“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(To my surprise last Friday, October 21, I received a call from an old friend, Bill Ward, with whom I used to do comic books about 1940-2. He asked me to help him, probably on a regular basis, with some work, and I said yes. The work, involving inking, arrived Sunday. Wendell Crowley is a boyhood friend of Ward’s, and also an old friend of mine; he was my editor in New York City for some years after World War II. I was working with him in the early 1950’s. Also, see Session 290.

(I was greatly surprised Friday to have Bill Ward tell me that Wendell Crowley’s 10-year-old daughter died of a heart attack while playing softball. Wendell himself underwent open-heart surgery last year, and now feels well.)

Do you have an envelope for me?

(At 9:35 Jane took the envelope for the 74th experiment from me without opening her eyes. She held it to her forehead in a horizontal position.)

(“Can you give me some more on that design with the cubes?”)

(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 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.

(“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.

(“An article that opens up.” I believe there are two choices of interpretation here. I favor the first one: that the data refers to the large flat package in which Bill Ward mailed me the artwork to be finished. “Writing on the inside and outside.” The package of course contained writing both inside and outside. “Or at least the inside and outside are covered.” This may refer to the package in a somewhat distorted manner. Or it may refer quite accurately to the envelope object itself, which would be the second possibility for this block of data.

(“Some connection with, is it—ablutions or washings, and with some kind of festival-type thing.” This is good data, we believe, and refers again to the artwork Bill Ward mailed me over the weekend. Again, see the notes about this on page 116. Jane of course saw this artwork when I opened it up today, and when I began work on the backgrounds today.

(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.

(3rd Question: Can you give me some more on that design with the cubes? “Airy and open. Connection with the outdoors, or green. The image also, hard to describe, of thin lines, coming down you see this way, almost in a flowerlike movement.” Jane’s gesture, indicating vertical lines.

(“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.

(Jane resumed at 10:48, sitting across the table from me.)