Seth Material


The Seth Material is a collection of writing dictated by Jane Roberts to her husband from late 1963 until her death in 1984. Roberts claimed the words were spoken by a discarnate entity named Seth. The material is regarded as one of the cornerstones of New Age philosophy, and the most influential channelled text of the post–World War II "New Age" movement, after the Edgar Cayce books and A Course in Miracles. Jon Klimo writes that the Seth books were instrumental in bringing the idea of channeling to a broad public audience.
According to scholar of religion Catherine Albanese, the 1970 release of the book The Seth Material "launched an era of nationwide awareness... ommunication with other-than-human entities... contributing to the self-identity of an emergent New Age movement". Study groups formed in the United States to work with the Seth Material, and now are found around the world, as well as numerous websites and online groups in several languages, as various titles have been translated into Chinese, Spanish, German, French, Dutch and Arabic.
John P. Newport, in his study of the influence of New Age beliefs, described the central focus of the Seth Material as the idea that each individual creates their own reality, a foundational concept of the New Age movement first articulated in the Seth Material.

History

In late 1963, Jane Roberts and her husband, Robert Butts, experimented with a ouija board as part of Roberts's research for a book on extra-sensory perception. Roberts and Butts claimed that they began to receive coherent messages from a male personality on December 2, 1963, who later identified himself as Seth. Soon after, Roberts reported that she was hearing the messages in her head. She began to dictate the messages instead of using the Ouija board, and the board was eventually abandoned. For 21 years until Roberts's death in 1984, Roberts held regular sessions in which she went into a trance and purportedly spoke on behalf of Seth.
According to Roberts, Seth described himself as an "energy personality essence no longer focused in physical matter" who was independent of Roberts's subconscious, although Roberts expressed skepticism as to Seth's origins, frequently referring to Seth's statements as "theories". Roberts claimed that Seth indicated he had completed his earthly reincarnations and was speaking from an adjacent plane of existence. The Seth personality described himself as a "teacher", and said:
"this material has been given by himself and others in other times and places, but that it is given again, in new ways, for each succeeding generation through the centuries."
Unlike the psychic Edgar Cayce, whose syntax when speaking in trance was antiquated and convoluted, Roberts's syntax and sentence structures were modern and clear when speaking as Seth. Roberts often sat in a rocking chair during sessions, and she would occasionally smoke cigarettes and sip beer or wine. Afterwards, she claimed to not remember the contents of the session, and she would often read the transcript or ask what Seth had said.

Summary

The core teachings of the Seth Material are based on the principle that consciousness creates matter, that each person creates their own reality through thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. And that the "point of power", through which the individual can affect change, is in the present moment.
It discusses a wide range of metaphysical concepts, including the nature of God ; the nature of physical reality; the origins of the universe; the nature of the self and the "higher self"; the story of Christ; the evolution of the soul and all aspects of death and rebirth, including reincarnation and karma, past lives, after-death experiences, "guardian spirits", and ascension to planes of "higher consciousness"; the purpose of life; the nature of good and evil; the purpose of suffering; multidimensional reality, parallel lives; and transpersonal realms.

Nature of the self

According to the Seth Material, the entire self or "entity" is a gestalt consisting of the inner self, various selves that the entity has assumed through past existences, plus all the currently incarnated selves and all their probable counterparts. Reincarnation is included as a core principle.
Wouter Hanegraaff, Professor of History of Hermetic Philosophy, University of Amsterdam, says that these ideas have been influential to other new age authors, and that Roberts's terminology has been adopted by some of those authors. Hanegraaff says that Seth uses various terms to refer to the concept of the "self", including "entity", "whole self", "gestalt", and "soul".

Reality

The Seth Material says that all individuals create their own circumstances and experiences within the shared earthly environment, similar to the doctrine of responsibility assumption. This concept is expressed in the phrase "you create your own reality", which may have originated with the Seth readings. The inner self, or inner ego, is responsible for the construction and maintenance of the individual's physical body and immediate physical environment, and the unfolding of events is determined by the expectations, attitudes and beliefs of the outer ego, that portion of the self that human beings know as themselves. "If you want to change your world, you must first change your thoughts, expectations, and beliefs." Or, more succinctly: "You get what you concentrate upon. There is no other main rule".
The books discuss the idea that a living network of panpsychism constructs and maintains the physical environment via the inner selves of the individual occupants. The inner selves project, en masse, a pattern for physical reality that is then filled with energy, as needed, by each individual. All events are also produced in the same manner.

