“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The 56th envelope experiment was held during the session. The object was a pencil drawing I made of Jane this afternoon, without her knowledge. I looked down on her as she sunned herself, my viewpoint being the back row of the studio windows on the second story. The sketch took but a few minutes because she moved so frequently, and I was much amused at her restlessness; this mirth plays a part in the experimental results. The drawing is on porous paper with a slight yellowish cast. I placed it between the usual two pieces of Bristol, then sealed it in double envelopes.

(“Mirth.” As stated earlier, I felt pronounced amusement while making the drawing used as the object. Jane moved almost constantly while posing unwittingly, and I had to work very rapidly while at the same time being careful she didn’t look up at the studio windows on the second floor and see what I was doing.

(“A rectangular card, with printed matter.” The object is on a rectangular piece of heavy, porous-type paper, similar to card stock. Jane said she had an image of the correct size and proportion of the object, and that Seth was trying to get this data across to her. She had no image of a drawing, or herself.

(“A pattern of wavy lines, or of wavering lines.” The drawing used as object contains many lines, few of them straight. Jane said that in particular this data referred to the serape upon which she sat, and the tasseled edge or fringe beneath her lower legs. The drawing is organized into a pattern.

(“The impression now of looking down, from a high position…” This is an excellent description of my position in the second-story studio, looking quite straight down as I sketched Jane on the lawn. She was perhaps twelve feet below me. Jane had an image in connection with this data, which is explained below. At the time I made the drawing I wondered if Jane would sense the fact even though she didn’t see me. Jane paused noticeably before she continued.

(“A thin border on the object”, The border might be called thin on the bottom and left edge of the object, since the drawing runs out almost to the edge here. There is plenty of room however on the top and right sides.

(“Reaching in the center out toward the margins.” In the drawing Jane’s left arm and both legs reach out toward the bottom and left edges of the object.

(“The sort of lines for example that a map would have to indicate small roads, or the lines like cracks in a dry ground.” My second question asked for more on the wavering lines impression discussed on page 185. See the copy of the object on page 178. The drawing is composed of thin pencil lines in part at least, and these could in the abstract represent small roads on a map, or lines like cracks in dry ground.

(Jane didn’t have much to say about the map simile, but thought the ground crack idea pertinent. While sitting in the sun, smoking the one cigarette she had with her—it is shown in the sketch, which means she smoked it after I finished the drawing—she looked for a bare spot of ground against which to put the smoke out. In doing so she realized that the ground was quite dry, and that we needed more rain.

(“Five or 6 for the month perhaps.” The drawing was made during the fifth month, May.

(After the experiment, and after we had interpreted the data, Jane recalled one impression she had which she had not mentioned. The impression was “Star shape.” Looking at the drawing, Jane felt it applied to the radiating lines on the crown of the straw hat she wore as I sketched her. We think this legitimate for Jane uses such calligraphy in her paintings.

(“Did Jane know I was making the drawing of her?”)