“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The session came about after Jane had played portions of the tape of the 170th session for the group. This is the tape containing the strong voice effects and was recorded for Dr. Instream. It was made with the Gallaghers as witnesses. The other three witnesses are young people and had no idea that such physical performances were possible over a period of hours. Playing the tape was an attempt to answer some of their questions, and in this Jane and I were following Seth’s advice of the 246th session. During that session Seth suggested Jane and I do all we can to inform others who are interested in matters psychic. See Session 170 in Volume 5.

(Jane later said that she was sure she hadn’t had too much to drink, and that she had become very upset over company behavior while the tape was being played, etc. This was complicated by her self-questioning over the matter of control, and whether we should have nothing but regular sessions. I lean toward the latter view, yet do not want to be too strict; according to Seth spontaneous expression is very important. And of course by and large Jane is interested in regular sessions. She is concerned that unscheduled sessions can be construed as exhibitionism; we think that this plays some part in certain unscheduled sessions. All sessions however have been productive in a variety of ways.

(An unplanned session was held on Friday evening however, and will be briefly summarized for the record. No notes were made during the session by me, although some of the witnesses made a few. The session had some unusual aspects.

(Seth reiterated some of the earlier material he has given us, concerning proofs, apparitions, etc. Once again he went into the reasons why it was possible for Bill Macdonnel to see Seth’s apparition during the 68th session for July 6,1964. See that session. The gist of tonight’s material on this subject was that Bill allowed his intuitions enough freedom so that he was able to see the apparition for over an hour and to make several drawings of it; by the same token Jane and I were unable to see the apparition because we tried to intellectualize it. Later in the 68th session however I did see, along with Bill, a very striking change in Jane’s physical features. We believe this was another form of apparition. See Volume 2.

Often spontaneously we had class sessions, and as you noticed he would miss our next session. He thought that two sessions were quite enough. Our regular sessions will always be the primary source of the material, and the stress will always be laid upon them. Nevertheless, the class sessions serve an important purpose. [...]

At no time for now, and until I say so, should over three sessions a week be held. Now it may seem to you that it is merely a matter of my not being available if I think Ruburt should not have an extra session. [...] Sometimes I am very directly concerned in a session, and sometimes you get a session that has been programmed. [...]

So, using the psychological bridge at such times, Ruburt can have a session. [...] It is not a matter of a session taking something out of Ruburt. It is a matter of tuning into the kind of energy that he does in our sessions, and simply because of present circumstances and development, three times a week is sufficient.

Our two sessions should always be maintained, with the class sessions added as long as they do not drain Ruburt’s resources. [...] On certain occasions, using your own discretions, you may have guests at our sessions, but these will be very occasional, and will not be a problem if you follow the procedure I have outlined.

[...] Tonight’s session was almost not held at all. Both of us were tired from Monday’s extralong session, and had decided not to hold a session tonight. I worked until almost 9 PM transcribing notes from Monday’s taped session, then upon reconsidering told Jane it was okay with me if she wanted a session. Jane then decided to hold a session, and said she thought it would be brief.

Do not fear that many sessions will pass before we return to our own material. Our last session was indeed an important one. [...]

(The session was quite short. [...]

[...] This will be a brief session.

(Jane’s voice was fairly deep in the 151st session. There have been some other instances of a voice deeper but not necessarily much louder or stronger; my estimate is that she reached her deepest voice in the 33rd session, of March 9,1964. In that session her voice was also loud, much louder than in tonight’s session.

(Jane rather surprised us by opening the session in a voice that was surprisingly deep and somewhat loud. I can say that the voice was somewhat deeper than her voice in the 170th session, though lacking of course anything like the sheer volume displayed in that session. [...]

(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. [...]

This session is somewhat in the nature of a transitory session, for we will almost immediately in following sessions return to our main interests.

(Seth made this session very brief, since Jane and I were quite tired by the time it began. We had changed our schedule, and our earlier hour of rising has made itself felt by session time. We did not really feel like holding a session, but tried anyhow because we did not want to break the routine.

What I am actually giving you this evening is an outline for our next session, since you are not up to par this evening. Now, the strange sensation experienced by Ruburt just before this session was a taste of our seventh inner sense, but only a small portion. [...] The purpose of the enlargement or extension I will discuss at the next session. [...]

[...] However they will also be held for the next session. I do not want our sessions ever to become a chore. [...] It is possible that we can make up for any lost time on your part in the future, with a few brief sessions when you are in tiptop shape.

I will end the session now, and you cannot say that I am unsympathetic in any way. I am not necessarily disturbed, either, at the brief session. [...] Sleep tight, but again I do look forward to our sessions, and dislike saying good-bye so soon.

