Jane Roberts Seth Spirit

Dorothy Jane Roberts, born in 1929, was an American author and poet who gained renown for channeling a spiritual personality she identified as 'Seth.' This channeled material, known as the Seth Material, positioned her as a significant figure in paranormal studies. Roberts' early life was marked by hardship, including her parents' divorce, her mother's chronic illness, and financial struggles, which shaped her early experiences and perspectives.

Roberts' creative journey began with poetry and fiction, and she was recognized early in the science fiction community. Her pivotal experience occurred in 1963 when she reported receiving a powerful influx of new ideas, leading her and her husband, Robert Butts, to explore extrasensory perception. Using a Ouija board and later direct dictation, Roberts began channeling Seth, producing extensive writings on a wide range of metaphysical and philosophical topics. These sessions, which she described as trance states, continued for over 1500 instances until her death in 1984.

Born Dorothy Jane Roberts in Albany, New York, in 1929, her childhood in Saratoga Springs was affected by her parents' divorce when she was two. She lived with her mother, Marie, who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, and her grandfather. The family relied on public assistance, and Jane bore significant responsibility for her mother's care, including cooking and cleaning, under often difficult and emotionally charged circumstances. Her mother's critical statements and attempted suicides deeply impacted Jane. She experienced health issues herself, including colitis and thyroid problems. For a period, she lived in a Catholic orphanage while her mother was hospitalized, during which she developed a strong connection to religious beliefs, though she later moved between belief systems. After public schooling, she attended Skidmore College on a poetry scholarship.

Roberts' creative output spanned various genres, including poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. Her introduction to the science fiction community was notable, being the only woman invited to its first conference in 1956. In 1960, she and her husband, Robert Butts, moved to Elmira, New York. It was there, in 1963, that Roberts experienced a profound shift, describing an 'avalanche of radical, new ideas' that seemed to break through the perceived reality of the physical world. Initially, neither she nor Butts believed in psychic phenomena, despite her fiction exploring such themes. However, following this experience, Roberts began recalling precognitive dreams, prompting them to investigate further. This led them to experiment with a Ouija board for research related to a book contract on extrasensory perception.

On December 2, 1963, Roberts and Butts claimed to begin receiving coherent messages from a male personality who identified himself as Seth. Initially using a Ouija board, Roberts soon transitioned to directly dictating Seth's messages, a process she described as entering a trance state where Seth would speak through her. Her husband meticulously transcribed these communications, referred to as 'readings' or 'sessions.' These sessions, which began with the Ouija board but were eventually conducted through Roberts' direct dictation, continued for over 1500 instances over 21 years until her death in 1984. Hundreds of individuals witnessed Roberts channeling Seth, with many attending her 'ESP classes.' The published works, collectively known as the Seth Material, explored a vast array of metaphysical and philosophical concepts.

“Between one normal minute and the next, a fantastic avalanche of radical, new ideas burst into my head with tremendous force ... It was as if the physical world were really tissue-paper-thin, hiding infinite dimensions of reality, and I was flung through the tissue paper with a huge ripping sound.”

“I was doing twice the creative work I had done earlier. I was satisfied with the quality of the Seth Material; it was far superior to anything I could do on my own. If nothing else, I thought the sessions presented a way of making deeply unconscious knowledge available on a consistent basis.”

“Because we were so innocent about psychic literature, we weren't hampered by superstitious fears about such [psychic] phenomena. I didn't believe in gods or demons, so I didn't fear them. I wanted to learn. Rob and I had discovered a whole new world together, and we were going to explore it.”