“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Last Thursday I finished the final pen-and-ink drawing of the 40 I’d planned for Jane’s book of poetry, Dialogues of the Soul and Mortal Self in Time.¹ I spent Friday checking the batch, then on Saturday morning I mailed them to Tam Mossman, Jane’s editor at Prentice-Hall. That afternoon we talked with a real estate agent, Debbie [not her real name], whom we’ve known for some time. Sunday we rested. And today we began house hunting.²

(From the outside only, Jane and I inspected several homes in Elmira. The first one we looked at — a bungalow on a Foster Avenue — intrigued us considerably. Our interest was hardly coincidental, though. Debbie had pointed out a photograph of it in a local real estate catalog, and we were quite aware that it bore a good resemblance to the house we’d considered buying in Sayre, Pennsylvania, in the spring of 1974.³ Besides being bungalows, both houses were of about the same age, and even of similar colors.

(Jane and I were also interested in the fact that we’d seldom been on Foster Avenue, even though it lay within comfortable walking distance of the apartment house we lived in on Water Street; nor could either of us recall having noticed the “Foster Avenue place” before. We speculated that we’d “homed in on it” now, as if for the first time, because our combined focus was opening up in the direction of homes.

(That concentration upon places to live reminded us of families, of course — “regular” families as well as Seth’s families of consciousness. While I drove us back to our apartment house for supper we discussed the incredibly complicated roles and events surrounding those different kinds of organizations — whereupon Jane came up with a most apt phrase: “The genealogy of events….” She laughed, then added: “As families of people have their genealogies, so do families of events.”⁴

(As we waited for the session to begin Jane abruptly received a block of impressions from Seth. They concerned the opposing uses of personal power by two individuals whom we’d encountered within the last week: the woman lawyer who had interrupted the session last Wednesday evening, and who is so afraid of her power; and the young classical guitarist who had visited us last night, and who revels in the positive use of his power. The impressions are for use in either “Unknown” Reality, Jane said, or in Psychic Politics.⁵ She grinned: “Thanks, Seth.” Then she launched into the session before I could finish these notes. I came back to them at first break.)

(From its position on a bookcase some 10 feet away, the telephone began to ring — to faintly buzz, actually, since we’d turned down its bell before the session. Still, I was afraid the repetitious noise might bother Jane as she sat quietly in trance. Her eyes were closed.)

(12:01 A.M. The ending was quick. Jane’s trances and deliveries had been excellent — strong and vital. “Seth’s going into historical probabilities in the next session,” she said. “I could go into that stuff right now, I feel so good. I could do it for another hour without any hassle. There’s a lot there on national counterparts, too.”¹² Then while I wrote this note she proceeded to tell me more about what Seth had in mind.

(“Tonight I did have the feeling — for the first time — that ‘Unknown’ Reality was heading toward an end,” Jane said, “that Seth will soon be getting ready to tie it up, and incorporate the ending with the beginning … Not right away; but it’s the first time I’ve felt that.”

(Actually, she now had many channels open from Seth. It seemed that every topic we mentioned engendered another one. Seth even had “a bunch of stuff” available on Jane, myself, and music. This included data on my starting to take violin lessons when I was eight years old — an event I hadn’t thought of for what seemed to be decades [it took place in 1927], but which I was able to instantly recall as soon as Jane mentioned it.)

1. I was about a month behind schedule in finishing the illustrations for Dialogues; see Note 1 for the 705th session. The delay doesn’t matter in this case, though. Jane’s publisher still has plenty of “lead time” for the production of the book, since it won’t be marketed until the fall of 1975.

2. Every so often I’ve referred to the inconveniences of apartment living for us, especially those involving that ever-present, ever-growing traffic noise. During break for the 726th session, which was held on December 16, 1974, I wrote that we planned to start looking for a house of our own as soon as I finished the illustrations for Dialogues. Our need for a certain kind of privacy and quiet has become very strong. At the same time, we want to avoid the sense of isolation that might result if we move into the country. I’d probably like that, but realized some time ago that such a situation would bother Jane considerably.

It will be interesting to see how many of the points Seth mentioned above tally with the place Jane and I finally acquire.

5. In very gentle ways, Jane did eventually use some of Seth’s impressions relative to both people — but cast in her own vernacular — for Chapter 18 of Politics. In that chapter she also began presenting, again from her viewpoint, material on our house-hunting activities; she plans to continue doing so in subsequent chapters.

And in a note for that session I wrote: “Years ago, when Jane and I began living in Sayre, Pennsylvania, not long after our marriage in 1954, I began telling myself that before I reached the age of 40 I’d know whether I wanted to concentrate upon writing or painting — but that if I’d failed to do so before that date, I would then decide upon one or the other of those creative arts. I turned 40 in 1959 — and chose painting.”

8. It’s no coincidence that Seth used the Pathetique here in his material. The symphony is, probably, Jane’s and my favorite musical composition. We “discovered” the Pathetique during our courtship 21 years ago, and many times during the following months we listened to the two scratchy old records that carried the piece. But even then we were impressed — awed — by its creative power, over and above the obvious emotional connotations we put upon it.

12. A note added later: I’m sorry to write that Seth didn’t discuss historical probabilities in the 736th session, or national counterparts either. I forgot to remind Jane of those topics before that session, just as I forgot to ask Seth about them while he was speaking. Several more sessions were held before I discovered the lapse, which occurred partly because I hadn’t typed the 735th session yet, and neglected to refer to my handwritten notes, and partly because in the meantime Seth had returned to his material on the families of consciousness. My error was unfortunate, since I feel that his information would have been most original, enhancing future sessions.

My comments here are certainly reminiscent of those in Note 4 for the last session: I explained how Jane and I missed out on what I think would have been excellent material simply because she was interrupted by a visitor just as she began to deliver it. Then see Note 2 for Appendix 22, which contains some of the reasons why we often find it difficult to return to a certain session to flesh out a certain subject.