“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(I chose the object in the following manner. In my studio was a pile of old newspapers. Most of them were of the New York Times, daily and Sunday. I removed a few local papers from the stack. Backing up to the pile I pulled out a section without looking at it and tore off a portion of a page. I folded this behind me until I was sure it would fit between the regular double Bristols, and into the double envelopes.

(Still without looking at the paper I had chosen as object, I sealed it in the envelopes. Then I picked up the section from which the object had been taken, my eyes closed, groped over to a floor-to-ceiling bookcase in the studio, and placed the newspaper on a high shelf so that I would not see it ordinarily.

(After the experiment was over Jane opened the envelopes, and I picked up the newspaper from which the object had been taken. It turned out that I had chosen Section One of the New York Times for Sunday, November 6,1966, and from this had torn the object from pages 11 and 12. It also developed that I had leafed through this section of the paper in a casual way—without remembering the pages in question, 11 and 12—and that Jane had never seen it.

(“A seven times six, or 42.” There are many numbers on both sides of the object and its parent page, 11 and 12, since the page features sales of bedding, blankets, sheets, cases, etc., all by size and color and dimension. There is a 42 on page 12 of the newspaper page from which the object is taken. See page 153. In the upper right area of an ad, pillowcases are quoted: 42 x 36 inch, etc.

(“A mission with unforeseen consequences.” The article on page 12 of the newspaper, dealing with the Dominican seminary in Portugal, has to do with the journey to the United States each year of a priest, Rev. Fernandes, on a fund-raising mission. The subtitle of the article also reads: “Project in Portugal Aided by Funds Raised in U.S.”.

(“A date above, connected with small black squares.” See pages 152 and 153. Note that the object was torn from the bottom portion of the newspaper page, thus placing the date, November 6,1966 of course above it.

(Jane and I wonder about the coincidence involved in my selecting, by the blind method on page 158, a newspaper page that features an article about religion, and the Catholic religion at that. See page 153. Religion is one of Jane’s strong points.

(“A paper item, but rougher than smooth, background.” The object is a paper item. And being from a newspaper it is of a rougher, rather than smooth, background or stock. That is, the coarse newsprint versus say a coated magazine type of paper stock.

(1961. No connections. There are various recent and old year dates mentioned in the news articles on both pages 11 and 12 of the newspaper, but not 1961. Nor are there any $19.61 prices on any advertised items, or sizes of that figure, on either the item itself or the full page.