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Latter Day Saint The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by Jo ...
theology, seer stones were used by
Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, he ...
, as well as ancient prophets, to receive revelations from God. Members of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
(LDS Church) believe that Smith used seer stones to translate the
Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude date ...
. The culture that early Latter Day Saints developed in was steeped in
western esotericism Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas a ...
.Davis, W. L. (2020). Visions in a seer stone: Joseph Smith and the making of The book of mormon. The University of North Carolina Press. Chapter 1 A seer stone in this culture was a prevalent
divination Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout histor ...
tool used for a form of
crystal gazing Crystal-gazing (also known as crystal-seeing, crystallism, crystallomancy, and spheromancy) is a method for seeing visions achieved through trance induction by means of gazing at a crystal. Traditionally, it has been seen as a form of divination ...
, or
scrying Scrying, also known by various names such as "seeing" or "peeping", is the practice of looking into a suitable medium in the hope of detecting significant messages or visions. The objective might be personal guidance, prophecy, revelation, or in ...
. Seer stones are mentioned in the Book of Mormon in the
Book of Mosiah The Book of Mosiah () is one of the books which make up the Book of Mormon. The title refers to Mosiah II, a king of the Nephites at Zarahemla. The book covers the time period between ''ca'' 130 BC and 91 BC, except for when the book has a flashb ...
, where they are also called "interpreters" and described as being used by seers to translate and receive revelations. The term "
Urim and Thummim In the Hebrew Bible, the Urim ( he, ''ʾŪrīm'', "lights") and the Thummim ( he, ''Tummīm'', meaning uncertain, possibly "perfections") are elements of the ''hoshen'', the breastplate worn by the High Priest attached to the ephod. They are ...
" is usually used by Latter Day Saints members to refer to the "interpreters" mentioned in the Book of Mormon. Some Latter Day Saints use the term Urim and Thummim and seer stones interchangeably. Smith owned at least two seer stones before his early twenties, when he had employed them for treasure seeking at the bequest of Josiah Stowell, before he founded the church. Other early Mormons, such as
Hiram Page Hiram Page ( 1800August 12, 1852) was an early member of the Latter Day Saint movement and one of the Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon's golden plates. Early life Page was born in Vermont. Earlier in his life, he studied medicine which h ...
,
David Whitmer David Whitmer (January 7, 1805 – January 25, 1888) was an American Mormon leader who eventually became the most interviewed of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon's golden plates. Early life Whitmer was born near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania ...
, and
Jacob Whitmer Jacob Whitmer (February 2, 1800 – April 21, 1856) was the second born child of Peter Whitmer, Sr., and Mary Musselman. He is primarily remembered as one of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon’s golden plates. Biography Born in Penn ...
, also owned seer stones.


