“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The 39th envelope experiment was held during the session; see the tracing of the AAA membership card used as the object on page 1. Some interesting and hilarious results were obtained in the connections made by Seth/Jane.

(I became absorbed in the task, and had just obtained the answer when Jane called me from the front room at 8:55. I hadn’t mentioned the pain to her, deciding on the spur of the moment to see if Seth could also pinpoint the trouble during the session. Nor did Jane know I was using the pendulum. When I took my seat at our table in the living room just before 9 PM Jane told me she had felt surprisingly nervous at my absence so close to the session; hence her calling to me. She also felt a definite irritation, but did not know its source, or who or what the target was.

(“Good evening, Seth.”)

(I now told Jane that as the session progressed I had more and more difficulty keeping “awake.” Actually I began to notice a heavy lassitude, although I kept writing without trouble, and I recognized that I seemed to be in a trance state. At the same time, as I looked about the room, everything seemed to be in a sharper focus, and I had a feeling of more light in the room, although it was well lit to begin with. I began to wonder if I was responding to the material Seth was presenting; I had found it very interesting.

(I then remembered that in the 232nd session Seth had said I was in a light trance myself during sessions, as I made “certain automatic adjustments in order to perceive what little of my presence that you do perceive. And I also have a calming effect on you, which is most beneficial to you.” See Volume 5, page 277. Recalling this, I wondered if I was not making a strong effort to perceive Seth, perhaps in apparition form, this evening; which meant that possibly he was present to a stronger degree than usual.

(Jane once again resumed with her eyes closed, and at a little faster pace, at 9:37. A reminder: Seth calls for all underlined words.)

(This time it began in both my feet and moved up my legs to my hips, then manifested itself in the back of my head. It did not interfere with my writing. It was not overwhelming by any means, yet most definite, and lasted in residue until next break. See Volume 1, page 172 for a description of my first experience with this sensation, which was at first frightening to me, and accompanied by visual internal data which was quite vivid. Seth went into the experience in detail in the 24th session, explaining how at times it represented my attempts to perceive him, and at other times my attempts to perceive other data outside the usual sense channels.)

(We wondered if Jane’s feeling was due to suggestion. During the week she had been referring to the 68th session as she did some work on the book on the Seth material; these sessions have to do with the construction of physical matter by each individual. This particular session was witnessed by Bill Macdonnel, and during it he made two pen and ink drawings of an apparition he claimed to see in a doorway of our apartment. The effect lasted for about an hour; during this session Bill and I together saw a distinct change in Jane’s features. This occurred at a break, without warning, and lasted for at least a minute, so that we had time for observation.

(Seth told us at the time that the apparition was of him, and that Bill could see it but that Jane and I could not because we were too “fussy” about what we allowed ourselves to see. He said that in the future—time unspecified—we should be able to see his apparition at times, but by no means regularly.

(Bill’s drawings of Seth show an extremely high cranium—according to Seth Bill’s graphic translation of Bill’s feeling of high intelligence on Seth’s part—and a pointed chin. While pointed the chin is not long. Jane said, this evening, that her subjective feeling was one of elongation of the chin, to a point. She also felt her head was down onto her shoulders, and this is another attribute of Bill’s drawings.

(I have been trying out different kinds of questions. This was my third opportunity. The first time I had asked Seth for data on a category not mentioned, namely color. The second time I asked him to start over the whole thing. This time I tried something else.

(It seems to be the rule now that Jane has some visual data, whether faint or stronger, during the envelope experiments. She said she may have had such data in the earlier experiments, also, but hadn’t been quick enough to catch it. It is tricky. The point is, Jane explained, that such data often needs interpretation. Seth gives her the information visually; it is then up to a part of Jane to correctly interpret this. Jane believes that in the early experiments her failure to appreciate this, to interpret correctly, led to many errors in the material; that actually, through Seth, she had received the correct data to begin with, but needed the practice in fine discrimination to even be aware that the problem existed. And of course needs more. A case in point here is the X-shape data explained later.

(Seth did not go over each connection with us, but does agree with the ones Jane and I were able to make.

(Watching the mechanic struggle with the car, I felt sure he was not familiar enough with the work to know what he was doing. I made my feelings known, then left for the gallery to tell Jane. This was at a time when Seth was beginning to fill us in on the power of expectation; Jane insisted that the car would be ready when we went back for it. We ate in a diner, and Jane concentrated on the car being ready. When we went back for it an hour later it was indeed ready. The station mechanic told us he was surprised that he had been able to fix it. The incident had upset me considerably, in a way that would not bother me now.

(“and a rather large X-shape mark. This sort of thing, you see, in dark color, the X-shape mark in dark color, as something canceled.” As mentioned on page 7, this is an instance where Jane received internal visual data from Seth, and had the responsibility of interpreting it correctly. Note that she feels her way through this data, finally arriving at something more specific in the last three words. On the membership card it is plainly printed that the coverage expires in 1965.

(“The number 12, and perhaps 3 with this. December, I do not know.” My membership in AAA was good for twelve months, which could have led Seth to the December, or twelfth month, data, but we are not sure here. Nor do we come up with anything for the number 3.

(“All I have is the feeling that something was not appreciated”, followed my request for Seth’s elaboration on this data. See the original interpretation on page 7.

(“and that an error might have been somehow responsible.” My own idea is that the error here mentioned refers to my error in my license number, as explained on page 9. Seth also says “might have.” I think an error can enter into the car adventure, possibly, in that at the time I felt the mechanic servicing the car did not go about the job properly, and nearly delayed our leaving on vacation by several days as a result.

(“A Saturday here.” It can now be seen that my question for elaboration on Seth’s part did lead to a little more data. Saturday is involved with the envelope object, through our car. I obtained the actual object on Friday, August 14,1964; while doing this the car was left at the station for servicing, and the events developing at the station very nearly prevented our leaving on vacation the following day, Saturday, August 15.

(“and something to do with grace”, Jane burst out laughing when she made a connection here. At first we thought her idea did not apply, but then she felt it did, and Seth agrees. Note that on the AAA membership card the old address was blocked out. This was done with thin ink and we could read the old address, 382 W. Church Street. Jane at once made the connection between church and grace.

(Before she resumed I told Jane I hoped Seth would say something about my sensations earlier in the session. They had all but disappeared by now. I felt but a light lingering of the thrilling effect, mainly in the back of my head; the lethargy was gone. Also gone was the neck pain that I had experienced before the session began. Jane did not know about this.

(“Good night, Seth.”

(Jane was pleased to learn Seth’s answer about my neck pain agreed with the answer I had obtained through the pendulum. See the notes on page 2.

(Seth got to the point quicker than I did with the pendulum, although I was somewhat handicapped through lack of time. I did not begin using it until fifteen minutes before the session, and then began by eliminating categories in Monday’s session until I found the one I was reacting to physically. This proved to be Monday’s envelope experiments, and my fear, or concern, that perhaps I was pushing Jane on such matters.