By Sandra Tanner

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Many readers were surprised when they opened their copy of the Salt Lake Tribune, August 5, 2015, to see a photo of Joseph Smith’s long-concealed “seer stone,” which is kept in the LDS First Presidency’s vault.¹ This stone had been unearthed while Joseph Smith was digging a well for a neighbor in the early 1820s and used to discover hidden objects and later to decipher the text of the Book of Mormon.

During the four-year time period that an angel was supposedly grooming Smith for the role of “Seer” (before allowing him to retrieve the gold plates) Joseph and his father were consulting the stone while engaged in treasure digging. While Smith’s use of a divining rock has been known since the early days of Mormonism, this is the first time the LDS Church has released photographs of the stone.

In the recent LDS article “Book of Mormon Translation” it is conceded that he used both the interpreters (spectacles) stored with the plates and the seer stone. However, the article still minimizes the use of the stone:

Apparently for convenience, Joseph often translated with the single seer stone rather than the two stones bound together to form the interpreters. These two instruments—the interpreters and the seer stone—were apparently interchangeable and worked in much the same way such that, in the course of time, Joseph Smith and his associates often used the term “Urim and Thummim” to refer to the single stone as well as the interpreters.²

[Bold in quotations is added for emphasis and does not appear in originals.]

However, the eye-witnesses to the translation only described Joseph Smith staring at his stone in a hat, not of him looking at the plates through large spectacles. David Whitmer explained the process:

I will now give you a description of the manner in which the Book of Mormon was translated. Joseph would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man.³

Curiously, after examining a number of LDS manuals no illustrations were found depicting Smith using his stone. Instead, he is almost always shown sitting at a desk and simply looking at the plates, as though he were doing a regular translation. The cover for the February, 2001, Ensign is an example of this.

Occasionally an illustration of Smith using the Urim and Thummim to translate may also be found (as seen below), yet throughout the history of official LDS publications it is probably as rare as depictions of the stone in the hat.

Smith Family Magic

An article in the October 2015 Ensign, “Joseph the Seer,” concedes the Smith’s magic involvement:

The young Joseph Smith accepted such familiar folk ways of his day, including the idea of using seer stones to view lost or hidden objects. Since the biblical narrative showed God using physical objects to focus people’s faith or communicate spiritually in ancient times, Joseph and others assumed the same for their day. Joseph’s parents, Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith, affirmed the family’s immersion in this culture and their use of physical objects in this way, and the villagers of Palmyra and Manchester, New York, where the Smiths lived, sought out Joseph to find lost objects before he moved to Pennsylvania in late 1827.⁴

However, the Smiths’ involvement with the occult was more extensive than the LDS article describes.

Smith’s 1826 Arrest

In the early 1820s the Smiths were known to be searching for hidden treasures. In fact, a man named Josiah Stowell hired Joseph Smith to use his stone to help find a long lost silver mine. Researchers H. Michael Marquardt and Wesley P. Walters provide background on this event:

When Joseph Smith recalled his money-digging activities for his official history, he wrote only about searching for a lost mine in 1825 for Josiah Stowell. But contemporary records suggest that this had been one of the Smith family occupations in the Palmyra/Manchester area since the early 1820s. For example, Joshua Stafford of Manchester recalled that he “became acquainted with the family of Joseph Smith, Sen. about the year 1819 or 20. They then were laboring people, in low circumstances. A short time after this, they commenced digging for hidden treasures, . . . and told marvellous stories about ghosts, hob-goblins, caverns, and various other mysterious matters.” Willard Chase, another friend of the family, similarly recalled, “I became acquainted with the Smith family . . . in the year 1820. At that time they were engaged in the money digging business.”⁵

While Mormons often defend Smith’s employment as a money-digger as simply a matter of being a hired hand, Smith’s mother states that Mr. Stowell traveled across the state to hire Joseph Smith specifically due to his reputation of special powers. Lucy Smith wrote:

A short time before the house was completed [1825], a man by the name of Josiah Stoal came from Chenango county, New York, with the view of getting Joseph to assist him in digging for a silver mine. He came for Joseph on account of having heard that he possessed certain keys by which he could discern things invisible to the natural eye.⁶

In November of 1825 Mr. Stowell and a group of men, including the Smiths, signed an agreement to share any gold or silver recovered from their dig. LDS Apostle Russell M. Nelson recently mentioned this money-digging agreement, but didn’t explain that Joseph was specifically hired to serve as the medium to locate the treasure.⁷

When no treasure was found, a relative of Josiah Stowell, fearing that his uncle was being swindled, brought charges against Joseph Smith for fraudulently claiming powers he did not have. According to court records, in 1826 Joseph Smith, the “glass looker,” was arrested and brought before Judge Albert Neely on charges of being a “disorderly person” due to his professed power to use his seer stone to find buried treasure. Smith’s defense was that he truly had such powers, “but of late had pretty much given it up on account its injuring his health, especially his eyes.” The court record was published in the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge in 1883:

People of State of New York vs. Joseph Smith.

