“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The 52nd envelope experiment was held. The object was a page of manuscript from Jane’s dream book. She had thrown it away on May 5; unknown to her I fished it out of the wastebasket. It is typed on yellow paper and bears her penned notations. The back of it is blank. I used the two pieces of Bristol board and the two envelopes as usual in preparing it for the experiment.

(Break at 9:58. Jane was dissociated as usual. Her eyes remained closed and her pace was slow. She was aware that she was very restless. Jane said that during one of the longer pauses she felt Seth trying to get at the name Nostratious from the earlier note data. We thought Nostratious Elmo a most peculiar name. In an earlier session Seth told us Jane had been a medium in her Boston life, and that she had misused her abilities. This could account for the mention of a professional name above however. See page 86 in Volume 1.

(See the copy of the envelope object on page 142. As stated it is the top half of the first page of chapter five of the book on dreams that Jane is writing. This was the first draft. Jane had thrown it away and I rescued it from the wastebasket in my studio. It is written on yellow paper; the notations were made by a pen with the same color ink as those on the copy. I wrote the date in pencil on the object the day I found it. It was folded once before going into the sealed double envelope. The back side of the object is blank.

(“A framework, that seems to be wooden, with thin lines like poles.” We believe this data is reinforced by the “high ledge shape” data given later, and that it refers to my studio, wherein the page of manuscript used as object was written. Jane uses the studio in the mornings while I am working outside. Her desk faces a row of five windows, tall and narrow, and with small panes. The studio is actually a glass-enclosed back porch, second story, converted to year-round use.

(“Eight.” Eight is one of the page numbers enclosed in the circle in the upper right hand corner of the object, but we don’t know if this is what Seth meant.

(“The month of April.” My penciled date on the object shows I picked it up on May 5,1966. Jane said she wrote the page used as object early in the month of April, and did not throw it away until she had rewritten it a month later. In the next session Seth tells us Jane wrote the object on April 7.

(“An initiation, not completed.” The object is the first half page from the first draft of chapter five of Jane’s dream book, and thus would be something begun or initiated, but not completed. There can be extensions here: Not completed could refer to the whole first draft of chapter five, or to the whole dream book itself. Also, perhaps, initiation could be linked to the suggested experiments for the reader to try, as mentioned in the headings. Jane’s idea is that this data refers to the dream book itself being started but not completed.

(“A star shape. Something round, again, with spokes leading outward, but rather prominent.” Jane immediately thought of this diagram when she read over Seth’s data. It is on the back of page 112 of the first draft of chapter five of the dream book. Jane believes that she quite possibly made the diagram on the same day she typed up page 80, which was used as envelope object. Page 112 was used in the final version of chapter five, fortunately, and so was not thrown away. I had not seen the diagram before. It is one Jane made to help her see clearly certain points involving the whole self, and waking and dreaming states. There was much handwritten copy beneath it. Jane located the diagram immediately after this session. She said it is the only one she made for the dream book; she has the habit of making many notes on her manuscript, but very few diagrams of this kind.

(“Something disturbed.” This data should have been included after “Connection with an animal.” on page 147. We see no connections.

(“and a connection with a horse perhaps. Some connection here, but distant.” See the interpretation of the “connection with an animal” data on page 149. In the early part of chapter five, from which the envelope object comes, Jane used the phrase “cart before the horse.”

(“A small round circle suggesting a postmark.” In the upper right-hand corner of the object is the page number, enclosed in a circle, and in approximately the position of an envelope postmark.

(“A connection with a high ledge shape, as one connected with a roof, or lookout from which one can look down and away.” See the interpretation of the “framework” data on page 148. As stated, the manuscript page used as object was written by Jane in the studio at the back of the apartment. The studio is a second-floor converted porch with two sides made up of five windows each. Jane sits at her desk facing the row of windows to the west; from there she has an excellent view of the backyard and the street beyond. She “looks down and away” at grass and flowers, etc., and to her left, not obstructing her view, is the porch roof of the apartment on the ground floor.

(“Connection with four people, one of them disheveled,” I wanted to ask Seth questions about this data but did not get the chance. The object is part of the first page of chapter five of Jane’s dream book. In chapter five Jane discusses dreams furnished by four people specifically—Jane, myself, Bill Gallagher and our landlady, Marian Spaziani.

(The TV screen entered the data because Jane used an analogy in the first couple of pages of chapter five of the dream book, involving a TV screen; she mentioned it quite extensively on two pages. The analogy does not show on the half page used as object. It begins on the bottom half of the same page—but not in the first draft of chapter five of the dream book. It is found instead in the second draft; rewriting the chapter, Jane then inserted the television screen analogy to help make some points clear.

(“Something not done, but begun.” I asked Seth but one question, asking for elaboration on “An initiation not completed.” See the first interpretation of this on page 148. Jane believes the bit of data above refers to the fact that she had begun the dream book, but hasn’t finished it yet.)