Topical Guide/Magic and occult

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    TOPICS

• Divining rods (Link)
• Jupiter Talisman (Link)
• Mormonism as a "Cult" (Link)
• Seer stones (Link)
• Stars on the Temple (Link)

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"?