I was thinking about the way the LDS foundational myths & and actions of early players has a magical way of inspiring latter day versions. For example, I have a tbm brother who nearly lost his business, his home and many other aspects of his comfy life in a showdown with the local Gov. regarding paying business taxes in what was, in my bro's mind, a BOM-like-scenario "righteous showdown with corrupt authority". He lost and he paid. I have a sister who thinks she is the female version of Joseph Smith (minus a church, a published book, a militia and a working knowledge of folk magic(and reformed Egyptian)).

Does anyone else have similar stories of inspiration gone bad on the modern stage? Any family members who have tried to heal others with the sweat on their hankies? Any bad investments in end-of-the-world sort of businesses (all based on LDS connections)?

Has "God, Guns and Gritz" finally lost its magical draw? Is Glenn Beck the current version of the "uneducated, once corrupt-now redeemed farmboy, who is favored by God to bring the 'truth' to the blind masses?" [my tbm sibs think so].

I am curious if I had the only whacked-out family.

My family aren't Mormon, so gratefully, no. But I do have a friend who is constantly lending money to other Mormons, having the faith that of course they'd pay it back. Many have not, or have taken years to pay her back.

When I first became Mormon, I just made the naive assumption that of course everyone followed all of the rules and everyone was honest. If you'd learn of someone who had "sinned" you'd say, "But they're Mormon," and be genuinely perplexed by their behaviour.

Can' say that my family is personally among the "whacked out", but they believe a lot about folk medicine and such that is pretty strange. I've had friends as a Mormon that were into Jupiter Talismans, crystals and so forth, all devout Mormons, so no, you are not alone.

sorry, I meant Whacked out Cult Members.
It is a term of endearment I have grown into using some 40 years after those seekers brought me into the LDS fold with them.



As much as my tbm sibs love magical stuff, the items you describe would send my family into hiding. There are a slew of things that they would not go near---so, of course, they have NO interest in knowing about the practices of the early saints (or current saints).....that is part of the irony of their belief (to me anyhow)--to pick and choose what is or is not of the true.

All that you describe is indicative of the compartmentalized thinking of Mormons. that they can righteously condemn exmormons as evil apostates without ever bothering to examine or defend their own religious stance is an example.

Yes, and it is amazing and crazy-making......I showed them Quinn's book and the great photos, etc...and the response from the tbm sibs was initially one of shock and then the familiar "this really makes no difference to me, faith should not be based on one person (J Smith in this case)." But, I say, this is Joseph SMith we are talking about-the founding guy-does his behavior not matter to your faith? No, he said he would be known for good and for bad......(which apparently cements his cred as a prophet). I finally bailed on hoping for anything positive coming from these conversations.

Quinn's book? Sounds like one I might want to read. Please provide the title so I can look for it. Thanks.

Early Mormonism and the Magic World View
D. Michael Quinn

Another excellent book is:

An Insider's View of Mormon Origins
Grant Palmer

Must Reads!

Thanks, added to my future reading list.

Yes , both excellent books. I copied one of the protective symbols on my chicken coop.

The Refiner's Fire:The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844
John L. Brooke

is also pretty interesting and worth reading.

And another:

Mysteries of Godliness: A History of Modern Temple Worship
David John Buerger

This one made me laugh. I grew up with the idea that the temple rituals were the most perfect part of the church--the least tainted, the least man-crafted, etc.....even though I'd not been through the Endowment--there was always a strong belief that the temple activities were the peak of Mormonism--the point to it all.....and then I read this book and it becomes clear pretty quickly that the temple rituals-from the beginning- are as borrowed, ripped off, hodge-podged, evolved, altered, and plain amateur theater as every Road Show that I ever witnessed.
My favorite sections are the quotes from various church leaders (primarily in the mid-19th century and after) who are on record as not really knowing what the F is going on with the temple stuff. There is little sense of "this is perfect from God and we shall not touch it". They seem to be making it up as they go along. There are some who can run with the "inspired understanding" (by which I mean the same thing as when I can offer a decent and plausible interpretation of a recent episode of Lost--creative interpretation is not exactly divine inspiration-or is it?)...and there are others who seem to be saying "I do not know what the hell Smith had in mind here---but it is no longer necessary". And then the follow-up response from those who clearly beleive Smith DID know what he was doing and how come his requirements are not the same for church members 40 years later? The tension between membership and those left in charge of managing the original, creative work is easy to imagine--I suspect it has some church leaders suffering with stomach pains right now....(plus the feature that says each member can receive inspired revelation which leads people to look at doltish leaders and second-guessing their lethargy and uninspired mumblings).

What is it about our species that makes us in awe of the combined effect of rituals spaces, uniforms and scripted/specific language? The impact of these combined elements creates a sense of importance, a validation and "truth" to explanation and the activity---even though we made it up and assigned the meaning. An initial group believes, carries out the ritual, convinces others to join in and soon you have the self-perpetuating myth and the myth becomes the thing---its very existance becomes proof of the truth of the overarching myth.

[We perform temple rituals and they have meaning in our lives therefore they must be from God, they must be true, because they exist and we perform them...why do you perform them? Because they are required, from God, because they are true.........round and round and round]. Throw in a martyr to the cause of the myth and you got yourself even greater 'truthiness'. They killed him, what he said MUST be true!!!!

LOL You do get a sense of them making it up as they go along when you read books written by those who lived during the period and experienced the earlier temple rituals.

Outside of a little dabbling, by my BIL in Amway, some guaranteeeeed diamond mine and my SIL still in deep with garlic enemas, of course not!

when we were young,and that was a loooooong time ago,my older sister thought that she had left her bible at church and was very upset.She was riding in the front passenger seat of the car and did not realize that her bible had slid down between the seat and the door.Upon arivinig at home she opened the car door and the bible fell to the ground at her feet.To this day she still beleives that the bible was sent by god and placed in the driveway,even after I told her what happened.I love my sister but sometimes.........................................

I forgot one- the infamous Mormon "Dream mine." I don't know how many Mormons knew of this, but it was famous in certain places. A Mormon living in central Utah- it was Elberta or Eureka, I think- had a dream/vision in which he saw a Nephite in armor pointing out the location of a huge cache of Gold and other stuff in an area adjacent to where he lived. The guy quit his job and went nuts looking for it, apparently spending himelf broke in the process.

Tangible trinkets or talismen, CTR rings, garments, rosary beads, crosses, rabbits foot, etc. all seem to appeal to a fairly human attachment to some visceral thing that can be touched, felt, held, fondled whatever to ritually send someone back in space and time to the place where that trinket made them feel good or represented something comforting. I'm not terribly sentimental about things so I don't keep a lot of old knick knacks or trinkets from my past unless they have very historical or significant meaning in my present life.

Some folks can't let go of the envelope that a birthday card came in because the card and envelope represent the whole experience, so they fill their lives & homes with the clutter of things and things and things, hoping it will make them feel better about the things they can't control in the world.

I think a lot of people invest so much into their beliefs, the church, the culture that they tend to attach spiritual significance to these silly trinkets, anthromorphizing them a bit, giving them personality and authority, like the Slyhatch's sisters bible. The bible becomes so powerful that it can transport itself from one place to the next magically. An old lady is broke and can't afford to even buy catfood to put on her toast but one day a dollar magically appears in an old sweater pocket and she is sure it transported itself there by supernatural powers, therefore, God exists, loves her, and wants her to have the good catfood instead of the three for a dollar crap she usually gets.

I've become attached to my little acre of land in S.Utah to the point that it talks to me. Really, I can go to my little place after almost two weeks away and it'll sigh and open it's soil and welcome me back. There is no financial value in keeping that place. It's more trouble than it's worth, sucks up a good portion of our meager income to maintain, and yet like some severely handicapped child, I keep giving it everything I have in hopes to make it "normal" and have a happy life. The rewards are all in my mind. The beauty and value are completely arbitrary and what I say they are, but if a real estate agent, a future buyer, etc. were to look at what I have and have done they'd tell me I wasted 15 years of my life, blood, sweat, tears on a house that should have been torn down from the start.

I think such things are human nature. We love what we serve. Even when it doesn't make sense, even when it has no value, even when it continues to drain us, we keep giving and giving, hoping to justify all the labor and investment. For many LDS, the religion might be like a crappy house with a tumbling foundation, rotted roof, bug infested walls, drafty windows, musty insulation, terrible plumbing, dangerous electrical system, but they'll just keep pouring their hearts and souls into it and dress it up on the holidays to try to make that piece of shit into something they can be proud of.

Insanad; I still have my Melch. Priesthood vial of 'holy oil' and it resides in a collection of shamanistic artifacts from other cultures and countries. I keep it there as an artifact of my own period/upbringing spent within that sort of magic/shaman thinking-and to put the LDS magic implement in context for what it is. I see my experience as part of a chain of what humans have done forever, all over the world (use material items to try and control/command the forces of the invisible world).
As annoying and sometimes torturous this deconstruction of the LDS experience can be, I am also interested, in an anthropological way, of figuring out the basic drives and experiences that resulted in our conversion and fueled our striving for magic powers.

In the case of our family, I suppose it goes back to my father's claim that he rid himself of warts as a child by burying a turkey (it might have been some other animal bone) bone at a certain place and time of day. "It worked, but it would only work if you have faith in it" was how he explained it to me. These were the same words he used to explain why a priesthood blessing did not work, why certain miracle-claiming herbal drinks did not cure our mom, and why the magic healing magnets sold by my brother never lived up to the claimed powers......all lack of faith in the inanimate object to be a conduit of divine powers and apparently a lack of faith in God/Jesus to work the miracle through this device. My family was prepared over years by those stories so that, when it was placed before us, we all ate up the Smith/LDS tale in one eager bite. Holy authorized magic was what we sought (and with it, there has still been no magic healings, warts still appear, deaths still happened, marriages still failed, etc etc.....)

I think, if there is a revelation to be had from this process, it is to realize the point may not be to wish and hope for a magic cure, not to cajole God into short-circuiting a natural course, but to deal with what is difficult about reality-and hopefully learn something in that process that in turn helps you and those around you.