Seth Spirit Jane Roberts

Dorothy Jane Roberts, an American author and poet, gained prominence in paranormal circles for her "Seth Material." She claimed to be a spirit medium, channeling a personality identifying as "Seth." 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 worldview. Despite a challenging upbringing, she pursued education on a poetry scholarship and began her writing career, exploring various genres. Her encounter with the "Seth" phenomenon began in 1963, initially through Ouija board sessions and later through direct dictation while in a trance state. These channeled messages formed the basis of the "Seth Material," which explored profound philosophical and metaphysical concepts. Roberts continued these channeling sessions for over two decades until her death in 1984, establishing herself as a significant figure in esoteric literature.

Born Dorothy Jane Roberts in Albany, New York, her childhood in Saratoga Springs was difficult. Her parents divorced when she was very young, leading to a life of dependence on her mother and eventually public assistance. Her mother suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis and, at times, was bedridden, requiring Jane to take on significant caretaking responsibilities. This period was further complicated by her mother's emotional distress and verbal abuse, as well as instances of her mother's suicide attempts. Jane also faced personal health issues, including colitis and thyroid problems, and spent time in a Catholic orphanage. These early experiences, marked by instability and hardship, likely contributed to her later exploration of consciousness and reality.

Roberts' engagement with the paranormal began in 1963, following a profound personal experience where she felt an "avalanche of radical, new ideas" surge into her consciousness. This event, which she described as a breakthrough into "infinite dimensions of reality," occurred while she was working on poetry. Initially, neither she nor her husband, Robert Butts, believed in extrasensory perception, despite her fiction often touching on such themes. Their curiosity led them to experiment with a Ouija board for research on a book about ESP. It was through these sessions, starting in December 1963, that they began receiving coherent messages from a personality who identified himself as Seth.

Roberts described the process of channeling Seth as entering a trance state, during which Seth would speak through her while her husband transcribed the messages. These "readings" or "sessions" became a regular practice, evolving from Ouija board use to direct dictation. The "Seth Material" comprised monologues on diverse subjects, exploring metaphysical and philosophical concepts. Despite initial disbelief and concerns about the source of the messages, Roberts found the work intellectually stimulating and creatively productive. She continued these sessions for 21 years, holding over 1500 sessions, and the "Seth Material" was published, solidifying her reputation in the field of paranormal phenomena.

“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.”

“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.”