If there is a religion that is quintessentially American, formed in its own culture and time, it must be Mormonism. Joseph Smith, the church's founding "prophet, seer, and relevator" was only a young boy living in Palmyra, New York when he experienced his first ecstatic vision around
1820. He experienced a second vision in 1823 when an angel named Moroni told him where to find golden plates on which was inscribed in an ancient language the Book of Mormon. The Book told the history of a clan of Israel that left before the destruction of the first Temple and wandered by boat to America. Christ appeared to this Jewish remnant in America after his resurrection and some were converted while others remained faithful to their Jewish traditions and some became pagans. The factions lived in peace for a century until a series of fratricidal wars exterminated the Christian believers, but not before they had hidden the Book of Mormon named for its last redactor. Smith was able to translate the "reformed Egyptian" inscriptions with the use of seer stones called "Urim and Thummin", reminiscent of the sacred stones used by ancient Israelite priests for divination and mentioned in the Bible. It was not the first use of divination tools by Smith. Considered clairvoyant, in 1822-27 he aided several treasure hunting groups as a "seer". This activity was known then as "money digging". He would use a seer stone such as the one pictured above to locate buried treasure by putting the stone in his hat and covering his face with his hat. He peered into the peep stone's interior until he divined the information he wanted. In 1826 the young Smith was brought into court on charges of being disorderly which inlcuded persons pretending to have a skill in divination. The judge found him guilty as charged. Several thousand copies of the Book of Mormon were published and the church was launched in 1830 with Smith at it's head. The Smith family has handed down through the generations other esoteric objects such as a ceremonial dagger and parchments covered with hermetic symbols. Objects such as these are used in ceremonial magic. On the night of his murder in the Carthage, Illinois jail by an enraged mob on June 27, 1844 he was wearing an amulet engraved with the symbol for Jupiter and a hermetic square. Before being shot, he is said to have given the Masonic hand signal for distress and repeat the code phrase, "Oh Lord, my God, is there no help for the widow's son?".
In the early 1980's a Salt Lake book dealer produced documents relating to the early history of Mormonism. The most controversial one of these was a letter purportedly written by an early disciple of Joseph Smith. The "Salamander" letter as it became known claimed that it was not the angel Moroni who revealed the golden tablets, but a mystical white salamander that transformed itself into a spirit. The find was so controversial and potentially damaging that the LDS began negotiations with the dealer to purchase and sequester the material. A Mormon historian involved in these dealings was murdered by a bomb. Forensic investigations determined the letter to be a forgery. However, the publicity surrounding the bizarre incident spurred intense historical study of the origins of Joseph Smith's singular revelations. These investigations soon brought to the surface Smith's and his followers' associations with magic, irregular Freemasonry, Kabbalah and traditions generally termed occult. More about these occult influences on early Mormonism and their significance for modern Mormons like Mitt Romney and his fellow Americans in another post.