“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.

(I sealed the object as usual in the regular double envelopes after enclosing it between two pieces of Bristol.

The same atoms and molecules that are perceived in your system as physical objects are perceived in other systems as entirely different realities. Basically the same energy that composes a system projects into other systems, and it is perceived differently. Space, time, size, density, all of these are the results of your own perception.

Another formal affair. By this I do not refer to a ball, necessarily, but to a formally-scheduled event where formality rather than informality rules. We will give an object shortly.

The object seems to be some kind of scarf. A connection with a four and six and with this scarf. It may belong to a woman. It has been on the back seat of a car. It is brown, with tinges of orange or red.

(“Do you want to try naming the object?”)

(We were easily able to make all the connections except one, which Seth helped us out with after break. See the tracing on page 72, and the notes describing it and its circumstances on page 73. The pencil drawing below the actual envelope object is explanatory only.

(“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 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 color blue.” As stated the writing on the object is in blue ink. The tracing on page 72 is made with the same pen used to produce the writing.

(“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.

(“Two.” Two people wrote on the envelope object.

(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 strong musical interests. The item belongs to, or did belong to, someone with musical interests. An instrument connected here I believe, perhaps indirectly.” Doug’s parents, Loren and Betts, have strong musical interests. As far as we know however Doug does not. Nor does his sister Linda, who wrote the letter and enclosed it in the envelope from which the flap used as object was taken. Neither Loren or Betts own any instruments except for a piano, which they both major in. Betts is choir director for her church. Would a piano or organ be the indirect connection? I did not think to ask.

(“I believe a male.” Doug, coauthor of the object, is male.

(“I am not clear here. There seems to be more than one of a kind.” There are two different signatures on the object.

(For my fourth question I asked Seth if he wanted to try naming the object.

(“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.

(Tracing of the red satin bow used as the envelope object in the 46th experiment, in the 249th session for April 6,1966.)