“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Jane woke up Sunday morning, August 7, with a stiff neck. We attributed a mental cause to it, probably concern over the forthcoming publication of her ESP book.

(Jane began speaking while sitting down and with her eyes open. She was smoking. Her voice was good, with pauses.)

You can of course improve to a much higher degree than you believe possible. It is natural that at a point such as this, Ruburt’s activities should show in great contrasts. He is not upset basically (Jane got up from her rocker and walked about the room as she spoke, looking for her cigarettes) believe it or not, with the delay in his book publication, though this is the conscious rationalization.

(Break at 9:21. Jane was dissociated a little more than usual, she said. After she had gotten up to get her cigarettes, she sat down opposite me at the table again, and spoke from there until break. Her eyes had been open much of the time.

(“No.” At 9:43 Jane took the envelope for our 66th experiment from me without opening her eyes. She pressed it to her forehead in a horizontal manner.)

Vertical objects close together, as a woods. (Jane was now gesturing often with the envelope, though still mainly holding it horizontally.) Five plus one. A small circular object with something on top of it, perhaps like a stem.

(Break at 9:58. Jane was out as usual. Her eyes remained closed. She felt no particular reaction, she said, when I told her she had been correct in calling the object a card. She also said she would recall any images when we went over the data.

(“Fur.” I wrote this as fur, rather than fir, when Jane gave it, not knowing which she meant. I saw no connection, but as soon as she saw the scene on the postcard used as object, Jane said fur had been a reference to the white foamy water spray and surf. To her it had a definite resemblance to the white thick fur of our long-haired cat, Willy. As soon as Jane mentioned this resemblance I agreed with her.

(Jane mentioned the 4¢ postage stamp on the object; strictly speaking the stamp is not quite square, but if the stamp had been perceived clairvoyantly perhaps its shape was interpreted as a square.

(“Three people. The busts rather than full figures, as three heads for example. I only see the tops of these figures.” Our interpretation: Note that Leonard Yaudes addressed the object to Jane and me, after crossing out the name John. [John happens to be a good friend of Leonard’s, though merely an acquaintance of ours; Leonard evidently made an absentminded mistake in addressing the card.] The address line of the card thus contains three names. Above this line is the postage stamp, bearing the head and shoulders of Lincoln.

(Some confusion of clairvoyant images here could have led Jane to assign the bust attribute of Lincoln to the three people on the line below the stamp.

(There are actually 6 personal names on the back of the object: Leonard, John, Jane and myself, Lincoln, and the photographer who took the pictures used on the front of the postcard, Don Sieburg.

(“Vertical objects close together, as a woods.” In giving the data Jane gestured often with the envelope, her eyes closed; she would then return it to her forehead in mainly a horizontal position. At times she held it briefly in other positions. The wavy lines of the cancellation are close together, and in the abstract could symbolize anything such as trees, etc. Perhaps Jane perceived this while the envelope was in a vertical position, or the data is simply somewhat distorted.

(“J B.” Jane [and Rob] Butts—J B—appears in the address line on the back of the object.

(Although this interpretation seems obvious, Jane said that J B also reminded her of our friend John Bradley, who had witnessed some sessions. Note that the name John, although crossed out, appears on the object. Jane thinks she could have also thought of John Bradley as well as Jane Butts, and not wanting to commit herself spoke aloud the initials instead of one or the other full name.

(“Connection with a letter or note,” See the tracings on page 309. The object, a postcard, bears a note to Jane and me.

(“The object a card.” The object is a card. I did not push Jane to be more specific as to what kind of card, etc.

(“A design like a flower or stem.” Again, the small triangular design on the back of the object, just above and to the right of the circular postmark. We believe the stem data, mentioned by Seth earlier, led Jane to the flower mention here.

(“Your initials.” Jane gestured at me, her eyes closed, as she gave this data. My name on the back of the object, Rob Butts, contains my initials.

(Question: “Are they male or female, for instance?” “Impression of light-colored hair on two, and a similarity. These I believe males. Perhaps a family resemblance, but a definite similarity in any case.” This was of little help to us, and since we didn’t ask Seth to explain after break we cannot decipher the data. We are not related to Leonard, of course. The other male on the address line of the object, John, crossed out by Leonard, is a close friend of Leonard’s but not a relative. None of us—Jane, Leonard, John or myself—are blond or light-haired.

(I then said: “Well, you’re correct, the object is a card.” I wanted to note Jane’s reaction, while in trance, to being told she had named the envelope object at least in a general way. There was none, and she told me later she felt no particular reaction. At the time she said, as Seth: “A grouping”. I took this to mean she was still concerned with the three people data already cited, even though I had waited until she paused in a definite manner before making the comment.

(Question: “What’s that about the oval shape?” “I am not clear here. This, perhaps: To a completed plan, as distinct from the incomplete one. A coming together.” Once again, Seth appears to be still considering the previous question, although as before I had waited until Jane had taken a definite pause before asking the next question. Even so, this data did not help us.

(Jane, or Seth, now added two pieces of information that I hadn’t asked for: “The color purple I believe also.” We think this applies to the 4¢ Lincoln US postage stamp on the object. As stated earlier the stamp is printed in red ink with blue added. The resultant color can be called a purple, a violet, etc.

(Jane resumed, once again sitting across from me at the table instead of in her rocker, at 10:30.)

(End at 10:32. Jane out as usual, eyes open, voice quiet.

(Note on August 14. Jane and I talked with Leonard today, Sunday, and learned that he appears to have put off marriage to the girl in question—see Turnabout—because of her “attitude about money.” It seems he thinks she is somewhat overbearing regarding the subject, since her parents are wealthy. Leonard made the remark, “I don’t think I’ll ever get married,” etc.)

(Reduced tracing of the outside of the greeting card which also figures in the 67th envelope data. It was mailed to Jane and me on August 11,1966 by my mother, but was not used as envelope object.)

(Tracing of the inside of the greeting card which also figures in the 67th envelope data. It was mailed to Jane and me on August 11,1966 by my mother, but was not used as envelope object.)