“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

[...] Shannon took Jane’s blood pressure. I read the session so far to Jane. At 4:13 Jane resumed with material she’d told me yesterday that Seth planned to cover today.)

[...] Dana took Jane’s temperature. I read Jane the last few lines.)

(I discovered considerable drainage on the foam rubber buffer between Jane’s knees when I got to 330 this noon, and turned her on her back.

(At 2:50 Dr. Wilson, whom Jane likes, came in to examine the knee. [...]

(Jane ate a better lunch than she did yesterday. [...] Jane put on lipstick and looked in the mirror.

[...] I did mail until Jane had the session. [...] Jane was coughing enough so that she remarked that she hoped she could get through the session. [...]

(Jane called last night. [...]

[...] I noted that it was now conceded by both Jane and Seth that she did have a cold, as I’d asked her yesterday.

(Jane had some other insights into Seth’s multiple channels as she continued dictating Personal Reality after that session,¹ yet we continued to think of the new development as one of mostly theoretical interest. [...] Then on the morning of March 10 — the Sunday before last — we learned that we may have to rethink the idea of Seth-Jane producing more than one major work at a time; for on that day Jane received the outline for another book, along with the knowledge that she’d need Seth’s help in producing it. [...] Jane wrote at the time, then told me, that she almost felt “the book could be Personal Reality Number Two.” [...]

[...] Nor do I. Perhaps, even knowing Jane’s unique creative abilities as well as we do, we’re each somewhat daunted by the thought that consciously we might not be able to concentrate enough on two such projects at once. I do believe it possible for Jane to deliver “Unknown” Reality and The Way Toward Health concurrently through Seth, and to carry on her “regular” writing, for I think we have yet to learn the limits of her abilities [although as she continues to develop them she increases our knowledge of human potential]. [...]

(The following material is, in part, an outgrowth of certain effects described in Personal Reality; see my notes for the 616th session, bridging chapters 2 and 3. That session was held on September 20, 1972, and the notes I’m referring to concern a new development in Jane’s abilities: her initial realization that on at least some occasions she would have more than one channel of information available from Seth. [...]

(As quickly as she could once she became aware of what was happening that Sunday morning, Jane typed a 3-page summary or outline of the contents for The Way Toward Health, including chapter headings, then wrote a very condensed statement about how the whole thing came to her. [...]

[...] I read the session to Jane twice. [...] Of course, we noticed that Seth had said that Jane’s discomfort was only partially caused by her fears that she cannot heal herself. [...] Jane said later that she thought Seth would indeed return. [...]

(At least when I’ve been there in 330, Jane’s appetite has gone downhill, and she’s slacked off on free-association material and the sessions. [...] Then yesterday Jane promised to hold a session today, after I’d said that a session might help.

(4:26 p.m. I read the last half of the session to Jane. “I got the feeling there was something definitely involved in the increase in the circulation of our books,” Jane said when I was through. [...]

(Jane was again very uncomfortable today when she lay on her back. [...]

(Intrigued by giving such different and difficult material, Jane checked a few reference books before Pat Norelli’s Thanksgiving visit from Boston. [...] But first, here are the copies of Jane’s notes.)

(Now here is the reply Roger wrote to Jane on December 21, 1968, after he’d studied sessions 449 and 450. We hadn’t sent him copies of Jane’s own notes.)

NOTES BY JANE BUTTS ABOUT

(Jane had a call from Tam Mossman at Prentice-Hall today, during which we obtained some confirmation on points made by Seth in a recent session. There was also a strange similarity between some of the data given in the seance, by Jane, in the 435th session.

(During the seance, Jane rubbed first her left arm and then her right arm, saying they hurt. [...] In the seance Jane was not Eve, but the driver of the car in the accident; she was a woman, with Eve a passenger beside her.

(Jane, as Seth, paused. [...] I knew Jane wasn’t at her best tonight, but thought it would be nice to get at least an inkling of what Seth was talking about. [...]

(The data above on a third book for Jane was entirely unexpected by us, and unasked for. No one has given Jane a hint re any such third volume, etc.

