“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(It might be interesting to note that at the time Jane received this idea, I was working on an index for the 35th session, of March 16, 1964. [...] Jane did not know what session I was working on, and we were also separated by two rooms at the time.

[...] It is now quite a few days later as I type this material, and Jane and I have had time to think it over. [...] Jane’s hesitancy here reminds me of her hesitancy in the beginning sessions, when it early became apparent that she was receiving the answers to questions mentally, even though we were using the Ouija board. [...]

(Jane received her first intimation that something new might develop in the sessions when she was reading over last Wednesday’s session after supper tonight. [...]

(Then, lying down at 8:15 this evening, Jane felt that she went into a deeper trance state, one that was experimental and yet controlled. [...]

(See pages 102, 107, 114, 125 and 136 for some predictions of sales concerning Jane’s writings. Page 102 is a psy-time experiment of Jane’s; the rest are statements made during sessions. [...]

(Jane said some subjective feelings are difficult to put into words. [...] While experiencing such a thing, Jane said she is not conscious of being apart from the experience. [...]

(Indeed, Jane said, although she now thinks she was aware of this grasping of concepts in the last session, she did not mention it because her conscious awareness of it was so fleeting. [...] Jane also believes the quiet back room we now use for the sessions is very helpful.

(On September 26, 1964, Jane and I sent sessions 39-91 to the publisher, Frederick Fell, NY, NY. [...]

(At 10:03, her eyes closed, Jane took the double sealed envelope from me for the 72nd envelope experiment. [...] Early in these experiments Seth announced that he would give no data resulting from Jane’s sense of touch, and he has stuck to this procedure. Jane’s eyes remained closed, her pace average.)

(However, Seth has done as well with objects quite separated from the personal emotional life of Jane and mine. It doesn’t matter, either, whether Jane has ever seen the object before; or whether she saw it ten minutes before the session, or five years ago.

(Jane and I last saw Wendell Crowley perhaps seven years ago, but we keep up a correspondence on about a twice-a-year basis. [...] When Jane first read the Crowley-Taylor logo on tonight’s object it meant nothing to her, until I mentioned the name Wendell. [...]

[...] [Pause.] Seth tried to help Jane discriminate here, as he often does. [...] Also, I was taking pictures of Jane last week, as explained. [...]

[...] Now once again he began to run after Jane. This time, instead of diving at her ankles, he jumped up on my table; then as Jane walked by he reached out at her; his claws caught in her slacks. Without breaking her delivery Jane picked him up and then dumped him into another room; she closed the door.)

[...] Jane was dissociated as usual. [...] Since these sessions had begun late last year, Jane and I had thought that there must be good reasons why we had taken this apartment, then lived in it for over four years. I had never asked Seth the reasons, thinking that in some way Jane and I must be involved with Marion and James Spaziani; and thinking also that some time the reasons would begin to emerge in the material.

(In addition to the teacher’s house, we had indeed looked briefly at a rebuilt schoolhouse owned by Mr. Marvin, whom Jane and I barely know. [...] Seth was very serious as he relayed the above information through Jane.)

[...] Jane was dissociated as usual. [...] Jane and I had wondered about landslides.

[...] At her request I rubbed Jane’s “spot” on the back of her neck. [...] Then I searched for a second spot on the top of her head—and when I found it with my middle finger Jane’s head suddenly began to jerk very rapidly from side to side. [...]

[...] Jane had a cigarette. [...] “Or the body does—that’s what I really mean,” Jane said even her jaw felt loose. [...]

(It was easy to turn Jane on her back after I got to 330 at 1:05, and she ate an excellent lunch. [...]

[...] Jane began to read yesterday’s session—and did very well indeed, even better than she’d done yesterday and the day before that. [...]

[...] For several days now, at Dr. Kardon’s suggestion, I’ve been giving Jane only the 50 mcg. [...] I’d started this after Dr. K’s visit to the house and examination of Jane last Wednesday. Thursday a nurse from Arnot-Ogden drew blood from Jane for the tests Dr. K wanted, including the thyroid. [...] We do think Jane may be a little better off with the reduced Synthroid dose, although this may be hard to prove. Odd, since ordinarily the reduced dosage would seem to be the opposite course of treatment Jane would need, with an underactive thyroid gland.... [...]

