“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The 61st envelope object is an announcement Jane and I received in the mail a few days ago. This contrasts with the object in the last session, which Jane had never seen and did not know existed. Tonight’s object is printed in black on lightweight card stock, which is an off-white color. The object was prepared for the experiment in the usual manner, using the two pieces of Bristol and the double envelopes.

(Once again Jane began speaking in a heavier voice, since our windows were open because of the warm evening. Her eyes remained closed for the entire first delivery. Her pace was good.)

(See the last session. Jane had been trying to keep alive a young robin that had been caught by one of our cats last Monday. This morning we found the bird had died during the night. It had been kept outside, in a safe place, and fed, etc. Last night at perhaps 10 PM, as we sat in the living room, Jane suddenly announced: “The bird is dead.” But we did not go to check.)

(Jane’s voice was by now somewhat heavier and stronger.)

(Break at 9:23. Jane was dissociated as usual, she said. Her eyes remained closed. Her voice had become somewhat stronger, her pace good.

(“Yes.” Jane stared at me, her eyes now open steadily. Her voice was again stronger.)

(Break at 9:59. Jane was out as usual. Her pace had been good, her voice fairly strong, her eyes open for most of the delivery.

(Jane now sat leaning forward, with both hands raised to her closed eyes as she began giving the 72nd Instream data. Resume at 10:10.)

(At 10:16 I handed Jane the envelope for our 61st experiment. Her eyes still closed, she pressed it to her forehead, its long dimension parallel to the floor.)

This is difficult to put into words… The impression of something going forward, as of a path, you see, that is wide, and then narrows into the distance. (Her eyes closed, Jane made a gesture with both arms that the Wilburs and I interpreted like this:

(Jane’s hands came together at arm’s length.)

(After the gesture Jane switched the envelope to a vertical position as she put it back against her forehead. From now on I watched carefully to see that she held the envelope in the same position until the end of the delivery, so that I could mark the top dimension thus, should it be necessary to our interpretation of the data, and the Wilburs verified that the position of the object itself was thus determined by marking in succession both envelopes as they were opened at break, the two pieces of Bristol, and finally the object itself.)

This way (Jane gestured with the vertical envelope without changing its basic position), the impression of a long line, approximately down the center, or a thin dark object, and a small object in the lower right-hand corner.

Perhaps a connection with a June date, and some designations on the other side of the object—perhaps in the upper left-hand corner. (Still holding the envelope in the vertical position and in her right hand, Jane lowered it enough so that she could touch the envelope’s upper left corner with her left hand.)

A designation of some sort. Perhaps initials or date, in the upper left-hand corner, on the other side of the object. (Jane again touched the object in the upper left-hand corner as she held it vertically. I wasn’t sure this information came through as a result of the question, feeling instead that the question had somehow interrupted her.

(Again I seemed to interrupt. Seth now went into something new as far as the envelope data is concerned. The Wilburs and I agreed later that Seth evidently decided to insert the following material just on his own, and because the time, and Jane’s trance state, seemed right to him. There is also a general idea connection with what follows and the envelope object.)

(Break at 10:31. Jane was dissociated very well, she said—really out. She thought Seth had done this deliberately to compensate for the traffic noise coming through our open windows, and because the witnesses had, in the beginning of the data, unwittingly distracted her by moving papers, coughing, etc.

(As noted on page 242, I asked Jane to hold the envelope in the same position as she came out of trance. Since she leaves the trance state easily and quickly, she heard me and complied. The envelopes and Bristols were then marked as noted, and finally the object itself. This shows as T at the top of page 4, in the copy on page 236. See also the notes on page 242.

(The Wilburs, Jane and I made the envelope connections. Seth confirmed our interpretation of a couple of them after break.

(“Ten.” The object is a notice Jane and I received in the mail recently, stating that a local artists supply store was continuing in business under new management. Tonight’s session was held on June 15. I had thrown away the envelope the object arrived in, but both of us remembered receiving the object last Friday, on June 10. Seth confirms this later.

(“Connection with a framework that is broken, or cut off.” In the lower right hand corner of page 1 of the object is a monogram consisting of the letters A and S, for Art Shop. The right leg of the A is cut shorter than the left leg. When Jane saw the monogram she said the A represented a framework to her, like an A-frame house, and that the right leg was shorter.

(“This is difficult to put into words… The impression of something going forward, as of a path, you see, that is wide, and then narrows into the distance.” Jane made her gesture, as described on page 242. “That may need some interpretation, but that is the impression.” I sought more information on this impression by the first question. At the time of the above data Jane held the envelope horizontally. There can be a literal interpretation: The drawing of the milkweed on page one of the object is V-shaped in the abstract sense—wide at one end, narrowing to a point, as did Jane’s gesture. Also the A in the Art Shop monogram narrows somewhat but doesn’t come to a point. There can also be a symbolic interpretation, and Seth raises this possibility in answer to the first question.

(Jane now switched the envelope to a vertical position, and as explained on page 242 I marked the object T for top, as shown in the copy on page 236. See page 4 of the object.

(“A top.” We don’t know, unless Seth perhaps referred to the fact that the object was made up of a folded sheet; perhaps as Jane held the envelope page 1 of the object facing her.

(“Connection with an invitation.” Since the object is a notice that the Art Shop is continuing in business, it is an invitation to continue trading there. Also Jane and I have been personally invited by the three new proprietors, whom we know, to continue doing business with the Art Shop. Additional note by Rob: Later, shop is moved to a house.

(“A house.” As stated in connection with the “framework” data on page 244, the A in the Art Shop monogram on page one of the object meant framework, or A-frame house, to Jane.

(“Four vertical lines,” While giving this data Jane held the object vertically, as indicated by T on page 4. The data is too general to be sure; the drawing on page 1 would have some upright lines in it while the object is held vertically, but nothing exactly vertical.

(Jane continued, gesturing with the object held vertically: “This way, the impression of a long line, approximately down the center, or a thin dark object”, refers we think to the stem of the milkweed drawing on page 1 of the object, running from top to bottom. The rest of this data follows:

(“and a small object in the lower right-hand corner.” With the object held as marked by T on page 4, the A-S monogram for the Art Shop is seen to be in the lower right-hand corner of page 1. This is speaking intrinsically. We don’t know for instance whether Jane held the envelope with page one of the object toward her face, or with page 4 toward her face; nor do we know whether this matters, or if it influenced Seth’s data.

(“Perhaps a connection with a June date”, See the “ten” data on page 244. Jane and I were able to determine that we received the envelope object in the mail on June 10. Seth confirmed.

(“and some designations on the other side of the object, perhaps in the upper left-hand corner.” Holding the envelope vertically in her right hand, Jane pinched the upper left corner of the envelope with her left hand. See page 243. There is printed matter on pages 1 and 3 of the object; folded, this puts one printed page behind the other, which could give rise to Seth’s use of “other side.” The Art Shop address at the top of page 3 however is neither to the right or left, but centered. We don’t know if the upper left-hand corner data derived from Jane holding the object with page one facing away from her, for instance.

(“Some writing. Now, I believe handwriting.” There is no handwriting on the object, only type. In the past Jane, or Seth, has intermixed terms for printed copy, calling it printing, writing, type, etc.

(The next question asked Seth for more data on the top impression. We don’t know whether the following data is in answer to the question: “A designation of some sort. Perhaps initials or date, in the upper left-hand corner, on the other side of the object.” Jane again indicated the upper left corner of the envelope, as she still held it vertically. This appears to be a repeat of the left corner data given on page 243, and as stated there, there is nothing in particular in a corner with the object held as marked on page 236.

(Now Seth answered the question: “A rectangular object, with white background. Also gray.” The object is rectangular. It has a white background. There is no gray on the object, but as soon as she saw the fine print on page 3, Jane said this to her meant the impression of gray.

(Jane resumed at 11:12, speaking very jovially, her eyes open.)

(“Jane wants to know why her bird died.”)

(Recently we acquired a second cat, a stray. It had the habit of coming and going at all hours. Last night Jane let it in at about 1 AM, after hearing it scratching at the backdoor. In order to do this she had to fully dress before walking down the long hall outside our apartment. Jane fed the cat and locked our apartment door as usual before returning to bed. I know she was up at this time because she woke me getting back into bed, and told me the second cat had come home. I also heard this cat and our first cat, Willy, playing in the living room.

(When we got up this morning cat number two was nowhere to be found. The hall door was locked. When I went to work this morning Jane went out to the garage with me. After I left, she found cat number two in the yard. Question: How did the cat get there? We decided to ask Seth tonight.

(I fell back to sleep at once after seeing Jane return to bed at 1 AM. Jane said she remembered that the two cats were very noisy as they played together in the dark apartment, and that she remembered wishing they would stop. But she had no memory of getting up a second time, dressing, etc., to put cat number two out again.)

(Seth called it a night, presumably, at 11:30, but then returned, still in a fine and smiling mood. He said Jane would not like the sleepwalking idea, which Jane confirmed later. He also told Marilyn Wilbur that he saw her, through Jane’s eyes, as an individual—a question Marilyn had raised earlier in the evening. In the past on various occasions Seth has said he usually sees witnesses, and myself, as a composite electromagnetic image that embodies our past, present and future, as well as these attributes in whatever other lives we might have had. He has explained that this is easier, usually, than focusing so sharply on the one physical and psychic personality in our temporal now.

(The Wilburs left us. Jane and I thought the session over, but Seth returned briefly again at about 11:45, to comment in a hearty manner that during the physical lives Jane, Seth and I lived together in Denmark, during the 1600s, I did him out of considerable money. Bits and pieces of our reincarnational material crop up throughout the sessions.

(Seth returned once more at 11:54, this time again in answer to our speculations concerning the second cat and Jane’s sleepwalking episode. Here is the rest of the story involving the second cat: After I left for work and Jane had taken the cat into the house, she discovered to her sorrow that the cat had somehow gotten its lower jaw caught in a new collar we had put on it the day before, and that evidently the cat’s lower jaw had been forced open in this strained position for some hours. Jane had to use scissors to cut the collar off. The cat promptly fell into a stuporous sleep, that lasted all day.

(We were wondering how long the animal had been forced to struggle with its jaws open in this manner when Seth came through. Jane spoke with her eyes open while standing quietly by a table. Seth told us that Jane, in her sleep, put the cat back out at 3 AM. The cat got its lower jaw caught in the collar “shortly after,” and remained so caught until we found it shortly after 7:30 AM.

(Thus Seth returned three times in all. Jane had been well dissociated each time.)

(The following are the impressions Jane received at 10:22 while holding Don Wilbur’s watch:)

12) old man in a wheelchair—not connected with the watch.
* Don knew a woman who was crippled with arthritis who spent a lot of time in a wheelchair. She was a small woman… Jane’s impression was of a small person.

(Additional note by Rob regarding 12: Jane also had an impression of dark hair in connection with the arthritis data. This was correct according to the Wilburs on Friday night, June 17, but now I do not recall just how. RFB - 6/20.)