mapman Posted August 30, 2017 Posted August 30, 2017 "Magic" is a nebulous term. People have had different definitions, and nowadays it carries negative connotations and conjures up images from legends of witches and satanic practices which don't have anything to do with actual "magic" or hermetic practices. Even if many scholars label scrying as magic, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find any evidence that JS or his associates thought of it as magic. The Book of Mormon condemns magic and sorcery while also discussing the use of seer stones. I'm pretty sure that he thought of magic as an evil version of priesthood or supernatural power. Throughout his life he was interested in esoteric stuff (Egyptian language and religion and Freemasonry are some examples), but he would have thought of it as ancient wisdom and fragments of truth, not magic.
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