“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The 50th envelope experiment was held during the session. The object was a black and white photo of Jane’s father and his deceased second wife, Maxine, taken sometime prior to 1954. Jane hadn’t seen the photo in recent months. I placed it between the usual two pieces of Bristol and sealed it in the double envelopes.

(The session was held in our front room. Jane began speaking while sitting down and with her eyes closed. She was smoking however and her eyes soon began to open often. Her pace was average, her voice quiet.

It can therefore, without loss of its basic integrity, change egos when such a change becomes necessary. Now. In some cases this may cause inconvenience and considerable psychological difficulties, but when such an instance occurs it is because the ego structure that is being deposed was not carrying out the main aims or goals of the identity which originally gave it that envied position of dominance.

(Break at 9:26. Jane said she was well dissociated for a first delivery. Her pace had picked up and her eyes, very dark, had been open much of the time.

(Break at 9:57. Jane was again well dissociated. She said the passage of time seemed like ten minutes at the most. Her eyes had been open much of the time.

(It was now time for the 59th Dr. Instream experiment. Jane sat with her right hand raised to her closed eyes, speaking at a somewhat slower rate, with many short pauses. Resume at 10:08.)

(Break at 10:28. Jane was dissociated as usual. Her eyes had remained closed throughout both experiments. She had but one image during the envelope data—of white notepaper with blue lines upon it, and she didn’t know whether this came from Seth or herself.

(Note that I was able to ask eight questions. This exceeds by several the last high of five in the 254th session.

(Briefly, the object is a black-and-white photo of Jane’s father Del, and his deceased second wife Maxine. Del was about 48 when the picture was taken in the backyard of their home in Santa Monica, California, and Maxine was 38 or 39. Within six months Maxine was dead from cancer. Her death took place in California just at the time I met Jane in Saratoga Springs, NY, in 1954 in January. Jane hadn’t seen Maxine for a couple of years and I had never met her.

(“Stone steps.” Although it does not show in the photo itself, just beyond the photo would be the back steps of the couples’ house in Santa Monica. These are either stone or concrete; Jane and I cannot be sure, not having been there for perhaps eight or nine years. At the time the picture was taken there was a small guest house, California style, in back of the main house; here Jane recalls a flagstone walk. This little house was torn down before my first visit to Santa Monica. A flight of four or five steps, stone or concrete, led up to the back porch of the main house.

(“Some kind of connection with a screen, or with a motion picture screen, or camera screen.” The object was a photograph. These related references could be the attempts of Seth/Jane to get at the idea of the picture.

(“Male.” Seth here gives the sex of the child mentioned on page 128. I had wondered if it was a reference to Jane herself. During break Jane said she believed it referred to a brother of Maxine’s. The brother is the same approximate age as Jane, and lived in upstate New York near Saratoga; hence Jane got to know the members of Maxine’s family fairly well even though she seldom saw Maxine herself. Jane said she liked the brother quite well; he is the member of Maxine’s family who made an impression on her.

The unheard-of event did refer to a surprising event, of the woman’s death. The photograph was taken on the woman’s birthday, and the corsage was a surprise.

The boy referred to the only member of the woman’s family that made an impression on Ruburt. These are the main points. The woman’s suit was dark blue.