Warrant issued upon oath of Peter G. Bridgman, who informed that one Joseph Smith of Bainbridge was a disorderly person and an imposter. Prisoner brought into court [March 20, 1826]. Prisoner examined. Says that he came from town of Palmyra, and had been at the house of Josiah Stowell in Bainbridge most of time since; had small part of time been employed in looking for mines, but the major part had been employed by said Stowell on his farm, and going to school; that he had a certain stone, which he had occasionally looked at to determine where hidden treasures in the bowels of the earth were; that he professed to tell in this manner where gold-mines were a distance under ground, and had looked for Mr. Stowell several times, and informed him where he could find those treasures, and Mr. Stowell had been engaged in digging for them; that at Palmyra he pretended to tell, by looking at this stone, where coined money was buried in Pennsylvania, and while at Palmyra he had frequently ascertained in that way where lost property was, of various kinds; that he has occasionally been in the habit of looking through this stone to find lost property for three years, but of late had pretty much given it up on account its injuring his health, especially his eyes—made them sore; that he did not solicit business of this kind, and had always rather declined having anything to do with this business. . . . And thereupon the Court finds the defendant guilty.

In 1971 Wesley P. Walters located the Chenango county documents relating to Smith’s 1826 arrest and hearing in the damp, musty basement of the jail in Norwich, New York. In these bundles of papers were two documents that related to Smith’s 1826 hearing. Mr. Walters explained:

The discovery among the 1826 Chenango County bills of two bills from the officials who participated in the arrest and trial of Joseph Smith at South Bainbridge in 1826 now confirms this story beyond question. The bill of Justice Albert Neely carries this entry:

The phrase “Glass looker” appearing on Mr. Neely’s bill is the precise terminology preferred by Joseph Smith himself to describe his crystal gazing occupation. The bill of Constable Philip De Zeng gives further historical evidence and details concerning this trial, by listing:⁸

The documents suggest that Joseph Smith appeared before Justice Neely for what was known as an “examination.”⁹ This seems to be like a preliminary hearing we have today where the accused is bound over for trial at a later date. It would appear from page 109 of A New Conductor Generalis that since Justice Neely found Joseph Smith “guilty” of being a “disorderly person” he could have immediately sentenced him to “sixty days” in the “bridewell or house of correction, at hard labor,” but instead he bound him over to be tried by three justices at a later date. These justices could have ordered “him to be detained at hard labor, for any future time not exceeding six months, and during his confinement to be corrected by whipping, according to the nature of the offense, as they shall think fit.”

Since we do not have the rest of Justice Neely’s docket book or any other extant record concerning the matter, it is difficult to determine what finally happened in this case. It is possible that Joseph Smith could have admitted his guilt and struck an agreement with the county. Often officials who wanted to cut expenses would be willing to let prisoners go if they would agree to leave the county where the crime took place. The main point is that his arrest as a “glass looker” confirms Joseph Smith’s role as village magician.

Smith’s father-in-law, Isaac Hale, claimed that after Joseph married Emma in 1827 he promised to give up money-digging and seek regular employment. However, he seems to have simply moved from claiming to find lost treasures through his stone to translating hidden scriptures through the same means. Mr. Hale stated:

Smith stated to me, that he had given up what he called “glass-looking,” and that he expected to work hard for a living, and was willing to do so . . . Soon after this, I was informed they had brought a wonderful book of Plates down with them . . . The manner in which he pretended to read and interpret, was the same as when he looked for the money-diggers, with the stone in his hat, and his hat over his face, while the Book of Plates were at the same time hid in the woods!¹⁰

Faculty of Abrac

Another example of the Smith’s involvement with magic is found in mother Smith’s preliminary draft of her biography. She acknowledged the family’s “sooth saying” but assured her readers that this never interfered with their regular efforts to earn a living:

Let not the reader suppose that because I shall pursue another topic for a season that we stopt our labor and went at trying to win the faculty of Abrac [,] drawing Magic circles or sooth saying [sic] to the neglect of all kinds of buisness[.] [W]e never during our lives suffered one important interest to swallow up every other obligation but whilst we worked with our hands we endeavored to remmember [sic] the service of & the welfare of our souls.¹¹

The “faculty of Abrac” relates to the belief that by possessing an amulet with Abracadabra written in a special way the owner would be assured of good health. Below is an example of this:¹²

Researcher Robert N. Hullinger tied Abrac with Masonic practices:

Abrac, from Abracadabra and Abraxis, is a magic word or formula used on amulets to work magic charms. Eighteenth century Masons were said to know how to conceal “the way of obtaining the faculty of Abrac,” which implied that they knew how to get it.¹³

In regards to Lucy Smith’s statement about magic circles, William Stafford, a friend of the Smiths, testified:

I, William Stafford, having been called upon to give a true statement . . . do say, that I first became acquainted with Joseph, Sen., and his family in the year 1820. . . . A great part of their time was devoted to digging for money: especially in the night time. . . . I have heard them tell marvellous tales, respecting the discoveries they had made in their peculiar occupation of money digging. They would say, for instance, that in such a place, in such a hill, on a certain man’s farm, there were deposited keys, barrels and hogsheads of coined silver and gold—bars of gold, golden images, brass kettles filled with gold and silver— gold candlesticks, swords, &c. &c. They would say, also, that nearly all the hills in this part of New York, were thrown up by human hands, and in them were large caves, which Joseph, Jr., could see, by placing a stone of singular appearance in his hat, in such a manner as to exclude all light; at which time they pretended he could see all things within and under the earth,—that he could see within the above mentioned caves, large gold bars and silver plates—that he could also discover the spirits in whose charge these treasures were, clothed in ancient dress. . . . These tales I regarded as visionary. However, being prompted by curiosity, I at length accepted of their invitations, to join them in their nocturnal excursions. I will now relate a few incidents attending these excursions.

Joseph Smith, Sen., came to me one night, and told me, that Joseph Jr. had been looking in his glass, and had seen, not many rods from his house, two or three kegs of gold and silver, some feet under the surface of the earth; and that none others but the elder Joseph and myself could get them. I accordingly consented to go, and early in the evening repaired to the place of deposit. Joseph, Sen. first made a circle, twelve or fourteen feet in diameter. This circle, said he, contains the treasure. He then stuck in the ground a row of witch hazel sticks, around the said circle, for the purpose of keeping off the evil spirits. Within this circle he made another, of about eight or ten feet in diameter. He walked around three times on the periphery of this last circle, muttering to himself something which I could not understand. He next stuck a steel rod in the centre of the circles, and then enjoined profound silence upon us, lest we should arouse the evil spirit who had the charge of these treasures. After we had dug a trench about five feet in depth around the rod, the old man by signs and motions, asked leave of absence, and went to the house to inquire of young Joseph the cause of our disappointment. He soon returned and said, that Joseph had remained all this time in the house, looking in his stone and watching the motion of the evil spirit—that he saw the spirit come up to the ring and as soon as it beheld the cone which we had formed around the rod, it caused the money to sink.¹⁴

Sinking Treasures

The common belief that treasures could sink is also present in the Book of Mormon. In Mormon 1:18-19 we read that the people “began to hide up their treasures in the earth; and they became slippery, because the Lord had cursed the land, that they could not hold them, nor retain them again. . . . there were sorceries, and witchcrafts, and magics; and the power of the evil one was wrought upon the face of the land, . . .”

The Book of Mormon also makes these statements concerning hidden treasures:

And behold, if a man hide up a treasure in the earth, and the Lord shall say—Let it be accursed, because of the iniquity of him who hath hid it up—behold, it shall be accursed.

And if the Lord shall say—Be thou accursed, that no man shall find thee from this time henceforth and forever—behold, no man getteth it henceforth and forever. (Book of Mormon, Helaman 12:18-19)

. . . whoso shall hide up treasures in the earth shall find them no more, because of the great curse of the land, save he be a righteous man and shall hide it up unto the Lord.

For I will, saith the Lord, that they shall hide up their treasures unto me; and cursed be they who hide not up their treasures unto me; for none hideth up their treasures unto me save it be the righteous; and he that hideth not up his treasures unto me, cursed is he, and also the treasure, and none shall redeem it because of the curse of the land. (Ibid., Helaman 13:18-19)

Behold, we lay a tool here and on the morrow it is gone; and behold, our swords are taken from us in the day we have sought them for battle.