[...] For of all the doctors she’d encountered while in the hospital, Jane had liked Dr. C the best, feeling intuitively drawn to him and his optimistic statements that once her thyroid began functioning again she’d find herself getting around much much better than she thought possible. Cummins’s opinion had been largely negated by Dr. K., especially after Dr. K’s friend from Ithaca, the rheumatologist Dr. Sobel had examined Jane at Dr. K’s request early in Jane’s hospital stay. He’d evidently given Dr. K a very negative report on Jane. [...]

(I’d stopped asking Jane for sessions, private or regular, since most of the time it seemed obvious that she wasn’t up to it, so she rather surprised me after supper tonight by saying that if I “sat with her” for ten minutes or so she’d see if she could have a session. [...]

(This course of action has been reminding me, of course, of Seth’s assertion that Jane’s thyroid has regenerated itself in the past. [...]

(At 4:01 Peggy came into take Jane’s blood pressure. Jane at once spoke to her in her normal voice. After Peggy left I read Jane the one line Seth had given. [...]

[...] I read the session so far to Jane. [...] Jane was quite pleased because I said it looked at though she was starting to put on a little weight. [...]

[...] Jane had done well once again. [...] Jane did fairly well as she was being turned. [...]

(When I turned Jane on her back at 1:15 this afternoon, and removed the foam-rubber doughnut from between her knees, she didn’t want me to massage her left leg as I’ve been doing lately. [...]

(I left work in the writing room at about 8:45 to see how Jane was doing at the card table in the living room. [...] We’d had interruptions today—the plumber had had to return to again clean out the sewer line, Jane’s nurse had been here, Peg Gallagher had called, I’d taken time to write Nancy Overton a letter, and so forth. [...]

(As far as the Sayre moving idea goes, I told Jane, I didn’t know what to think or say. [...] As it is, I don’t understand how I’m to get any work done, help Jane, handle business affairs, change even my driver’s license, and move all at the same time. [...]

(About the letter business: Yesterday Jane had called Tam, and learned to our complete surprise that last August Pocket Books had published a paperback edition of the second Seven book: The Further Education, etc. [...]

(Last night, for perhaps only the second or third time since coming home from the hospital last March, Jane slept through the night, as I did: although I woke up several times to check on her, feeling uneasy that I wasn’t putting her on the commode, etc. [...]

(After listening to me discuss the second question for a couple of minutes, Jane said she had an answer to it, or at least a partial one. [...] A feminine voice cried out for Jane. [...]

(Neither Jane nor I had expected our unexpected out-of-state visitor, of course. I can note later that Jane dealt more extensively with the whole episode in Chapter 18 of Politics — [and also that it’s interesting to compare our individual accounts of the same event, even though mine is much shorter]. [...]

(Barbara insisted that she wanted help, but as in other cases that Jane and I have encountered, her focus upon her distress was so intense that we couldn’t breach it; certainly not in the little time available. Neither could Seth, who eventually came through — a course of action Jane hardly ever allows to happen in that kind of circumstance. [...]

(And Jane had something to tell me: She had been able to account for her strange restlessness this evening as soon as Barbara appeared, for she realized she’d been “picking up” that the session would be interrupted. [...] But each time Jane gets this kind of confirmation of her abilities, it seems that both of us are surprised anew.

(The next day, January 28, after some debate, Jane called Ace in an effort to learn the status of the dream book. [...] 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.

(A nap after lunch seemed to restore Jane to a “workable state,” as she put it. [...] I also read to Jane just before the session two questions I had written out recently for Seth’s consideration.)

(“Why is it that in cases of specific information, such as names, dates, places, etc., you [or Jane or Ruburt] will often delay giving the answer. [...] I have often noticed in such cases that if I don’t insist in the following sessions, the subject in question will not be voluntarily referred to again by you [or Jane or Ruburt.]”

