“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.

(“A connection with mass, or a word that sounds like mas-todon.” Since mass was mentioned first, we think this refers to “en masse”, near the bottom of the object. There are also references to animals in chapter five; Jane discusses these under the chapter heading “Dream Symbols and Culture” on the object, and mentions that fire helped primitive man keep the beasts away. We thought the primitive reference might have conjured up mas-todon, and that this in turn would support Seth’s “Connection with an animal” data in the 257th session. After break Seth tells us we are right about mass, wrong about “todon.”

(“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.

(“An M”, We can make M connections but do not know if we are correct. One could be Marian Spaziani; Jane uses a dream of Marian’s in chapter five. In this case see the “Connection with four people…” data on page 147. The word manipulate is found twice in Jane’s handwriting on the object itself; but there are also three other words on the object that begin with this letter: Mean, en masse, and more.

(“and a connection with flowers.” One of the chapter headings on the envelope object is Dream Symbols and Culture. Under this Jane discusses how we react to the symbolic meaning of objects. For an analogy here she uses flowers—Easter and lilies, for example. The analogy takes up several typewritten lines, and mentions several kinds of flowers.

(“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.

(“Heat, or red.” Again, one of the chapter headings on the envelope object is Dream Symbols and Culture. Under this subject Jane discusses the symbolic and cultural meaning of fire for primitive man.

(This echoes the “Connection with an animal.” data interpreted on page 149 of the last session. Note that Seth picked up data connected with this particular chapter heading several times.

(“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.

(“White. Brown.” Seth gave this in answer to my first question, concerning colors connected with the object. Jane said this refers to an experience from her own childhood, which is discussed, again, under the Dream Symbols and Culture heading on the envelope object, in chapter five. Her experience involved a pair of her mother’s brown and white spectator shoes, and was connected with her mother’s illness. It made such an impression on Jane that even now she does not wear shoes bearing this particular color combination.

(“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.

You were indeed. The first version of the chapter was written on April 7.