“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(See the previous pages for tracings of the two envelope objects used in the 73rd experiment this evening. The beer can cap was enclosed within my folded note; the note was written on white paper in the same color ink used to make the tracings. Both items came from a gathering of friends at our apartment last Friday evening, October 7. The dark color on the end of the tab is carbon black from a candle flame. I did this deliberately on Friday evening during the gathering, in full view of everyone, for at that moment I decided to use this cap as the envelope object for the session tonight. Other details later.

(As usual I placed the objects between two pieces of heavy Bristol, to preclude any identification by touch, then sealed this sandwich in two envelopes. Seth has said before that he does not give any envelope data that could have resulted either from Jane’s sense of touch, or sight, and this has never been a problem in these experiments.

The color red. An achievement. Two men, yourself and another connected here. An armchair also. A skirmish.

(Jane had some images and these will be mentioned in place. This is a case where Jane had seen one of the two items making up the envelope objects very recently—the beer can cap, on Friday, October 7, three days ago. She had never seen my penned note bearing the date and identifying the brand of beer, Draft Beer. See pages 86-88 for tracings of the two envelope objects, and the beer can. I might add that Jane saw the beer can cap only in a casual way. There were quite a few lying about our living room Friday evening. Our candle was not lit until late that evening. When I picked up a cap to blacken in the flame I thought this would focus Jane’s conscious attention on this particular one, but she told me at break tonight that she hadn’t noticed my heating the cap, or else had forgotten it.

(Two other couples visited us last Friday evening, Bill and Peggy Gallagher, and Marilyn and Don Wilbur. Jane and I furnished wine, so did the Gallaghers, and the Wilburs brought two six-packs of beer—one of Draft Beer, the other of Carling Black Label.

(“The impression of a maze.” This is a case where variations are possible in writing down sounds. At first I wrote this data as two words, so let it stand, but soon reconsidered and realized I could just as well have written down “amaze”. I could not tell which version to use, actually, from Jane’s pronunciation.

(We thought an apt connection with scale would be the “balancing” of the table on its two south legs as the male and female trios sat before it. As stated, the first two times Bill, Don and I sat at the table we deliberately made the table tip; the last time however, with Jane added to the group, the table really tipped through subconscious pressure.

(“A 36 and 46.” We believed this to be jumbled data, an effort to be specific. No one of either age, for instance, was present. Jane and I were closest at 37 and 47. Bill is 41, Peggy 38, Marilyn and Don in their early 20’s, etc. We were not sure Seth even intended a reference to age. There is a 10 difference between the two numbers, and also between the ages of Jane and me.

(“Printed matter and a design.” Again, see the tracings of the two envelope objects on page 86. The note enclosed with the beer can cap bears my handwriting. This is not printing, although Seth has often intermixed the terms printing, writing, lettering, typing, etc. We think this good data. And that “design” can refer to the metallic, cleanly-designed beer can. Seth goes on from here.

(“Placed fairly high on the item. Perhaps to the right, and small.” Jane said this was a reference to the position of the cap-ring against my note, while the two items were sealed between the two Bristol stiffeners and in the double envelopes. She had an image of their position while giving this data. It will be remembered that by this time Jane held the envelope in her lap; earlier she had held it against her forehead as she often does. To the right is a rough indication of the position she refers to, and which she was able to verify to some extent as she opened the envelopes at break. Remember the note was actually folded over the cap, like a sandwich; evidently the pressure of the two Bristol stiffeners and the two envelopes held the cap in the same position relative to the note.

(“Two men, yourself and another connected here.” I am of course connected to the envelope objects, having authored the note. See page 86. This data called for a good amount of vexation on Jane’s part as soon as she opened the envelopes and saw the initials RFB on the note. Her confusion is also apparent in the series of questions I asked, as I usually do following the delivery of the data.

(“Blue. Perhaps the color of a garment.” Jane wore her favorite blue sweater Friday evening, October 7,1966, the evening which furnished the two objects used in tonight’s envelope experiment.

(1st Question: What’s that about a Friday? “A Friday connected with the item. Perhaps a 7, or 17, day of the month. Or 7 PM.” Seth is quite correct. See the copy of the note on page 86. Friday, October 7,1966 is specifically mentioned on the note which was one of the two envelope objects. 7 PM doesn’t enter in however. Later note by RFB: Very good.

(3rd Question: Who is the other man mentioned besides myself? “We will try on this in a moment.” See the interpretation of the “two men” data at the top of page 96. As stated, Jane had an image of my initials on the note used as test object; but since my father’s initials are the same she feared she would distort the data by voicing the initials. Yet she knew that I was also connected with the envelope data.

(“Also with a past war connection.” This is not as definite, but we think it applies to Bill Gallagher more than Don and me. All three of us have had military service, Bill and me in World War Two on active duty. Bill is quite a historian on the subject of war, and often discusses it. We believe the subject is almost always mentioned when we are together. The connection with the envelope objects being that Bill was of course present last Friday, October 7,1966.

(In the 217th session for December 13,1965, Seth told us Jane would earn about $3,500.00 on the ESP book this first year, and that this amount was to double within two years from this and other books. See Volume 5 of these sessions.