Seer stones and treasure-hunting

Some early-19th-century Americans used seer stones in attempts to gain revelations from God or to find buried treasure. From about 1819, Smith regularly practiced
scrying Scrying, also known by various names such as "seeing" or "peeping", is the practice of looking into a suitable medium in the hope of detecting significant messages or visions. The objective might be personal guidance, prophecy, revelation, or in ...
, a form of
divination Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout histor ...
in which a "seer" looked into a seer stone to receive supernatural knowledge. Smith's usual procedure was to place the stone in a white
stovepipe hat A top hat (also called a high hat, a cylinder hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat for men traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditionally m ...
, put his face over the hat to block the light, and "see" the necessary information in the stone's reflections. Smith and his father achieved "something of a mysterious local reputation in the profession—mysterious because there is no record that they ever found anything despite the readiness of some local residents to pay for their efforts." In late 1825, Josiah Stowell, a well-to-do farmer from South Bainbridge,
Chenango County, New York Chenango County is a County (United States), county located in the south-central section U.S. state of New York (state), New York. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 47,220. Its county seat is Norwich, New York ...
, was searching for a lost Spanish mine near
Harmony Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania Harmony Township is a township in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 512 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of , of which is land and ...
with another seer. Stowell traveled to
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
to hire Smith "on account of having heard that he possessed certain keys, by which he could discern things invisible to the natural eye." Smith worked with the Stowell-Hale team for approximately one month, attempting, according to their contract, to locate "a valuable mine of either Gold or Silver and also...coined money and bars or ingots of Gold or Silver". According to an uncorroborated account by Hale, Smith attempted to locate the mine by burying his face in a hat containing the seer stone; however, as the
treasure hunters Treasure hunter is the physical search for treasure. For example, treasure hunters try to find sunken shipwrecks and retrieve artifacts with market value. This industry is generally fueled by the market for antiquities. The practice of treasur ...
got close to their objective, Smith said that an enchantment became so strong that Smith could no longer see it. The failed project disbanded on November 17, 1825; however, Smith continued to work for Stowell on other matters until 1826. In 1826, Smith was arrested and brought to court in
Bainbridge, New York Bainbridge is a town in Chenango County, New York, United States. The population was 3,308 at the 2010 census. The town is at the eastern border of Chenango County, halfway between Binghamton and Oneonta. The Village of Bainbridge is located a ...
, on the complaint of Stowell's nephew who accused Smith of being "a disorderly person and an imposter." Court records show that Smith, identified as "The Glass Looker," stood before the court on March 20, 1826, on a warrant for an unspecified
misdemeanor A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than adm ...
charge, and that the judge issued a ''
mittimus An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual, or the search and seizure of an individual's property. Canada Arrest warrants are issued by a ...
'' for Smith to be held, either during or after the proceedings.. Although Smith's associate
Oliver Cowdery Oliver H. P. Cowdery (October 3, 1806 – March 3, 1850) was an American Mormon leader who, with Joseph Smith, was an important participant in the formative period of the Latter Day Saint movement between 1829 and 1836. He was the first baptized ...
later stated that Smith was "honorably acquitted," the result of the proceeding is unclear, with some claiming he was found guilty, others claiming he was "condemned" but "designedly allowed to escape," and yet others (including the trial note taker) claiming he was "discharged" for lack of evidence. Martin Harris said that Smith once found a pin in a pile of shavings with the aid of a stone. Smith had at least two seer stones, including a white stone that he found in about 1819, and a chocolate-colored stone that he found in 1822. His favored stone, chocolate-colored and about the size of an egg, was found in a deep well he helped dig for one of his neighbors. In 1827, Smith said he obtained the "Urim and Thummim" which was composed of two white stones, different from the previous two.


