“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Jane had been delivering the above paragraph with many pauses. [...] Jane sat quietly, waiting for me to stop. [...] My sneezing certainly constituted an interruption of sorts, yet Jane’s reaction to this was placid, her trance state unbroken. Had someone pounded on the door abruptly and broken Jane’s state she would have been painfully aware of it.

[...] Jane was well dissociated. [...] Jane said she felt carried away, as she had been in the Father Trainor episode. [...] During this experiment, while reading some poetry aloud that the now-dead Father Trainor had often read to her when she was in high school, Jane’s voice had taken on an enormous male volume and strength. [...] Jane said it was Father Trainor’s voice, at times, or a close approximation. [...]

(I might add here that my arbitrary designation of an average pause on Jane’s part might run to perhaps ten seconds. [...] As said before, while in the state Jane is not aware of the pauses; as far as she is concerned they might as well not exist; or conversely, they could be an hour long.

[...] One of them was a large, vividly colored parrot that I managed to hang from the wooden frame of the bulletin board at the foot of Jane’s bed, so she could see it. [...] In fact, Jane said, it was a more valid and true statement of reality than the other gift from Sue—After Man, by Dougal Dixon. [...] At first Jane and I wondered why Sue would give us such a book, knowing our views on evolution. [...]

[...] “Suppose those people had endorsed your stuff like that?” I asked Jane. [...] Jane and I spent some little time discussing it. [...] I said to Jane, that in my hand I held the best man could do about understanding his origins at this time. [...]

[...] Jane showed me how both elbows have loosened up enough so that she can move her forearms down another inch or so—a good sign, I told her. [...] Jane fretted a little about not getting anything done, but I said to forget it. [...]

[...] Jane said she had been well dissociated. I thought that perhaps Seth asked about an end to the session because Jane was blocking material about me she thought I might not like to hear. We now had a discussion about my motives in painting; I hoped it would release any blocks Jane might have set up. [...]

[...] Before the session Jane and I held a general discussion re her improvement, my parents’ serious situation, Jane’s recent days of writing poetry. [...]

(In the last session, 372nd, October 16, 1967, Seth predicted good sales for Jane’s ESP book. The next day Jane got a letter from F. Fell in which he outlined plans for the start of a national ad campaign to promote the book. [...]

[...] Jane said she was “way-out.” [...] He also had Jane let the cat in so she wouldn’t get upset by the animal’s scratching at the door. [...]

(Jane had one predominant image during the data, and this was of the greeting card. [...] The connection between the object and the greeting card is a legitimate and close one, and presumably would not have developed had Jane not correctly divined the nature of the object itself to begin with. [...]

(Jane of course had seen the card upon arrival, on August 12 or 13,1966. [...] As soon as Jane began giving the envelope data I realized she referred to Mother’s card as well as the object. [...]

[...] Remember that Jane had an image of Barbara’s boyfriend Dick. Jane is sure this data is a reference to the fact that last Saturday evening, September 3, Barbara and Dick visited a local pub; a bone of contention arose between them over this visit, but will not be discussed here. Suffice it to say that strong emotional feelings were engendered by the visit, and that Barbara discussed the visit with Jane today, the day of this experiment. [...]

(Jane had no idea of what Seth was going to talk about before the session began. [...] Actually Jane’s eyes were closed for much of the material. [...]

(One image Jane had while speaking was of Barbara’s boyfriend Dick, and of the very colorful plaid sports jacket he wore. Jane saw Dick wearing this today. [...]

Long before I finished my part of “Unknown” Reality, Seth and Jane had started their next book: The Nature of the Psyche: Its Human Expression. I recorded those sessions, of course, while keeping up with my own work. Jane finished her Psychic Politics, and began some new poetry and world-view material. [...]

No one, whether that individual is a psychic, a mystic, a writer, a poet, or even if he or she combines all of those qualities (as I think Jane does), can encompass all of the incredible differences within the human species. [...] Lots of those people will never hear of the Seth material — nor, as Seth himself has said, will they ever need to — but then, Jane and I know that some will, and so we proffer what we can.

[...] Jane and I, for instance, have never particularly cared for the term “ESP,” or extrasensory perception (my emphasis), since to us it implies misleading conceptions about certain inner abilities. [...] (I’ll add here that Jane calls her class an ESP class for the obvious reason that the term has become so well known that most people understand something of its implied meaning.)

[...] In that session Ezra is dealt with in the envelope data with the same type of data; Seth gave Jane the grave data, signifying Ezra’s death, but at that time Jane, who did not like the idea of graves, did not use the word. This time, Jane now said, she came out with it when Seth gave her the data. We believe the grave data was to refer to Ezra, who worked at Artistic before he died, and that this in turn was to lead Jane to identify Artistic as the source of the envelope object.

