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Speaking of Jane Roberts: Remembering the Author of the Seth Material
Poet, novelist, author of the Seth Material, Jane Roberts's books have sold over 7.5 million copies. She was one of the most important psychics of the twentieth century. Now, Speaking of Jane Roberts reveals a woman as fascinating as the material she produced. Susan Watkins and Jane Roberts were friends for sixteen years. Early on, Seth, the entity who spoke through Roberts, told the two women that they were counterparts, connected in this particular lifetime to work out some shared personal issues. In addition to being a compassionate and sometimes painfully honest look at Roberts's lifeher difficult childhood, her constant questioning of psychic abilities and sources of creativity, her resistance to Seth's advice, her dramatic struggles with her health. Speaking of Jane Roberts is also a beautiful and applicable illustration of the counterpart relationship. The connection that Watkins and Roberts shared reveals something important about the power and mystery of the connections we all share with the people closest to us.
- GenresNonfictionBiography
226 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 7, 2019
Excellent memoir of the life of a Truly Original Thinker: I really liked this book, I thought it was great to learn more about Jane's life outside of her mediumistic activities, and there is something about Susan Watkins's style that I have always liked from her previous Seth/Jane-related books, CONVERSATIONS WITH SETH, and DREAMING MYSELF, DREAMING A TOWN. I especially
appreciate the rather generous endnotes in the book, which are
almost a small book in themselves, and the exquisite attention
paid to detail therein.
Sue has a very humorous style at times, too, I got a kick out of
the part where she recounts the time she stayed over Jane's place during the Elmira Flood in the early 70's. She spoke of bringing along a lazy boyfriend with her to stay over Jane's (he was also flooded out at the time), and how the boyfriend just hung around Jane's all day writing an "epic poem" about the flood, while Sue worked her behind off for hours at her own apartment trying to clean the terrible mess that the flood made there. After they left Jane's place in a matter of weeks, Jane had Sue over to discuss how the man was an obviously wrong choice of boyfriend for Sue, but Jane still tried to throw in a few polite remarks about the guy, including that she and Rob really enjoyed some little Cornish hens that the guy cooked for them, and Jane went on and on saying how they ate those little Cornish hens as leftovers for days. Sue was astonished hearing this, and writes something very funny like "since I was the one who bought the hens in the first place, I was mystified by Jane's rapture over it all." I laughed and laughed at that line!!
Also, there are incredible little surprises in the book, such as
Sue's "probable memory" or something similar, where she tells
about a "memory" she has of Jane and her discussing T.S. Eliot's
poetry, and then in a burst of exuberant playfulness, Jane running down the hallway and leaping into the air to touch a lightbulb on the ceiling or something while yelling out a line from Eliot. What Sue goes on to explain there is that such a "memory" could never really have happened in real life, since the Jane she knew was not physically able to do such a thing for almost the entire time she knew her (as even though Jane's arthritis was not really dire and incapacitating until the late 70's, even in years prior to that, Jane could never really have leapt into the air in such a fashion, as she was already quite stiff and partly immobile from as early as the late 60's).........so Sue muses where this supposed "memory"
comes from and she says "I am haunted by a memory that I
cannot possibly have".............as if it was a memory of a probable version of Jane...............
All in all, the memoir really surprised me when I first read it,
because while it was still forthcoming, I imagined and imagined
what it might contain, and I expected reading lots of scenes of
mystical experiences between Jane and Sue, like psychic flashes
from Jane and so forth, special personal things that Seth told Susan, etc., and in reality, even though these things did occur on a few rare occasions, they were really not part of what occured between the two women. And I think that some others were disappointed with the book, because it really broke down their "exalted" concepts of Jane's life. I think Jane was great, a real original, but many people who have read her work, have put her on a sort of pedestal, and the book really shows that she did not at all have what some would consider a peachy psychic life! But again, I loved this book, even without my imagined series of numerous "mystical encounters" between the 2 women. (Not that they didn't have some psychic experiences between them, as Sue detailed in CONVERSATIONS WITH SETH and elsewhere, but definitely not to the level of constant mystical conversations and so forth. That is what makes this book spectacular for me, it shows the REAL life of Jane, as interpreted through Sue's close vantage point of course, but a life that is indeed as wonderful and meaningful & troubling and puzzling at the same time, as our own lives surely are too. It shows for any who might think otherwise, that Jane was someone whose intellect and grace led to the Seth development, and not as some otherworldly eccentric "channeler" figure with no normal day-to-day life slipping into trance states to speak for "JESUS" or whoever..........)
All in all, I think any reader of Jane Roberts's books would really get a lot out of this memoir, and for those who have not read Jane's work yet, this memoir is a good introduction to her life that should in turn make you curious to delve into her own books as well! This book shows that Susan Watkins is a talent and a half, and definitely "a Writer with a capital W", as Jane Roberts herself used to tell her she should strive towards. Do give it a read!
appreciate the rather generous endnotes in the book, which are
almost a small book in themselves, and the exquisite attention
paid to detail therein.
Sue has a very humorous style at times, too, I got a kick out of
the part where she recounts the time she stayed over Jane's place during the Elmira Flood in the early 70's. She spoke of bringing along a lazy boyfriend with her to stay over Jane's (he was also flooded out at the time), and how the boyfriend just hung around Jane's all day writing an "epic poem" about the flood, while Sue worked her behind off for hours at her own apartment trying to clean the terrible mess that the flood made there. After they left Jane's place in a matter of weeks, Jane had Sue over to discuss how the man was an obviously wrong choice of boyfriend for Sue, but Jane still tried to throw in a few polite remarks about the guy, including that she and Rob really enjoyed some little Cornish hens that the guy cooked for them, and Jane went on and on saying how they ate those little Cornish hens as leftovers for days. Sue was astonished hearing this, and writes something very funny like "since I was the one who bought the hens in the first place, I was mystified by Jane's rapture over it all." I laughed and laughed at that line!!