[...] Jane was easily out of trance. [...] at the same time as Jane she knew she wasn’t shrinking but that it was a subjective experience. [...]

[...] Jane’s eyes remained closed for the whole session. [...] Jane actually began speaking at 8:56.)

(Jane’s voice was quite amused. The reference here is to the story Peggy Gallagher wrote for the Elmira Star-Gazette concerning Jane’s ESP book. [...]

[...] Jane was well dissociated as usual. [...] Jane’s voice had been loud last delivery, and active; and she resumed in the same manner, smiling often, at 10:05.)

(Jane’s voice had been climbing the scale somewhat as far as volume went, and her rather fast delivery became even faster. Seth/ Jane was highly amused while delivering the above paragraph. [...]

[...] Jane was dissociated as usual. [...] She said that when she heard Seth ask me for the envelope test, she became nervous, for as Jane she had no intention of asking for a test. Then, Jane said, when she realized she did feel nervous, and that she was sitting stiffly, she relaxed and let Seth take over.

(Jane tells me that “a mistake of sorts connected here somewhere” could refer to a mix-up concerning the room we had rented at the motel, but I do not recall this personally. It was nothing serious, Jane said, but a bookkeeping error on the part of the motel room clerk, to the effect that our room had been reserved for someone else, in advance; we were to be moved to another room, she said, but the transfer never took place. [...]

(Jane said she felt she had learned several things at once during this test. [...] Jane said she is particularly aware of this because as a rule she does not see images at any other time.

(Not having heard from her publisher yet, as he had promised she would by now, Jane wrote and mailed to him a pretty stiff letter. [...]

(Because Monday’s session was so unusual, Jane felt a little hesitant about holding a session tonight. [...] When Jane did begin speaking in trance, her voice was peculiarly gentle in quality—lighter than the usual stronger and heavier Seth voice by a good bit, almost as though she was proceeding somewhat cautiously. [...]

(Jane said that before break she had felt the delivery was exceedingly slow. [...] When I did this, Jane said she had an inner feeling of going back and forth. She couldn’t describe this any better.

(Much of the material in the last sesssion accounts for Jane’s improvement in health. [...]

(Jane used many pauses, some of them long, in delivery; her eyes opened at times.)

[...] Jane has been working hard on her God of Jane. [...] [Some of them are on reincarnation, and I plan to present them when Seth gets into that subject in Dreams.] On October 7, a Sunday, Jane saw for the first time the work Sue Watkins has done on Conversations With Seth, the book she’s writing about the ESP classes Jane used to hold. [...] Later Sue laughingly admitted that she’d been nervous at first, imagining all kinds of adverse reactions either Jane or I might have—but she’s doing a fine job. [...] The next day Jane began making notes for the introduction she’s to write for the book.

Today, Jane wrote three more excellent little poems, all of which I hope to eventually see published.² I think she grumbled the whole time she was doing them, though, since she kept at herself because she wasn’t working on God of Jane.

Jane surprised me at the last moment by asking if I wanted the session; I’d thought she was going to pass it up because of her general discontent with herself. [...] And in his opening delivery he referred to the creative freedoms that—seemingly in spite of her conscious fussing—Jane had allowed herself today.)

Our editor, Tam Mossman, has verified for us that the contract between Prentice-Hall and Ankh-Hermes contains a clause prohibiting cutting, unless Jane’s and my permission is given. [...] Jane and I regret this, now that our first anger has passed. [...]

[...] She’s also being moved to the first floor — Surgical 1. I have a toy unicorn I’ll be giving her tomorrow, along with a verse Jane wrote. [...] Here is Jane’s verse:

[...] Shawn took Jane’s blood pressure and pulse, then my wife went back to reading the session, doing a little better. Jane announced she was ready for the session at 4:10. [...]

[...] A nurse came in to give Jane eyedrops. Afterward I read Jane what she’d given on the session. [...]