(It will be remembered that Jane and Seth noted many valid emotional connections pertaining to the test object in the 219th session. We feel that with practice Jane and Seth will be able to pick such charges up regardless of what individuals they are attached to, or directed at.

[...] For the test object I used a wallet identification card that I picked up two years ago in an empty house that Jane and I nearly purchased. Both of us had met the owner of the house, Jim Birch, a few times. [...]

[...] As far as I know Jane never did see this specific item among the papers. [...]

[...] Jane and I have made a few sporadic attempts to learn more about Frank Watts; such a man did live in Elmira, we learned, through a resident who knew him. [...]

I can’t note the same for The Magical Approach to Reality: A Seth Book—the very promising work that Jane and I first discussed a year and a half ago [in August 1980], after Seth had started his group of excellent private sessions on that subject.⁸ I watched Jane try to write the book a number of times; last month, in Note 6 for Session 939 [in this chapter], I finally expressed the opinion that she wouldn’t finish the job. [...] But obviously Jane has the freedom to engage in any project, and she chooses not to follow through with some of them. [...]

A note added a month later: Jane’s journal entry is indeed a last one, for on the 26th of February, 18 days after finishing her work for Dreams, she was admitted to a local hospital for treatment of hearing difficulties, rheumatoid arthritis, and several other afflictions. Jane’s and my hospital experiences have already become so involved that I’ve begun to think of describing them—and whatever they may develop into—in a series of chronologically ordered introductory essays for Dreams, instead of the more conventional introduction I’d been expecting to write. [...] Each day as I look at my lovely wife lying in her hospital bed after years of struggle, I feel the surge of those events—and I see them in Jane, and feel them in her!

From her mystical orientation Jane chooses what she wants to learn and use from what Seth has to offer. [...] Jane’s mystical creation of her universe is just her own. [...] No matter that right now our joint reality seems quite opaque to me as Jane lies bedridden. [...]

5. Jane has worked with Tam ever since he encouraged her to write The Seth Material 13 years ago; that book was published a year later, in 1970. [...] As a result, Jane and I have arranged that upon our deaths our estate—including the Seth material—goes to the Manuscripts and Archives division of the Library. [...] I have yet to begin the work of copying, however, although I hope to start it soon now that I can see an end to my involvement with Dreams. In Chapter 2 of Dreams, in Volume 1, see Note 1 for Session 887, which Jane delivered in December 1979.

(The next day, Jane visited Miss Callahan, to ask for the use of her telephone since our television set was not working, and we needed the help of a repairman. Jane had not seen Miss C for a month. Jane was very surprised when Miss C, apparently quite upset, told her that she had just learned from her doctor that she needed operations on both of her eyes, for the removal of cataracts. [...] Miss C then asked Jane if she would bring in the mail, etc., while she was in the hospital.

(In the above paragraph the phrases “meaning the personality,” and “a much larger sense,” came clearly to my mind just before Jane voiced them. [...] For some reason it made an impression on me, whereas many times while Jane is dictating I have had a thought similar to the one Jane was about to voice. [...]

(On July 29/63, Jane had a very vivid dream, in color, involving Miss Callahan. In the dream, Jane saw Miss C in a hospital; Miss C was very thin, and dressed in black. She had been crying, and tried to tell Jane something to the effect that she, Miss C, was going away. [...]

(Jane mentioned her dream to Miss Callahan, but she did not tell Miss C she had seen her crying, or dressed in black. In her notes on the dream, Jane wrote that she hoped the black did not symbolize death for Miss C. Jane was quite relieved to learn that while Miss C did have to go to the hospital, it was for a more or less routine operation, and nothing more serious.

[...] So was Jane’s. The third finger of my right hand seemed to enlarge even more. Jane looked for our scissors; since we were unprepared it took a few minutes to find them and cut some narrow strips of paper. [...] I measured Jane’s above the middle knuckle, and mine above and below the same knuckle.

(Tuesday morning Jane visited Miss Callahan in the front apartment, as Seth had suggested last session. [...] Jane said she did appear to have trouble with a faulty memory, however.

(By 8:55 Jane was nervous as usual; she also had something of a kink in her neck, though to a minor degree. [...] Jane began dictating in a rather normal voice; she paced at a moderate speed and her eyes darkened as usual.)

