#yecircleround

[brightgnosis]

Good evening! I’m a new follower and I have been really enjoying the takes on your blog. As an ex-Mormon, one thing that caught my eye was that you describe yourself as a Mormon folk practitioner. Do you mind elaborating either what that means to you or what that may entail? Only if you feel comfortable, of course! (Also, I sincerely hope you feel better soon!)

Hello! Your comment on one of my posts was very sweet, thank you! And no, I don't mind talking about Mormon Folk Healing at all! I think it's actually a really important part of our history that's been stolen from us that more people deserve to know about.

A lot of people are unaware that Mormonism is a syncretic religion that blends Christianity, Ceremonial Occultism, and English (and Welsh and Irish variants of) Cunningways. And as a part of that, they are likewise unaware that Old Mormonism had a rich healing practice which sat at the center of the faith until actually quite recently.

Mormon Healing was a blend of Indigenous and Old Word Herbal Healing + Prayer, Baptisms, and Oil Blessings based on Biblical scripture + English / Irish / Welsh Cunningways. And it formed two major lines of practice: A robust Temple Ritual and Liturgy practiced by both Lay and Clergy alike (predominantly centered around Nauvoo) -- and a robust Folk Healing Practice participated in predominantly by the Lay People (especially after Nauvoo was decentralized); neither were seen as superior, but the later rose out of the former based on accessibility as the Mormons moved Westward, and the Church actively supported both variations of the practice.

Originally it was practiced by all genders within the Church, and all were ordained with both Healing and Prophetic abilities during their Priesthood Blessings. As time progressed, though, it became the primary domain of Mormon Women even within the Temple variants- with them being the ones to not only perform Bathings and Baptisms, but also to even pass on the remaining liturgy to other women. Eventually, however, it was near-completely abandoned and the (by that time) two remaining rituals were consolidated under the male Priesthood entirely in the 1920's; the primary of those two remaining rituals is the Pouring of the Oil ceremony- which is a ceremony Elder DO has openly spoken about, at minimum, at least as recently as the 2010 General Conference.

If you're interested in learning more about the really interesting (and now nearly erased) magical syncretism of Mormonism and its rituals, I have quite a few suggestions and links floating around here as I putter about my own research into the topic- including 'Visions in a Seer Stone: Joseph Smith and the Making of the Book of Mormon' by William Davis and 'By Our Rites of Worship: Latter-Day Saint Views on Ritual in History, Scripture, and Practice', by Jonathan Stapley (my Library has more books on Mormonism in the "Abrahamic" category), plus my "Mormon Folk Healing" tag. There's also a lot still left in my que, since I'm actually still in the process of moving over content from my old blog.

I'm an ex-Mo Apostate, however. My name has been formally stricken from the records, and it took me a lot of time to get that formalized. So while I do practice these rituals, I don't personally do so as a Mormon- but from a historical perspective as someone whose Ancestors were some of the first Mormons and therefore claims Right-to-Magical-Inheritance. And I practice all of my Christian syncretic magics (including my likewise unsanctioned Braucherei) in the names of HaShem, Adam, and Chava, in honor of my Jewish ancestors from Ukraine.

Thank you for the well wish <3 I really appreciate it! If you have any more questions about it, feel free to ask them!