[...] The card bears the expiration date, and Jane got at the idea of this by gesturing boldly with her arm, finishing up the several lines of data with “as something canceled.” See also page 9, where Jane describes the internal visual data accompanying her vocal data.)

[...] The newspaper article led to a note to Jane from the wife of my boss, Harry Gottesman, inviting us to the Gottesman home for an evening. Jane answered the note, received in July 1965, by phone. [...]

(Here Seth refers to Jane’s book of poetry, High, Low and Psycho. In a very recent session Seth told Jane to send the manuscript to a publisher beginning with an L or V. The book had already been rejected by Viking, the only V in her index of publishers. Checking the L’s, Jane was surprised to discover the publisher Horace Liveright, a name containing both an L and a V.

[...] I had not mentioned the vision to them, and asked Jane to wait before she did so. [...]

[...] I drew a quick very rough little sketch of it, dated it, then told Jane about it. [...]

(Today Jane said she’d talked it over with Debbie Harris, and that the latter would be coming in three nights a week while Jane tries some spontaneous dictation. [...] Jane didn’t know about trying an emotional subject like an autobiography with someone else, though. [...]

(Jane has even thought of having Debbie Harris take dictation at night, for another children’s book. [...] This usually helps cheer up Jane, though she gets nervous if they don’t keep their minds on what they’re doing when they lift her, say.

(Jane thinks her work, her poetry, is good. [...] Jane had felt that I was disappointed by the publication of her novel, The Rebellers — and correctly so. [...]

(I also said that I thought today’s material was the result of Jane’s reading that intro after breakfast yesterday, which had triggered her day-long black mood of despair. I thought the intro had triggered Jane’s material about her mother—for here Jane was, creating—or at least mimicking—her mother’s situation on her own. Jane’s material this morning seemed to show that her buried feelings about her mother were much stronger than she’s suspected, and more damaging. Perhaps we’ll discover that they play as strong a role in Jane’s dilemma presently, as my wife’s Sinful-Self material. For Jane the two sets of material-beliefs could be very closely related—seems like this would be almost inevitable.

(Jane agreed again. [...] I began these notes, only to be interrupted as Jane began dictation. [...]

(I told Jane that as I listened to it some of the material sounded contradictory. [...] This may be a case of things being redeemed on a “higher” level, I suppose—reminding me of material I’ve been dealing with recently in the intro for Seth/Jane’s Dreams.

(In fact, Jane exercised often during the day, in spite of her feeling out of it so much. [...] When her nurse, Peggy Jowett, came this afternoon, she clapped in applause at Jane’s increased movements. Jane also has increased movement in other parts of her body; she can move her head from side to side much further, and her arms and shoulders work better, she said. [...]

(Yesterday we received from Hal Williams begonia pills for pain; he’d mentioned sending these to Jane during his visit recently. Also enclosed was a chunk of plastic putty to exercise hands, and Jane took to this at once. [...]

[...] Jane had been pretty far out for some time, both before and after supper. [...]

(Later I told Jane of a remark Frank Longwell had made the other day, after I’d explained to him that she’d been having a very rough time this month. [...] This got Jane thinking, I could see. [...]

(Jane said she felt “scared and panicky,” and that, I knew, was a good sign. [...] Before I could try anything like free association, however, Jane said she had more to give.

(Jane ate a better lunch today — that is, not enough to keep a bird alive, but still an improvement over most of the month of July: A little soup, a little egg yolk, coffee, a little custard, chocolate milk, and so forth.

[...] For the first time in a session, Seth remarked last night that Jane has been able to open herself up to healing energy from you and the people you have asked for help on Jane’s behalf. [...] Jane now has more movement in her knees than she has had for years. She has a long way to go, but evidently you and yours have helped, along with some things we are trying on our own, so we want you to know this, and so you can tell those you write on Jane’s behalf. [...]

First, Jane and I thank you very much for your efforts on her behalf. [...]

[...] We need dates especially, so we can correlate the efforts of others with whatever changes Jane shows: otherwise it will be very difficult to write convincingly about what transpires, for whatever we write will be designed to help others also. [...]

(In the 136th session such an interruption was enough of a shock to Jane to cause Seth to end the session. During the session with Dr. Instream, the 169th, held in his office at Oswego, Jane demonstrated an ability to go into and out of the trance state very easily. [...] Now, Jane walked back to her chair. [...]

(There came a knock on the door, and Jane stopped speaking. [...] In the past such interruptions have been physically painful for Jane. [...]

