Joseph Smith/Occultism and magic

FAIR Answers—back to home page

Joseph Smith, occultism and magic

Joseph Smith and the "occult" or "magick"

Summary: Citing Joseph Smith's experiences with folk magic, treasure seeking and seer stones, it is claimed that Joseph Smith's spiritual experiences were originally products of magic and the occult. Some charge that only much later did Joseph retrofit his experiences in Christian, religious terms: speaking of God, angels, and prophethood rather than in terms of magic, treasure guardians and scrying. It is also claimed that a "vagabond fortune-teller" named Walters became popular in the Palmyra area, and that when Walters left the area, "his mantle fell upon" Joseph Smith.

Joseph Smith and folk magic or the occult

Jump to details:

• Question: What is the distinction between belief in "folk magic" and a religious belief in the supernatural?
• Question: Were Joseph Smith's spiritual experiences originally products of magic and the occult?
• Question: What were the attitudes of Joseph Smith and his contemporaries toward "magic"?
• Question: How did Joseph Smith use his seer stones as a youth?
• Question: Was a "vagabond fortune-teller" named Walters Joseph Smith's "mentor"?
• Question: Does Lucy Mack Smith's mention of the "faculty of Abrac" and "magic circles" evidence that "magick" played a strong role in the Smith family's early life?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith, Sr. practice "divination"?
• Question: Did early members of the "Mormon" Church believe in witchcraft?
• Question: Was the fact that the recovery of the Book of Mormon plates occurred on the autumnal equinox somehow significant?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith derive his religious ideas in part from a mysticism called Kabbalah?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith have a Jupiter talisman on his person at the time of his death?
• Question: What is the source of the story about Joseph Smith possessing a Jupiter talisman?
• Stephen Robinson: "In the case of the Jupiter coin, this same extrapolation error is compounded with a very uncritical acceptance of the artifact in the first place"
• Question: Could the list of items on Joseph's person at the time of his death have been incomplete?
• Question: What is the probability that Joseph Smith possessed items related to "magic"?
• Question: Was a "magic dagger" once owned by Hyrum Smith?
• Question: Does the Book of Mormon’s reference to “slippery treasures” stem from Joseph Smith’s involvement in money digging and the occult?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith's family own "magic parchments" which suggest their involvement in the "occult"?