[...] Jane was quite dissociated for a first delivery, she said. [...] When she is dissociated Jane said she does not worry about distortions in the material. [...]

(Jane, the Gallaghers and I were discussing the session and related subjects when Seth came through again at 11:00. All of us were in very good humor, including Seth; the session as it continued reflected this, and a rapid-fire exchange resulted in which Jane was in and out of trance at the wink of an eye, so to speak. [...]

(Jane began speaking again with her eyes closed, but they opened at times during the exchange, as they had in the last session, the 176th. Jane has resumed often lately after formally ending a session, as in the 169th, 170th, and 176th.

(This experience reminded me that Jane might try a little experiment of her own the next time such an occasion arose for informal exchange. It was simply that it should be possible for Jane herself to ask Seth questions, then go into trance to answer them. [...]

[...] The windows were of necessity open and traffic noise was quite audible, but we heard Jane without difficulty. [...]

[...] Explained the dangers of vasculitis to Jane—possible damage to internal organs—start treatment before that happens, if necessary. Jane’s finger looked better. [No results in yet of blood tests taken a week ago at St. Joe’s. Tests sent to Rochester.] Jane got more and more depressed and scared as Dr. K. talked, I could see it, in spite of suggestions we’d agreed on before her visit. [...] Dr. K. wants Dr. Sobel from Ithaca to examine Jane Friday even if blood tests aren’t in yet: “I can give him the results over the phone later.” [...] I helped her put Jane on the waterbed. Jane had cried a bit after Dr. K. left and before Peggy came in, and I’d tried to console her. Now Jane burst into tears on the waterbed: “I wish we’d tried harder with our own suggestions and ideas....” [...] Dr. K. said Jane could take a couple of aspirin if necessary in the middle of the night. I told Jane we could still use our own ideas. [...] Jane also cried on the waterbed that now “it would be harder to do anything on our own, because we had to deal with the medical establishment too,” as well as our own beliefs. Dr. K. told us Jane wouldn’t feel any results from the 100 mcg Synthroid tablets she started on last Monday for a long time—that the effects from the increased dosage were “weeks away.” I wondered if this was a contradiction, because on the phone last month, Dr. K. had said Jane’s thyroid function was almost up to par from the medication she had been taking, meaning that it had acted quicker than “weeks away.”....)

(After supper last night Jane and I had one of our discussions that left us feeling out-of-sorts—half angry and resentful, accusatory and regretful that we hadn’t done better in the past. No need to go into details here, but it ended up with Jane asking me to get the notebook of sinful-self material. [...]

(No sooner had we started than Bill Tolbert showed up to start mowing the grass and using his trimmer, which is even noisier than the mower, but Jane persevered after I shut doors and windows, depending on where Bill was working outside. [...]

(Jane began speaking quite rapidly, but I managed to keep up. [...]

(Seth told us the Seth book which is now at Jane’s publisher would be published, and that her dream book would also. Jane sent the dream book to another publisher last week. [...]

[...] The session did not particularly grow out of the evening’s conversation; perhaps more so from a short discussion Jane and I held when we were alone at last.

[...] Jane first came through as Seth while sitting at ease on the couch. [...]

[...] Jane sat opposite me, her eyes closed part of the time, and resumed as Seth at 11:28.)

(Yesterday when I got to 330 at 12:45 Jane lay on her side. [...]

(That little exchange pretty much sums up our attitudes these days, and Jane’s worsening physical condition. [...]

[...] I was evidently so numb from repeated doses of fear and concern and negativity and Jane’s worsening situation daily, that I couldn’t react. [...]

(Anyhow, Jane seemed to feel a bit better about it, so I went along when she even talked about a session this afternoon. [...]

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.

Jane’s animus is indeed quite a different sort of chap from myself, much more omnipotent to Jane’s subconscious. [...]

(The following data are from Jane’s psychological time notebook: January 5, Tuesday: No results in particular. [...]

(Jane has been reading Jung for the last few days. [...]