[...] Jane was dissociated as usual for a first delivery. [...] She thinks the ability to switch in and out of the trance state so easily made itself known during the session with Dr. Instream at Oswego; Jane feels however that she must have been preparing herself for this step forward without being aware of it.

(Tonight at session time the small television set on its swivel arm was on, opposite Jane’s left knee. [...] Jane had just finished a cigarette. [...]

[...] “Great,” I said as Jane quickly left trance. [...] Jane sighed with relief. [...]

(This is the first Seth session Jane has held since the private session for November 10, 1982: Eleven months. [...]

(When I walked into 330 Jane was singing to herself in a low voice. [...] She ate a good lunch, and so did I. Jane gave me a bag of unshelled peanuts that I brought home for the squirrels.

(Jane’s Seth voice was good, as it had been yesterday. The heater in 330 was working again, for some mysterious reason, since Jane said no one had been in to check it today, and yesterday the fellow hadn’t been able to get it going. [...]

(4:43 p.m. I read the session to Jane. [...] Jane suggested I remind Seth to do so tomorrow.

(Jane and I had been quite puzzled at the visitors of this afternoon and supper time. [...] They stayed long enough so that Jane got no work done during the afternoon, or very little. In addition one of them was a coworker of mine, and told Jane the office had forgotten today was my birthday; when they remembered, they planned a party for tomorrow.)

[...] Jane was very tired before the session, although she said she felt fine when I questioned her. [...] Jane said she did not let me know she was tired, because under such circumstances sometimes excellent material has come through.

(We bought two colors of burlap while shopping Saturday, the white I used to experiment with, and a piece of light yellow that I gave to Jane. Jane had become involved with the yellow material, trying it out as a curtain, slipcover, tablecloth, etc., and she made plans to buy some more. [...]

[...] It involved an informal exchange between Jane, Seth, Bill and Peggy Gallagher and myself, and lasted until about 1:30 AM. [...] And when it was over at last, and we were all weary, Seth, or Jane, was as capable as ever. Jane had no voice strain or fatigue that we could detect. [...] Jane just threw her head back and let the sound come out.”

[...] Jane and I had not used our recorder much lately, so we practiced with it last night, establishing proper distances from the microphone, and volume settings. [...] There follows the little talk Jane gave on tape before the actual session began:

(Jane had felt for several days that Seth would address the session to Dr. Instream, and so he did. Jane’s eyes remained closed for the entire session. [...]

(I finally decided that the best way to present the variety of material desired, whether from Seth, Jane, or myself, was in chronological order, letting a composite picture emerge as the work progresses. [...] Since the excerpts are still more representative than complete, however, due to the accumulated mass of information available, my own choices enter in: ESP class data are quoted a number of times; included is material summarizing Jane’s own theories about the Seth phenomena, as she worked them out in her recently completed Adventures in Consciousness; but reincarnation, while mentioned often, isn’t stressed in terms of particulars — that is, I refer to Seth’s statements that he, Jane and I led closely involved lives in Denmark in the 1600’s, but those lives aren’t studied per se. Within our ordinary context of linear time I think of reincarnation, even though in Seth’s terms it’s really a simultaneous phenomenon, as being further away, or more removed, from us physical creatures than the more “immediate” psychic connections and mechanics I want to show as linking Seth, Jane, and myself. [...]

[...] And I would like to mention here that I am not Jane’s animus … Nor could I possibly live up to Jane’s animus. I use the name “Jane” here rather than “Ruburt” because the animus belongs to Jane and to the present personality. [...]

[...] The first, for our own study, was for Seth to describe objects thoroughly sealed in double envelopes; the envelopes were prepared [unknown to Jane, of course] by myself and by others. [...] We met “Dr. Instream,” as Jane called him in The Seth Material, but once, a few weeks after I’d written him in the spring of 1965 about Jane’s growing psychic abilities. Seth conducted 83 envelope tests for Jane and me, and within a concentrated period of nine months during that “year of testing,” gave impressions for Dr. Instream on 75 occasions; those I mailed to the doctor as they came through.¹⁸ Often both tests were held during each of our twice-weekly sessions.

Besides normal reasons (Jane dictates:) he was psychically inclined, at a time when Jane was young and herself close to a past life. [...]

[...] Had he lived to see Jane mature the feeling between them might well have dissipated. [...] Jane was 19.) He could not relate to another adult, and when in his eyes she joined the league of adulthood he would not have been able to retain his strong leaning toward her.

[...] From early age however Jane drank in his feeling of completeness with nature, and it had much to do with her later development. [...] At times both you and Jane reinforce each other along these lines.