[...] She’s mentioned trying to have a session for the last two days, after I’ve been mentioning it briefly to her recently, as per our agreement to see if she could have Seth sessions while in the hospital. Many of the details surrounding these sessions can be found in my daily private notes, so we don’t need them here. [...]

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

(Tonight at session time the small television set on its swivel arm was on, opposite Jane’s left knee. [...] Actually, I thought, this was almost an ideal time to try for a session in the hospital, for after supper she wasn’t apt to be bothered by staff people for some little time. [...]

(Pause at 7:03.) I do not imagine we will go so long a time between sessions again, and I am speaking therefore to reassure you that I am still present. Let Ruburt take a cigarette break, and then I may speak again for a short time—but if not, do not be discouraged, for in any case this session marks a new beginning. [...]

[...] Page 102 is a psy-time experiment of Jane’s; the rest are statements made during sessions. [...] The sessions are 102, 103, 104 and 106. The letter of February 16 to F. Fell was referred to by Seth in the 135th session.

(Once again we held the session in our back bedroom, and found it very peaceful and quiet behind closed doors. Jane had no idea of the material for the session. [...] Her voice was quiet and clear throughout the session. [...]

(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. Even now, she cannot say how long during the session itself she is involved in this manner. [...] Jane also believes the quiet back room we now use for the sessions is very helpful.

[...] She feels that this evening’s session was good because of her experience with past sessions. She felt light at times during the session. [...]

I wanted to deal further during our last session with material originating in the unscheduled session, otherwise I would have cut the last session. I will not always of course necessarily miss a session because of an unscheduled one, since circumstances will always vary.

(It will be remembered that Mark is the entity name for Bill Macdonnel, who has witnessed a number of sessions. [...] It will also be recalled that in several different sessions Bill was counseled by Seth to live alone, lest he suffer a recurrence of his lung trouble.)

To be less facetious, I am giving you a brief session also to let you know that since you did hold an unscheduled session, I will endeavor to equalize whenever situations occur of this sort.

[...] Jane also said she felt somewhat put out, or “pulled up short” at the short session, although earlier this evening she had expressed the wish for either a short session, or none at all, so we could attend the opening of the supper club operated by our landlord.)

[...] First, Note 6 for Session 686: “We’re still acquiring information about the psychic connections between Jane and Seth, of course. Even now, more than 10 years after Jane began speaking for Seth, one might say that each session we hold represents another step in this learning process; we fully expect it to continue as long as the sessions do.” Then, Note 3 for the 688th session contains my statement that in an appendix for Session 711, “I assemble from various sessions information on the complex relationships involving Jane-Ruburt-Seth [and also Rob-Joseph].”

3. In Chapter 3 of The Seth Material Jane describes our use of the Ouija board in the early sessions. In the 8th session for December 15, 1963, she began dictating portions of each session; by the 14th session, she was delivering verbally all of Seth’s material except for an opening remark or two obtained through the board. [...]

[...] (See the excerpts from the 27th session in this appendix.) In that early session Seth spoke to me alone; in class he faced a large group. I’d say that from his position or focus as an “energy personality essence” both attitudes are true, rather than contradictory — and that one or the other predominated according to the circumstances and subject matter of the session involved. I don’t think the time gap between the two sessions — seven years — was a factor.

Since this session was held almost 13 months after “Unknown” Reality was completed, I can look back and note that Seth developed the statement on reincarnation in his material on counterparts; this begins with Session 721 in Section 5. Appendix 21 grew out of that session. In that same section, the 725th session (with Note 4) contains additional information on particles, identities, and psychological gestalts.

(First I thought of Seth’s assertion in the 92nd session for September 28, 1964, that “trees have their dreams”; [in Volume 1, see the quotations in Note 1 for Session 698]. Then I remembered that he’d come through with extensive material on tree consciousness in a much earlier session. With Jane’s help the next day I found that information in the 18th session, which had been held on January 22, 1964. Most of that session is unpublished, although someday we’d like to print it in full. [...]

(Next, the subject matter of the 18th session led me to recall that Seth had also discussed trees several years later. But this time, in spite of my system of indexing each session in at least a fairly adequate fashion, several days passed before I found the passage I wanted. Discovering it involved a patient combing of many sessions and notes. [If the indexes listed everything in detail, they’d end up being almost as long as the sessions themselves.] The search was worth it, though; now I had the key phrase I’d associated with Seth’s remark in Session 708. [...]

(FOR SESSION 708)

(Seth, then, in the 453rd session for December 4, 1968:)

(Jane did not feel at all well before this evening’s session, and I was not at my best either. I suggested to Jane that she pass up the session but she wanted to have one if possible. [...]