Yea, we have hid up our treasures and they have slipped away from us, because of the curse of the land.

O that we had repented in the day that the word of the Lord came unto us; for behold the land is cursed, and all things are become slippery, and we cannot hold them.

Behold, we are surrounded by demons, yea, we are encircled about by the angels of him who hath sought to destroy our souls. . . . (Ibid., Helaman 13:34-37)

Even Oliver Cowdery, one of the three witnesses to the Book of Mormon, said that when Joseph Smith went to the hill to get the gold plates he was concerned about not being able to obtain them because “he had heard of the power of enchantment, and a thousand like stories, which held the hidden treasures of the earth.”¹⁵

Seer Stone or Interpreters?

The LDS Church has traditionally written about the translation of the Book of Mormon in terms of Smith’s use of the “Urim and Thummim” without explaining that the term was applied to two different items. Smith first used the “interpreters” (large spectacles) preserved with the plates but soon switched to using the seer stone found in a well. When questioned in 1870 as to the process of translation, Emma Smith wrote:

Now the first that my husband translated, was translated by the use of the Urim and Thummim [interpreters], and that was the part that Martin Harris lost, after that he used a small stone, not exactly black, but was rather a dark color.¹⁶

While David Whitmer was not a scribe during the dictating of the first 116 pages of text, he did state that he never saw Smith use the spectacles. In 1879 J. L. Traughber reported his earlier conversation with Whitmer:

With the sanction of David Whitmer, and by his authority, I now state he does not say that Joseph Smith ever translated in his presence by aid of Urim and Thummim [the spectacles], but by means of one dark colored, opaque stone called a ‘Seer Stone,’ which was placed in the crown of a hat, into which Joseph put his face, so as to exclude the external light. Then, a spiritual light would appear before Joseph, upon which was a line of characters from the plates, and under it, the translation in English; at least, so Joseph said.¹⁷

Many years ago M. T. Lamb made some important observations regarding Joseph Smith’s strange habit of using his seer stone instead of the instruments preserved with the plates:

Finally, according to the testimony of Martin Harris, Mr. Smith often used the “seer stone” in place of the Urim and Thummim, even while the latter remained in his possession—using it as a mere matter of convenience.

It seems almost too bad that he should thus inadvertently give the whole thing away. You must understand that the Urim and Thummim spoken of, and called throughout the Book of Mormon “the Interpreters,” had been provided with great care over 2500 years ago by God himself, for the express purpose of translating these plates. They are often mentioned in the Book of Mormon as exceedingly important. They were preserved with the greatest care, handed down from one generation to another with the plates, and buried with them in the hill Cumorah over 1400 years ago; as sacred as the plates themselves. So sacred that only one man was allowed to handle or use them, the highly favored prophet, Joseph Smith himself. But now, alas! After all this trouble and pains and care on the part of God, and on the part of so many holy men of old, this “Urim and Thummim” is found at last to be altogether superfluous; not needed at all. This “peep stone” found in a neighbor’s well will do the work just as well—and is even more convenient, “for convenience he used the seer stone.” So we are left to infer that when he used the Urim and Thummim at all, it was at some inconvenience. And probably he only did it out of regard to the feelings of his God, who had spent so much time and anxiety in preparing it so long ago, and preserving it to the present day for his special use!¹⁸

Joseph’s Jupiter Talisman

Contrary to the Bible’s strong denunciation of magic and necromancy, such as in Deuteronomy 18:9-14 and elsewhere, Joseph Smith and many, if not all, of the witnesses had been involved in the magic practices of the area, believing in ghosts who guarded buried treasures, using magic spells and paraphernalia.

Besides Joseph Smith’s seer stone, he also owned a magic Jupiter talisman (a silver medallion worn on a string around the neck).¹⁹ LDS historian Reed C. Durham made these observations about Smith’s talisman in his presidential address to the Mormon History Association on April 20, 1974:

All available evidence suggest that Joseph Smith the Prophet possessed a magical Masonic medallion, or talisman, which he worked during his lifetime and which was evidently on his person when he was martyred. His talisman is in the shape of a silver dollar and is probably made of silver or tin. . . . [it] can now be identified as a Jupiter talisman. It carries the sign and image of Jupiter and should more appropriately be referred to as the Table of Jupiter. . . . In astrology, Jupiter is always associated with high positions, getting one’s own way, and all forms of status.²⁰

