The entheogenic origins of Mormonism: A working hypothesis*

ROBERT BECKSTEAD (1), BRYCE BLANKENAGEL (2), CODY NOCONI (3) and MICHAEL WINKELMAN (4)**

(1) Retired, Department of Emergency Medicine, Pocatello, ID, USA

(2) Naked Mormonism Podcast, Seattle, WA, USA

(3) Independent Researcher, Portland, OR, USA

(4) Retired, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

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To date, Joseph Smith’s and early Mormon converts’ visionary experience are neither easily defined nor understood (Waterman, 1999).

Against this background, we present compelling evidence suggesting that many early Mormon visionary experiences were facilitated by entheogenic substances that resulted in mood elevation and heightened spiritual awareness among early Mormon converts. In this entheogenic working hypothesis of early Mormonism, we consider the supernatural as natural (Taves, 2014; Winkelman & Baker, 2015) and entheogens as medical therapy (Rucker, Jelen, Flynn, Frowde, & Young, 2016; Winkelman, 2001; Winkelman & Sessa, 2019).

Because the two largest factions of Mormonism have opened their libraries to everyone (Spencer, 2009) and “primary source materials are so abundant and available, far more so than for more ancient religions” (Mason, 2015, p. 22), Mormonism may provide insight into the role entheogens played in the early success of traditional religions (see Richards, 2016; Winkelman, 2010, 2013).

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Joseph Jr. was chosen as a treasure seer by the same company that had hired Walters, leaving him angry and resentful (Kane, 1995). Residents believed Walters’ mantle fell on the young Joseph. While acting as a seer for this company, Smith announced that he found golden plates containing a history of Amerindian ancestors, from which he subsequently “translated” The Book of Mormon. Smith used a seer stone to translate, and we hypothesize an entheogen; the use of the latter is suggested by reports of his frequent “intoxication” or “altered” appearance while translating. Luman Walters and Joseph reconciled because Walters was later reported to be a “disciple” of Joseph Smith in Kirtland, Ohio, suggesting Walters’ direct impact on Mormon visionary experience could extend into the early Kirtland period at least (Quinn, 1998, p. 131). Walters likely received his esoteric training, including alchemical-drug expertise while studying in Europe (see below). The esoteric physician’s involvement in Mormonism was confirmed by Brigham Young, one of Joseph Smith’s successors (Young, 1858). Joseph Smith’s alchemical-masonic amulet suggests Walter’s drug-alchemical influence in Smith’s early career (see below).

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One of the most dramatic religious experiences found in the “Tree of Life” dream accounts reported by Joseph Sr. and recorded in The Book of Mormon by Joseph Jr. may be facilitated by smoking parotid gland secretions of the Sonoran Desert toad (I. alvarius) shown in Figure 24 and found in the same general area as peyote (see Figures 23 and 25 below). According to Lyttle, Goldstein, and Gartz (1996), “Bufo toad (and related genera) has held a place in humanity’s archaic consciousness since time immemorial. The earliest representations of Bufo toads (and toads generally) go back thousands of years. The appearance of toad-based artifacts is prehistoric were portrayed in ancient pictographs, paintings, and sculpture” (p. 268). Secretions harvested fromthe parotid glands of I. alvarius are rich in highly entheogenic 5-MeODMT (Barsuglia et al. 2018; Griffiths, 2018). Evidence suggests that 5-MeO-DMT, harvested from I. alvarious, was an entheogen used by the Olmec, Mayan and especially the Aztec civilizations where “Aztec icons focus in great detail on the Bufo toad’s parotid glands, which contain substances that may be trance inducing” (Lyttle et al., 1996, p. 269). The I. alvarius in Figure 24 bears a striking resemblance to pre-Columbian stone toad effigies such as the toad effigy with the Mayan Sun-God carved on its back from Northern Guatemala or Southeastern Mexico, in Figure 26, and the stone pipe toad effigy from the Ohio Hopewell Culture in Figure 27.

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The twice mentioned “toad” during the production of The Book of Mormon suggests the remote possibility that Smith employed a toad entheogen in its writing. Further, the happiness mentioned by Boetious de Boot is a significant sequela of many early Mormon visions discussed below. For Joseph Smith to have used toad 5-MeO-DMT, it would have had to been smoked or snuffed. Further, I. alvarius entheogen would have had to be transported from Southwest Texas (Figure 25) along existing Indian trade routes into the American Northeast (Tanner, 1996, see map by Sanderson Associates). Peyote, found in Texas (Figure 25), retains its potency (2%mescaline) over thousands of years (Terry, Steelman, Guilderson, Dering, & Rowe, 2006), while5-MeO-DMT retains its potency over a much shorter period. Although no literature indicated how long and at what temperatures, 5-MeO-DMT remains active, if it is like is cousin, N, N-dimethyltryptamine, its salts retain their potency significantly longer than when kept in solution. Presuming this entheogen remained active between harvesting, arrival in the Midwest, and use, a stuffed toad with 5-MeO-DMT could easily supply the needs of a magician or seer for a prolonged period or a small congregation of believers for a year. Further 5-MeO-DMT would be an attractive entheogen for Joseph Smith due to its immediate and profound antidepressant properties (Davis, So, Lancelotta, Barsuglia, & Griffiths, 2018). Had Joseph Smith known the features of entheogenic toad venom, he would have undoubtedly arranged for its procurement and transport to Nauvoo in the 1840s. Further, in 1844, Joseph Smith instructed fellow Mormons to settle the region surrounding the Rio Grande River. One follower, Lyman Wight (referenced below) went to Midwestern Texas to form the Mormon colony of Zodiac (Langford& Bandera, 2003), a site within easy traveling distance to both the peyote beds and the Sonoran Deseret Toad catchment area. Figure 25 also shows the area where the distribution of L. williamsii and Native American expertise in peyote sacraments and medicine overlapped with the proposed Mormon territory.