“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The 53rd envelope experiment was held this session. The object was the same object used for the last session, the 257th. See the copy of it on page 142, and the notes concerning it on pages 143 and 147, as well as our interpretation of Seth’s data concerning it; this also begins on page 147.

(This is the first time during the envelope experiments that the same object was used twice in succession. I was curious to see if Seth would repeat any of his impressions given in the 257th session. This he did do, though often approaching the same topic or impression in new language. We think the data from one of the experiments reinforces that of the other.

(Once before, in the first and 18th envelope experiments, an object was used that was similar but not identical by any means. In the first experiment in the 179th session, Seth came through with one accurate impression. In the 18th experiment, held during the 212th session, a few more impressions were obtained; but overall the results were interfered with by other factors in a way that doesn’t seem to happen these days. See Session 179 in Volume 4, and Session 212 in Volume 5.

Now, our object seems to be round, like a top: And also, like a top, capable of some motion. Brown and white in color, moving counterclockwise I believe, upon a small standard. It may be some sort of scientific device—I do not know, but it is a mechanical device.

(“How about colors connected with the object?”)

(“Do you want to try naming the object?”)

(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.

(The idea in using the same object a second time in succession was to see whether Seth would come up with the same, or similar, impressions, both times. Seth does deal with some of the same impressions in both experiments, using different language each time, and this will be indicated where we think it occurred.

(“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.

(Since these “try” or trial references are included on the object itself, we see a similarity in the above impressions and the “markings and dates” data Seth gives in the 257th session. See the notes on page 149.

(“A fold.” The object was folded once for insertion into the double envelopes. See the fold indicated in the copy on page 142.

(“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.

(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.

(“Some lines of printed or written material.” Father Ryan’s mourning photo contained printed type on the back. The envelope object contains both typewritten and handwritten material.

(“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.

(If the date impression above refers to the object itself, this recalls the “markings and dates,” data on page 149 of the last session. Possibly also “The month of April.” on page 148.

(“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.

(“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.

(“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.

(“It is not empty on either side. Rectangular with a border.” Here I asked Seth to try naming the object. I believe the answer refers to the photo of the deceased Father Ryan. See the notes following “A border…” on page 157.

(The envelope object was folded once. It bore typing and writing on one side only. Perhaps the folding, giving the impression of a layer of markings on more than one side, was confusing to Seth. He has sorted out such impressions before however. To me at least the border on Father Ryan’s photo is more of a border than the implied border on the object itself.

(“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.

(Seth gave 24 impressions about the envelope object in the 257th session. He gave 21 impressions concerning the same object in the 258th session. In the notes for the 258th session I note 11 impressions that could refer to the impressions given in the 257th session. This is not a strict total by any means; it could be more or less. There can be as many interpretations of this material as there are individuals, and nowhere did Seth say that the same object was being used in both experiments.

(Personally I believe it quite likely that Seth was perceiving impressions related to the object in some manner, or concerning the object itself, in both sessions. There are a total of 45 impressions from both sessions, and it seems that many of them were relevant to the object in some way.

(Reduced copy of the tracing of the paint pattern used as the object in the 54th envelope experiment, in the 259th session for May 16,1966.)