THE HOLINESS TO THE LORD PARCHMENT

Josh Baird

Feb 20, 2021

"I think for the church to remain strong it has to reconstruct it's narrative. The dominant narrative is not true. It can't be sustained so the church has to absorb all this new information or it will be on very shaky ground and that's what it's trying to do. It will be a strain for a lot of people, older people especially; but I think it has to change." —Richard Lyman Bushman

I wanted you all to be the first to see this!

About 5 or six years ago I made a recreation of the Holiness to the Lord Parchment. I recently made some updates to the design based on new information I learned after seeing the original. Upgrades include 24 carat gold leafing, mildew stains, violet colored ink, a more accurate background color, and the inclusion of a few more symbols that were undecipherable in the old black and white photographs. The image above is a nearly identical recreation of the original. 

This parchment is currently in the possession of the Hyrum Smith family. Joseph Smith Sr. may have commissioned Luman Walters, a distant cousin of Emma Smith, to create it. Luman Walters was 16 years older than Joseph Smith Jr. and may have been a mentor to his treasure seeking. Luman was known to be an eccentric person interested in various forms of folk magic, and had travelled across Europe seeking "profound knowledge". 

The Holiness to the Lord Parchment appears to have been designed for the purpose of summoning angelic beings. It incoorporates symbolism from the following magical texts:

1. The Magus by Francis Barret, 1801

2. The New and Complete Illustration of Celestial Sciences by Ebenezer Sibly, 1784

3. The Discoverie of Witchcraft by Reginald Scot, 1584

The parchment also contains various astrological symbols; 3 crosses suggesting the crucifixion; 4 pentagrams which would later show up on the windows of the Nauvoo temple, and the words: "Holiness to the Lord", currently associated with most if not all LDS temples.

This artifact, more than any other from Mormon History, demonstrates the idea that Mormonism was born in a world of transition. Joseph Smith died just as cameras, trains and scientific innovations were becoming commonplace. Mormonism, in it's own way, is an unbroken chain of people, places and stories that connect us with that enigmatic premodern state of mind when astrology, folk magic, freemasonry and popular christianity were the lenses through which most people saw and understood the world. 

It is so tempting for us to make judgements across generations; but it is rarely wise, and seems to lead to cynicism, alienation and illusions of self-superiority. It is more interesting to try and understand this premodern mindset. The search for understanding is an empathic endeavor. It requires transparency and tolerance for the unexpected, but does not require belief, agreement or alignment.

I hope you all are doing well! As always thank you for supporting The Mormon Tarot.

Josh