Complete writings of Jane Roberts

Books

  • . How To Develop Your ESP Power. Publisher: Federick Fell. .
  • . The Seth Material. Reprinted, 2001 by New Awareness Network. .
  • . Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul. Reprinted 1994 by Amber-Allen Publishing. .
  • . The Nature of Personal Reality. Prentice-Hall. Reprinted 1994, Amber-Allen Publishing..
  • . Adventures in Consciousness: An Introduction to Aspect Psychology. Prentice-Hall. .
  • . Dialogues of the Soul and Mortal Self in Time. Prentice-Hall. . Poetry.
  • . Psychic Politics: An Aspect Psychology Book. Prentice-Hall. .
  • . The "Unknown" Reality Vol. 1. Prentice-Hall. Reprinted 1997, Amber-Allen Publishing. .
  • . The "Unknown" Reality Vol. 2. Prentice-Hall. Reprinted 1997, Amber-Allen Publishing. .
  • . The World View of Paul Cézanne: A Psychic Interpretation. Prentice-Hall. .
  • . The Afterdeath Journal of An American Philosopher: The World View of William James. Prentice-Hall. .
  • . Emir's Education in the Proper Use of Magical Powers. Prentice-Hall. . Children's literature.
  • . The Nature of the Psyche: Its Human Expression. Prentice-Hall. Reprinted 1996, Amber-Allen Publishing. .
  • . The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events. Prentice-Hall,. Reprinted 1994, Amber-Allen Publishing,.
  • . The Oversoul Seven Trilogy. Amber-Allen Publishing. . Edition: Paperback; May 1, 1995 ; The Further Education of Oversoul Seven ; Oversoul Seven and the Museum of Time ).
  • . The God of Jane: A Psychic Manifesto. Prentice-Hall. . Reprinted 2000, Moment Point Press. .
  • . If We Live Again, Or, Public Magic and Private Love. Prentice-Hall. . Poetry.
  • . Dreams, Evolution and Value Fulfillment. Prentice-Hall, two volumes, and.
  • . Seth, Dreams and Projections of Consciousness. Stillpoint Publishing.
  • . A Seth Reader. Vernal Equinox Press. Compendium edited by Richard Roberts. .
  • . The Magical Approach : Seth Speaks About the Art of Creative Living. Amber-Allen Publishing. .
  • . The Way Toward Health. Robert F. Butts, Amber-Allen Publishing. .
  • . The World View of Rembrandt. New Awareness Network. .
  • . The Early Sessions. New Awareness Network. Edited by Robert Butts. Nine volumes. .
  • . The Personal Sessions. New Awareness Network. Deleted session material. Seven volumes. .
  • The Early Class Sessions. New Awareness Network. Four volumes.

    Short fiction

  • "Prayer of a Wiser People" in Profile, 1950.
  • "The Red Wagon" in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, 1956
  • "The Canvas Pyramid" in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, 1957
  • "First Communion" in Fantastic Universe, 1957
  • "The Chestnut Beads" in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, 1957
  • "The Bundu"
  • "Nightmare" in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, 1959
  • "Impasse" in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, 1959
  • "Three Times Around" in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, 1964
  • "The Big Freeze" in Dude, 1965
  • "The Mission," purchased by Topper magazine in August, 1965

    Poetry

  • "Time" in The Saratogian , 1947 Mar 19.
  • "Enigma" in The Saratogian, 1947 Mar 19.
  • "Spring Gaiety" in The Saratogian, 1947 Apr 26.
  • "Rain" in Profile , December, 1947.
  • "Pretense" in Profile, December, 1947.
  • "Code" in Profile, December, 1947.
  • "Skyscrapers" in Profile, December, 1947.
  • "Introvert" in Profile, May, 1948.
  • "Poem" in Profile, May, 1948.
  • "How Public Like a Frog" in Profile, Fall, 1948.
  • "Motorcycle Ride" in Profile, Fall, 1948.
  • "Echo" in Profile, May, 1949.
  • "Death Stood at the Door" in Profile, May, 1949.
  • "Compromise" in Profile, May, 1949.
  • "I Shall Die in the Springtime." Patterns. v.1, n.1, October 1954.
  • "Lyric" Patterns. v.1, n.1, October 1954.
  • "Matilda" in Quicksilver, Spring, 1960.
  • "It is Springtime, Grandfather." Epos., v.12, n.3, Spring 1961.
  • "The Familiar." Bitterroot. v.1, n.2, Winter 1962.
  • "I Saw a Hand" in Treasures of Parnassus: Best Poems of 1962, Young Publications, 1962.
  • "My Grandfather's World" Epos. v.14, n.3, Spring 1963.
  • "Lullaby" Epos. v.14, n.3, Spring 1963.
  • "Beware, October" Epos. v.16, n.1, Fall 1964.
  • "This Wrist, This Hand" Epos. v.16, n.4, Summer 1965.
  • "The Game" New Lantern Club Review. n.2, Summer 1965.
  • "The Flowers" Steppenwolf. n.1, Winter 1965–1966.
  • "Vision" Dust/9. v.3, n.1, Fall 1966.
  • "Who Whispers Yes" Dust/12. v.3, n.4, Spring 1969.
  • "Hi, Low, and Psycho" Excerpts published in Reality Change, Third Quarter, 1996.