“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Peggy Gallagher witnessed the session. Jane began speaking in trance in a voice a bit stronger and more forceful then usual; her eyes opened a good deal of the time.)

(Today Jane got the idea for her next book, following the dream book, just completed. She is very enthusiastic about the idea, and regards it as a breakthrough re her habits and thinking. It should be noted here that the dream book was rejected last week by the first publisher to see it, Doubleday; but oddly enough Jane feels the idea was at least partly sparked, for the new book, by this rejection.)

(9:25. Jane took a bit to come out of trance. Seth, she said, was around “pretty good.” She resumed in the same active manner at 9:36.)

The intellect has learned from the intuitive portions of the self. It has not been conquered, it has been freed. The force, the basic vitality of the whole personality, has been gathered together, or rather is just being united for the first time in this existence. (Jane, as Seth, pointed at me for emphasis.) And for the first time in any existence.

(9:52. Jane had been in a deep trance. She took a few minutes to come out of it now, and her eyes were dark and heavy. In fact, it was difficult for her to come fully “back” with any rapidity.

(During first break I had mentioned being curious about what Jane’s eyes really see, or are aware of, when they are open during a trance. From scatterings of data Seth had given in the past I thought Jane’s eyes, even though wide open, did not see others present as they were, as physical entities, but perhaps as electromagnetic personalities.

(I now repeated my question, partly as a means of getting Jane onto another subject and to help her control the depth of the trance. For some reason I felt at the time that she did not want to explore too deep a state this evening; but events proved me mistaken here. Jane resumed in the same manner, but with her eyes closed, at 10:00.)

(At about 10:10 the phone rang. Jane appeared undisturbed as Seth, but I asked her to wait. I talked with Claire Crittendon and her friend Bob, in Fredonia, NY, incidentally answering their questions about trances, etc. Jane herself remained in trance for a few minutes but then came out by the time I hung up at 10:20.

(See the 361st session for August 16, 1967. Above, Seth refers to the brief session Jane held in the coffee shop of the Paramount Hotel in New York City, for Raymond Van Over of the Parapsychology Foundation. In this little session she spoke with Seth “just below the surface” in a crowded room, without attracting attention, and delivered for Raymond Van Over some excellent data which he verified on the spot. This was her first experience with this type of session. Her control this time was obviously much better although this was only the second such effort.)

(All this time Jane had held a half-full glass of wine in her right hand. I had been watching it, but she spilled none. Now she set it down.)

(Jane now took off her glasses. She paused. Her mood perceptibly changed. Her head dropped, chin to her chest, eyes closed. Her breathing became noticeably loud—something quite rare in the sessions. It seemed apparent that another change, or experiment, was to take place.

(The following manner of delivery was a new one in the sessions. Jane continued to speak with her head down; the result was that her voice seemed oddly muffled, much deeper, far from as clear as just above. There seemed to be an actual effort involved in her speaking—something quite foreign to the sessions. Her eyes remained closed. I watched her closely, ready to interrupt if the experimental delivery seemed to be taxing. And of course Peggy hadn’t seen this type of delivery before.)

(I missed an occasional word in this passage, for even though Jane’s delivery seemed muffled and trying, it was actually quite fast.)

(Jane now sat leaning far forward in her rocker; her head was far down, toward her knees, facing the floor. The voice was still deep but not so muffled, eyes still closed. I can say the voice sounded more like an old man’s voice, and not much like either Jane’s voice or the usual Seth voice. The voice now had almost a resonant quality.)

(Pause. Jane now sat more erect in the rocker, and when she began speaking again it was plain that the familiar Seth voice had returned. The voice was good but not too loud; eyes opened again.)

(A long pause, perhaps a minute. When Jane spoke again her eyes were wide open, voice very animated.) This is a compromise method, and a good one. You have the best of both worlds. Now these methods, when perfected, will go a long way toward explaining how I see you, and how I can make my reality known to you. I have put Ruburt on a merry-go-round, and so I shall let you take a break, though I am myself in a fine mood, and it is good to see you taking notes so diligently once more.

(10:40. Jane had been in a deep trance throughout the experiments, she now told us. She knew the first different effect was coming after the phone call interruption at 10:10, she said. Since she had done this once before it did not alarm her.

(The second effect did produce a little alarm when it began, but she mentally told Seth to go ahead. She was well aware of the difference in the two effects. In the second effect, Jane said she felt a distinct trembling in her chin as it was lowered against her chest, but Peg and I hadn’t observed this. Jane likened it to perhaps the trembling of an old man’s chin, and this is in character with the old man’s voice we heard. Jane knew the voice was muffled and strained; it was a completely new experience for her.

(When break was over, Jane once again spoke in the first-effect voice, where Seth hovered just beneath the surface of her own personality. “I could feel him there,” Jane said later. Once again her voice was light and easy, her eyes open and dark.

(10:06. Again Jane’s trance was a deep one, and it took her a while to fully leave it.

(Tonight then, Jane manifested three different voices while in trance: the regular Seth voice, somewhat strong, very clear and concise, the one we are so used to; next the light and lilting voice with Jane’s own mannerisms overlying Seth who hovers just below; and finally the muffled, masculine old man’s voice, so different from any produced before this.)