[...] Jane and I knew they were interested in psychology and ESP in general and had encouraged their reading on the subjects. They did not know about Seth but were somewhat familiar with our work in ESP, and of course would learn of Seth’s existence when Jane’s ESP book is published. Probably we would have preferred that our friends, two young men and two young ladies, do more background reading before meeting Seth; on the other hand, with the coming publication of Jane’s book we have been somewhat curious as to the reaction of interested friends to Seth. [...]

(Jane feels the voice John heard within can have one of three explanations: It was Seth; it was a subconscious creation on John’s part; it was a telepathic communication, on a subconscious level, from Jane to John.)

[...] Some of the questions were suprisingly acute, and involved aspects of the existence of Seth, and his abilities, that Jane and I had not thought of.

[...] Seth stated then, as he did last Friday, that he was at times able to produce such effects when Jane, or Ruburt, was not alert and consequently on guard.

(At 8:30 tonight Jane and I discussed Seth’s progress on his book. Jane was somewhat concerned. [...]

(1. As we sat waiting for the session to begin, Jane told me that the face of Joseph, in my oil painting of Ruburt and Joseph,^* smiled down at her from its spot on the living room wall. When Jane became aware of the smiling effect she looked away from the painting, then quickly back at it. [...]

(Jane faced the painting as she sat in her Kennedy rocker, but my back was to it because of my position on the couch. [...] Jane told me that Joseph, representing my own entity, smiled broadly at her in a way the painting actually doesn’t. The expression in the eyes changed first, the smile spreading from them down to the mouth. [...]

[...] I first realized its onset at about 8:50, and at once began to give myself suggestions to minimize it because I didn’t want to alarm Jane by delaying the session. At the same time Jane began to describe the smile she perceived in the painting; I could see the painting well enough when she asked me to check it, although my vision effect was still building. [...]

(Once again Jane had felt the cone effect—not very strongly—mentioned in the last couple of sessions. [...] Jane then feels that pure knowledge is funneled down this cone toward her; that on the way it is changed, distorted out of shape so that finally she can put it into words. [...]

(Jane now said that she felt the larger personality, speaking freely, might present its data in something like musical notes or tones, rather than words. We viewed this idea and the cone effect as Jane’s efforts to construct methods to explain the sessions’ data on levels close to consciousness.

[...] Once again Jane’s eyes opened after a pause. She appeared to have left trance as she talked, but then said: “If I came out so good, how come I’m still half under?” As before recently, Jane was partially in trance during break, but felt well. [...]

(Actually Jane sat with her eyes closed from 9 PM until 9:10, waiting to see if a session would develop. [...]

(Today marks a week since Seth’s statements concerning a writing sale on Jane’s part. See the 104th session, pages 125-6. Jane has yet to receive word of a sale of any kind.

(It is also interesting to note that the nodule or ganglion on Jane’s left wrist is almost gone. [...] Jane had in fact forgotten about it. [...]

[...] Jane was dissociated as usual. [...] Jane resumed, again without her glasses, in the same manner at 9:30.)

(The following account is from Jane’s dream notebook, and is included here because Seth mentions it in the 107th session. This dream is also directly related to Jane’s dream of November 8. See pages 128-129.

(Within the last few days Jane has lost several teeth, necessitating help from our dentist, Paul O’Neill. [...] When I checked his home phone, Paul told me he’d taken the day off; he offered to look at Jane here at the house. When he’d done so later in the afternoon, he further offered to do the necessary work here at the house, saving Jane going to his office. [...] After he’d left, we could see that in actuality Paul’s visit had offered all that Jane could have desired, under the circumstances; we hadn’t asked for any of it, even his preliminary visit to the house to examine Jane this time—although he’d done that on a couple of previous occasions, again without being asked by us.

(Thus, Jane found his offers of help at the house to be just what she’d have asked for, given an “ideal” situation. [...] Jane said she thought Paul O’Neill has strong healing abilities.

[...] Jane was extremely upset by her continuing eye condition and the disorienting changes taking place throughout her body; I ended up equally upset after we talked. I’d say we both lost much confidence in the idea of Frameworks 1 and 2 that evening; I still feel that way to some degree; at the same time Jane has felt better. [...]

(We were visited yesterday by Jane’s second cousin, Carol Dudley, of California. Carol is to send us data on Jane’s family background.