“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(9:28—9:35. Jane attended Saint Vincent’s, a Catholic school)

(At 9:47, Jane took the envelope double for the 84th experiment from me, her eyes closed, and held it to her forehead in a horizontal position.)

Sturdy. Stubble (Jane repeated this word at my request) or stumble. Five words. Small squares, perhaps three of these. And a connection with, I believe, the same number of large colored squares or rectangles. Rather brilliant. The color red among others, and yellow.

(Break at 10:00. Jane said she felt as though the experiment had been a failure. She had no images. Actually she scored some excellent points.

(See page 279 for a copy of the object. As usual I placed it between two pieces of cardboard, then sealed it in two envelopes. Jane’s eyes remained closed as she gave the data. The object is a strip from a piece of linen canvas which I bought a few weeks ago at the Art Shop, in Elmira. Details on this will be given as the data is interpreted. Seth doesn’t discuss the data, and we made our own connections.

(“Stubble, or stumble.” Here we think Jane was trying to get across the idea of stubble meaning texture, which the canvas of course possesses. This woven texture was another reason for my buying canvas, rather than smooth boards for instance, such as Masonite.

(“And a connection with, I believe, the same number of large colored squares or rectangles. Rather brilliant. The color red among others, and yellow.” It seems here that Jane referred to the purpose for which I bought the canvas—to paint on. Some of my recent work has been in the abstract vein, also, and incorporates squares, angles, etc., some of them in brilliant primary colors. Actually I have not painted any pictures on the specific batch of linen which furnished tonight’s envelope object; but I have painted on other canvas of a comparable texture, etc., and which was prepared in the same manner. Association thus could be at work. There could be other connections also.

(“Connection with an old car.” Jane feels this refers to a young man, Tom, who works at the Art Shop where I bought the canvas which furnished the object. Jane often runs errands there for me, and Tom, a framemaker, often waits on her. Tom has an old sports car, and not long after I had bought the canvas, he described the car to Jane on one of her visits there, detailing his troubles with it, etc.

(“A view of water.” Another reference to the Art Shop, and through this the object. In Elmira the Art Shop is located on West Water Street, which parallels the Chemung River through the heart of the city. The river can be seen from the back door of the Art Shop, and from the second-story workroom above where Tom makes his frames, etc. It was in this large upstairs room that Tom described his car troubles to Jane.

(“A miscellaneous list or group of names or designations. A string of numbers.” These can quite possibly refer to the pencil lists I am in the habit of making up, of materials I need at the Art Shop. I have the habit of making these lists for Jane especially with prices included. I almost always have a list when I go to the Art Shop, and so does Jane. I do not recall whether I had such a list on the day I bought the canvas which furnished tonight’s object, but the chances are that I did have. Very seldom do I make a trip there for just one object.

(“A window, or indication of an open viewpoint, or station from which activities may be viewed. A high window or exalted viewpoint.” This is excellent data, and refers again to the second-story workroom above the Art Shop. From this room a large plate glass window looks down on West Water Street, and Tom is in the habit of watching the busy activities on the main street below. He has often waved to Jane and me as we walked past. Jane always waves to him whenever she walks down Water Street, which is at least three times a week.

(“A gasoline connection.” Possibly another reference to Tom’s story about his car. Cars and Tom are rather closely connected. Since his first tale to Jane we have heard subsequent stories about his car, the most recent being how he stripped several gears.

(Jane thinks the paper reference here could refer to the object being sandwiched between the two pieces of cardboard, or Bristol, inside the double envelope; for when she opened the envelopes she at first thought the canvas was glued to one of the pieces of Bristol—probably because she had seen me working out the gluing problem in the studio in recent weeks. My experiment proved to be quite a task, but was successfully accomplished, with the use of polymer waterproof glue.

(Jane resumed in trance at 10:19.)

(End at 10:20. Jane’s voice average, pace okay with pauses, eyes open at times.)