefly when she put out a cigarette. Her voice was average, her pace quite slow by comparison. Neither of us had expected the kind of material that began to come through.)

(Break at 9:20. Jane was quite well dissociated for a first delivery, she said. Her eyes had opened briefly but once. Remember that the above material was delivered with many pauses interspersed. Most of the time Jane sat with her head down and her hands raised to her face, as during the Instream and envelope tests.

(Jane had not smoked since putting out her cigarette shortly after the session began, and when she resumed speaking again she refrained from smoking. As before her manner was quite slow. She sat with her head down and her hands raised to her closed eyes. She used many pauses. Resume at 9:31.)

(Jane, still sitting with her hands raised to her closed eyes, took a long pause. Later I asked her if she knew what AT& T represented. After some thought she arrived at telephone and telegraph; guessing, she thought A might stand for Atlantic. But she did know the initials meant a stock.)

(Break at 9:55. Jane was dissociated as usual. Her eyes had remained closed throughout the delivery. Much of the time she sat with her head down and her hands raised to her temples. Her pace had been very slow. She hadn’t smoked.

(Joe Cernohorsky is the specialist mentioned on page 248, the man who keeps the apartment house we live in, in running order for the landlord. Joe and the landlord are of an age, 50, and have been friends for years. Jane and I have never met Joe’s wife, and have no idea what kind of connection Seth might be referring to.

(It was time for the 36th Dr. Instream experiment. Jane’s pace remained slow when she began speaking again, and as before she sat with her head down, her eyes closed, her hands raised, etc. Resume at 10:07.)

(It was 10:16. I handed Jane the envelope for our 30th envelope experiment, and as usual she took it without opening her eyes. She sat with the envelope held against her forehead.)

(Break at 10:25. Jane was dissociated as usual. Her eyes had remained closed throughout both experiments, she had used many pauses, and had not smoked.

(As stated earlier the results of the envelope experiment were not high. The first reference, to a filing cabinet, is a good one; the colored paper I used in the test is kept in my cabinet, and has been so for perhaps two years. But after this Jane kept veering toward the letter. I thought someone studious referred to myself, but again there was not sufficient elaboration.

(From what Seth says after break, we saw the connection with cloth, evening, and an endeavor that does not work. Jane and I bought this colored paper to use in an experiment whereby, blindfolded, we tried to determine the various colors by touch alone. This after we had read an article in Time Magazine about a woman who had been able to do this. Our tests had been held in the evening, and our results reached chance level only.

(Jane resumed while smoking, and with her eyes opening at times, at 10:29.)

(Jane smiled, her eyes closed.)

(End at 10:44. Jane was dissociated as usual. Her eyes had opened occasionally. She said she had been looking forward to the envelope experiment tonight, hoping I would give her one; she had given herself suggestions concerning it this afternoon.

(Jane was curious about the Instream object. I thought that perhaps it was a ship model. I then recalled that earlier in the week Bill Gallagher and I had been looking at some of my books on the ships of the 17th and 18th centuries. These books contained plans and photographs. Jane and Bill’s wife Peggy had been present but hadn’t paid much attention to our talk.

(We were discussing the material on our landlord when Seth came through again. Jane resumed with her eyes opening at 10:50.)