According to Emma Smith’s stepson, the talisman passed from Joseph to Emma after his death. The stepson later sold the object to Wilford C. Wood, a Mormon collector in Woods Cross, Utah. Charles E. Bidamon stated: “I certify that I have many times heard her [Emma Smith Bidamon] say, when being interviewed, and showing the piece. That it was in the Prophet’s pocket when he was martyred at Carthage Ill.” Mr. Bidamon also claimed that Emma “prized this piece very highly on account of its being one of the prophet’s intimate possessions.”²¹

Hyrum Smith’s Magic Papers

Hyrum Smith, Joseph’s older brother, also owned magic paraphernalia. Among his possessions were several magic parchments, a pouch for storage, and a magic dagger.²²

These artifacts are currently in the possession of the Eldred G. Smith family. Eldred, who died in 2013, was Patriarch emeritus of the LDS Church and great, great-grandson of Hyrum Smith. Mormon writer Pearson H. Corbett described these relics of Hyrum Smith in his book, Hyrum Smith—Patriarch:

Dagger, Masonic ten inch, stainless steel—wooden handle—Masonic symbols on blade.

Emblematic parchments—Masonic—three, original hand painted on heavy bodied paper—on border appears initials “I.H.S.” . . .

Pouch, Masonic cotton fabric 4”x 4” with draw string attached.²³

Historian D. Michael Quinn made the following observation about the Smith family’s magic artifacts:

The three magic parchments possessed by the Smith family have three different purposes, all interrelated. The “Holiness to the Lord” parchment is a lamen of ceremonial magic to receive visitation from “good angels.” The “Saint Peter bind them” parchment is a talisman for personal protection. The faded “Jehovah, Jehovah, Jehovah” parchment is a house-amulet.²⁴

These artifacts certainly demonstrate a deeper level of involvement with magic than simply using a “seer stone” to translate the Book of Mormon. Unlike the early converts to Christianity in Acts 19:19 who burned their magic artifacts, Joseph and Hyrum Smith preserved theirs.

Smith and the Methodists

It is interesting to note that as early as 1828 members of the Methodist Church were forced to evaluate Joseph Smith’s involvement with magic. He had taken steps to join their church, but they felt his dealings in magic made him unfit to be a member. In the book Inventing Mormonism we read:

In 1879 Joseph and Hiel Lewis, cousins to Joseph’s first wife, Emma Hale, stated that Joseph joined the Methodist Episcopal church or class in Harmony, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 1828. There was disagreement about how long Joseph’s name remained on class rolls. See the articles in the Amboy [Illinois] Journal . . . It is possible that Joseph attended class with his wife Emma because of the death of their first son on 15 June 1828. That Joseph was a member of the class was not questioned, only the length of time his name remained on the class record.²⁵

Joseph and Hiel Lewis recounted that Smith had “presented himself in a very serious and humble manner, and the minister, not suspecting evil, put his name on the class book, in the absence of some of the official members.”²⁶ When Joseph Lewis learned of this act, he felt that Smith was not truly repentant of his magic involvement and felt him to be unfit for membership. Mr. Lewis further details the incident:

I with Joshua McKune . . . thought it was a disgrace to the church to have a practicing necromancer, a dealer in enchantments and bleeding ghosts in it. So on Sunday we went . . . and talked to him some time . . . Told him that his occupation, habits and moral character were at variance with the discipline . . . that there should have been recantation, confession and at least promised reformation—That he could that day publicly ask that his name be stricken from the class book, or stand investigation. He chose the former, and did that very day make request that his name be taken off the class book.²⁷

• For more information, see the article, “The Mormon Prophet Attempts to Join the Methodists,” by Wesley P. Walters, on this site.

It is certainly strange that Joseph Smith would try to join the Methodist Church if, in fact, he had been instructed by God in 1820 not to join any church. According to Smith’s history:

I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should join.

I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight . . . (Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith—History 1:18-19)

Animal Sacrifices

Animal sacrifices were often a part of the magic rituals that accompanied money-digging. In the first edition of his book, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, page 144, Dr. D. Michael Quinn gives this information: “A cousin of Smith’s wife Emma reported that Smith ‘translated the book of Mormon by means of the same peep stone, and under the same inspiration that directed his enchantments and dog sacrifices; it was all by the same spirit’ (H. Lewis 1879).”

In a magic book known as The Greater Key of Solomon, page 122, we read that “In many operations it is necessary to make some sort of sacrifice unto the demons, and in various ways . . . Such sacrifices consist of the blood and sometimes of the flesh.”

