“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

[...] Steve and Tracy Blumenthal have also lent us a complete videotaping set, and we’ve experimented a little bit with filming Jane reading poetry. [...] I’ve wanted to try to film Jane reading poetry in the meantime, but each time I think of asking her —usually at night—I can see that she’s so uncomfortable that I let it go.

(Jane said she felt Seth around by 9:20, but that she thought the session would be a short one. I told her I was primarily interested in but two things, both personal: her reactions to Mass Events and God of Jane in connection with her symptoms, and what was going on in her backside and hips. [...]

(The night before this session was held Jane suggested that each day we read over a session, or talk or review some notes, as a way to give ourselves a “pep talk” and to lead us into the day. [...] And this morning—Tuesday—I read last night’s session to Jane from my notes, since I didn’t have it typed yet.)

[...] Jane felt much better than she had before the session. Naturally, Seth’s material about a physical regeneration makes me think about other parts of the body regenerating itself—and Jane’s too. When we got up this morning I told Jane that I’d had a dream that we’d been participating in group sex at a party, but that I couldn’t recall anything more than that. [...]

(I must admit the next day, as I type these notes, that regeneration or no, I had a “relapse” into the old chest difficulty this afternoon after washing the bedroom windows at Jane’s request. The physical labor involved was minimal and took only a few minutes, coming after Jane had almost tearfully asked—even demanded—this noon that I try to keep the windows cleaner. [...]

(Jane. [...] I’d felt good yesterday for the first time in a long while, again, and told Jane that even though I’d quite forgotten the problems yesterday, today’s events showed that they hadn’t been solved, but merely temporarily forgotten until triggered again.

(Which is to say that Jane once again felt, or was aware of, the cone or pyramid effect, the extension reaching to a point up above her head, and explained in various recent sessions. This effect symbolizes Jane and me at the bottom or base of the pyramid, with Seth in the middle and Seth’s entity, represented by the new voice, at the top or peak.

[...] A few weeks ago Seth gave a recorded session for the woman at the request of a member of Jane’s ESP class. [...] A few days ago Jane learned that the woman for whom the session was intended had never listened to the tape, refusing to do so even though she had requested the session.)

(Jane began sitting for the session at 9:30 PM, waiting to see what would develop. [...]

[...] Jane and I admired the books, looking so complete yet spontaneous in their shiny dust jackets. Volume 2 is a massive book, yet I still couldn’t believe all the time — almost exactly five years — that had passed since Jane, Seth, and I began work on it. [...]

(Jane and I have had two most pleasant surprises since Seth gave the 860th session on June 13. [...]

[...] They left late enough so that Jane decided to skip the session, even though earlier in the day she’d written notes on material that Seth had mentally informed her he’d cover.

2. Seth’s two previous books are Seth Speaks and Personal Reality — but they’re also Jane’s too, of course. [...] (To make the record complete, it should be noted that Jane’s first book on psychic phenomena was How to Develop Your ESP Power. It was published in hardcover and paperback editions in 1966 and 1974, respectively, by Frederick Fell Publishers, Inc., New York, N.Y. 10016. [...]

(The circumstances surrounding Jane’s delivery of Seth’s Preface, while she was in trance, are given in the 685th session for February 25, 1974, in Section 1. After a break midway through the session, Seth began the material below at 10:57 P.M. He always indicates each word, phrase, or sentence to be underlined. [...]

[...] Instead I began to express myself by speaking through Jane Roberts. [...]

[...] Jane was fairly dissociated, she said, except when she paused in her pacing to look out one of our living room windows. [...] It was a very cold night, and Jane was intrigued by the patterns that lingering clouds of automobile exhausts left hanging in the air. Resume at 9:32, Jane dictating.)

(Jane and I were back home from visiting Miss Callahan, in the hospital, by 8:30. We spent the time remaining before the session was due in discussing the flash Jane had received from Seth, concerning her dream about Miss C., and then in sitting quietly for a few minutes.

[...] By 8:50, Jane felt her usual nervous pangs. The session actually began at 8:55, when Jane rose and began to pace and dictate. [...]

