Friday, January 27, 2006

Seer Stones and Magic in the 1800's

This is a very interesting article I found while searching under "seer stone" through Google's university search for BYU (google.com/univ/byu).

Dr. Priddy Meeks "journal is one of the very few documents available to American history which faithfully reflects the American folklore of the early 19th century. Ideas on witchcraft and devil-possession, engagingly chronicled by Dr. Meeks, were widespread among the American folk of his time, and are by no means dead today."

His experiences with seer stones within the LDS church, and knowledge of magic outside the Church create interesting discussion.

The journal is a little long so I will just post the link found on the Mormon Literature Website: Historical Chips- Priddy Meeks.

1 comment:

rabodine said...

David, thank you for the information provided in your blog. It would seem we are kindred spirits when it comes to the study of the esoteric truths and their historical significance that seem to be forgotten in today’s Latter Day Saint Culture. It’s unfortunate that more people are not capable of understanding the simple and yet powerful means through which God can speak to man. My studies have lead me to the conclusion that many (not all) LDS scholars are aware of the existence and early use of seer stones by early saints but unaware that, as Joseph Smith once stated to Brigham Young that all men could have a seer stone. I have read most of your sources along with such books as “The Curious Lore of Precious Stones” published in 1913 by George Frederick Kuntz who contains the most comprehensive personal library of ancient books on the subject. Any addittional information or sources on this subject you could direct me to would be much appreciated. If you’re interested I could provided you the titles of some obscure but incredibly insightful books written by early church leaders (Which many are no longer published due to their deep and perhaps hard to comprehend contents, which would perhaps test the faith of the unprepared ) Truly the meat and mysteries not the milk.

Thank you
Rob

rbodine@online.gcu.edu