“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(There follows from her dream notebook Jane’s account of one of the dreams she had on Tuesday, May 10,1966: “This whole dream was in images. I saw the universe… or whole reality, an infinity of spirals and stars, in depth somehow. Someone told me? or I just knew… that many of our cherished ideas concerning reality are completely wrong. It was a revelation type dream, except that now I can’t remember anymore about it. Perhaps someone else was showing me all this; not sure though.”

(The session was held in our front room. Jane began speaking while sitting down and with a hand raised to her closed eyes. She used many pauses, some of them long. Her voice was quiet.)

It is correct to say that the truth can never appear completely undistorted when words are used, for the words themselves almost cloak as much as they reveal. (A long pause; Jane was very restless.) The dream, I believe, was a part of a series of three dreams, the other two yet to come. He was also involved in some astral travel. This is not unusual, for the inner self frequently leaves the body when the body sleeps.

(Break at 9:22. Jane was dissociated as usual. Her pace had picked up considerably and her eyes had begun to open often, to the point where she lit a cigarette and sipped wine. She said that if the above material represented what her dream meant, she had no memory of it consciously. I was about to ask Seth who gave Jane the data in the dream when break came.

(Jane resumed with her eyes closed and at a slower pace at 9:33.)

The heavenly bodies as moment points conform to certain mathematical principles, though your idea of mathematics is extremely limited. Even using your mathematics, you can still only conceive of reality in certain terms. It is difficult to put this into words. I must reemphasize this. Your mathematics still deals, comparatively speaking, with a very slim area. (Jane smiled, eyes wide open and very dark.)

(Break at 9:52. Jane had been dissociated as usual. Her pace had again become good. Her eyes had begun to open frequently and she had spoken with emphasis and many gestures.

(It was time for the 62nd Dr. Instream data. Jane spoke with many short pauses, a hand raised to her closed eyes. Resume at 10:00.)

(Jane paused at 10:08. Without opening her eyes she took the envelope for our 53rd experiment from me, then pressed it to her forehead with both hands. She began speaking in a quiet voice and with many pauses.)

Some connection with an invitation, or an attempt, perhaps to communicate. (Jane gestured with the envelope, which by now she had lowered from her forehead.) Give us time… Mention of building, or implied mention… (Pause, but I didn’t wait long enough.)

(Break at 10:20. Jane said she was well dissociated during the experiments. Her eyes had remained closed through both experiments. She was very surprised to learn that the same object had been used for the envelopes in the last two sessions.

(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.

(“Four. Seven.” Jane remembered writing the object early in April, and thought it quite possible these two numbers referred to April 7 as the specific day she did so. Seth confirms this after break.

(“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.

(This data is amply reinforced in the 257th session by two impressions: “Squares. Perhaps a game connection.” page 147, and “Connection with four people, one of them disheveled,” page 147. The notes interpreting these two impressions will explain both Jane’s playground dream, and the playground itself, in more detail.

(“A border. Perhaps in black.” My own idea is that this refers to the recent death of a priest Jane knew in her teens. A couple of weeks ago she received notice of his death, with a photo of him edged in heavy black. There is a connection between the priest, Father Ryan, and Jane’s playground dreams, and the playground itself in Saratoga Springs. The playground is directly across the street from the Catholic school Jane attended. The school was actually housed in a complex of buildings that contained also a church and the headquarters and living area of the particular priestly order serving Saratoga and environs.

(Father Ryan lived there. Jane met him toward the end of the long period during which she had her recurring playground dreams. However she never told Father Ryan of the dreams—nor anyone else except her mother. Jane said it is interesting to remember that from the classroom in which she had many long talks with Father Ryan, she could look across the street at the very section of the playground which served as the setting for her recurring dream.

(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.

(“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.

(“A date.” The object contains my penciled date, May 5,1966, representing the day I found it after Jane had discarded it. On May 5, I decided to use it in an envelope experiment.

(“40.” Jane said this refers to the year 1940. It was during this year that her recurring playground dream was strong and vivid. She was 11 years old. At this time she had yet to meet Father Ryan.

(“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.

(“Dark lettering.” This too came through in answer to the first question. The object itself does bear dark lettering—both the typing and Jane’s penned notes and corrections.

(“Give us time… Mention of building, or implied mention.” This too came through in answer to the second and third questions, concerning the content of the lettering on the envelope object. Jane believes it refers to her recurring playground dream, and the fact that her school was directly across the street from the site of her dream. See the notes under “A border. Perhaps in black.” on page 157, describing the physical relation between the school, the priests’ home quarters, and the playground. The relation with building here is a little unusual. Although the building was directly across the street from the playground there was no access between the two. A high fence surrounded the block-size playground, with the two entrances on an opposite side and end from the school; hence a child to reach the school from the playground had to travel at least one full block, and possibly two.

(“Written to or from a woman.” This too came through in answer to the second and third questions, concerning the content of the lettering on the object itself. Jane of course wrote the page of manuscript used as object.

(“I suggest your break.” Seth came through thusly when I asked him about the “Four. Seven.” impression interpreted on page 157. Jane and I believed it meant the date, April 7, on which Jane wrote the page of manuscript used as object. Seth agrees after break.

(Jane resumed at 10:43.)