“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Today is Jane’s birthday. She is 45 years old. I didn’t ask her to have a session tonight, but she volunteered. While we waited for Seth to come through, she talked about the deaths of her parents.¹ Her father, Delmer, died on November 16, 1971, when he was 68; her mother, Marie, died on May 10, 1972, at the same age.

(When Jane was young Marie had in all seriousness often warned her “When I die, I’ll come back and haunt you.” During those years Marie was in her late 20’s and early 30’s, and already incapacitated by arthritis; and, to quote Seth from a session held in 1964, she had “… often spoken vehemently of Ruburt’s birth being a source of disease, and pain, that is of her arthritis … If Ruburt’s mother had it to do over, she would not have the child — and the child hidden within the adult still feels that the mother actually has the power, even now, to force the child back into the womb and refuse to deliver it …”

(Jane said tonight that she still feels a strong emotional charge in connection with the idea of the “dead” returning in those stereotyped, banal terms. Yet, although Seth has said very little to date about ghosts, hauntings, and possession [we link them together], it doesn’t seem that Jane’s early family experiences have led her to set up any blocks against such topics. “Seth just hasn’t gotten around to them yet,” she said. “When he does, they’ll make a great series of chapters — or maybe a whole book some day.”)

(10:35. Jane’s delivery had been average; and, she said now, the session would be a short one. It was. When Seth came through again in a few minutes he said, humorously: “Tell Ruburt I said ‘Happy Birthday’” — then gave a page of material for Jane on another subject. End at 10:48 P.M.

(Within that deleted information were a few lines I’d like to present here for the record. When Jane finished with certain challenges, Seth remarked, “… there will be a ‘birth’ of seemingly new concepts, simply because his [Jane’s] old mental barriers kept him from making certain important connections, and an increasing system of communication between waking and dreaming states.”

(Perhaps the latter happening is already underway: Jane’s recall of, participation in, and benefits from such an exchange between her waking and dreaming selves has increased considerably in recent weeks. So have her records, since she keeps detailed accounts of all of her dream activities and correlating “conscious” events. All of this activity appears to be more than transient.)

1. For material on Jane’s family background, see the 679th session, including notes 4 and 8, as well as Appendix 1 for the same session.

3. Seth’s material here reminded me of what Jane had told me last week about her own objectified perception of information; see her quoted notes prefacing the 694th session for May 1.

5. See Note 3 for Session 679, concerning Seth’s male name for Jane (Ruburt), and his comments that “Sex, regardless of all your fleshy tales, is a psychic phenomenon …”

Every so often Jane hears from a female reader who wants to know why Seth often uses the male gender in his books, especially in passages like those in tonight’s 696th session. A little reflection will show that in spite of the “sexist” implications it would be quite difficult to present such material in other ways, so common is the use of “man,” “he,” “his,” and “him.” In the English language we often don’t have the right word, one meaning male and female equally, with which to represent the species. Many times “humanity” doesn’t fit. Nor do we like to substitute “it,” since it’s neuter and devoid of feeling as far as we’re concerned. We also don’t want to become involved with rewriting Seth’s material: We’re sure that when he produces passages cast in the male gender, his intentions are anything but prejudiced in favor of that sex.

While Jane and I talked about the situation, she spontaneously produced the following written material: