“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The 76th envelope experiment was held tonight. The object was torn by me from pages 11 and 12 of the New York Times’ first news section for Sunday, November 6,1966. See the two previous pages. I chose the object at random by a method which will be explained later. Suffice it to say here that I did not see the object until Jane opened the usual double-sealed envelopes after giving the data. I did however know the object came from the New York Times. Results were good.

(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.

(This procedure left me knowing only one thing about the object: that it came from some section of the New York Times, date unknown. Jane and I have often speculated on what part telepathy plays in the envelope experiments, since I usually am consciously aware of the object in detail. I thought the method used tonight might make ordinary telepathy harder to divine on Jane’s part. As it was we think the results were good; Seth evidently clairvoyantly read the object. If he got any help from me it was telepathy twice removed.

(When these experiments began Seth told us he operated well clairvoyantly. He also cited a few examples where telepathy from me had helped out. [I lost this session’s envelope object years ago, so can only show the Times’s full page on pages 151 and 152. June 2000.]

(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.

(Seth did not return to help us out; in the meantime we made our own connections. Section One of the Times was many pages thick, as is usual on a Sunday. Therefore Jane and I arbitrarily decided to limit the interpretations and connections to the object itself, and the one page—11/12—from which it was torn. These two items are on file along with the front page of the section.

(“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 method of disposal.” Sales certainly are methods of disposal, and sales are dealt with on both sides of the object itself, including use of the word sale, several times. [2,000. I wish I had the object to show. I lost it years ago!]

(“An impression I do not understand. Gubatorial, blue. Something in the vernacular.” This we regard as excellent data. Jane groped a bit on gubatorial, although I had no trouble putting down her pronouncement here. The data is made even clearer in answering the one question asked. The object features election day sales on both sides. Since the New York State elections, including that for the governorship, were due on November 9, it is apparent that Jane was trying for the word gubernatorial, with which she is not particularly familiar on a conscious level.

(See pages 152 and 153. Election Day sales are mentioned specifically in the headings for the sales described on both pages 11 and 12, from which the object was torn. Gubernatorial is a word in the vernacular. Blue is referred to both on the object itself on the page 11 side in the line: Norwegian natural blue fox… etc.; and is torn through on the page 12 side in the line referring to a sale of thermal blankets: White, green, pink, blue, gold. Blue also appears on page 12 of the full sheet, in a list of colors for imperfect sheets on sale, and in other places on page 11/12.

(“The impression of small squares with orange, I believe, circles in the center.” We are not sure. There is no orange on the object, or page 11/12, for instance. Jane had an image here but cannot describe it now.

(“One eight four one.” On the page 11 side of the object there is a sequence of numbers: 189.95 at the bottom of the illustration, and one: 18, 14 ½ to 22, at the bottom of a box to the left of this on the same side.

(“Connection with a monstrosity, as of a monstrous building, perhaps old Victorian. The first impression was of monstrosity, the rest is interpretation.” See the article indicated to the upper left on page 11 of the full sheet from which the object was torn, page 152. This concerns the prison population of Portugal’s prisons, and the prison system itself. Discussed in the article is the building of a network of modern establishments, to “replace a few big antiquated prisons,” etc. Other references include such phrases as “prisons were of very low standard,” etc.

(“Liberal giving two—two of a kind—two a date, or 2:00 o’clock.” To the far left of the page 11 side of the object is the bottom section of a help-wanted ad by Macy’s in New York City. One of the headings in larger type is: Want a job with liberal discounts?

(There are many numerals 2 on both sides of the object. See pages 152 and 153, plus the [missing] object, etc. On the page 11 side of the object is the line in heavier type: Prime quality 2-skin natural male mink, etc. On the page 12 side of the object is the word twin.

(“With a telephone or telephone call.” On the page 11 side of the object is a line of type below the illustration and just above the last line: Sorry, no mail or phone. On the page 12 side of the object, at the bottom, are three lines of small type containing many New York City phone numbers and addresses. Above this is the line: Mail and phone orders filled. Etc.

(“Four by five.” We don’t know. There are many 4’s and 5’s both on the object itself and the full page from which it was taken.

(“An initial explosion.” Jane said she is subjectively sure this is a personal association of hers, leading to the ad on the full page 12 for thermal blankets, just above the object to the right. Note the word: Warmth!, with thermal just below it. To Jane, the heat implication leads to explosion, etc.