Seer stones and the Book of Mormon

In 1823, Smith said that an angel told him of the existence of
golden plates According to Latter Day Saint belief, the golden plates (also called the gold plates or in some 19th-century literature, the golden bible) are the source from which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon, a sacred text of the faith. Some acco ...
along with "two stones in silver bows" fastened to a breastplate that the angel said God had prepared for translating the plates. In dictating the Book of Mormon, Smith said he used these "interpreters," which he later referred to as "Urim and Thummim." Smith's wife, Emma, said that Smith used the Urim and Thummim to translate the
lost 116 pages The "lost 116 pages" were the original manuscript pages of what Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, said was the translation of the Book of Lehi, the first portion of the golden plates revealed to him by an angel in 1827. These ...
of the manuscript, but that Smith translated the published Book of Mormon using the single chocolate-colored stone that he had previously used in treasure-quests. David Whitmer explained that as a punishment for losing the 116 pages, Moroni never returned to Smith the original Urim and Thummim found with the plates. Instead, the angel allowed him to translate with the brown stone he already possessed. LDS historian
B. H. Roberts Brigham Henry Roberts (March 13, 1857 – September 27, 1933) was a historian, politician, and leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He edited the seven-volume ''History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...
wrote that the "seer stone referred to here was a chocolate-colored, somewhat egg-shaped stone which the Prophet found while digging a well in company with his brother Hyrum, for a Mr. Clark Chase, near Palmyra, N.Y. It possessed the qualities of Urim and Thummim, since by means of it, as well as by means of the Interpreters found with the Nephite record, Joseph was able to translate the characters engraven on the plates." '' A Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints'' (Salt Lake City: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1930) 1:129, quoted in Quinn, 173.
David Whitmer said, regarding Smith's translation of the Book of Mormon: Other early Mormons, among whom were Jacob and David Whitmer, Philo Dibble, W. W. Phelps, and
Elizabeth Ann Whitney Elizabeth Ann Smith Whitney (December 26, 1800 – February 15, 1882) was an early Latter Day Saint leader, and wife to Newel K. Whitney, another early Latter Day Saint leader. She went by her middle name, Ann. Early life and marriage Elizabeth A ...
, valued seer stones. In 1830, Hiram Page, one of the
Eight Witnesses The Eight Witnesses were one of the two groups of witnesses who made statements stating that they had seen the golden plates which Joseph Smith said was his source material for the Book of Mormon. An earlier group of witnesses who said they had se ...
to the Book of Mormon, stated he had a series of revelations through a black seer stone. After Smith announced that these revelations were of the devil, Page agreed to discard the stone which, according to a contemporary, was "Broke to powder and the writings Burnt." Apparently, the apostasy of some early Mormon believers can be traced to Smith's move away from the use of seer stones. The Whitmer family, devoted to their importance, "later said their disenchantment with Mormonism began when Joseph Smith stopped using his seer stone as an instrument of revelation." In November 1837, the Kirtland high council disfellowshipped 11-year-old James C. Brewster, his parents, and several associates for claiming that he had "the gift of seeing and looking through or into a stone." Nevertheless, some Mormons continued to believe in the power of seer stones. After Smith's death,
Brigham Young Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his ...
endorsed their use. In 1855, he reminisced, "Joseph said there is a
eer EER may refer to: * East of England Regiment, a British Army Reserve unit * Effective exchange rate * Energy efficiency rating in the Australian Capital Territory * Energy efficiency ratio, of a cooling device * Engineering education research * En ...
Stone for every person on Earth." At the first general conference after Smith's death, Young declared, "The president of the priests has a right to the Urim and Thummim, which gives revelation."
James Strang James Jesse Strang (March 21, 1813 – July 9, 1856) was an American religious leader, politician and self-proclaimed monarch. In 1844 he claimed to have been appointed to be the successor of Joseph Smith as leader of the Church of Jesus Christ o ...
, who led a small breakaway group after Smith's death, proclaiming himself Smith's successor, claimed he unearthed ancient metal plates, known as the
Voree plates The Voree plates, also called The Record of Rajah Manchou of Vorito, or the Voree Record, were a set of three tiny metal plates allegedly discovered by Latter Day Saint leader James J. Strang in 1845 in Voree, near Burlington, Wisconsin. Purpo ...
, and translated them using a seer stone.


