“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The 48th envelope experiment was held during the session. See the copy of the object on page 104. We had saved the article because it dealt with our friend Bill Macdonnel, who has witnessed several sessions. When Bill visited us early this evening I thought of using the clipping as object.

(“A connection with something ripped or torn out.” Originally I tore the article out of the paper. Note that signs of this are still visible on the left hand edge. The bottom of the clipping was also rough, and I clipped it evenly with scissors before filing it; this was before I thought of using it as object; Jane of course knew I saved the article because it pertained to Bill Macdonnel. As it happened my clipping the article along the bottom made it fit just right between the usual two pieces of Bristol, and into the double envelopes.

(“A connection with a schedule,” Bill Macdonnel’s gallery referred to in the article is a converted store with an inset door. Thus it has two display windows, one on each side of the door. The so-called disputed painting is in one window. In the window opposite it Bill has a large hand-lettered sign dealing with the hours when his gallery is open to visitors and for painting classes. Bill has been ill recently and has not maintained his advertised schedule, which has resulted in some confusion.

(“An organized endeavor.” Certainly the pressure applied to Bill Macdonnel by three police visits or calls, in an effort to get him to remove the painting from the window. A slightly different interpretation here would be that the police constitute an organization, and that their efforts to have Bill remove the painting constitute an endeavor.

(“A connection with something distant,” In the sixth column of the envelope object there is a reference to Corning—Painted Post School District, which employs Bill as an art teacher. This is perhaps twenty-five miles away. Bill lives here in Elmira and commutes to work daily. The time he can spend at his gallery in Elmira is thus quite limited—another reason for the schedule of hours posted in one of the windows, as mentioned on page 109.

(“with three people in particular.” When the police asked Bill to remove the painting from his gallery window, he asked advice from three people in particular. Two of the people are named in the sixth column of the envelope object. These two supported Bill’s decision to leave the painting in the window. The third man, Ernfred Anderson, who has a national reputation as a sculptor and teacher at Elmira College, and is a close friend of Bill, Jane and mine, advised Bill to remove the painting. Bill told Jane and me this on his visit earlier this evening, although we had heard this from other friends several days ago.

(“An announcement, as in an announcement of intention.” The first paragraph of the envelope object contains Bill Macdonnel’s intention not to remove the painting from the gallery window even though requested to do so by the police. Bill reiterated his decision on his visit earlier tonight.

(“An impression again of an unscheduled event also, or an event not kept.” Jane is sure this refers to Peggy Gallagher, who wrote the news story used as envelope object. On Friday April 15 Jane and I and the Gallaghers heard about Bill’s difficulties. Peggy planned to call Bill Saturday but did not do so. We saw the Gallaghers on Sunday evening and learned that she still hadn’t seen Bill Macdonnel. Her story however was printed on Monday, April 18, which means she had to see Bill sometime Monday morning. This was possible because Bill Macdonnel, as a teacher, was still on Easter vacation. See also the “something not kept” reference and interpretation on page 109.

(“A mishmash, as of tiny crisscrossing wires.” Seth gave this answer to my question in which I asked him to say more about the object itself. The object consists of small printed type which was folded several times; such an impression of tiny criss-crossings could occur to an entity with the ability to see through the layers of the object, so to speak, or to pick up the impressions resulting from layers. This gets complicated however as will be seen in the next impression. [A later note by Rob: Bill had a small scuplture of criss-crossing wires in a gallery window.]

(“More of an egg shape than a circle.” Seth gave this in answer to my second question, and continues below. See the data and our interpretation on page 109, with the description of the two near-circular sculptures in the same window of Bill Macdonnel’s gallery, with the disputed nude painting. Seth gave the above data when I asked him to clarify his original data on page 108. The smaller of the two sculptures is more egg-shaped than the larger. See the next impression.

(“I mentioned several colors. The color bronze here.” This was in response to my third and last question, for more data on color connected with the object. Jane subjectively feels the bronze reference above deals with the overall color of Bill’s painting, discussed in the envelope object. In the first column Peggy Gallagher calls the painting done “In washed out shades of gray and orange.” Jane associates the gray and orange with bronze. I neglected to ask Seth about “The number 5.”

(Neither of us had seen Bill’s painting at the time the newspaper article was published, or this session held, on Wednesday, April 20. We did see it this morning, April 23. I can say the overall tone of the painting is of an orange gray, [bronze?] with other very muted colors interwoven.)