Also, there are incredible little surprises in the book, such as
Sue's "probable memory" or something similar, where she tells
about a "memory" she has of Jane and her discussing T.S. Eliot's
poetry, and then in a burst of exuberant playfulness, Jane running down the hallway and leaping into the air to touch a lightbulb on the ceiling or something while yelling out a line from Eliot. What Sue goes on to explain there is that such a "memory" could never really have happened in real life, since the Jane she knew was not physically able to do such a thing for almost the entire time she knew her (as even though Jane's arthritis was not really dire and incapacitating until the late 70's, even in years prior to that, Jane could never really have leapt into the air in such a fashion, as she was already quite stiff and partly immobile from as early as the late 60's).........so Sue muses where this supposed "memory"
comes from and she says "I am haunted by a memory that I
cannot possibly have".............as if it was a memory of a probable version of Jane...............
All in all, the memoir really surprised me when I first read it,
because while it was still forthcoming, I imagined and imagined
what it might contain, and I expected reading lots of scenes of
mystical experiences between Jane and Sue, like psychic flashes
from Jane and so forth, special personal things that Seth told Susan, etc., and in reality, even though these things did occur on a few rare occasions, they were really not part of what occured between the two women. And I think that some others were disappointed with the book, because it really broke down their "exalted" concepts of Jane's life. I think Jane was great, a real original, but many people who have read her work, have put her on a sort of pedestal, and the book really shows that she did not at all have what some would consider a peachy psychic life! But again, I loved this book, even without my imagined series of numerous "mystical encounters" between the 2 women. (Not that they didn't have some psychic experiences between them, as Sue detailed in CONVERSATIONS WITH SETH and elsewhere, but definitely not to the level of constant mystical conversations and so forth. That is what makes this book spectacular for me, it shows the REAL life of Jane, as interpreted through Sue's close vantage point of course, but a life that is indeed as wonderful and meaningful & troubling and puzzling at the same time, as our own lives surely are too. It shows for any who might think otherwise, that Jane was someone whose intellect and grace led to the Seth development, and not as some otherworldly eccentric "channeler" figure with no normal day-to-day life slipping into trance states to speak for "JESUS" or whoever..........)
All in all, I think any reader of Jane Roberts's books would really get a lot out of this memoir, and for those who have not read Jane's work yet, this memoir is a good introduction to her life that should in turn make you curious to delve into her own books as well! This book shows that Susan Watkins is a talent and a half, and definitely "a Writer with a capital W", as Jane Roberts herself used to tell her she should strive towards. Do give it a read!
November 17, 2011
I love reading all Sue Watkins’s books having to do with her Seth/Jane experiences, and this one I found to be quite telling… and moving to read.
An exceptional honest and revealing (‘autobiographic’) account of the goings-on between Sue Watkins and Jane Roberts (& Seth and others) – of how Sue experienced this personally, of how Sue perhaps rather struggled to not feel ‘overshadowed’ by Jane. The book also shows us a bit of the ‘raw’ side of Jane Roberts.
An exceptional honest and revealing (‘autobiographic’) account of the goings-on between Sue Watkins and Jane Roberts (& Seth and others) – of how Sue experienced this personally, of how Sue perhaps rather struggled to not feel ‘overshadowed’ by Jane. The book also shows us a bit of the ‘raw’ side of Jane Roberts.
November 5, 2011
I love Sue Watkins's books that came out from the Jane/Seth phenomenon, and this book was no exception. However, this was quite awkward and uncomfortable to read, as Sue revealed her rather needy envy of Jane, and her struggle to hold her own in the shadow Jane, and the chronicling of symptoms that eventually took Jane's life. That discomfort made it all the more engrossing and moving to read. I am grateful for this raw look at such an influential inspiration in my life's work.
November 22, 2013
Loved reading about Jane, she always fascinated me as a person. Wish Susan would have told more about her & her life. I want to know more! I wish I could read all the Jane Roberts papers in Yale. Susan doesn't really say much about Jane & Robert's relationship, I wonder what it was like considering Jane's childhood. Did she pick someone like her mother? Did he work? Was he cold? How she died was so sad to me.I want to know more!
November 7, 2017
It was a wonderful, poignant, sometimes painful, memoir. Reading it, I wished I had been part of their gatherings. Sue makes writing seem so easy, so absolutely enjoyable, which is why even someone totally unfamiliar with the subject matter can enjoy this book.
June 21, 2012
It's hard to tell if this one is autobiography or biography. Either way, it's required for anyone interested in the Roberts-Butts-Seth triangle experience of the 1970s.
April 23, 2023
Having been a student of Seth since the 80s or 90s, I find myself curious to know about the culture and the people behind it. This is one such resource. It shows us how utterly human Jane & Rob were, humanly flawed as were their followers. Then, as today, they were just seeking the truth for themselves. I was fascinated by the stories and personal accounts. I found it a pretty thorough examination that won’t disappoint your curiosity about the background scene of the Seth material.
January 21, 2025
I’m not exactly sure what to say. I think it was an odd book. The book was equally about Susan Watkins life as it was about Jane Roberts. And I wasn’t really sure if they actually liked each other. Again, it was odd and I made myself finish it as I’ve read all the Seth books. But I’m not sure I would recommend the book.
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December 13, 2013Excellent
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews