“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(I repaired the broken legs with nails and glue, to insure a strong job; before, the legs had been merely dowel-fastened. This Wednesday evening the table performed as follows: Irish jigs upon request, vaulting up into the air while in Carl’s grip, chasing around our backs as Carl held it while we tried to keep up with it, skittering across the rug, knocking back and forth, and building up a very strong pressure indeed, when we tried to force the leg up in the air back down to the floor, or rug.

(There were of course all manner of in-between motions given by the table also, hard to describe in words. The pressure manifested, of course, held our intense attention, since this is so diametrically opposed to our usual unthinking acceptance of the gravitational force. Jane requested A A to manifest pressure often, and usually A A, or the table, obligingly did so. Everything seemed to work together in perfect order—table, our moods, etc. If one chose to call a full levitation 100%, then our evening could be called 90% successful.

(Several times during the evening Carl and I had to use considerable pressure to get the raised third leg of the table back down to the floor. The effect appeared so often that all four of us had ample time to feel it—as noted before, to me this force reminds me strongly of two magnets repelling each other—something invisible yet most palpable, and when things are going well, easily demonstrable.

(The table would rock back and forth beneath the touch of our fingertips when the pressure was requested; as it did so it would begin to feel increasingly solid and heavy; the creaks and groans in it would disappear and it seemed to become one indivisible unit. The pressure would rather quickly build up until members grouped around it—usually standing—would have to really bear down to level it out again. Once it finally groaned dangerously and I feared some part of it, possibly the top, was about to break.

(Carl had a brainstorm; we placed our bathroom scale on the tabletop finally when the pressure was “going good,” and requested A A to continue building up the pressure so that Carl, who was on the side of the table manifesting the pressure at that time, could measure the force he used to get the table back on the floor solidly. A A obligingly built up the pressure again; pressing down, Carl saw that he used a hand pressure of 70 pounds, as measured by the scale, to get all three legs of the table back on the floor, whereas usually gravity would effortlessly draw the legs back to the floor when our fingertips were removed.

(Carl and Claire, previously, had used what they considered to be an even greater pressure on the table to level it out. With the experience furnished by the scale, they now estimated they used close to 90 pounds pressure to level the table, this being the moment of highest pressure during the evening. Several subsequent pressures were measured by using the scale on the tabletop, ranging from 30 to 50 pounds.

(Needless to say, when Carl or whoever was measuring pressure on the scale, the other three took pains to see that they were not subconsciously exerting a heavy pressure on the other side of the table,thus forcing a stronger response across the tabletop to get the legs back on the floor. Such checking was easy to do; nevertheless conscious deliberate checks were constantly being made to make certain opposing pressures were not unwittingly being exerted. Most of the time our hands touched the table so lightly that it could move quite freely beneath them, seemingly of its own volition. This steady checking has the added advantage that it serves as a protection against any possible hallucination [although this would have to be a mass effect, and highly unlikely]; the checking in a deliberate manner was a good method to keep one’s feet on the floor, so to speak, even if the table was acting contrary to gravity.

(When we asked for a full levitation, it seemed the table did its best to achieve this, getting all legs off the floor except the last tiny point of contact of the third leg; it would then go in circles beneath our hands, or begin to dance about, eventually. I cannot recall whether pressure was apparent at such times. I am tempted to say that it probably was not as strongly present as at other times when we frankly requested pressure in order to experience it. At just about all times one or more of us was talking to the table, exhorting it to go on, to better its performance, in most positive tones.

(It is of course possible to balance any object, large or small, and this has led Jane and me to experiment a bit with the table in question. It was soon discovered that by balancing it at a certain angle with the fingertips, then exerting a downward pressure, one can have an illusion of a force from beneath holding the table up with one leg off the floor. However, as far as we can tell this is not the force we have experienced when a leg will refuse to return to the floor.

(One must exert the downward pressure in a manner directed away from the body while experimenting, in order to maintain the balance and center of gravity, and at least when experimenting this necessity to push down and away from oneself is quite noticeable. When the table is performing well it seems that a direct downward pressure, applied to the edge of the tabletop, is required to overcome the force. The direction of this downward push is quite different, we believe at this stage, from the experimental down-and-away thrust. But more study is required here, and with this knowledge in mind, we will try to more accurately assess the table’s performance at future sessions.

(Nor of course does the question involving the downward thrust explain other peculiar table motions, such as pirouetting, vaulting into the air, dancing, etc, since with these motions no great hand pressure is maintained. In fact, it is often extremely difficult to maintain fingertip contact with the table, so rapid can its movements be.

(Naturally the table was the center of attention, and within a few minutes of Jane and me and a few others sitting at it, it began to perform. Pressure, the newest attraction, was at once called for, and before long began to manifest itself to various degrees; at first however nothing like the pressure of Wednesday showed, but there seemed to be plenty present, enough so that each person present, especially those who had never witnessed such a thing, could take the time to experience it.

(This evening the table did not vault into the air as it had Wednesday, but was nevertheless very active. The pressure soon was so pronounced that it was unmistakable; all agreed that they experienced it. To save time listing a long recital of varied antics: later in the evening I stepped away so someone could take my place at the table. Jane had already done so. Meaning of course that the table performed as well without Jane’s hands upon it, as it did when she touched it.

(I stood back in a corner by the bookcase; the table had worked its way toward the bathroom door, which was closed. At the table were Bill Gallagher, with beside him Pat Norelli. Others were also at the table, but Bill and Pat were on the side showing the strong pressure. The pressure finally reached the point where Bill Gallagher could not force the third table leg back to the floor. As I recall, he was using a direct downward pressure, not the down-and-away pressure discussed earlier.

(The twice-repaired table has been used in subsequent sessions, but very gingerly for it is now much weakened. Pressure has indicated itself to a small degree, but we have used little force to subdue it. We have tried a few pressure experiments, previously described, with it, very cautiously. We mourn the table’s withdrawal for obvious reasons. It is a good responder, and its spirit, A A, seemed quite pleased to communicate with us, in a most forceful manner. We want to keep the table to maintain this contact, even if casually, and for further study on pressure angles, etc. Also to use this table as a springboard for work with heavier, four-legged tables, etc.