A panel with Cheryl Bruno (independent scholar), Baurak Gazelam Ale (prophet, seer, and revelator), and Nicholas Literski (California Institute of Integral Studies). Moderated by Jon Bialecki (UC San Diego).

Co-sponsored by The Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities, the Department of Anthropology, and the Department of Religion.

Hybrid event at the Columbia University Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities Common Room and on Zoom. The registration link at the bottom of the page will register for Zoom participation. If you would like to come in person, you just have to come to the Heyman Center on campus and let the desk person know you are here for this event.

Before Joseph Smith was the American prophet who claimed to have translated The Book of Mormon, he was a seer and magician who used occult tools to search for treasure supposedly buried in the hills of upstate New York. While the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints tends to underemphasize the folk-magic elements of Joseph Smith's biography, there are some people, both inside and outside of the Church, who not only see magic and esotericism as an important aspect of Smith's religious career but even see magic as a part of their own contemporary practices. Join us as anthropologist Jon Bialecki guides a roundtable discussion on the role of magic in historical and contemporary Mormonism and some of the tarot decks recently crafted.

Watch the event recording here.