“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The 40th envelope experiment was held during the session. See the tracing above. The envelope object was a dried holly leaf. This gray-brown leaf had been taped to the shade on my lamp at work for well over a year; originally I had used it as a model in doing some artwork for a Christmas card. I saved it because of its interesting color and shape, and the fact that its points were as sharp as ever. It was sealed in the usual double envelope, between two pieces of Bristol. Jane had never seen it, nor did she know I had brought it home.

(See page 7 of the 240th session for the envelope data on the AAA card used as the object. The card bears the expiration date, and Jane got at the idea of this by gesturing boldly with her arm, finishing up the several lines of data with “as something canceled.” See also page 9, where Jane describes the internal visual data accompanying her vocal data.)

We will give the object shortly.

Now, the object is something very small, like a thimble. Metallic, hollow, with very small holes in it. It is a shade of green, on the grayish side, with a patina. Perhaps with initials on it.

(See the tracing of the envelope object, the holly leaf, on page 13. Some of Seth’s points were good. I thought another group of them tried to get at the origin of the envelope object—namely my place of employment—hence the reason I chose the question I asked. I also thought the hole and grave data referred to an earlier envelope experiment dealing with my place of employment.

(“A connection with something deep. A hole underground, as a mine or grave.” Seth had been talking about association regarding envelope data in the earlier part of the session, and I thought this data a good example of it. My idea was that this data referred to my place of employment, from where I obtained the object, by calling upon the death of a friend, Ezra Havens, in 1964. Ezra had worked at my place of employment, Artistic Card Co., for many years.)

(In Volume 5, see the 232nd session for Feb. 9,1966. In that session Ezra is dealt with in the envelope data with the same type of data; Seth gave Jane the grave data, signifying Ezra’s death, but at that time Jane, who did not like the idea of graves, did not use the word. This time, Jane now said, she came out with it when Seth gave her the data. We believe the grave data was to refer to Ezra, who worked at Artistic before he died, and that this in turn was to lead Jane to identify Artistic as the source of the envelope object.

(“A phone call.” The newspaper article led to a note to Jane from the wife of my boss, Harry Gottesman, inviting us to the Gottesman home for an evening. Jane answered the note, received in July 1965, by phone. All of these oblique references are attempts to tie in my boss, Harry, with the envelope object itself.

(“Gray and brown.” These are the colors of the envelope object; the holly leaf is very dry and brittle, and faded out to a gray-brown.

(“A G and H.” I thought this an inverted reference to the fact that the envelope object came from my place of employment, presided over by my boss, Harry Gottesman. Harry noticed the holly leaf in particular when it was first given to me about a year ago; and like I did, he pricked his finger on the exceedingly sharp points.

(“A miscellany of shapes arranged in a row.” I call this a good reference to the location of the holly leaf at work. I have a Dazor lamp, a standard piece of equipment, fastened to my drawing table at work. It is a fluorescent lamp with a shade about 18 inches long. I have a habit of sticking various objects on the shade for easy reference—small pictures, drawings, pieces of tape, stickers of various kinds, and other objects. One of these was until recently the holly leaf; I had taped it there after finishing with it close to a year ago. Due to the long narrow shape of the lamp shade, the objects fastened thereon end up arranged in a row.

(“A note from a man in connection with an achievement.” Jane said she believed she meant to say woman here instead of man, and that this data is another oblique reference to the connection of my boss with the source of the envelope object. See the notes after “phone call” above. My boss’s wife actually wrote the note.

(“A reference to four people.” We were not sure here, unless this was a reference to the evening Jane and I spent with my boss and his wife, after the note and the phone call, etc. We call these kind of impressions twice-removed from the actual object.

(Tracing of the ticket used as the object in the 41st envelope experiment, in the 242nd session for March 16,1966.)