(Late last week Tam Mossman called Jane to tell her that he’s begun work on her contract for the publication of If We Live Again. I wrote Tam this morning, asking questions about what long-range plans Prentice-Hall may have for the 15 books Jane and I have sold to the company. [That total includes Mass Events, God of Jane, and the poetry book, all of which are yet to be issued.] In the private session for September 22—one of his series on the magical approach to life—Seth had told us that our work is “protected.” I’ve been curious about that statement ever since, and mentioned it to Jane today in connection with my letter to Tam.

1. See Chapter 6 of Adventures in Consciousness for Jane’s description of how she became aware of “Helper” early in November 1971—a little over nine years ago. [...] Numerous people have written of beneficial events taking place in their lives when Jane did her thing for them, but she’s kept no formal records. We’ve often speculated that just knowing Jane cared enough to send out an emissary like Helper was (and is) of psychological benefit to at least some of those in need, helping them generate positive actions on their own.

[...] As early man functioned on his own, without writing or any of the other modern conveniences of communication that we have, so does Jane function through Seth. I speculated about what reincarnational connections might exist involving Jane and ancient men and women. [...]

[...] Jane was well dissociated. [...] When I mentioned this Jane then became aware that both of her hands also felt this way to some small degree. [...]

[...] Jane was dissociated as usual. [...] Jane hears nothing within during pauses, all is quiet.

(The following notes are from Jane’s psy-time notebook:

(Jane wanted Seth to discuss her panic feelings tonight, although she didn’t seem overly enthusiastic about a session either. When Debbie showed up and the time approached 9 PM, I thought Jane might choose to pass up the session after all. [...] Jane agreed, saying DJ was ready to leave, and we held the session after all.)

(See the attached notes of Jane’s, concerning her experiences of April 30 and May 2. Actually, much else has taken place also, but I didn’t keep daily records and feel somewhat lost in trying to reconstruct events. This morning, for example, Jane slept until noon, and after I got up at 6:30 she had a number of recurrences of her “panic attacks.” [...]

[...] During one of our discussions yesterday, also, I mentioned to Jane some of my own ideas about the power of the Sinful Self, according to Seth’s material. [...] The two states almost seemed contradictory, I said to Jane, and hoped that Seth would go into that matter eventually.

[...] On Thursday, October 27, the day after this session, Jane heard from the magazine in question, Topper. There has been a mix-up over a period of almost a year, concerning a story of Jane’s that was almost printed twice, and for which she has yet to be paid. Topper promised payment within a week.)

[...] Jane was dissociated as usual, she said. [...] We were discussing the session when Jane resumed briefly at 10:20.)

(Jane began speaking in trance while sitting down; her eyes soon began to open; her pace was fairly good.)

[...] The session was going excellently, I told Jane. I mentioned three questions I hoped Seth would cover at least in part: Jane’s projected call to Tam at Prentice-Hall tomorrow morning, re substituting Seth’s new book for Adventures; Jane’s planned letter to Eleanor Friede about Rich Bed; and whether Jane should continue with ESP class.

(Late yesterday afternoon my pendulum told me that Jane’s symptoms stemmed from her feeling that she had failed to become a successful “straight” writer—a novelist, poet, essayist, et al.; that she felt she had failed as the serious writer she had always dreamed of becoming, that the psychic work represented a turning down a wrong path; that actually, basically, the psychic work represented failure to her rather than success. [...] I discussed them for some little while with her before we went out to a New Year’s Eve party at McClure’s. Jane seemed to agree with the ideas.

[...] They seemed to offer a unified theory to cover the years of our marriage, and even Jane’s childhood. I saw at once that if valid they also meant Jane must shelve her projected book, Adventures in Consciousness, and concentrate on things like Rich Bed, the Dialogues (poetry), and, perhaps, let Seth do his own thing in sessions. [...]

(Jane and I tried an experiment involving one of the young couples that witnessed the unscheduled session of November 5. We saw them the next Friday evening also, November 12. [...] During the evening Jane felt that Seth could have easily come through, but in the interests of our experiment she did not allow him to. [...]

[...] Jane spoke while sitting down and with her eyes closed for the most part during the first half of the session. [...]

