Curious Christian

I came across an interesting article entitled Joseph Smith: America’s Hermetic Prophet which some of you may find interesting.

Basically it’s a run down on the origins of Mormonism.

Now some of you may already be aware of the Masonic connections of Joseph Smith but this article delves much deeper. Here’s a peek:

In this light, the visit of the angel Moroni took on unusual aspects. The angel had appeared on the night of the Autumnal equinox, between midnight and dawn–hours auspicious for a magical invocation. On the day of the equinox Joseph had subsequently made his four annual visits to the hill. When finally he retrieved the plates, it was the eve of the equinox, in the first hour after midnight. Accounts suggested he had been required to take with him that night a consort (his wife), to ride a black horse, and to dress in black–all lending a further magical tenor to the operation.

Historians puzzled over how this information fit into the more commonly recounted story of Smith. Had the magical parchments been used to invoke the Angel Moroni or other of the angelic visitors seen by Joseph? And above all, how did this relate to the doctrinal substance and evolution of Mormonism, which seemed outwardly devoid of a magical tenor?

I find this all very fascinating. Not only for the cautionary lessons it offers me in my own project of contextualizing Christianity for secular spirituality contexts; not only for the cautionary lessons it also offers the wider Emerging Church, particularly with respect to experientialism; but also for the links it draws between dispensational restorationism and hermetic occultism. Very interesting indeed. Could Tim LaHey and Alister Crowley have more in common than we ever imagined (laughs)!