(“A gray view.” On both sides of the object can be seen portions of illustrations in halftone, or gray. The dishes advertised on the page 12 side of the object are also white dinnerware with a blind embossed, or raised, decoration around the border. Thus they cast gray shadows.

(“A determination and a disadvantage.” Jane said this is a reference arising out of the set of dishes shown on the page 12 side of the object. It concerns the fact that we are buying a set of dishes of our own at Loblaw’s supermarket; Jane said she was determined to get a set of dishes adequate for our needs. The disadvantage however is that obtaining the set in this fashion is much more expensive than she had figured on.

(“A note.” Too general? The object is covered with words on both sides, of course. Note, re mail, is referred to in the mail and phone lines of type on both sides of the object, as noted under the telephone data interpreted on page 159.

(“Early November or late October.” The object was torn from page 11/12 of the New York Times for November 6,1966. The object also contains references to the election day sales due November 9.

(“Some figures.” Both sides of the object contain many numbers. Also on the page 11 side of the object can be seen portions of two female figures—a foot, and the hemline and knees of another model. On the full page 11 are the figures of five women, modeling new styles of fall coats. See page 152.

(“And a distant connection with a skull or skull shape.” This, Jane said, is a reference to the faces of the five models shown on the full page 11, with the lower portions of two of them visible on the object itself. In the photos all the women wear the new close-fitting hats that cover up the hair. These hats throw their faces into bold relief, and give a skull-like or egg-shaped look.

(“Four divided.” Four divided gives two, if this is the correct interpretation. There are references involving two on both sides of the object, and the sheet from which it was torn. For instance on the page 11 side of the object: 2-skin natural male mink; on the page 12 side: Twin size, etc.

(“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.

(Perhaps the small black squares refer to type? Also—Macy’s Herald Square is mentioned twice on the page 11 side of the object.

(“Something identical to something else.” There could be various interpretations. Sales, as indicated on both sides of the object, would imply many identical items on sale, in each category. And again, there is the twin reference on the page 12 side of the object.

(Or the identical reference could simply concern the fact of a sale mentioned on both sides of the object.

(“One nine four three.” The year date, 1943, is mentioned in the article on the Dominican Seminary, on page 12 of the full sheet from which the object was torn: It was started in 1943, three years after the Dominican Order was readmitted, etc.

(“Something like a toy that is misplaced.” This could imply something lost, and toy could imply a gift or children perhaps. We speculate whether this data refers to the short article about the Ceylon eye bank, in column one on page 11 of the full sheet, from which the object was torn. See page 152.

(“Brass. I am not sure here. The connection leads to buttons.” See page 152, for a sketch of the full page from which the object was torn. Five female models wear coats, and many buttons are visible on the coats. The buttons appear to be cloth-covered however, in the photographs.

(“A party.” There is a party, meaning company, reference on page 12 of the sheet from which the object was torn, in the lower left-hand corner. The copy here concerns the white dinnerware set, part of which is shown on the object itself also. The ad copy extols the virtues of Rosemont White dinnerware: …you won’t think twice about using it every day, and you’ll show it off when company comes, too.

(“Orange and purple.” Again no connections, unless one can make them from the list of sheet colors on the full page 12: Soft beige, pastel blue, pastel pink, mint green, orchid mist [Jane said this would be a purple], aqua blue, yellow. Or the colors listed for the thermal blankets, the list being partially visible on the page 12 side of the object: White, green, pink, blue, gold.

(“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.

(“Perhaps a colored paper.” As stated the object is in black and various shades of gray, printed on white. Colors are mentioned on the page 12 side of the object, in the thermal blanket ad, and of course on both sides of the full sheet from which the object was torn.

(“The impression of some round shapes on it, or connected with it, of orange.” The dish photo on the page 12 side of the object contains round shapes, for instance, but in shades of gray and in black only.

(Omitted earlier, after the Illia data: “And perhaps an F and R.” We can find F and R references on both the object and the page from which it was torn, without knowing if any of these would be correct. These would include phone letters, personal names, etc. In the article on the Dominican Seminary alone we find: Father Fernandes; Fatima; St. Francis Xavier; Padre Abel Faria, etc.

(End at 11:17. I do regret losing the envelope object for this session.)