“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The 44th envelope experiment was held during the session. See the copies of the objects on page 51, and note the copy on the back of one of them, above. These cards are mentioned on page 40 of the 243rd session; this gave me the idea of using them for an experiment. Jane had read the 243rd session recently but had not seen the cards. She hadn’t seen them since November 1962, in fact, for they had been in my files. I placed them between two pieces of Bristol and sealed them in the usual double envelope.

(Jane had an unusual experience late last week, and I had one earlier today; we hoped Seth would discuss them this evening. Here follows the material from our notebooks:

(Jane: Thursday night, March 24. I woke up sometime in the middle of the night and saw the form of a woman standing by Rob’s side of the bed, not mine. The room was dark but I saw that her dress was blue. She was rather thin and fairly tall. Her face was not clear at all but her dress was clearly visible—at least the color. It was one-piece, of moderate length. I do not remember her face at all. I do recall that our bookcase, behind her, showed up well; its cream color was clear although the rest of the room was dark. I believe her head was covered. As soon as I saw the figure it disappeared. I had the feeling that something was trying to make me forget what I saw, so I quickly woke Rob and told him what I had seen. The woman did not remind me of anyone I know, or had known.

(This is the first time Jane has had such an experience in the waking state, although she has seen many things in psychological time experiments. She is positive she was awake when she saw the woman.

(The session was held in the front room. Jane began speaking at a slow rate, and with her eyes closed. She was smoking however and her eyes soon began to open for brief periods. Her voice was average.)

(Jane was speaking leisurely. She took time out to put out her cigarette and sip some wine, her eyes blinking.)

(Jane now took a long pause at 9:13. Geography is not one of her strong points, as the next sentence shows, but she has an unerring sense of direction.)

(Tonight Willy merely wanted to play. I would have preferred that Jane not be interrupted at this point, but Willy lost a toy in back of a bookcase. He made so much noise I had to lay my notes aside to take care of him. Jane waited, her eyes closed.)

(Break at 9:21. Jane was pretty well dissociated, she said. Her eyes remained closed as the session progressed; they looked heavy and bleary at break. She had taken many short pauses.

(I could think of several Wyoming places beginning with the appropriate sound, but did not mention them to Jane. We had driven through the state several years ago, but Jane did not remember doing so. Nor did she recall any city or town names in the state. She said she had the idea of Cisco for a place name in the state, but thought she had chosen this because it has a western sound. It can qualify however under the S sound mentioned by Seth.

(We were interested in a specific location especially in view of Seth’s mentioning people with well-developed abilities. If this referred to psychic abilities I thought we could write them. We know of no such organizations in Wyoming. Perhaps I could include a drawing of the face I saw so clearly. We have an outdated state atlas on a closet shelf, and Jane agreed not to look at it in case we did not get a place name this evening.

(Jane resumed in the same manner, with pauses and with her eyes closed, at 9:31.)

(Break at 9:56. Jane was again well dissociated, she said. Her eyes had remained closed. She had spoken with many pauses and gestures.

(A single woman named Lucy lives in a small apartment above our own. A woman friend of hers died a few months ago. Neither Jane or I had ever met Lucy’s friend but we recall hearing about her death through Lucy. We remember in particular because the dead woman’s relatives gave Lucy her television set.

(Jane has always wanted to see an apparition, or survival personality, and now has had her wish. She said the experience was not frightening at all.

(I asked Jane to keep these questions in mind, perhaps to be answered by Seth later in the session: Was the survival personality aware of Jane? Can Seth be more specific about the location in Wyoming, and the group’s abilities?

(It was now time for the 51st Dr. Instream experiment. As usual Jane sat with a hand to her closed eyes, speaking slowly. Resume at 10:05.)

(Jane paused at 10:16. Without opening her eyes she took the envelope for our 44th experiment from me, and pressed it to her forehead.)

(Break at 10:27. Jane said she was dissociated as usual. Her eyes had remained closed.

(Jane said she knew she was going astray in the data when I asked about the family group, although the envelope objects do mention family groups. But the question confused her; this is the first time this has happened. Jane said she had an image of a “round object”, that had to do with motion, but had no idea as to what it represented.

(We made some connections ourselves, and Seth elaborated on others. At times during the data I wasn’t sure who was speaking—Jane or Seth. Sometimes when Ruburt was mentioned, I thought it was Jane saying so, rather than Seth. After the session Jane said she had no awareness along these lines, but one of confusion concerning the data. Knowing it was wrong somehow, she tried to be objective, to get back on the right track without knowing how to go about it. There was a confusion of levels, she said, that left her groping.

(“and something spontaneous”. draws a blank with us. As stated there had been much publicity about the vaccine. I recall that Jane and I decided to take the vaccine more or less on the spur of the moment, without advance planning, but hesitate to claim that here.

(“A date on it.” Both envelope objects contain dates. Note that Jane doesn’t distinguish between singular and plural here—one of the points I hoped would be brought out in the experiment.

(“Connection with a fall, or something falling,” Both Jane and I felt at once that this referred to my falling ill with the virus, on March 24,1965. Seth discusses the virus episodes that I became involved in, after taking the polio vaccines, in the 243rd session. See pages 40-41. I literally fell ill, falling in a faint upon arising one morning. In addition, Jane had a vivid dream in which I fell ill in the same manner, perhaps a week before the event. In reality I fainted in the bathroom; in Jane’s dream I fainted in the kitchen.

(My second question asked for more specific data on the July or April reference already given. “April 66. Now this is connected with Ruburt’s letter image. Personally, I have the impression of Ruburt’s father.” Again, this material is off. I could feel Jane groping about, trying to right herself. I wondered if I could cut across the confusion here by asking her to name the object, so that was the third question:

(This is the first time, I believe, that I have asked that the object be named intrinsically. Jane’s pace was the fastest of the evening when she resumed, again with her eyes closed, at 10:39.)

(Jane laughed.)

(Jane has no idea as to whether or not she wore beads when we received either of the vaccines.

(A note: Jane doesn’t like to take pills. She will often put off taking them. I’ve found her daily vitamin pills in all parts of the apartment at various times.)

(Break at 10:45. Jane was dissociated as usual. Her eyes had remained closed, her pace had been rather fast.

(Jane still didn’t remember the children’s drawings in the hallway of the school on one of the occasions when we took the vaccine, but I did—again, when Seth mentioned it.

(Concerning my place of employment data: Jane said she had received the word “mine” again. In two recent envelope experiments involving my place of employment, this word had cropped up in connection with the death of an older fellow worker; mine referring to grave, or underground, because Jane instinctively disliked the idea of graves. The older worker had been named Ezra Havens. Jane said she received the word again this evening in connection with Ezra; she felt Seth wanted to connect Ezra with the idea of disease—hence the polio data—followed by death, etc.

(Jane said she could feel Seth trying to get her away from data involving her father. She knew she was confused, as stated, yet couldn’t straighten herself out.

(I reminded Jane that one of the questions we had asked Seth to answer, earlier, still hadn’t been dealt with: Whether or not the woman Jane saw, as a survival personality, was aware of Jane.

(Jane was smoking when she resumed, her eyes opening at times, at 10:59.)

(“Was the woman Jane saw aware that she had died?”)

(End at 11:06. Jane was dissociated as usual.)