Urim and Thummim

In the Book of Mormon, prophets such as the Brother of Jared and Mosiah used devices called "interpreters" to receive revelation for their people, and the
Doctrine and Covenants The Doctrine and Covenants (sometimes abbreviated and cited as D&C or D. and C.) is a part of the open scriptural canon of several denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. Originally published in 1835 as Doctrine and Covenants of the Chur ...
declares these interpreters to have been Urim and Thummim. The LDS Church teaches that the Urim and Thummim used by Smith and the Book of Mormon were the functional equivalent of the Urim and Thummim mentioned in the
Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
. There is no indication whether or not the Old Testament Urim and Thummim were used to translate documents. Some church members believe that there were three different Urim and Thummim: the one of the Old Testament and two mentioned in the Book of Mormon, one used by the
Jaredites The Jaredites () are one of four peoples (along with the Nephites, Lamanites, and Mulekites) that the Latter-day Saints believe settled in ancient America. The Book of Mormon (mainly its Book of Ether) describes the Jaredites as the descendan ...
and the other by King Mosiah. (The Church teaches that the one used by Smith is the one originally possessed by the Jaredites.) Sometime after 1828, Smith and his early contemporaries began to use the terms "seer stone" and "Urim and Thummim" interchangeably, referring to Smith's brown stone as a "Urim and Thummim." D. Michael Quinn argues Smith eventually began using "biblical terminology to mainstream an instrument and practice of folk magic... There was no reference to the Urim and Thummim in the headings of the
Book of Commandments The Book of Commandments is the earliest published book to contain the revelations of Joseph Smith Jr. Text published in the Book of Commandments is now considered scripture by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) as part o ...
(1833) or in the headings of the only editions of the
Doctrine and Covenants The Doctrine and Covenants (sometimes abbreviated and cited as D&C or D. and C.) is a part of the open scriptural canon of several denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. Originally published in 1835 as Doctrine and Covenants of the Chur ...
prepared during Smith's life." Early Mormons often referred to Smith's seer stone as "the Urim and Thummim," and Quinn refers to the term "Urim and Thummim" as a "euphemism for Joseph Smith's seer stone." The LDS Church has suggested that Smith and others "seem to have understood the term rim and Thummimmore as a descriptive category of instruments for obtaining divine revelations and less as the name of a specific instrument".


Seer stones and the contemporary Restored Church

After finishing the Book of Mormon translation, Smith is said to have given his brown seer stone to Oliver Cowdery, but he occasionally used his white stone to gain revelations, including his translation of what later became known as the
Book of Abraham The Book of Abraham is a collection of writings claimed to be from several Egyptian scrolls discovered in the early 19th century during an archeological expedition by Antonio Lebolo. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purc ...
. There is no evidence that Smith used the stone to dictate any of the Doctrine and Covenants revelations after November 1830. During his work on his
Bible translation The Bible has been translated into many languages from the biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. all of the Bible has been translated into 724 languages, the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,617 languages, and ...
, Smith told Orson Pratt he had stopped using the stone because he had become acquainted with "the Spirit of Prophecy and Revelation" and no longer needed it. Nevertheless, in 1855,
Brigham Young Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his ...
told the apostles that Smith had had five seer stones, and Young made it clear that Smith "did not regard his seer stones simply as relics of his youth" but had found others while church president. According to apostle
Joseph Fielding Smith Joseph Fielding Smith Jr. (July 19, 1876 – July 2, 1972) was an American religious leader and writer who served as the tenth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1970 until his death in 1972. He was t ...
, the LDS Church owns one of Smith's seer stones.. Nevertheless, since the nineteenth century, no president of the church has openly used such a stone in his role as "
prophet, seer, and revelator Prophet, seer, and revelator is an ecclesiastical title used in the Latter Day Saint movement. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is the largest denomination of the movement, and it currently applies the terms to the membe ...
". In August 2015, the LDS Church released images of one of Smith's seer stones—a rounded, smoothed, brown and black stone—in a volume of the
Joseph Smith Papers Project ''The Joseph Smith Papers'' (or Joseph Smith Papers Project) is a project researching, collecting, and publishing all manuscripts and documents created by, or under the direction of, Joseph Smith (1805-1844), the founder of the Latter Day Saint ...
containing the printer's manuscript of the Book of Mormon. The stone shown in the released images has been identified by geologists as a form of
jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref> ...
, found in a
banded iron formation Banded iron formations (also known as banded ironstone formations or BIFs) are distinctive units of sedimentary rock consisting of alternating layers of iron oxides and iron-poor chert. They can be up to several hundred meters in thickness a ...
, thus called banded jasper.


See also

* Cunning folk traditions and the Latter Day Saint movement * List of references to seer stones in the Latter Day Saint movement history


Notes


References

* * * * {{Latter Day Saint movement Joseph Smith Objects used for divination Sacred rocks Latter Day Saint terms Seership in Mormonism