The evidence seems to show that Joseph Smith did make sacrifices to the demons. In an affidavit published in 1834, William Stafford, one of the neighbors of the Smith family, reported the following:

Joseph Smith, Sen., came to me one night, and told me that Joseph Smith Jr. had been looking in his glass, and had seen, not many rods from his house, two or three kegs of gold and silver . . . Joseph, Sen. first made a circle, twelve or fourteen feet in diameter. This circle, said he, contains the treasure. He then stuck in the ground a row of witch hazel sticks, around the said circle, for the purpose of keeping off the evil spirits. . . . another time, they devised a scheme, by which they might satiate their hunger, with the mutton of one of my sheep. They had seen in my flock a sheep, a large, fat, black weather. Old Joseph and one of the boys came to me one day, and said that Joseph Jr. had discovered some very remarkable and valuable treasures, which could be procured only in one way. That way, was as follows:—That a black sheep should be taken to the ground where the treasures were concealed—that after cutting its throat, it should be led around in a circle while bleeding. This being done, the wrath of the evil spirit would be appeased: the treasures could then be obtained, and my share of them was to be four fold. To gratify my curiosity, I let them have a large fat sheep. They afterwards informed me, that the sheep was killed pursuant to commandment; but as there was some mistake in the process, it did not have the desired effect. This, I believe, is the only time they ever made money-digging a profitable business. (Mormonism Unvailed, 1834, pp. 238-39; also reproduced in Early Mormon Documents, vol. 2, pp. 59-61)

The reader will notice that it was a “black” sheep that was supposed to have been sacrificed. This is interesting because The Greater Key of Solomon, page 122, says that, “Sometimes white animals are sacrificed to the good Spirits and black to the evil.”

In any case, BYU professor Richard L. Anderson said that, “If there was such an event of a borrowed sheep, it had nothing to do with dishonesty.”²⁸ Anderson also quotes the following from BYU Professor M. Wilford Poulson’s notes of a conversation with Wallace Miner: “I once asked Stafford if Smith did steal a sheep from him. He said no, not exactly. He said, he did miss a black sheep, but soon Joseph came and admitted he took it for sacrifice but he was willing to work for it. He made wooden sap buckets to fully pay for it.”²⁹

C. R. Stafford testified concerning the same incident:

Jo Smith, the prophet, told my uncle, William Stafford, he wanted a fat, black sheep. He said he wanted to cut its throat and make it walk in a circle three times around and it would prevent a pot of money from leaving.³⁰

The current leaders of the Mormon Church have turned away from the early occultic practices, which played such an important role in the church Joseph Smith founded. In fact, the church hierarchy has publicly condemned magic. In the LDS manual Gospel Principles we read:

Mediums, astrologers, fortune tellers, and sorcerers are inspired by Satan even if they claim to follow God. Their works are abominable to the Lord (see Isaiah 47:12-14; Deuteronomy 18:9-10). We should avoid all associations with the powers of Satan.³¹

Most Mormons are not aware of Joseph Smith’s involvement in the occult because their leaders have systematically covered up the more embarrassing parts of Smith’s history.

A Book of Mormon Witness with a Stone

Hiram Page, one of the eight witnesses to the Book of Mormon, also had a seer stone which he used to obtain revelations. Joseph Smith charged that Page gave false revelations through his stone and believed that the other witnesses to the Book of Mormon were being influenced by his revelations:

To our great grief, however, we soon found that Satan had been lying in wait to deceive, . . . Brother Hiram Page had in his possession a certain stone, by which he obtained certain “revelations” . . . all of which were entirely at variance with the order of God’s house, . . . the Whitmer family and Oliver Cowdery, were believing much in the things set forth by this stone, we thought best to inquire of the Lord concerning so important a matter . . . ³²

Seeing a threat to his leadership, Joseph Smith countered with a revelation stating that “no one shall be appointed to receive commandments and revelations in this church excepting my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., for he receiveth them even as Moses” (Doctrine and Covenants 28:2). Then in verse eleven, Oliver Cowdery was instructed to tell Hiram Page that “those things which he hath written from that stone are not of me, and that Satan deceiveth him.”

Cowdery’s Divining Rod

Oliver Cowdery and his family, along with the Smiths, were involved in the folk magic of the New England states. When Cowdery met Smith he evidently brought with him a reputation of working with a divining rod, a forked witch hazel stick used to locate water or minerals.

