“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(I picked up the matchbook in a restaurant, Mother Goldsmith’s in Saratoga Springs, NY. Jane has been familiar with the place since childhood, and on our infrequent visits to Saratoga we always stop in. I dated this particular matchbook on the inside when obtaining it—August 1963, which was before these sessions began in December 1963. The book is printed in black on a dim yellow—as Seth calls it—cardboard stock. All the copy on it, except for Nate Goldsmith’s name beneath the caricature of him, is in this dim yellow against the black background.

(It wasn’t until Jane and I began to study the envelope data that we realized it referred to more than one visit to Saratoga on our part. This immediately complicated things. Interpretations became elusive indeed, and part of our knowledge that two visits to Saratoga were involved was subjective only. Had we realized this by the end of the session we would have called Seth back to help out. As it was we didn’t appreciate what had happened until the time came to write these notes. Another complication is that while we cannot pin down all the data, we feel that most of it is quite legitimate.

(I will indicate below where we believe the two Saratoga visits are referred to in the envelope data. The first visit was in August 1963, the second was in the summer of 1964. On both occasions Jane and I were on our way to York Beach, Maine, on vacation; both visits to York Beach played a part in these sessions, and exact dates can be found in appropriate sessions. See Session 9 in Volume 1.

(The connection between the envelope object and our two visits to Mother Goldsmith’s is strong enough, in that Jane and I ate there both years. We saw the same hostess both times also—a girl Jane went to school with in Saratoga. We did not see Nate Goldsmith or his wife on the first visit, and the reasons we did not see either of them on our second visit are given in our data interpretations.

(“Four. Connection with a meeting.” This too took place on the 1964 visit. Jane feels subjectively sure that here the meeting between us and her father, Del, and his third wife, is referred to. The meeting was arranged by mail beforehand. Jane and I planned to meet Del and his wife, who were already camping at Saratoga Lake, there, and spend a few days with them before going on to Maine. This we did.

(“Four people standing up.” Four people were involved on our second visit to Saratoga, of course, but we don’t know what the standing reference involves.

(“Implication of an error.” This is a good connection, involving both our visits to Saratoga. It is personal and so is not given in detail here, but can be explained by us at any time.

(“The impression of movement, and some impression of a machine, perhaps an airplane.” Jane said this refers to our automobile trips to Saratoga, the object being obtained on the first of these in 1963.