“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The objects for the 57th envelope experiment were two leaves taken from our poinsettia plant. The plant is an old one, and one of our favorites. We see it every day of course but I was sure Jane wasn’t aware of these two specific leaves separately. The plant also has an interesting history, which will be brought out later. I taped the leaves to one of the two pieces of Bristol used in these experiments, sandwiched it against the other piece, then sealed the two in the usual double envelopes. Note that the word “top” is penciled on the back of the Bristol; this was done by me after the experiment, but before Jane saw the objects, as will be shown later.

I want to give you some idea of the conditions that you may expect to meet in any successful projections, so that you will be prepared to some extent. For simplicity’s sake we shall call the body forms of which we spoke in our last session, forms one, two and three.

(Long pause.) In form two, you will not as a rule encounter any subconscious phantoms, and usually you make the change to form two from the state in which form one is used. The ordinary dream elements will not be as frequent, nor will they intrude as much into the experience itself.

(Very restless, rubbing eyes heavily.) Now listen carefully for a moment. It is possible in form two to project to a future event (eyes now open wide and steady, very dark) in which you will be involved, and by an act that you make in the projection, alter the course that this future will take. (Smile.)

Perhaps two windows also on the south side; though I am not sure these are windows on the south side, but window shapes in any case. The others are windows. There is no building immediately outside of them, but grass and street or a courtyard.

Also something in the center of the oval. (Jane now lowered the envelope to her lap with her left hand, sitting however with her other hand still to her closed eyes.) Two horizontal lines, rather widely separated from each other.

(“Can you say something more about those two horizontal lines?”)

I have the impression of two dark horizontal lines, one rather toward the top and one rather toward the bottom. (Jane again gestured with the envelope. She held it in the same position as noted before, the small dimensions parallel to the floor. She hadn’t changed its position by idly turning it, for example.) Both inside, but just an oval shape. Holding the object this way. (The same gesture again.) Now I suggest your break. Unless you have any more questions.

(Jane always sits quietly for a few moments after leaving trance until she is fully oriented. This gave me enough time to once again see that she held the envelope in the same position relative to the floor. I called her attention to this, then marked the outer envelope “top”. Next I marked the inside envelope the same way, then the two pieces of Bristol the same way as Jane watched. The two leaves were sandwiched between the Bristols. Note the top marking in pencil on the back of the object, as indicated on the tracing on page 189.

(“Again, I have the impression of something round—more oval, perhaps. Fairly large in the center of a square or rectangular object.” As noted Jane held the envelope to her forehead with the long axis parallel to the floor. No matter which long edge was uppermost this places the large poinsettia leaf in the center of the card as far as the short edges are concerned. Even so the large leaf would be off center, either above or below, as far as the long edges are concerned. I hoped Seth would mention two objects, but he did not.

(Seth goes from round to oval, which is more specific as far as the leaf is concerned, and from square to rectangular, which is more specific as far as the rectangular shape of the piece of Bristol to which I had taped both objects is concerned. The bigger of the two leaves is fairly large as far as the overall size of the piece of Bristol is concerned.

(“Two horizontal lines, rather widely separated from each other.” Since Jane had held the envelope to her forehead in the position above indicated, it can be seen that the “spines” of the two leaves, taped to the Bristol, would be roughly horizontal to the floor and thus to her vision. Provided Seth gives this data in our terms in such cases. We wondered if by horizontal Seth, or Jane, could possibly mean parallel, since the leaves are quite parallel to each other on the Bristol.

(Seth’s use of the word separated here is the closest he came to indicating two objects.

(“A small starlike shape, perhaps in the lower right hand corner, holding the object this way.” By now Jane had lowered the envelope to her lap while giving the data, and held it with a short edge up as explained. See my indication of this by use of the word top on the back of the tracing on page 189. I determined this as explained low on page 193. With the object held in this position, it can be seen that the smaller of the two poinsettia leaves would be in the lower right hand corner or the lower left hand corner, depending on whether the piece of Bristol to which the leaves were taped had the leaves facing toward Jane or away from her.

(“A connection with 1961.” The plant from which the two leaves were taken was once the property of our neighbor here in the apartment house, Miss Callahan, an elderly retired teacher. Jane first saw it in Miss Callahan’s apartment at Christmas of 1964, when Miss Callahan received it as a Christmas present.

(Jane immediately realized a poinsettia connection with 1961, however. In 1961, shortly after we had moved to Elmira, a friend with whom Jane worked at an art gallery gave her two poinsettia plants that we had for several years. This is easily remembered because the two 1961 plants are the only other poinsettias we have ever owned. We have for instance never bought a poinsettia plant for ourselves, or as a gift, etc.; the two 1961 plants and the plant which furnished the objects for tonight constitute the only three poinsettias we have been involved with. The 1961 plants were outright gifts. The third plant I found on the back porch of the apartment house last winter, where it had been discarded by Miss Callahan. More on this later.

(“Yellow and red.” The plant I acquired secondhand via Miss Callahan is the only poinsettia we have. The two 1961 plants died a couple of years ago. Oddly enough, none of our three plants have ever bloomed for us. Their blooms are red leaved, of course, with brilliant yellow centers; I have painted poinsettias many times on my job, for greeting card designs. Interestingly enough, Jane used to see our present plant in bloom in Miss Callahan’s apartment, before Miss Callahan disposed of it.

(“The impression of a water connection.” There can be at least two. As stated, today the plant which furnished the leaves used as objects sat on our bathroom windowsill. Due to the architecture of our bathroom this puts it within a foot or so of our sink. Also, since it had been quite a hot day, Jane watered the plant again at supper time—something she usually doesn’t do at that time of day.

(My first question asked Seth for more data about the two horizontal lines. See page 194. “I have the impression of two dark horizontal lines, one rather toward the top and one rather toward the bottom.” [Jane gestures.] It will be remembered that when Seth gave this data the first time, Jane held the envelope to her forehead with its long dimensions horizontal to the floor. As explained, this meant the spines of the two leaves were also roughly horizontal to the floor and her insight. Seth elaborates a bit here now, although Jane now sat holding the envelope in her lap, and with its short dimensions parallel to the floor.

(I now asked Seth to name the object: “I have the impression, holding the object this way” [gesture in the same fashion as above], “of a rectangular object, a card that is connected with a picture”, resulted in Jane having a mental image here. She saw, she said, the rectangular shape of the Bristol to which I had taped the two leaves. She also had an image of something darker in the center of the rectangle, and interpreted this as a picture instead of “something real.” Upon seeing the object, Jane realized the dark areas of the leaves matched the dark areas she had seen mentally, yet the image hadn’t been sharp enough to see as leaves; it came through in a generalized picture interpretation instead.