The money-diggers used divining rods to find buried treasure. They were also used as “a medium of revelation.” Those who used divining rods were at times referred to as “rodsmen.” Richard P. Howard, RLDS church historian, observed:

Several writers have established that both in Vermont and in western New York in the early 1800’s, one of the many forms which enthusiastic religion took was the adaptation of the witch hazel stick. . . . For example, the “divining rod” was used effectively by one Nathaniel Wood in Rutland County, Vermont, in 1801. Wood, Winchell, William Cowdery, Jr., and his son, Oliver Cowdery, all had some knowledge of and associations with the various uses, both secular and sacred, of the forked witch hazel rod. Winchell and others used such a rod in seeking buried treasure; . . . when Joseph Smith met Oliver Cowdery in April, 1829, he found a man peculiarly adept in the use of the forked rod . . . and against the background of his own experiments with and uses of oracular media, Joseph Smith’s April, 1829, affirmations about Cowdery’s unnatural powers related to working with the rod are quite understandable . . .³³

Smith gave a revelation to Cowdery in 1829 commending him for his “gift of working with the rod: behold it has told you things: behold there is no other power save God, that can cause this rod of nature, to work in your hands” (Book of Commandments, section 7:3, 1833).

However a couple of years later Smith revised this revelation to hide its magical overtones. It now reads: “Now this is not all thy gift, for you have another gift, which is the gift of Aaron; behold, it has told you many things; Behold, there is no other power, save the power of God, that can cause this gift of Aaron to be with you” (Doctrine and Covenants 8:6-7). Richard P. Howard explained:

By the time that Joseph Smith approached the reinterpretation and rewording of this document for the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, he had had time and experience necessary to place his 1829 assessment of the meaning of Cowdery’s gift of working with the rod in a somewhat more accurate perspective. Both he and Cowdery had developed away from an emphasis on the religious or mystical meanings in such mechanical objects as the water witching rod. Joseph’s 1835 wording of this document . . . left behind the apparent 1829 reliance upon external media, which by 1835 had assumed in Joseph’s mind overtones of superstition and speculative experimentation.³⁴

The Implications

Mormon historians are now conceding the reality of the Smith family’s involvement with magic. In D. Michael Quinn’s second edition of his book, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View he observes:

Friendly sources corroborate hostile non-Mormon accounts. As historian Richard L. Bushman has written: “There had always been evidence of it (‘money-digging in the Smith family’) in the hostile affidavits from the Smith[s’] neighbors, evidence which Mormons dismissed as hopelessly biased. But when I got into the sources, I found evidence from friendly contemporaries as well, Martin Harris, Joseph Knight, Oliver Cowdery, and Lucy Mack Smith. All of these witnesses persuaded me treasure-seeking and vernacular magic were part of the Smith family tradition, and that the hostile witnesses, including the 1826 trial record, had to be taken seriously.” BYU historian Marvin S. Hill has likewise observed: “Now, most historians, Mormon or not, who work with the sources, accept as fact Joseph Smith’s career as village magician.”³⁵

Most people would not feel that a few youthful mistakes by Joseph Smith would disqualify him as a prophet. However, since Joseph Smith’s failed treasure seeking and translation method for the Book of Mormon were both accomplished through the use of the same magic stone, it raises the question of the validity of both. There is no physical evidence for either his buried treasures or gold plates.

As LDS Apostle Jeffrey R. Holland declared:

“To consider that everything of saving significance in the Church stands or falls on the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and, by implication, the Prophet Joseph Smith’s account of how it came forth is as sobering as it is true. It is a ‘sudden death’ proposition. Either the Book of Mormon is what the Prophet Joseph said it is, or this Church and its founder are false, a deception from the first instance onward.”³⁶

Given Joseph Smith’s involvement with magic and the occult, how does one reconcile that with the Bible³⁷ and his claim of being a prophet?

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Footnotes:

