“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The 75th envelope experiment used as object the employee record stub from Jane’s first check as a substitute high school teacher. Jane had of course seen it several times since receipt on October 28. The object is printed in black on green paper which contains a faint pattern. The green is itself a light tint. The large numeral in the upper right corner is in red. The back is blank. I placed the record between the usual double Bristols, then sealed it in double envelopes.

The color yellow. Numbers or mathematics. Nine. An object having to do with a knife, and a pen. Sharp and pointed. A room with something missing. A C and a J. And an abstract design. Metallic connection, and warmth.

I am not sure. Holding onto, reaching out toward, with some urgency. An unassailable position. A Q. A great deal of fuss. A small rectangular object, perhaps of metal, with numbers upon it. Such as, for example, a small license plate, that would carry numbers and notations, and be metallic and connected with travel. And the color orange and black, and an automobile perhaps.

(“Are you saying this is the object?”)

No. I am saying that the image I see gives me this impression. It may or may not be the actual object, but seems to be strongly connected with it. And something raised up from a surface, as something embossed.

(“The object isn’t embossed.”)

I did not say the object was. Something lifted up.

(“Can you give the color of the object itself?”

(“Do you want to try naming the object now?”)

(See page 141 for a copy of the envelope object, and the notes on the next page. As stated the object is the stub from Jane’s first paycheck as a substitute teacher, received on Friday, October 28. It is made of green paper, light in color, with a pale green pattern throughout. The printing is in black, with the large number in the upper right corner in red. The back is blank. The stub contains the amount of the check, tax deductions, the date, etc.

(“Connection with an encounter.” Jane said this is definitely a reference to her first day of teaching, October 11,1966. The object is from the paycheck for this day’s work. Jane said that although she liked teaching, the first encounter with a class is one to be remembered. She has had odd jobs teaching in the past, but never in a school system, in a formal classroom, etc.

(“A four plus one”, No connections in particular, although there are several fours and ones on the envelope object. There are also fives. But no 41. Speculation.

(“and an initial—initials—I believe three, J A B.” Jane believes this refers to herself, and if so it is a strong connection with the object of course. Jane has no middle name now; her name used to be Dorothy Jane Roberts but she dropped the Dorothy when we were married 11 years ago. She chose the saint’s name of Ann however, as a Catholic girl at about age 12. But she puzzled over why the A would crop up now, since she never uses it. Nor did she particularly.

(“Squares.” See the copy of the object on page 141. Jane said that by squares she meant the little boxes strung out along the horizontal lines on the object. There are four rows of these.

(“Rectangular with stripes.” Another reference to the object itself. See page 141.

(“Four numbers. A one and a nine.” There are many numbers on the object, but we don’t know what is meant by this data.

(“A date. Perhaps 1963, and a scroll of sorts.” We believe this data goes together, although there is a date, October 27,1966, on the object. The scroll we think of as symbolic of education or school. In 1963, Jane talked to a class conducted by Mr. Clauss, at Elmira College, subject poetry. The college connection arose recently, because Jane also applied for a teaching job there, as well as in the Elmira school system.

(“Horizontal lines with a small square.” Another reference to the object itself. The word square here may refer to the next data.

(“A city. Very distant connection with something like Cincinnati, Ohio.” A possible distant connection: At the end of her second day of teaching Jane was given a ride home by a next-door neighbor who is also a teacher. The neighbor is from Ohio, but not Cincinnati, which could account for Seth’s reference to “something like” Cincinnati. In addition, the neighbor had just returned to Elmira from a trip to Ohio, so the Ohio thought was mentioned in the conversation more than once. City is also mentioned on the object itself—City School District, etc.

(“Four seven one.” No connections, other than the many numbers on the object.

(“A center upright.” Jane said this is a reference to the fold in the object, made when I inserted it in the double envelopes. See page 141. Note that Jane held the envelope to her forehead in a horizontal position, as she almost always does; this means the fold in the object would be vertical in relation to the long dimension of both the object and the envelopes. The long dimension of the folded object paralleled that of the envelopes.

