who appeared to joseph smith jr every september 22nd ~
has his antecedent in joseph smith jr's family’s occult beliefs about ghosts ~
these demons were thought to guard buried treasure ~
el~oh~el ~
a strong belief in witchcraft and occult was passed through the smith family for generations ~
joseph smith's great-great-grandfather samuel smith and samuel's father-in-law john gould testified against accused witches in the salem witch trials of 1692 ~
(true story) ~
joseph smith's father (senior) was a firm believer in witchcraft and the supernatural and brought up his family in the same belief ~
joseph smith’s yearly meetings with the demon moroni were on the autumnal equinox which is a major occult festival and an auspicious occasion for the conjuration of demons ~
Interesting coincidence: a copy of Quinn's "Mormonism & the Magic World View" just arrived at my library branch. It will be my next reading. I'll pay close attention to that.
That book is worth reading but it's a bit unstructured and hence difficult to get through. The reason is that Quinn originally spent a lot of time on the Salamander Letter, which he believed was genuine, and then had to rip all of that out when it became apparent that the letter was fictitious.
It could have been a tour de force. I wonder why Quinn never structured it more and showed more how the magic weaves through the Mormon History. But an excellent book.
And celebrate with three minutes of this musical delight, "Bahn frei," which translates as "Clear the Road!" (Of Full Speed!). It's classical (Eduard Strauss of the famous Austrian Strauss dynasty), but has the sounds and rhythm (and melody) that I know will delight you.