According to Latter Day Saint theology, seer stones were used by Joseph Smith, as well as ancient prophets, to receive revelations from God. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) believe that Smith used seer stones to translate the Book of Mormon.
The culture that early Latter Day Saints developed in was steeped in Western esotericism, which included American folk magic practices.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 tool used for a form of crystal gazing, or scrying.
Seer stones are mentioned in the Book of Mormon in the Book of Mosiah, where they are also called "interpreters" and described as being used by seers to translate and receive revelations. The term "Urim and Thummim" 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.For a survey of Smith's use of seer stones, see Richard Lyman Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005), pp. 45–52. "Joseph had discovered two stones, one in 1822, while digging a well with Willard Chase a half mile from the Smith farm. The source of the other stone is uncertain." another(48) Smith may have also acquired another, a green stone, while he was living in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998), pp. 43–44. Other early Mormons, such as Hiram Page, David Whitmer, and Jacob Whitmer, also owned seer stones.Jessee, Papers of Joseph Smith, 1: 322–23; D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View (Salt Lake City: Signature, 1998), pp. 239–40, 247–48. A contemporary recalled that in Kirtland, "Mormon elders and women often searched the bed of the river for stones with holes caused by the sand washing out, to peep into." Quoted in Quinn, p. 248.
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.See Ronald W. Walker, "The Persisting Idea of American Treasure Hunting," BYU Studies, 24 (1984): 429–59. From about 1819, Smith regularly practiced scrying, a form of divination in which a "seer" looked into a seer stone to receive supernatural knowledge."When Joseph Smith first began to use his seer or "peep" stone he employed the folklore familiar to rural America. The details of his rituals and incantations are unimportant because they were commonplace, and Joseph gave up money-digging when he was twenty-one for a profession far more exciting." Smith's usual procedure was to place the stone in a white stovepipe hat, put his face over the hat to block the light, and "see" the necessary information in the stone's reflections.;; ; ; ;.David Whitmer, one of the Three Witnesses, described Smith's method of translation: "Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man." David Whitmer, Address to All Believers in Christ Part 1 (1886); . According to an account of an interview with Joseph Smith Sr., the 14-year-old Joseph borrowed a stone from a person working as a local crystal gazer which reportedly showed him the underground location of another stone near his home, which he located at a depth of about twenty-two feet. According to another story, in either 1819 or 1822 , while the older Smith males were digging a well for a Palmyra neighbor, they found an unusual stone , described as either white and glassy and shaped like a child's foot or "chocolate-colored, somewhat egg-shaped." . Smith then used this stone as a seer stone.. 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, was searching for a lost Spanish mine near Harmony Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania with another seer. Stowell traveled to Manchester 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 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, 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 charge,; . and that the judge issued a mittimus for Smith to be held, either during or after the proceedings.. Although Smith's associate Oliver Cowdery 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.Harris interview with Joel Tiffany, 1859, in Vogel, ed., Early Mormon Documents, 2: 303. 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.:. The stone was found in either 1819 (, ), 1820 or 1822 in a well he was helping to dig...In 1826, Smith was brought before a court in South Bainbridge, Chenango County, New York, accused of pretending to "discover where lost goods may be found." ; . The result of the proceeding remains unclear. For a survey of the primary sources see Dan Vogel, "Rethinking the 1826 Judicial Decision" , Mormon Scripture Studies. 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 along with "two stones in silver bows" fastened to a breastplate that the angel said God had prepared for translating the plates.: "Subsequently, Joseph would describe the 'spectacles' as consisting of 'two stones in silver bows' and as 'two transparent stones set in the rim of a bow.' Lucy Mack, felt them under a silk handkerchief and later described them as "two smooth three-cornered diamonds." ; In dictating the Book of Mormon, Smith said he used these "interpreters," which he later referred to as "Urim and Thummim."Prior to 1833, the Urim and Thummim were referred to as either "spectacles" or "directors." . Smith's wife, Emma, said that Smith used the Urim and Thummim to translate the lost 116 pages of the manuscript, but that Smith translated the published Book of Mormon using the single chocolate-colored stone "Now the first that my husband translated, was translated by use of the Urim and Thummim, and that was the part that Martin Harris lost, after that he [my husband] used a small stone, not exactly black, but was rather a dark color." 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 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: