Magical Parchments
Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2023 11:11 am
The first time I read Quinn's Mormonism and the Magic Worldview, I was fascinated with the magical parchments in the book. There are crappy black and white photos of the parchments taken by a Smith family friend in the 70s (before the book came out and when everyone thought they were quirky Masonic relics and not occult). I asked at the Tanner bookstore if they knew and reached out to Mike Quinn directly (knew a mutual connection) and asked him. I really regret not trying to go to lunch with him before he died, but we did email back and forth about the magical items. Eldred Smith showed him the Holiness to the Lord parchment (the only one he saw) in the 70s. In the book, the provenance of the items seems rock solid, multiple family members say that Mary Fielding Smith took them across the plains and they were passed on to the Church Patriarchs in the Smith family to Eldred Smith.
I have seen the color photos of the parchments (which I do not have permission to post unfortunately) and they are amazing. There is also a leaked photo of someone in Church archives with white gloves showing the Holiness to the Lord parchment. This seems to point to all of these items now being in Church archives, although they used to be with the Smith family. I have Mormonism and the Magic worldview on my Kindle library and you can have Alexa read the book to you. I was able to listen to his detailed descriptions of all the symbols while looking at the photos.
These are definitely magical/occult items that were folded and worn in a pouch around the neck like a talisman. They had specific purposes, to find treasure and to summon spirits. One has symbols specifically for a young man who had not "known" a woman and was pure to be a treasure seer (JS obviously). The magical dagger (brown handle in the color photos and blade looks to be about 8 inches when compared to parchments) was used to draw magic circles for spells and treasure digs. All of the symbols come from well-known books on witchcraft that were in circulation at the time, Quinn even points out errors that were in the books that were copied onto the parchments telling which source they came from.
My feeling is that if you went back in time and spied on 14-year-old Joseph, he would have been knee deep in treasure quests, scrying and the magical arts and not stewing about which Church to join. I don't think he ever went into the Sacred Grove or even considered such questions until much later.
I have seen the color photos of the parchments (which I do not have permission to post unfortunately) and they are amazing. There is also a leaked photo of someone in Church archives with white gloves showing the Holiness to the Lord parchment. This seems to point to all of these items now being in Church archives, although they used to be with the Smith family. I have Mormonism and the Magic worldview on my Kindle library and you can have Alexa read the book to you. I was able to listen to his detailed descriptions of all the symbols while looking at the photos.
These are definitely magical/occult items that were folded and worn in a pouch around the neck like a talisman. They had specific purposes, to find treasure and to summon spirits. One has symbols specifically for a young man who had not "known" a woman and was pure to be a treasure seer (JS obviously). The magical dagger (brown handle in the color photos and blade looks to be about 8 inches when compared to parchments) was used to draw magic circles for spells and treasure digs. All of the symbols come from well-known books on witchcraft that were in circulation at the time, Quinn even points out errors that were in the books that were copied onto the parchments telling which source they came from.
My feeling is that if you went back in time and spied on 14-year-old Joseph, he would have been knee deep in treasure quests, scrying and the magical arts and not stewing about which Church to join. I don't think he ever went into the Sacred Grove or even considered such questions until much later.