(With Carla’s help, Jane called me at 9:47 p.m., just as I was finishing typing this session. [...] Sleep warm and cozy, Jane.)

1. I mixed the powder with water as instructed, and gave Jane a couple of doses 12 hours apart. The day after she’d taken the second dose—in the morning, Saturday —Jane’s little finger on her left hand began to change color toward blue, from the middle joint down. [...] I used the massage on Jane’s head, neck, and back, and she said this helped the finger greatly, since she felt muscular activity in the body led to the finder’s turning color. [...]

[...] Yesterday Jane felt very uncomfortable as she sat in her chair on the water cushion. [...] Jane slept well last night, and this morning I noted that there hadn’t been any discharge from the ulcer overnight when I changed the dressing as usual. [...]

I’ve been using the massage technique you showed us on Jane with very good results. [...]

Here are some observations on the medications you sent for Jane’s blue finger, and the ulcer. [...]

(4:37 p.m. I told Jane the little session was excellent, as indeed it is. [...] Jane was pleased too, and I reread it to her after supper.

[...] I brought Jane’s eyebrow pencil to her at 330.

[...] Jane looked at herself in the mirror after she put on lipstick. [...]

[...] Jane finished her cigarette and I worked on mail.

Some of my descriptive passages in Dreams as I deal with Jane’s personal challenges are harrowing; they strike at the very heart of our fears of illness and disability, and even death, leading us to consciously face those possibilities while at the same time they perfectly mirror our equally profound inner needs and drives. In Dreams I’m presenting the account of Jane’s struggles with her “physical symptoms” in the clearest light I can manage. [...]

I learned long ago that Jane’s great creative abilities are so intimately bound up with her personal challenges that they’re inseparable. [...] Obviously, in larger terms Jane and I believe that the earth—indeed, the universe itself—is alive.

In her own creative way, Jane is doing just this; her physical symptoms are the signposts of her personal struggle, and of mine, and of our joint incomplete knowledge. With her successes and failures Jane leads the way for many, even while she and I keep trying to learn more. [...]

As soon as I realized that Dreams, “Evolution,” and Value Fulfillment was going to be so long that it would require publication in two volumes, I began to think about how I was going to summarize here all of the material that Jane, Seth, and I had contributed to Volume 1. I developed the hilarious notion that if I did the job the way I really wanted to, this introduction would be as long as that first volume is itself! [...]

[...] Just before going outside I’d told Jane a capsule of my current thinking—that we were at the end of the line that she was going to end up hospitalized again, or in an institution where she could receive constant care. [...] I’d mentioned while she was still in bed this morning that I was going to call Dr. Kardon tomorrow morning, and tell her I wanted Jane back in the hospital. [...]

[...] Why, Jane, why? [...] I told Jane I wouldn’t be surprised to walk into the bedroom some day and discover that she had simply died during the night, so resolving her challenges. [...]

(I got a horrified reaction from Jane in the bedroom this morning when I’d mentioned the hospital to her, and that I was reaching a turning point in my struggles to care for her myself. Seth had recently said the hospital experience had been a traumatic one for Jane—so why was she doing again the very things that could lead to a return to that situation? [...]

(I would like to record the original notes I wrote for the session, then, but at the same time I recommended to Jane that she not read them. [...] Seth did come through again, briefly, and I suggest that Jane skip down to his material. [...]

[...] Jane wasn’t aware of anyone being present at first, but at 9:15 she got a slight impression of the cone effect, described in the last two sessions. We talked about the material on coordinates, and at 9:25 Jane got a sentence within concerning them. [...]

(Once again Jane began speaking for Seth’s entity, as we have come to call the personality beyond Seth; her voice had the same higher and distant, clearly enunciating quality as before. [...] Jane spoke with eyes opening at times, and with many pauses, some of them long.)

[...] Our cat jumped up into Jane’s lap as she spoke. [...] Jane appeared undisturbed. [...]

(Jane said she doesn’t really know how to begin the sessions lately. [...] With the new source, Seth’s entity, Jane said she feels it is way up above her, talking; but once she gets the first word there’s no problem.