1. “LDS Church offers photos of founder Smith’s ‘seer stone’” Peggy Fletcher Stack, Salt Lake Tribune (August 5, 2015), pp. A1, 4. ↩︎
2. “Book of Mormon Translation,” Gospel Topics Essays. ↩︎
3. David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, (Richmond, Mo., 1887), p. 12. ↩︎
4. “Joseph the Seer,” Ensign (October 2015). ↩︎
5. H. Michael Marquardt and Wesley P. Walters, Inventing Mormonism (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998), p. 64. ↩︎
6. Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and His Progenitors for Many Generations (Liverpool, England: S. W. Richards, 1853), pp. 91-92, as quoted in Early Mormon Documents, ed. Dan Vogel, vol. 1 (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1996), p. 309. ↩︎
7. Russell M. Nelson, “President Nelson Dedicates Priesthood Restoration Site,” (September 19, 2015). The comment starts at the 27-minute mark of the video. Further information on the agreement may be found in Early Mormon Documents, ed. Vogel, vol. 4, pp. 407-13. ↩︎
8. Wesley P. Walters, Joseph Smith’s Bainbridge, N.Y., Court Trials, (Salt Lake City: Modern Microfilm Co. [Utah Lighthouse Ministry], 1977), pp. 129-30. ↩︎
9. See A New Conductor Generalis: Being a Summary of the Law Relative to the Duty and Office of Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs, Coroners, Constables, Jurymen, Overseers of the Poor, &c, &c, (Albany, New York, 1819), pages 141-43. ↩︎
10. The Susquehanna Register, (May 1, 1834). ↩︎
11. “Lucy Smith’s History,” Early Mormon Documents, ed. Vogel, vol. 1, p. 285. ↩︎
12. Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Mormonism, Magic and Masonry, (Salt Lake City: Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1988), p. 55. ↩︎
13. Robert N. Hullinger, Joseph Smith’s Response to Skepticism, (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1992), p. 105; online at: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL2205220M/Joseph_Smith’s_response_to_skepticism ↩︎
14. E.D. Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, (Painesville, Ohio, 1834), pp. 237-39. ↩︎
15. Oliver Cowdery, Messenger and Advocate, vol. 2, p. 198. ↩︎
16. James E. Lancaster, “The Method of Translation of the Book of Mormon,” John Whitmer Historical Association Journal, vol. 3, (1983), p. 53. ↩︎
17. Ibid., p. 54. ↩︎
18. M.T. Lamb, The Golden Bible: The Book of Mormon—Is It From God? (1887), pp. 250-51. ↩︎
19. Tanner, Mormonism, Magic and Masonry, pp. 2-5. ↩︎
20. Ibid., p. 2. See also D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998), chapter 3. ↩︎
21. Statements by Charles E. Bidamon, as quoted by the Tanners in Mormonism, Magic and Masonry, p. 5; silver pendant referenced in Wilford C. Wood Collection, by LaMar C. Berrett, Wilford C. Wood
    Foundation, (1972) vol. 1, p. 71 (4-N-a-36), and p. 173 (7-J-b-21). ↩︎
22. Photos of the objects in Mormonism, Magic and Masonry, pp. 6-11. See also Quinn, Early Mormonism and Magic World View (1998). ↩︎
23. Pearson H. Corbett, Hyrum Smith—Patriarch, p. 453, as cited in Mormonism, Magic and Masonry, p. 5. ↩︎
24. Quinn, Early Mormonism and Magic World View, (1998), p. 104. ↩︎
25. Marquardt and Walters, Inventing Mormonism, p. 61, n. 49. ↩︎
26. The Amboy Journal (April 30, 1879), p. 1; also in Early Mormon Documents, vol. 4, p. 305. See typescript of the Amboy Journal article in “The Mormon Prophet Attempts to Join the Methodists,” by Wesley P. Walters. ↩︎
27. The Amboy Journal (June 11, 1879), p. 1; also in Early Mormon Documents, vol. 4, pp. 310-11. ↩︎
28. Richard L. Anderson, “Joseph Smith’s New York Reputation Reappraised,” Brigham Young University Studies (Spring 1970), p. 295. ↩︎
29. Ibid., p. 294. ↩︎
30. Naked Truths About Mormonism, (January 1888), p. 3; also reproduced in Early Mormon Documents, ed. Vogel, vol. 2, p. 197. ↩︎
31. Gospel Principles, (Salt Lake City: LDS Church, 2009), p. 131. ↩︎
32. Joseph Smith, History of the Church (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1976), vol. 1, pp. 109-10. ↩︎
33. Richard P. Howard, Restoration Scriptures, (Independence, MO: Herald Publishing, 1969), pp. 211-14. ↩︎
34. Ibid., p. 214. ↩︎
35. Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, (1998), p. 59. ↩︎
36. Jeffrey R. Holland as quoted by Joseph B. Wirthlin in “The Book of Mormon: The Heart of Missionary Proselyting,” Ensign (September 2002). ↩︎
37. Biblical prohibitions against the use of magic and divination: Deuteronomy 18:9-14; Leviticus 19:26, 31; Galatians 5:19-21; Revelation 21:8. ↩︎

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