In 1983, Jerald and Sandra Tanner published an unassuming but very powerful book titled Mormonism, Magic and Masonry. The second edition was printed in 1988. The book almost looks home printed, with a paper cover and simple blue binding and uses 81/2 x 11 paper and black-and-white images. The images are reproductions and are not high quality. But it’s the quotations and the information and research presented in this book that make it highly valuable for anybody wishing to understand the connection between the founding of the LDS church by Joseph Smith, and Smith and his family’s involvement in witchcraft, freemasonry, and the occult.

The Tanners present damning evidence of the deep involvement of the Smith clan in ungodly activities, including deep involvement in freemasonry, which gets progressively more Luciferian the higher the degree, and in witchcraft, including magick.

Over the past two years of writing on the Brotherhood and it’s various factions, it seems to me that it is the most difficult for LDS church members, Catholic church members, and family members of freemasons to believe that those organizations have been infiltrated and parts of them taken over by the Brotherhood (commonly called the Illuminati).

More than a handful of people have contacted me over the years after realizing that they can no longer stomach being involved in the LDS church after learning about some of the evidence that is available regarding the history of the church and the activities of some of the high level individuals. Leaving the strong community that the LDS church provides its members can be traumatic. It can be lonely. It can leave them feeling like they can’t stomach finding another church to attend. It’s socially devastating for some, because all their friends and family are still in the church community. It’s similar to being shunned if you leave the Amish community.

The people that leave are the minority, because the majority are blissfully ignorant of the information presented in this book and in other sources that show the true underbelly of the LDS church, and what its highest members do in basements, behind closed doors, and in the homes of Brotherhood LDS members. Evidence uncovered by Canada’s Kevin Annett implicates church presidents and other high-level members of the church in activities that are heinous, including child rape, torture, and sacrifice.

This book isn’t the only resource that links the occult (witchcraft) to freemasonry to a major church institution, but it’s worth highlighting, especially because of the high numbers of newspaper articles, primary writings, diary entries, and other direct quotations taken from outside sources. Many pages are more than half quotes. The Tanner’s dug hard to find the sources that create the story that is this book.

Here is Mormonism, Magic and Masonry’s Table of Contents:

Table of Contents

• 1. The Smith’s Magic Material
  • Joseph Smith’s Magic Talisman
  • Hyrum Smith’s Magic Paraphernalia
  • Comparing Hyrum Smith’s Material with Magic Sources
  • Concern Over the Smiths’ Possession of Magic Material
• 2. The Influence of Magic and Masonry
  • Joseph Smith Learned Magic From His Parents
  • “The Faculty of Abrac”
  • Seer Stones
  • “The Rod of Aaron”
  • Joseph Smith’s Magic Circles
  • Blood Sacrifices for the Demons
  • The Providential Murder of Harper
  • Slipping Treasures and the Book of Mormon
  • The Guardian of the Treasure
  • Forged Mormon Documents
  • Gold Plates in Magic and Masonry
  • The Legend of Enoch’s Gold Plate
  • The Only Reasonable Conclusion

• Appendix A: The Question of Satanic Influence in the Book of Mormon and in the Temple Ceremony
  • Is Mormon an Infernal Name?
  • Further Information on Mormo
  • Does the Book of Mormon Have “A Familiar Spirit”?
  • Do the Mormons Call Upon Lucifer in Their Temple Ceremony?
  • Oaths in the Temple Ceremony
  • Pentagrams on the Temples
  • Spiritualism and the Temple
• Appendix B: A Photographic Reproduction of the Legend of Enoch’s Gold Plate from the 1802 The Freemason’s Monitor

I enjoyed reading about Joseph Smith’s history of “glass looking,” which he was tried and convicted of in 1826 in Bainbridge, NY. He used a (magic?) seer stone (think crystal ball) “which he occasionally looked at to determine where hidden treasures in the bowels of the earth were.” The LDS gold tablets were found buried in the ground. I wasn’t aware until I read this book that digging for buried treasure was actually Smith’s family’s profession and specialty. In his seer stone he also reported “watching the motions of the evil spirit.” After a while, he reported that the stone injured his eyes.

The Tanners also delve into the LDS Church’s freemasonry connections, including the Masonic emblems displayed on the walls of the Masonic Temple in Salt Lake City. Twenty-one chapters of the Book of Mormon refer to “masonry under the guise of pretended similar organizations in America.” And scholars that they quote say that “there are few significant developments in the Church, that occurred after March 15, 1942, which did not have some Masonic interdependence.”

Tanner quotes from another book of hers, Shadow or Reality? that there are 5 major connections between freemasonry and the LDS Church. 1. Both have secret ceremonies performed in secret temples. 2. Masonic emblems are displayed on church walls 3. Mormon temple rituals are similar to freemasonic rituals. 4. Prominent members of the church are also members of Masonic Lodges. 5. Temple ceremonies are also performed inside Masonic Lodges.

Sadly, print copies of this book are no longer available, as Sandra Tanner closed her bookstore Utah Lighthouse Ministry on May 1, 2023. She still sells .pdf copies of the book http://www.utlm.org/booklist/digitaltitles/mormonismmagicmasonry_db006.htm on the online store. Digital media is the only way to access her books now. Amazon reports that it is “out of print,” and shows that it has 4 ratings and 5 5-star reviews.

If you are interested in other current writings on the evildoings of some members of the LDS church, I recommend Go El’s Substack titled “Investigations into Ritual Abuse.” You can find the link to his most recent articles on this website’s home page, under Recommended Blogs.

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