Jane Roberts

Dorothy Jane Roberts (May 8, 1929 – September 5, 1984) was an American author, poet, self-proclaimed psychic, and spirit medium, who claimed to channel an energy personality who called himself "Seth." Her publication of the Seth texts, known as the Seth Material, established her as one of the preeminent figures in the world of paranormal phenomena. The Yale University Library Manuscripts and Archives maintains a collection entitled Jane Roberts Papers (MS 1090), which documents the career and personal life of Jane Roberts, including journals, poetry, correspondence, audio and video recordings, and other materials donated after her death by Roberts' husband and other individuals and organizations.

Early life and career

Roberts was born in a hospital in Albany, New York and grew up in nearby Saratoga Springs, New York. Her parents, Delmer Hubbell Roberts and Marie Burdo, divorced when she was two years old. With her only child, the young Marie then returned to her own parents, and the home that the family had rented for a number of years: half of a double dwelling in a poor neighborhood in Saratoga Springs. Marie had begun experiencing the early stages of rheumatoid arthritis by 1932, but worked as much as possible. Eventually Roberts' grandfather, Joseph Burdo, with whom she shared a deep mystical identification, was unable to support two extra people, and the family had to rely upon public assistance. Roberts' grandmother was killed in an automobile accident in 1936.

Seth

Seth (Hebrew: שֵׁת, Standard Šet, Tiberian Šēṯ; Arabic: شِيث‎ (Sheeth); placed; appointed"), in Judaism, Christianity, Mandaeism, and Islam, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, who were the only other of their children mentioned by name in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). According to Genesis 4:25, Seth was born after Abel's murder, and Eve believed God had appointed him as a replacement for Abel.

Genesis

According to Genesis, Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old "a son in his likeness and image." The genealogy is repeated at 1 Chronicles 1:1–3. Genesis 5:4–5 states that Adam fathered "sons and daughters" before his death, aged 930 years. According to the Bible, Seth lived to the age of 912.

Jewish tradition

Seth figures in the Life of Adam and Eve, also known in its Greek version as the Apocalypse of Moses, a Jewish pseudepigraphical group of writings. It recounts the lives of Adam and Eve from after their expulsion from the Garden of Eden to their deaths. The surviving versions were composed from the early 3rd to the 5th century, the literary units in the work are considered to be older and predominantly of Jewish origin. There is wide agreement that the original was composed in a Semitic language in the 1st century AD/CE. In the Greek versions Seth and Eve travel to the doors of the Garden to beg for some oil of the tree of mercy (i.e. the Tree of Life). On the way Seth is attacked and bitten by a wild beast, which goes away when ordered by Seth. Michael refuses to give them the oil at that time, but promises to give it at the end of time, when all flesh will be raised up, the delights of paradise will be given to the holy people and God will be in their midst. On their return, Adam says to Eve: "What hast thou done? Thou hast brought upon us great wrath which is death." (chapters 5-14) Later only Seth can witness the taking-up of Adam at his funeral in a divine chariot, which deposits him in the Garden of Eden.

Jane

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Roberts

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See also

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, other than 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.

Other authors have written material they claimed was channeled from Seth, especially after Roberts' death. These included Thomas Massari, who founded the Seth-Hermes Foundation and said he had channeled Seth as early as 1972, and Jean Loomis, director of the Aquarian Center in Connecticut and others to date. However, in the introduction to the first book written about Seth, Seth is said to have conveyed that "communications will come exclusively through Ruburt [Seth's name for Jane] at all times, to protect the integrity of the material". In The Seth Material, Jane Roberts wrote: "Several people have told me that Seth communicated with them through automatic writing, but Seth denies any such contacts."