“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The 45th envelope experiment was held during the session. See the tracing on page 72. The object is the flap of a letter that my nephew Douglas Butts and myself wrote on last Sunday, April 3, at my parents’ home in Sayre, PA. The tracing is drawn with the same blue pen, my own, that was used to write on the object. The object came into being when Doug, who is 14 years old, was showing me how he writes left-handed. We sat on the couch and used a folded newspaper for a support; this was not steady. I did not intend to use this object for the envelope experiment, but decided to on the spur of the moment after it was made. Jane never saw the object in its finished form before the experiment.

(She had seen the envelope from which the flap was torn however, in a casual way. The envelope enclosed a letter from Doug’s recently married sister Linda, who now lives in Brooklyn, NY. Both Jane and I read the letter yesterday; it was written to my parents. I wondered whether Seth would pick up any impressions connected with Linda, but he confined himself to impressions that originated yesterday as far as Jane and I were concerned. The N and Norcross indicated in pencil on the tracing signifies a blind embossed trademark on the envelope flap, but Seth said nothing about this either.

(After supper this evening young Don Wilbur informed us that he and his wife would not be able to witness the session as scheduled. The Wilburs are discussed in the 246th session. Don left a sealed envelope, prepared to my instructions, with me, but I did not plan to use it for this evening’s experiment. Jane knows of the envelope but did not see it. She requested that we not talk about it very much so that she wouldn’t focus upon it to any degree.

(After several sessions involving various kinds of personal material we hoped to get back to the theoretical kind. The session was held in our living room as usual. Jane began speaking with her eyes closed and at a rather slow pace. She was not smoking.)

(Break at 9:30. Jane was dissociated as usual. Her pace had continued to be broken by pauses, some of them long. Her eyes had begun to open occasionally toward the end of the delivery and she had sipped wine.

(Jane was speaking rapidly now and her eyes were opening at times. Now she thrust an arm straight out toward me.)

(Again the gesture; this time Jane threw her arms wide.)

(Break at 10:09. Jane was more dissociated than she had been for her first delivery. Her pace had become much faster. Her eyes opened often toward the end of the delivery for whole sentences at a time. She spoke with many gestures and her voice was a bit stronger.

(It was now time for the 53rd Dr. Instream experiment. As usual Jane’s pace now slowed down somewhat. She sat with her hands raised to her closed eyes. Resume at 10:15.)

(Jane paused at 10:25 and I handed her the 45th sealed envelope. As usual she took it without opening her eyes, but this evening she held it in her lap without pressing it to her forehead. Instead she sat with one hand raised to her eyes.)

(Break at 10:35. Jane was dissociated as usual, she said. Her eyes had remained closed through the experimental material. Her pace had been fairly good.

(Before she opened the envelope, Jane told me that while giving the data she had a most definite impression of something connected with photographs and music. As will be seen she was correct on both counts. Jane said she had “two lines of consciousness,” and that Seth wanted to lead her very carefully between them. She followed his lead successfully.

(“A connection with music.” As stated Jane and I visited my parents at their home last Sunday, April 3, and while there met my brother Loren, his wife Betts, and their son Douglas, who is 14. In this envelope experiment Seth again used the actual object as a jumping-off point for some of his data, and this is a case in point. Doug, who helped me author the object, is not musical; however both his parents are professional musicians; both are teachers; Betts teaching music as well as other subjects. Loren does not teach music anymore. For many years he was a pianist in a dance band and taught music at the same time.

(“A connection with squares or cubes that seem to fit one into the other.” See the pencil drawing on page 72. Both Jane and I thought this a good description of the little plastic viewer and the transparencies my brother brought with him to show us. The transparencies are of Jane and me, taken several weeks ago. They measure exactly square, and the viewer is cube-shaped, the transparencies fitting into it as indicated by my sketch.

(“A printed message.” The object contains writing. I wrote my own name and Doug wrote “Goodbye” and his name. The Norcross is printed, in that it is blind embossed. Jane doesn’t know whether she intended handwriting or printing in the data. We have had trouble with this category in previous experiments, Jane meaning one thing by writing or printing while I mean something else.

(“The shape of something tall like a tree; waving lines, or wavering lines.” Jane said the tree data was her way, or Seth’s way, of leading up to the data re wavering lines. Doug and I wrote on the object while sitting on a couch. My signature is firm because I had the support of a folded newspaper in my lap. Doug’s is unsteady, or wavering, because he held the envelope flat against his leg and tried to write on it with no other support. As stated he was trying to show me how he writes left-handed.

(“Yellow.” Jane and I didn’t make any connections here, but Seth does later.

(“A double exposure.” Either this is a reference to two, above, or possibly to the fact that my brother brought transparencies with him to show Jane and me. We don’t remember Loren referring to any double exposures in a literal sense.

(“Something outmoded or old-fashioned.” Both Jane and I think this applies to Betts, Doug’s mother. Betts took us for a ride Sunday in Sayre. When we drove past a house with a swimming pool Betts remarked that she was too old for such things. Jane and I thought this was unwitting negative suggestion, since Betts at 44 is 3 years younger than I am.

(In all I asked Seth four questions pertaining to the envelope experiment. After answering the first one Jane paused, and I asked the next question without waiting too long. She went along with this technique seemingly without objection. First I asked Seth to elaborate on the music data.

(“A connection with a camera and pictures.” As stated the object is related to transparencies, in that Doug’s father Loren brought his camera and transparencies with him. Jane heard our conversation about pictures and joined in the discussion. She did not know about Doug and me writing on the envelope flap, although she had seen the envelope and flap attached earlier in the day in a casual way.

(Jane now explained at break that Seth didn’t want her to say transparencies when I asked her to name the object. While in trance, she said, she had strong thoughts of Loren and Betts and the pictures, although she had no images. She also had no thoughts that she is aware of, of the viewer. When I asked her to explain the object, she explained, the inhibiting idea of the transparencies got in the way. Since Seth didn’t want her to say transparencies, a compromise emerges in which a connection with the actual envelope object is given.

(Remember that at the beginning of this data Jane is quoted as saying that she had strong impressions of something connected with both music and photographs. This before she opened the experimental envelope to see the object. Jane knows Loren and Betts well, of course, and the transparencies were of Jane and me. These emotional charges outweighed that contained in the envelope object.

(Jane resumed at an average pace, with her eyes closed, at 10:48.)

(True. As soon as Seth explained the data I remembered that Doug explained to Jane and me that he was wearing a new suit. This was when he first arrived. The jacket has copper-colored buttons. Doug hung the coat up carefully after his arrival and we saw it no more that day.)

(“Why don’t you give us a little material on Jane’s sinus condition?”)

(During the 247th session Seth told Marian that Jimmy’s health was good. Seth devoted much of the 229th session to what he said were tax and money problems involving Jimmy. As stated at the time, Jane and I have no idea as to the validity of the 229th session. The material was quite detailed; we have yet to hear or see anything to back any of it up. In a recent session Seth said that probabilities might enter in with this data, but that is all we know. Saturday night Jane and I did wonder why Jimmy asked the particular question he did. In the 229th session Seth gave a March 15 date in connection with Jimmy’s supposed tax troubles.)

(End at 11:00 PM. Jane was dissociated as usual. Her eyes began to open at the near-end of the delivery. She said Seth was warm and emotional at the close, and would have continued had we asked.