[...] However, this will be a brief session. We have much time available to us, and need not worry over an occasional missed or short session, as long as our overall pattern is maintained.

I am going to save my planned discussion until our next session, and end this evening’s session. [...]

(Before the session Jane had been reading a book on abnormal psychology. [...] See the 143rd session.)

(Just before tonight’s session I told Jane I hoped Seth would clear this matter up. See the 133rd and the 135th sessions. The 133rd session also contains a list of previous sessions in which Seth has dealt with Miss Callahan to varying degrees. [...] It was Jane’s initial contact with the Frank Watts personality, through the Ouija board, that led to these sessions. [...]

(Because of illness on my part this is our first session since March 22; thus we missed the regularly scheduled sessions of March 24, March 29 and March 31. This is the longest gap in the flow of the material since the sessions began on December 2, 1963. [...] It was, she said, the same kind of nervousness she used to experience before each session, during the early months.

(Sonja bought a painting from me on November 18, 1964, and is mentioned by Seth in the 108th session of that date. Louis witnessed the 89th session, held in Rochester, NY, and was also discussed by Seth in the 90th session. Another visitor that first day was Jim Beckett, who witnessed the 47th and 49th sessions. [...]

(Once again the session was held in our secluded back room. [...] She does not wear her glasses at all during sessions now. [...] Her delivery speeded up as the session progressed, and her voice became somewhat louder.)

(Now to recap the situation leading up to tonight’s [612th] session: At supper time Jane encountered some relaxation effects⁶ — so much so, in fact, that she had to lay down briefly in the midst of preparing the meal. Then not long before the session was due she became aware to some extent of her pyramid sensation, meaning that Seth Two, or possibly a variation of that personality gestalt, was around. [...] Many things, it seemed, were developing at once; we expected that after first break tonight Seth would comment upon them, as well as upon Monday evening’s session. [...] Jane carried the rest of the session herself — and a unique one it turned out to be….

In Note 1 for Session 709 I wrote that “Tachyons … are supposed faster-than-light particles that are thought to be possible within Einstein’s special theory of relativity.” (In the session itself Seth makes some intriguing references to related possibilities: “In out-of-body states, consciousness can travel faster than light — often, in fact, instantaneously.” Also see Note 2.) In the 682nd session for Volume 1, while discussing his CU’s, or units of consciousness, Seth told us: “Of course they move faster than light.” Then see notes 3 and 4 for that session.

I remind the reader of a remark Seth made in the 702nd session for Volume 1, when Jane was delivering material for him on electron spin and related concepts: “Ruburt’s vocabulary is not an official scientific one. [...] The material in this session is a good example of her approach. We’ve never tried to get her — or Seth — to deliver mathematical or chemical formulas during a session; it’s not her thing. However, she thinks that if she were to motivate herself she could accomplish something through the formalized language of mathematics, say, but that in the beginning at least she’d acquire the information visually; then she would write it down, even while the session was in progress….

(With Seth’s help Jane first encountered the idea of Seth Two in the 406th session for April 22, 1968. That important development in her abilities took place four and a half years after she began to speak for Seth, and once it opened up Seth Two came through in the next seven twice-weekly sessions. [...] In Chapter 17 she quoted Seth Two from sessions 406–7, and from a couple of others that were held later in the year. [...]

[...] He enjoyed last evening’s spontaneous session (for Jane’s Tuesday night ESP class), and such sessions, while they do not particularly add to our material, replenish his creative efforts and give him a sense of freedom. [...] You may have noticed that often when you miss a regular session, I have held a spontaneous one in class.

Now Ruburt feels, at times unreasonably, for you have told him differently, that you think he shirks when he misses sessions. The sessions need regularity. [...] This is for the benefit of our sessions and for overall balance and efficiency.

[...] I know more than you know, and I realize that we will get through the material, that I have in mind, so it does not bother me when I hold informal sessions, sessions in which material is not always stressed. More happens in these sessions than appears in the written record.

[...] I thought this was the end of the session. [...] After a while she began to talk to me, slowly, yet gave every sign of continuing the session on her own, and in the highly emotional manner of the 435th session of September 11, 1968. [...]

(This session was also a short one, primarily because Jane still had her cold. The cold, however, did not interfere with her giving a long and very successful session last Saturday evening for Claire Crittenden and Pat Norelli. See the 329th session, and our notes.

(During that session Jane achieved outstanding voice effects, a very deep trance, and a projection to the Boston classroom of Pat’s special high-school class. [...] Jane regards the session in many ways as one of the best yet, and wanted Seth to discuss the session this evening.

(She spoke for the whole session with her eyes closed. [...]

There was a legitimate projection involved in our last session.

