“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.

(“What color is the object itself?”

We are having difficulty with Ruburt here, for he thinks of Vivian and your mother. The impression of a round orange object, or representation.

(“What shape is the object?”)

The metal image or feeling seems to predominate with the cubes. These, of course, could be on a rectangular object. The letter M in caps here.

(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.

(The object is printed on bright yellow paper in dark blue ink, with the large serial number at the bottom in red. The back is blank. The bill was folded once for insertion into the double envelopes. The bill is not dated by Marjorie; when I obtained it I had no notion of using it as the object. I did want something that Jane had never seen however.

(“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.

(Jane went to the usual place in the stockroom where the gesso was kept, and found only quart cans. She took this, then found pint cans on another shelf and took one of those instead. There are no errors on the object itself, for instance.

(“The color blue, as a background, I believe.” No connections. As stated I had no idea of using the bill as object when I obtained it from Marjorie. My thought is that Marjorie wore a print dress with a blue background today, but of course I cannot be sure.

(“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 rather airy design, with cubes predominating, and thin lines. These reminding Ruburt of a child’s Jungle Gym.” See the copy of the bill used as object on page 115. This also is good data. It could be said the bill is of airy design; Jane also said that to her way of thinking it contains cubes and rectangles. The thin line data is accurate, since on the original the lines are very thin and straight.

(The Jungle Gym reference is another example of one of Jane’s favorite associations, since she was much attached to playground jungle gyms as a child. The abstract idea of a Jungle Gym is apparent enough in the object.

(“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.

(Note that in here Seth gives three blocks of data relating to one facet of the events connected to the bill used as object. This involved Bill Ward and his product. Before that, Marjorie Buck was involved, with the object itself and its origin.

(“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.

(“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.

(“A border.” The envelope object contains a definite border. See the tracing on page 115.

(“Vivid verticals”. The bill used as object contains verticals and horizontals.

(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.

(I am also of the opinion that the three pieces of data just preceding this: A border; blacks that speak loudly; and vivid verticals; might be said to apply to the artwork as much as to the envelope object itself. Legitimate connections would still apply.

(Distortion probably operates here. Note that the bill used as the object has blue lines upon it. Bill Ward’s artwork arrived in a large rectangular package, but contained no tissue paper and bore no ribbons or string; it was instead sealed with tape. Nor did it contain any blue. Jane thinks she may have received accurate-enough data from Seth about a package, and constructed perhaps the ribbons herself because that is symbolic of packages. She used blue ribbons perhaps through a distortion of the blue pertaining to the envelope object.

(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.

(“The impression of a round orange object, or representation.” We offer no connections. Possibly another distorted reference to my mother’s love of red?

(See the Jungle Gym data, interpreted on page 121. Here I sought to get more information. As stated, and seen on page 115, the bill used as object contains vertical lines as well as horizontal, and these are quite thin on the actual object. The outdoors reference above stems from Jane’s original mention of a Jungle Gym on page 121, and this would lead to the green data.

(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.

(6th Question: What shape is the object? “I am confused between a metallic image, or the feeling of metal. The cube shapes, and the impression of a rectangular shape also. The metal image or feeling seems to predominate with the cubes. These of course could be on a rectangular object.” Interpretations have already been given for the cubes, Jungle Gyms, metallic data, and the rectangular package, and Jane still cannot quite sort them out here.

(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.

(7th Question: A capital M? “And perhaps two S’s, and a 1961.” By repeating Seth’s data I hoped he would furnish more information on the M. We can see no definite connections with two S’s or 1961. Two of the capital M’s on the object itself are in the words Must, in a line at the bottom concerning claims, and in Moore Business Forms, Inc.