“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Jane had a strong experience this morning; when I came home at noon she was still going through phases of it. She has full notes on it, so it will be briefly summarized here.

(She said it began when she tried psy-time this morning a short while after 9 AM. It culminated in a massive feeling of smiling relaxation, she said, combined with a strong experience of relief. It was as though she had passed through some great experience in triumph, she said, and would not be called upon to repeat it—all the travail, etc., involved.

(The dream book, which is now at Ace for consideration, was involved. Jane wrote during the morning several pages of notes, ideas and impressions. The gist of these seemed to be that the dream book, its struggles in creation, etc., was involved, and that it was to be accepted, finally, by Ace. This would be a triumph. More than this seemed to be involved however—there were feelings of health improvement tied in also.

(This gave rise to another question, which I did not ask but will note here: Seth has said on occasion that Jane was too close, too emotionally involved with data to answer clearly, and that it is then best to wait. This would leave only the recourse of going back to the data later, if we want more information, when it is “cold.”)

(9:42. Jane was easily out of trance. Once, she said, she felt that she was growing “smaller” as she sat in her rocker while Seth spoke. She felt that she was an old man, little, tiny... at the same time as Jane she knew she wasn’t shrinking but that it was a subjective experience. Seth kept on talking, and the feeling passed.

(Seth was still around during break. As I spoke, Jane said later, she could feel him responding to my conversation. Jane, who was in the kitchen, hurried back to her chair just as Seth resumed at 9:44.)

I was speaking of psychic endeavors involving projection. Endeavors which you felt involved a greater production or use, rather, of energy. You have been much freer in opening of channels, and passively receiving and becoming receptive to inner information and experience.

For some time he has identified himself with the dream book, and projected his own problems upon it so that it bore the brunt, so to speak; and if it was a failure, then he was a failure and in very definite terms.

The identification no longer exists, and he realized today that his success is not dependent (underlined) upon the dream book for once and all, you see. He is no longer vulnerable in that manner. It was like his albatross around his neck, and it is no longer so.

For that matter the book has changed you see from what it was, as he has changed from what he was. He also knows that the book will be published, and this inner information has been given to him in one way or another time and time again.

It is an example of the way in which his abilities came to his aid, giving him inner assurances when they were most needed. He realizes that he is a creator of the book, not its prisoner, and he once thought that he was. He has stepped clear of it (pause), its fate no longer seen as his fate, regardless of what happens to the book.

(10:15. Jane popped right out of trance. It was a funny situation. She knew what she had said about the book, under consideration at Ace Books, where Don Wollheim is editor-in-chief, and was at once concerned about distorting material, etc. “I wish I hadn’t said it,” she commented wryly, after I remarked that we hadn’t pushed for any answers from Seth; or even asked any questions about the dream book specifically, before the session.

(The next day, January 28, after some debate, Jane called Ace in an effort to learn the status of the dream book. Don Wollheim hadn’t seen it yet. The editor in charge of psychic books was not available; her assistant told Jane a report on the book hadn’t been delivered yet. If Jane’s experience this morning does include the sale of the dream book, the event can be called precognitive to some degree.

(Don was delighted to learn about the sale of the Seth material to Prentice-Hall, and urged Jane to stress this sale to the dream book editor, Evelyn Grippo, in the letter he suggested Jane write.