“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(See the copy of the envelope object on page 142 of the 257th session. Again, it is the top half of the first page of chapter five of the book Jane is writing on dreams. It is the first draft, and was thrown away by Jane and saved by me, unknown to her. I dated it May 5,1966 in pencil. It was typed on yellow paper, corrected by Jane with a dark pen. I folded it once putting it into the double envelope.

(“A connection with a trial, or something tried. I do not know if this is trial in terms of judgment, or in terms of an attempt, you see.” We think this refers to attempt. Chapter five of the dream book contains suggested experiments for the reader to try, involving waking and dreaming states and their interchange, etc. On the object itself, the word try is used twice in Jane’s notes, having to do with the reader’s attempt to manipulate dreams. The chapter from which the object came contains many other such references also.

(“Shapes that are stacked. Something like Jungle Gyms in a playground.” Jungle Gyms in playgrounds, made of tubular metal formed into various sizes of cube and square, give the impression of being stacked cube on cube. Games and playgrounds figure prominently in chapter five of Jane’s dream book; the envelope object is the first page from chapter five. Jane’s childhood playground in Saratoga Springs, NY, is described in chapter five, as well as a vivid recurring dream which had this playground for a setting. In both waking life and the recurring dream, games such as Jungle Gyms played a leading role.

(A note here: On page 148, see our interpretation of Seth’s impression, “Anemia,” and Jane’s connecting this with our friend Helga Anderson. Writing of Father Ryan now reminds us that he died of leukemia—also a blood disorder as anemia is. Note that Seth merely said that anemia reminded Jane of Helga Anderson; Helga is not given as Seth’s impression. Perhaps the anemia impression is a distortion of leukemia. However, we think Jane’s Helga impressions and the interpretations leading to the envelope object and the dream book in general, to be legitimate.

(“Movement and weight.” Jane feels subjectively that this refers to the four specific dreams, furnished by four specific people, that she discusses in chapter five of her dream book. These are represented on the object itself by the chapter heading, “Recurring Dreams..?” among others. Movement is especially prominent in the dreams discussed, and in three out of the four can be violent or strong: Flying, swinging, running as fast as one can. The fourth dream concerns driving at an average rate of speed. Both movement and weight, bodily weight for instance, enter in chapter five when Jane discusses physical matter and how its attributes change according to individual perception.

(“A groan, or something grown.” Jane said this refers to the fact that the original version of chapter five, from which the envelope object was taken, grew to be two chapters, five and six, in the final version in her dream book.

(“The content? Some connection with an invitation, or an attempt, perhaps to communicate.” These impressions resulted from my second and third questions, concerning the content of the lettering on the envelope object. Chapter five of the dream book of course contains many invitations to the reader to try various experiments listed, to communicate back and forth between the waking and dreaming states, etc. Invitations and attempts to communicate are also mentioned on the object itself.