“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The 58th envelope experiment was held this evening. The object was a faded color Polaroid photograph. The picture was taken by Don Wilbur on April 4,1966, as noted on the back. Don and his wife Marilyn were due to witness the 248th session on April 4, but last-minute developments prevented them doing so. Don left the sealed envelope he had prepared for the session with me, however; I kept it until the Wilburs were able to witness a session. The photo is of a decorative garden cat, bearing a shining glass glaze, and was made by Marilyn.

(By coincidence Don had sealed the object in an envelope of the same size as those I use for the experiments. He did not use double envelopes, but had achieved the same effect by first wrapping the object in opaque white paper rather loosely; this also obliterated any hard edges that might have given sensory clues. Seth however discounts any possible data obtained through fingering, etc.

These are impressions. The object twirls. There are four objects that seem to be connected, four vertical wooden polelike objects, with one horizontal bar approximately in the middle. That is, one bar on the other side.

There is a metal rod that connects these two horizontal bars. (Pause.) The top portion of the vertical objects moves. The objects stand on a small wooden platform with wheels. We have an object that seems to be something like a child’s toy.

Connection with high round objects. Also perhaps with a July date, and with square objects, in design fashion.

Some distant connection with a mission. I do not know to what this refers (Jane shook her head) and with objects in a row, or a series, perhaps of numbers.

M and G, F and O. Something to do with tomorrow. That is, tomorrow as far as the object is concerned, or to do with the future, this being indicated on the object.

(“Just how are the yellow and green connected to the object?”)

Perhaps yellow in the center of a slightly rectangular shape, outlined in green. A visual connection, with square or rectangular objects in the center of a larger area, with modern connotations as a design might have. Perhaps connected with spindly lines or strings.

(“Are they on the object itself?”)

They refer to objects on the object, or strongly connected with it.

(Seth had a few comments on the envelope data after break, but the Wilburs and Jane and I had by then made the connections with the object. See the tracing on page 206, and the notes on page 207.

(“Four, plus one or two.” On the back of the object Marilyn Wilbur had written April 4, 1966, as well as the name she had given her ceramic sculpture. This date is the day Don took the picture and gave it to us. April is the fourth month; the number four also shows; and the number 1 in 1966. A 2 also shows in the serial number on the right back edge of the object. We don’t know whether Seth might have referred to this, and since I didn’t know what the object was either I couldn’t ask questions to help clear it up.

(“Connection with a meeting.” As stated, Don took the picture for specific use as an envelope object in the 248th session, due April 4,1966. The projected meeting would thus involve four people; the Wilburs could not attend at the last moment, but Don delivered the object personally on April 4, so there was an actual meeting of three.

(“Colors green and yellow.” Don took the picture of the ceramic cat as it sat on a brick wall cutting across grass as indicated in the tracing on page 206. This particular roll of Polaroid color film had been exposed to heat; Don took the chance that it would still give legible pictures. As it was the color print used as object has a dull, overall brownish cast, yet the local colors are still visible, to a reduced degree.

(“The impression of stairs or steps. Something ascending in this fashion, you see.” Here Jane gestured positively that something rose on the object at perhaps a 30-degree angle, perhaps less. This is my estimate. There are no steps shown on the object, but the brick walk is in perspective, and rises perhaps at a 20-degree angle from left to right. The separate bricks in the walk, which are not cemented together incidentally, could perhaps have led to the use of stairs or steps.

(Jane’s gesture, incidentally, was a smoothly rising one, as the brick walk smoothly rises on the object. She did not indicate the angular construction of stairs, for instance.

(“Connection with high round objects.” As can be noted on the tracing, Marilyn’s ceramic cat is composed of round or circular components. The cat’s head rises especially high in the modern fashion.

(“Also perhaps with a July date,” The date on back of the object is April 4, 1966. As soon as Jane saw this she said that she was subjectively sure she had interpreted the four date as July fourth instead of April.

(“and with square objects, in design fashion.” The bricks in the photo are rectangular, not square. As stated they are not cemented in place but set together irregularly; the pattern they make is a nicely designed one. The walk is in front of the trailer the Wilburs inhabit in a nearby small town.

(“Some distant connection with a mission. I do not know to what this refers” Here Jane shook her head in giving the data. We speculate that mission here refers to Don’s trip to our apartment last April 4, from his out-of-town residence, to tell us that he and his wife could not attend the 248th session after all; on this visit he gave us the object used this evening.

(“and with objects in a row, or a series, perhaps of numbers.” The date on the object can be thought of as a series of numbers; we think however that here Seth refers to the six-digit serial number on the back of the object, along the right-hand edge: M507832.

(“M and G”, raises once again the question of what meaning to assign to initials. The M can refer to Marilyn, who made the ceramic cat. Marilyn said the G did not refer to any person with that initial that she knew of, in connection with the object. However, she thought it might refer to the fact that the ceramic cat has a certain type of high-gloss glaze fired on; this glaze being made of glass.

(“Something to do with tomorrow. That is, tomorrow as far as the object is concerned, or to do with the future, this being indicated on the object.” When the Wilburs discovered they couldn’t attend the 248th session as witnesses on April 4,1966, the day the photo used as object tonight was taken, I saved the object for future use when they could be witnesses, as explained. In this sense perhaps it can be said the object had a meaning assigned to it concerning the future. But there is nothing on the object itself to indicate this.

(“The impression of the four again”, refers we believe to the first impression, interpreted on page 212, and involves the April 4, 1966 date on back of the object.

(“and graduating, as something graduates in size perhaps.” Since the brick walk in the photo was photographed in perspective, there is a graduation in the size of the bricks. They are largest in the lower left hand corner of the object, tapering up to the right border.

(Since I didn’t know what the object was all my questions were asked in the dark, so to speak. My first one asked just how the yellow and green were connected to the object. “Perhaps yellow in the center of a slightly rectangular shape, outlined in green.” The object is rectangular, but more than slightly so. The above data is a good description of the yellowish brown grass in back of the cat’s head, as explained under the yellow and green data on page 212; and of the way the yellow grass merges into the darker green brown grass around the edges of the photo. See the tracing on page 206.

(Seth continues in answer to the first question: “A visual connection, with square or rectangular objects in the center of a larger area”, refers to the rectangular bricks marching up across the center of the object. “with modern connotations as a design might have.” refers to the very modern, rounded or circular design of Marilyn’s ceramic cat. “Perhaps connected with spindly lines or strings.” refers to the abstract pattern created, in line form, by the narrow crevices and shadows around the individual bricks, all these lines being interconnected.

(“They refer to objects on the object, or strongly connected with it.” The third question sought to pin the M and G data down further. Thus the G for glass glaze refers to the cat shown on the object, the M to Marilyn who made the cat. We wouldn’t be sure of this however without Seth’s confirmation after break.

(“A distant connection here incidentally with a birthday, and the number seven.” Seth added this bit of information at the last, just before break. There is a number 7 in the upper left hand corner of the object, on the back. Marilyn said however that she felt this data could refer to the fact that her father’s birthday is on March 7, and that the camera which Don took the photo used as object belongs to her father. Seth agreed with her after break.

(Tracings of the rifle tag used as object in the 59th envelope experiment, in the 266th session for June 9,1966.)