“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Tracing of the front and back of the AAA membership card used as the object in the 39th envelope experiment, in the 240th session for March 9,1966.)

SESSION 240

(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.

(Before this evening’s session I was at work typing up the envelope data for last Monday’s session. I stopped at 8:30 PM to get ready for this session at 9 PM. I began to be aware of a rather stiff pain growing in the back of my neck. By 8:45 it was quite bothersome, so I returned to the studio in the back of the apartment, to use the pendulum for a quick check to see if I could learn the cause. I did not think it physical.

(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.

(The session was held in our front room. Jane began speaking while sitting down. She was not smoking and her eyes were closed. Once again her pace was quite slow, and broken by some long pauses.)

(In Volume 2, see the 60th to 73rd sessions, given during the summer of 1964, plus many others.)

(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 said she too has experienced the seemingly contradictory effects of sleepiness or lethargy, and the sharper vision, during trance. Needless to say, I saw nothing unusual in my frequent glances about the room, nor did I notice any change in Jane’s features. The sensation was pronounced by the time break came, yet during break it disappeared. I have been aware of something like it, on a must reduced scale, many times during sessions.

(Shortly after this my familiar old thrilling sensation began to creep over me. I have not been aware of it much recently, although in the early sessions both Jane and I experienced such effects often. It is, briefly, a rich tingling or thrilling that is very pleasant. It can appear in any limb or part of the body, remain localized or sweep the whole organism. Deeper stages of this are what Jane has called ecstasy in her psychological time experiments.

(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.

(Note above that the apparition and the feature change in Jane are two distinct and separated effects, both occurring in the same session. The one was visible to me, the other was not. Again, this evening I saw no change in Jane’s features.

(Strangely enough, some of tonight’s envelope data is corroborated by earlier session material—something I did not anticipate when using the card as object. The notes in the 81st session for August 28,1964, explain some connections made this evening. I was about to throw the card away this week when I thought of using it for the envelope tonight, and consciously had forgotten many of the 1964 connections.

(“and with an occasion in which something was not appreciated.” This at once reminded me of a most definite event, involving Jane and me, that was not appreciated. It took place at the same time I purchased membership in AAA, and the locale of this unappreciated event was a gasoline station directly across the street from the MCI building. Our car was the subject, and this material is well covered in the notes in the 81st session for August 26,1964. See Volume 2.

(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.

(“How about saying something about the pain in the neck I had, just before the session?”

You were concerned because of the poor test results in your last session. Did not admit it. You think, occasionally, that your own tests are a pain in the neck, even while you admit their necessity.

(“That’s what the pendulum told me, just before the session.”)

(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.

(The pendulum told me Jane did not feel this way, and after the session she agreed. Nevertheless the pendulum told me I felt some anger at myself on this score, hence the stiff neck. I had not reached any such neat conception as “a pain in the neck” before Jane called me. Jane now said the irritation she felt quite strongly just before the session, was her sensing of my own irritation at myself. As stated on page 2, she was aware of the irritation before the session, but puzzled as to its source. She did not know of my pain in the neck, or that I was using the pendulum.)

(Tracing of the holly leaf used as the object in the 40th envelope experiment, in the 241st session for March 14,1966.)