(Jane too read over the 367th session before the session this evening. [...] When the session began I half expected Seth to tell us to stay away from old deleted sessions, since as mentioned delving into the past can cause too intense a focus there, and reinforce problems, whatever they may be. [...]

(I also planned to start reviewing the first deleted sessions Seth gave on Jane’s symptoms, for I’ve never really forgotten them and always felt they were as good as any Seth has ever given on those subjects. The main one, the breakthrough session as I think of it, was the 367th for October 1, 1967. I read it over just before tonight’s session began, and was able to reaffirm my opinion that it’s still one of the best; at the same time it aroused questions, for it deals with causes in the past. [...]

(In the last session Seth promised to begin dictation on his latest book after a long layoff, but as things turned out the book was not begun anew. Instead I asked that he deal with the challenges Jane and I still face, and apparently are unable to resolve—her symptoms, and my own feelings of panic, and related symptoms, as mentioned also in the last session. [...]

(At this writing at least I plan to spend evenings typing new session material, and in the time left over to restudy the past material in the hopes of putting it all together with and/or without Seth’s help. [...] I’m deeply troubled by Jane’s condition, and by what I regard as her strange passivity in the face of it; clues to this attitude exist in the 367th session. [...]

(The second part of the data concerning an unusual session, can be interpreted as applying to this session, the 360th, which took place in F. Fell’s office in New York City on August 16, the day after the Cratsley meeting. However, the next session, the 361st, was also quite unusual, and took place in the coffee shop of our hotel, the Paramount, at 235 West 46th Street. It was a different type of session, unique in Jane’s experience and was witnessed by myself and Raymond Van Over of the Parapsychology Foundation. See the accompanying notes for that session. It took place later the same day, August 16, as this session, the 360th.

(This session was not planned. See the notes at the end of the session for material related to this. [...]

[...] In the 358th session for August 2, 1967, Seth stated, after mentioning Jane’s speaking engagement at Star Island, off Portsmouth, NH, scheduled for Saturday, August 12: “A meeting on Ruburt’s part with an old forgotten acquaintance;” and “The possibility of an unusual Seth session.”

(The brief session was held in the office of Jane’s publisher, Frederick Fell, in New York City. [...]

(Our friends in question do not know about the sessions. They visited us at 8:30 PM Wednesday, and before Jane and I realized it session time had come. We like our new neighbors a good deal and did not resent their calling, but we did dislike missing the session. [...] Jane and I did not consider having a session then; I also thought Jane could use the break in routine.

[...] She has copied the 179th, 180th and 183rd sessions to send to Dr. Instream. [...] As it developed, she will be copying Part One of this session to send to Dr. Instream also, for even though the session was unscheduled an envelope test developed. [...]

(I had prepared the usual test envelope that Wednesday afternoon while Jane was napping, as she usually does on session days. When the session did not materialize I saved the envelope for the next session, which I thought would be on Monday, September 6.

(Bill and Peggy Gallagher, who have witnessed several sessions, visited us this evening, Friday, September 3. Our conversation touched upon many subjects. They read the 183rd session, dealing with Jane’s third envelope test. No session had been planned for this evening but as the four of us sat around our coffee table Seth came through at about 10:30 PM.

(The session was entirely unplanned and spontaneous. An unusual feature was that Jane spoke in either a very low voice or a whisper for the whole session. [...] The session came about after the three of us had spent some time discussing a recent vivid dream of Marian’s, and her telepathic adventure described in the 234th session. [...]

(Marian and Jimmy have known about the sessions since they began; indeed it was with their Ouija board that we began to experiment. They have read some of the early material but never attended a session. [...]

[...] Her husband was at work and did not get home until after the session. [...] The children did not know the session was taking place; from their viewpoints we must have appeared like three adults who sat talking, and closed the doors because they didn’t want to be bothered.

[...] We had had a couple of drinks apiece before the session began and the atmosphere was warm and easy. I suppose that the session being held in her own home added to Marian’s confidence, and at first break she said she was “fascinated.”

(Due to the very long unscheduled session of last Sunday, May 30, our regularly scheduled session for the next day, Monday, May 31, was not held. [...] She had no ill effects from the session.

If I am, myself, subdued this evening in contrast with my activities in our last session, it is only because I would give you both a needed rest. I particularly enjoyed the session myself. [...] I will end the session if you prefer, or I will continue.

I will indeed now close our session. For Ruburt’s benefit, may I here add that in my remarks of our last session, I was speaking of our sessions only, and did not mean to take credit for any of Ruburt’s own creative work. [...]

[...] She was coughing, but made no mention of not wanting to hold a session. Her cold had been worse when she held last Sunday’s long unscheduled session.