[...] Jane was dissociated as usual for a first break, and was somewhat surprised that Seth broke his delivery so soon. [...]

(Another project we would like to explore is photographing Jane during sessions. [...] We talked of illustrating Jane’s book on the Seth material, which she is now writing.

(Jane has decided that she smokes too much during sessions; as a result she did not smoke while dictating this evening, but did light up at breaks. [...] Jane spoke while sitting down and with her eyes closed for the most part. [...]

(Before tonight’s session Jane and I were discussing ways and means of taking her blood pressure, her weight and various other measurements of a physiological nature before, during and after sessions. [...]

(During the two weeks immediately following the 691st session, Jane kept working with the project involving the missing person; see the notes for that session. [...] Jane told me that at times she felt a distinct yearning for understanding by the others involved in the affair; yet, because of her participation in it, her confidence in knowing what she can do was strengthened significantly. And Seth, very briefly commenting upon the search while it was still in progress, remarked to an out-of-town group of visitors that Jane was endeavoring to use her psychic abilities on her own; and that the assurance she was gaining through her efforts would be much more valuable to her than any she might derive from Seth himself “doing all the work.”

(To conclude the whole episode I’d like to illuminate, from two additional angles, Jane’s feelings and concerns about needing the understanding of others:

(I think that because of the very nature of the abilities she’s chosen to develop in this life, Jane will always find such manipulations necessary. [...]

[...] Jane began reading yesterday’s session, but couldn’t do it. [...] Jane finished the session at 3:35. [...]

(As we talked, something triggered Jane’s memory of a time in her teens when she’d hiked all the way out to the garage where her grandfather had worked in Saratoga Springs — “way across town.” [...] Jane remembered looking down into a puddle and composing a poem. [...]

[...] As she ate lunch I told Jane about my very vivid and colorful dream of last night. [...]

[...] Jane was dissociated as usual. [...] When she resumed, Jane’s voice changed to fit the subject, as it often does during delivery.

[...] Jane was dissociated as usual. [...] Jane then resumed dictation at 10:56, sitting where she was.)

[...] Jane told me that Seth was still with us. [...] After the deal had fallen through, Jane accidentally heard that the heating bills in winter were exorbitant—about twice what we had been led to expect. [...]

(On Saturday January 8 Jane and I received a letter from Dr. Instream, asking that Seth do his best to give data on but one object during tests. [...] Jane and I mentioned that we would like Seth to say something on both points in tonight’s session.

(Jane said she had rather strong images visually of the data; twice she saw her white coat quite strongly. [...] Jane said that by the time she approached break she knew the test had been a poor one. [...]

[...] We didn’t want to give rise to a feeling of pressure on Jane during sessions, and wondered whether it was wise to try three regular tests. [...]

[...] Tonight I asked Jane if Seth would discuss the Instream object that ordinarily would have been named Monday.

(Jane knew that no envelope experiment was planned for the session.

(The following dream and experience is taken from Jane’s notebook; it concerns her results obtained after she deliberately lay down from 8 to 9:30 AM, Monday, June 1, to attempt projection. [...]

[...] One of the nurses had evidently told Jeff that the open sores on Jane’s right knee were draining. He told Jane that there could be an infection there, at the site of perhaps a bone spur — he wasn’t sure. [...]

[...] Jane seemed to take it well, and recovered okay, I thought.

(I’d brought in Chapter 6 of Dreams, which I’d finished typing this morning, and ended up reading the whole thing to Jane except for a couple of notes. [...]

(Early this month Jane and I bought an anthology containing a long section by Carl Jung, the Swiss psychoanalyst who died in 1961. Jane hadn’t finished reading this part of the book when Seth suggested, in the 554th session for October 19, that she lay the book aside: “Let Jung go for now.” [...] This wasn’t Jane’s first contact with the writings of Jung by any means.

(Since September 30 Seth has held two ESP class sessions; held a session for our friend John Barclay, who is moving to Nevada; held two sessions concerning the work Jane and I are embarking upon because of this material; and spoken through Jane upon television once more — this time during our return visit to a Washington, D.C. station.

[...] Jane had been to the chiropractor today and was very relaxed — so relaxed that I asked her if she felt like having a session. [...]