(“With a momentous occasion of some kind; not usual occasion. Somehow different.” Jane also had the idea of an initial occasion here, and regretted not saying it aloud. She said this data refers to her first day of teaching; to her it was certainly momentous, not usual, and different. The envelope object is the employee pay record from her check for this first day’s work.

(“Numbers or mathematics.” The object contains many numbers. A mathematics connection that is possible: a friend of Jane’s who is also a substitute teacher told Jane that she had a lot of trouble trying to teach the “new mathematics.”

(“An object having to do with a knife, and a pen. Sharp and pointed.” These data seem to go together. Jane recalled a connection with a pen, but nothing for a knife. She made a special effort to always have a pen with her when teaching, since she required one so often.

(“A small rectangular object, perhaps of metal, with numbers upon it. Such as, for example, a small license plate, that would carry numbers and notations, and be metallic and connected with travel. And the color orange and black, and an automobile perhaps.” All of this refers to Jane’s taking a taxi to the various schools in town, whenever she was called. I was not available to take her, having already left for work except on the first occasion. The taxi she used was orange and black.

(2nd Question: Are you saying this is the object? “No. I am saying that the image I see gives me this impression. It may or may not be the actual object, but seems to be strongly connected with it. And something raised up from a surface, as something embossed.” More on the taxi-auto connection regarding Jane’s teaching, from whence comes the envelope object: Probably the multitude of numbers on the object also related it closely in the data to the license and auto ideas. By asking this question I hoped to lead Seth to be more specific about the object itself.

(3rd Question: The object isn’t embossed. “I did not say the object was. Something lifted up.” Another reference to a license plate. By telling Seth the object wasn’t embossed, I once again hoped to get more specific data about the object itself.

(6th Question: Can you give the color of the object itself? “No, except that it is not dark. A dim color. With perhaps dim dark overtones”, can be said to apply to the object. See page 141. The object is printed on paper of a pale green, which could also be called dim. The black printing is of course dark on this.

(“A schedule of events, and an accounting.” Good data. Seth gets back on the track in the next sentence. The object is an accounting of Jane’s earnings, and a schedule of when she earned the money, etc., since it is an employee’s pay record from the Elmira school system.

(7th Question: What kind of events? “Future events. Connected with past events.” This could apply to the object, since this employee pay record has boxes or spaces on it for the entry of moneys toward retirement, savings bonds, credit union, etc., for steadily-employed teachers. Jane had no entries in these spaces. Later note by Jane: Unknown to us at this time I was to end up with another teaching position, in answer to an ad I had not yet read.

(9th Question: What’s that toreador connection? “A red and violent connection. High activity connected with a male, or repressed violent tendencies, in the situation.” This is also good data, and related to the envelope object in that it refers to an event taking place in Jane’s classroom on her second day of teaching. [The object represents Jane’s first day of teaching.] Briefly, a very violent scene was enacted before Jane and her class. A male teacher entered with a young male student in tow, and literally threw the student across the classroom in a violent fit of anger. The bout resulted from the student’s misbehavior in the hall.

(11th Question: What’s the 1963 mention? “I do not know. Connection with a past incident at about that time, and a seeming connection with a 1967 incident yet to occur.” See the 1963 data on page 147. As stated the date could very well refer to the time Jane lectured a class at Elmira College on poetry. The connection would be the teaching activity as related to the envelope object.

(“February and October.” Jane thinks it quite possible she spoke to the class at Elmira College in February, 1963. There is an October date, October 27,1966, on the object itself.

(13th Question: Do you want to try naming the object now? “I have come as close as possible this evening.”

(“A long locomotive, and a connection with a note mentioning time.” We saw no obvious connections with locomotive. The object is concerned with a specific amount of time; although not a note, it is printed, and the printing conveys a message in detail.