“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The envelope object was a bill I had received this afternoon for art supplies, and which Jane had never seen. Jane does know the proprietor of the Art Shop, Marjorie Buck, who made out the bill. The object is printed in dark blue ink on yellow paper, with the writing in carbon blue. The large number at the bottom is in red; the back of the bill is blank. I placed the object, folded once, as indicated, between the usual two pieces of Bristol, then sealed it in double envelopes.

He then mentioned your name when an opportunity for you was presented. This is as far as you went. You wanted the opportunity. You wanted to see if you could find work that was not dependent upon this locality. You were curious also as to whether or not this kind of commercial art could pay off, and yet be held in check.

All you wanted was the opportunity, once again you see, to decide whether or not you could use commercial art for your own purposes, and you created the opportunity for trial. Now, simply write this down. S. Period. C. Period. These are capitals. An office on 42nd street in New York City. A man with short gray hair, somewhat portly, but with a boyish-type face. He could end up as a Dutch uncle, as you say, if you continue with this sort of endeavor.

(See the copy of the envelope object on page 115 and the notes on the next page. As stated the object was a bill for art supplies from The Art Shop. Jane had never seen the object; I obtained it today, October 24, from Marjorie Buck, the proprietor, when I bought pencils and paper stumps with which to do the job my old friend, Bill Ward, mailed to me over the weekend. The job arrived yesterday. See the notes on page 116 for an explanation here, since these facts enter into the envelope data, we believe.

(“A hole or grave or something deep.” Marjorie Buck is the proprietor of The Art Shop, where I obtained the bill used as object. Jane knows her fairly well. Marjorie’s husband died—we do not know when—and Marjorie bought The Art Shop earlier this year. Jane has used the hole/grave nomenclature several times in the past to refer to deaths; it is a regular association of hers.

(“A mistake or error.” Jane said this stems from the last time she personally saw Marjorie; this was perhaps five weeks ago when Jane was job hunting; this activity of Jane crops up later in the data also. Jane stopped at The Art Shop to buy me a pint can of gesso. Marjorie told Jane to help herself because she was not too familiar with the location of all the stock.

(“An obvious appeal. Cardboard.” I believe these two go together, and they also reflect the conditions described relating to the error data just above. This afternoon, October 24, Marjorie asked me to locate the pencils and stumps I wanted in The Art Shop storeroom. I did so. The two items were both kept in cardboard boxes, small, and in separate places.

(“Connection with an old house; with another location; with two women and a man in particular.” Jane says Marjorie Buck lives in an old house, at 655 Logan Street. I personally am not familiar with it. The house of course obviously is at another location than our apartment, The Art Shop, etc. Later Note by RFB: Also, The Art Shop moves next year to an old house.

(We believe this data is an example of the distortions Seth refers to. In my second question an attempt is made to get more specific data. Possibly the above data refers to Marjorie as proprietor of The Art Shop, and her two helpers, my first cousin Ruth Gridley, and the framemaker Roy Fox. All of these people are friends of ours, bespeaking emotional involvement. But in answer to the second question, Seth cites Jane’s difficulty, and the thought of my mother, her cousin Vivian, and Vivian’s husband Bill. Vivian and Bill, from Virginia, visited my parents last weekend, and Jane and I saw much of them.

(“A connection with a particular event that was social. And perhaps had a connection with a school or sports.” This is good data, and is related to the object through Marjorie Buck. As stated on page 120 after the “mistake” data, the last time Jane saw Marjorie was when job hunting. Before stopping in at The Art Shop to buy the gesso for me, Jane had applied at the local YWCA for a job. The job involved teaching children various games, for the school or sports connection.

(“A written note, with an appeal for an answer, or implied request.” I believe this is a reference to the letter Bill Ward sent me with the art work I received Sunday, October 23. Again, see the notes on page 116. Also keep in mind that the bill used as object represents pencils and paper stumps I bought in order to finish the job Bill sent to me.

(“The colors gray and/or white.” Another reference to the work Bill Ward sent to me. The art is to be done in shades of black to white, without other colors, and will be so printed.

(“Six. Now perhaps April 6.” We don’t know. Marjorie Buck took over ownership and operation of The Art Shop early this year. Was it in April? We received a formal notice of the change in management in June 1966, and this was used as the envelope object in the 268th session. See Volume 6 of The Early Sessions.

(“Blacks that speak loudly.” Again see page 115. The heavy type for The Art Shop on the bill is prominent; when Jane opened the double envelopes and saw this she said it was black printing. Actually it is in dark blue ink against yellow paper, appearing almost black.

(Bear in mind that the connection between the artwork and tonight’s envelope object, the bill from The Art Shop, would be the pencils and paper stumps I bought at The Art Shop in order to do the art.

(The connections with washings and the art comes about because on the first two pages of the comic story sent to me by Bill Ward, the heroine is shown taking a shower, using a towel, etc. This is a prominent part of the first two pages, not just a panel on each. The heroine’s act of showering is important to the story because of the steps taken by the enemy to destroy her while she is so occupied.

(The festival-type thing is also good, and refers I think to the letter from Bill Ward that accompanied the art. In the letter Bill dwells upon a dinner attended by himself, Wendell Crowley, and several other old friends of mine; the dinner being held just a few days ago; at this dinner Wendell mentioned my availability to Bill Ward for free-lance artwork, and this in turn led Bill to ask me to help him out.

(1st Question: What color is the object itself? “I am not sure. I will say on the order of a gray or silver metallic color, mainly.” See the gray and white data on page 122. It appears that the above is another reference to the art work Bill Ward sent me, since it contains grays done in pencil as well as black ink; the grays can easily look metallic when a certain density is reached, for the graphite in the pencils acquires a dull sheen, similar to an aluminum look.

(We regard this as good data, in that the art work is strongly linked to the bill used as object. But of course off the mark as far as naming the bill itself goes.

(2nd Question: Who are the two women you mentioned? Initials? “We are having difficulty with Ruburt here, for he thinks of Vivian and your mother.” See the interpretation of the “two women and a man” data at the bottom of page 120. I tried to clarify that data here. My thought was that the two women and a man Seth referred to were Marjorie Buck, Ruth Gridley, and Roy Fox, all connected directly to The Art Shop, which furnished the bill used as envelope object. Jane evidently had in mind my mother, and Vivian and Bill Crowder, relatives from Virginia whom we saw this weekend. Seth apparently wanted to lead Jane away from the relative connection; but still volunteered no more specific information.

(There is another possible green connection, one obvious to anyone familiar with printing or commercial art, although I do not think it applies here. But the paper the object is manufactured from is a bright yellow, and the yellow is printed upon with blue ink. Blue and yellow ordinarily would print green. But in this case the blue ink is so dense and strong that it prints as blue on the object. No hint of green is to be seen. Jane is not aware of these mechanical points.

(“An initiation or something for the first time.” The job sent to me by Bill is an initiation, since it is the first of its kind I have received from him—with the promise of more to come, incidentally. This also makes doing the art something for the “first time,” since I’ve never done this particular kind before. Many years ago, perhaps more than 15, I did other kinds of comic work; that was “serious” comic work.

(All are apparently linked with the envelope object in some fashion. The Art Shop bill used as object is rectangular in shape, but Jane mentioned a rectangular package earlier so we are not sure of what interpretation to assign here.

(“The letter M in caps here.” Possibly good data, and a strong link with the bill used as object. The bill was made out by Marjorie Buck, proprietor of The Art Shop. We are often unsure as to what, or how much, meaning to give initials like this. There are other M’s, both upper and lower case, on the bill. See page 115. Actually Marjorie’s name doesn’t appear on the bill at all.