|
|
| (3 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown) |
| Line 1: |
Line 1: |
| {{Articles FAIR copyright}} {{Articles Header 1}} {{Articles Header 2}} {{Articles Header 3}} {{Articles Header 4}} {{Articles Header 5}} {{Articles Header 6}} {{Articles Header 7}} {{Articles Header 8}} {{Articles Header 9}} {{Articles Header 10}}
| | #REDIRECT [[Question: Was a "magic dagger" once owned by Hyrum Smith?]] |
| {{Resource Title|Did Hyrum Smith own a "magic dagger"?}}
| |
| {{JosephSmithPortal}}
| |
| <onlyinclude>
| |
| == ==
| |
| {{Criticism label}}
| |
| | |
| It is claimed that the Smith's owned a magic dagger that was among Hyrum Smith's heirlooms. They cite this as proof of the Smith family's deep involvement in ritual magick.
| |
| | |
| == ==
| |
| {{Conclusion label}}
| |
| | |
| Quinn, and those who have followed him, have completely misunderstood or misrepresented the purpose of the dagger. The inclusion of the astrological sigil for Scorpio means the dagger was designed for someone born under the sign of Scorpio. None of the Smiths was. Therefore, it was not made for the Smiths. Quinn demonstrates no understanding of talismanic magic. The inclusion of the talismanic sigils for Mars means it was designed to grant victory in battle or litigation. It was not designed for ceremonial magic or treasure hunting, as Quinn claims. Quinn cites sources from after 1870 as evidence for what the Smiths supposedly believed, while completely misrepresenting those sources. The only possible conclusion to draw from all this is that the dagger was made for an unknown person, and, if it somehow came into the possession of Hyrum Smith, it was obtained secondhand with the engravings already made. This conforms with the late Smith family tradition that remembers the signs on the blade as "Masonic" rather than magical.
| |
| | |
| == ==
| |
| {{Response label}}
| |
| | |
| ===The Mars Dagger===
| |
| William Hamblin discusses a dagger that was discovered to be among the the Hyrum Smith family heirlooms. The dagger is claimed by historian D. Michael Quinn to be associated with the practice of magic:
| |
| <blockquote>
| |
| Quinn's claim that the Smiths used magic circles as part of their alleged treasure-hunting activities is intimately connected with the so-called "magic dagger," first mentioned in a 1963 description of Hyrum Smith's heirlooms. According to Quinn, this was precisely "the kind of dagger necessary for ritual magic" (p. 70) and had "everything to do with ceremonial magic" (p. 70). Quinn also claims that this dagger was astrologically connected to Joseph Smith Sr.'s birth year: "it is crucial that [the sigil of] Mars (inscribed on the dagger) was the planet governing' the year 1771. That was the year of Joseph Sr.'s birth" (p. 71). As will be demonstrated below, in all these claims he is simply and clearly mistaken. There are two separate issues here: (1) What is the significance of the sigils (symbols) found on the dagger? and (2) Was the dagger designed for ritual magic and, more specifically, for making magic circles for treasure hunting?<ref>{{FR-12-2-16}}</ref>
| |
| </blockquote>
| |
| | |
| Hamblin concludes,
| |
| <blockquote>
| |
| The big problem for Quinn is that a dagger is usually just a dagger. Everyone in the nineteenth-century frontier had at least one, and most people had many. Some daggers were inscribed; others were not. Daggers were bought and sold just like any other tool and could easily pass from one owner to another. Given the data presented above, we do not know when, where, or how Hyrum obtained his dagger, or even if he really did. Since there is no documentation on the dagger until 1963, it could have been obtained by one of his descendants after his death and later accidentally confused with Hy rum's heirlooms. We do not know what it meant to Hyrum (assuming he owned it). Was it simply a dagger with some strange marks? Was it a gift to him from a Masonic friend? All of this is speculation—but it is no more speculative than Quinn's theories. Whatever the origin and purpose of the dagger, though, it is quite clear that, based on the evidence Quinn himself has presented, it does not match the magic daggers designed for making magic circles nor does it match the astrology of any of the Smiths.
| |
| </blockquote>
| |
| </onlyinclude>
| |
| {{CriticalSources}}
| |
| {{endnotes sources}}
| |
| | |
| {{Articles Footer 1}} {{Articles Footer 2}} {{Articles Footer 3}} {{Articles Footer 4}} {{Articles Footer 5}} {{Articles Footer 6}} {{Articles Footer 7}} {{Articles Footer 8}} {{Articles Footer 9}} {{Articles Footer 10}}
| |
| | |
| [[fr:Joseph Smith/Occultism and magic/Mars dagger]]
| |
