“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The envelope object for the 62nd experiment was a piece of cream-colored burlap; it shows up dark on page 250 because of the method of reproducing it. Jane was with me last Saturday, June 18, when I bought the burlap to use for some experimental canvases for painting.

(I glued a square of the burlap to a wood panel with a very white acrylic gesso that is used to prime artists’ canvas, then used a razor blade to trim off the excess around the edges after drying. Hence the razor cuts on the object as indicated. Also along the bottom edge of the object a coating of the white gesso was to be seen, residue from the panel itself. Jane had seen me experimenting with the panel also, of course.

The object for tonight, some kind of buckle, of metal or metallic color, scratched. (Pause.) Also a design or initials (pause) scratched deeply into the object. (Long pause.)

Four six, or 1 9 4 6, connected with the object. It is now, or was connected to, something that looks like an elasticized belt. (Pause.)

It seems to be somehow connected with turbulence of some sort. The impression that the object has a border, a line border. That it is rectangular in shape. (Pause.)

Smidgeon—I do not know to what this refers. Also a distant 1947 connection. The impression of a card that somehow connects two houses. The visual impression is of an object or representation on two balancing sides of the object, as for example here and here, you see…

A florid complexion. Six. A cluster of shapes, rounded. Holding the object this way, lettering of some sort in here. (Now holding the envelope vertically, Jane ran a finger along the bottom edge of the envelope.) Perhaps on two sides of the object.

(I had the choice of trying to guide Seth back to the object through questions, or of trying again with new data. It had soon become clear that the impressions were off, although at this time I didn’t know why. Seth’s accuracy had picked up toward the end of the data, however. Jane sat waiting.

A circular object, like a target. Red color, surrounded by white. Perhaps by a white square. Also the color black. (Pause.) Perhaps a connection with something not asked for, or not wanted or required. (Pause.)

(We will interpret the data we feel applies. Jane, incidentally, said she never used the word smidgeon that she knew of. See the rubbing of the envelope object on page 250, and the notes on the next page.

(From the first data, page 255: “Pointed flower or star shapes. Again, a connection with a disturbance, with a knife. This is the pointed impression. I do not know if the knife is literal. Sharp, something sharp… Ruburt thinks of a newspaper article, about a murder.” Seth also mentioned a connection with turbulence at the start of the data. There can be a direct connection with the envelope object, and a newspaper connection; it seems that both are somewhat distorted, and that one perhaps influenced the other.

(As indicated on page 251, the object was cut off the edge of the wood panel with a razor blade; the blade had to be sharp to slice cleanly through cloth, and such cuts were made on two sides of the object.

(As always when doing such work, I spread newspapers on my drawing table. Jane saw me doing this, and knew I was experimenting gluing the burlap to panels to make painting surfaces. I made this particular panel from which the envelope object came on Saturday afternoon, June 18.

(The newspaper connection also developed because on the front page of today’s paper for June 20th, was the story of a local woman being murdered with a knife. So although I used newspapers while developing the envelope object, I couldn’t have used the particular newspaper which carried the murder story, since this news developed two days later. Jane and I had talked about the stabbing at supper this evening however, and evidently the knife connection here and with the object caused the distortions.

The object did not have sufficient emotional connections to offset his exhaustion. The yellow piece of burlap might have done this.