In 1820s New York, folk magic (often called the “cunning-folk” tradition) was a widespread, practical belief system used by ordinary people to solve everyday problems like healing illness, protecting property, and finding lost wealth. Far from being considered evil or separate from religion, it was deeply intertwined with Protestant Christianity and rural survival. [1, 2, 3]

The cultural landscape of 1820 New York—particularly the western region known as the “Burned-over District”—was a melting pot of intense religious revivalism and supernatural folklore. [1]

Core Practices of 1820 New York Folk Magic

• Money-Digging and Treasure Hunting: During the economic hardships of the 1820s, a craze for hunting buried treasure swept through New York State. Practitioners used magical rituals to “bind” the guardian spirits of the earth so they could dig up legendary Spanish gold or ancient Native American artifacts without the treasure sinking into the ground. [1]
• Seer Stones (“Peepstones”): Visionaries used smoothly polished, uniquely shaped stones found in the earth to locate lost items, detect hidden treasure, or see distant events. A user would place the stone into a dark hat to block out light and look into it to receive visions. [1, 2]
• Divining and Dowsing: Rural New Yorkers regularly employed “dowsers” who used forked hazel or copper rods to detect subterranean water lines for digging wells, or to locate valuable mineral veins. [1, 2, 3]
• Folk Healing and “Charming”: Since professional doctors were scarce and expensive, village healers used a mix of herbalism, physical poultices, and spoken charms. Spells often relied on repeating specific biblical passages—such as using specific verses to “talk the fire out of a burn” or stop bleeding. [1, 2, 3, 4]
• Counter-Magic and Protection: Farmers heavily relied on protective magic to safeguard their livelihoods. This included using protective symbols on barns, placing hidden iron objects to ward off witches, or creating charms to prevent milk from spoiling or livestock from falling ill. [1, 2, 3]

The Religious and Cultural Context

• A Christian Framework: The practitioners of folk magic did not view themselves as pagans or witches. They were generally church-going Christians who believed their spiritual gifts (like scrying or healing) came directly from God. The famous folk magic grimoire The Long Lost Friend was published in 1820 and relied entirely on invocations of the Trinity.
• The Launchpad for New Religions: This exact subculture directly influenced American religious history. Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint (Mormon) movement, grew up in Palmyra, New York during the 1820s. He and his family actively participated in local money-digging, dowsing, and seer-stone practices before he channeled those familiar traditions into the translation of the Book of Mormon. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

By the mid-to-late 19th century, the rise of modern science, professional medicine, and industrialization gradually pushed these traditions out of mainstream acceptance and into the category of “superstition”.

The 1820s Folk Magic Context

During the 1820s in Western New York, Joseph Smith and his family participated in early American folk magic and treasure digging. During this era, popular European grimoires and magical manuals—such as The Lesser Key of Solomon and George Hohman’s The Long Lost Friend (1820)—circulated among practitioners of folk magic. Historians note that certain practices associated with the coming forth of the Book of Mormon share overlaps with instructions found in these texts: [1, 2, 3]

• Ritual Attire and Timing: Scholars writing in publications like the Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought point out that certain elements of Joseph Smith’s early accounts (such as specific dates like the autumnal equinox and wearing specific clothing) mirror instructions found in regional magical texts.[1, 2, 3]
• Seer Stones and Scrying: Joseph Smith utilized “interpreters” and seer stones placed in a hat to translate the golden plates. While the church frames these as divine instruments akin to the biblical Urim and Thummim, critics and historians point out that these methods closely resemble the scrying and crystal-gazing methods outlined in occult grimoires of the period. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Confiscation of Grimoires in Early Church History

While grimoires are absent from the scripture, they do appear in documented early church history records. According to the Wikipedia record of Latter Day Saint folk magic, early Church Apostles Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith actively confiscated several physical grimoires and seer stones from a British convert named William Mountford in Staffordshire, England, in 1841. The apostles destroyed the grimoires but saved the seer stones, which Joseph Smith later examined and claimed had been “consecrated to devils” despite being physically functional stones. [1, 2, 3]

Secular Historical Perspectives

In broader literary history, secular scholars sometimes compare the Book of Mormon’s origin story to the history of grimoires. For instance, in his comprehensive book Grimoires: A History of Magic Books, historian Owen Davies discusses how the Book of Mormon emerged from an environment rich in esoteric lore, noting how an era steeped in treasure-hunting talismans and peep-stones ultimately birthed a major modern religion

The Long Lost Friend (originally titled Der lange verborgene Freund) is a seminal 1820 rural grimoire written by German immigrant Johann Georg Hohman near Reading, Pennsylvania. It serves as the foundational text for Pow-wowing (or Braucherei), a traditional system of Pennsylvania Dutch folk magic, spiritual healing, and home remedies. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Core Purpose and Origins

• Bridging Faith and Magic: The book blends Christian prayers, Bible verses, and talismans with European folk magic to heal ailments and offer protection.
• Rooted in Tradition: Hohman compiled centuries-old Germanic folk traditions, medieval grimoires (like Albertus Magnus), and domestic recipes tailored for early American frontier life.
• The “Pow-wow” Moniker: While Hohman called his practice Braucherei (from the German word for “to custom” or “to use”), English-speaking neighbors adopted the Algonquin-derived term “pow-wow” to describe these rituals.

Key Elements and Content

• Physical and Spiritual Healing: Contains charms to staunch bleeding, cure bruises, soothe burns, and alleviate toothaches for both humans and farm livestock.
• Protective Talismans: Features textual protective spells, such as the famous SATOR Square, to shield homes from fire, theft, and witchcraft.
• The Book as an Amulet: Hohman famously claimed in the preface that simply carrying the book physically on your person would protect you from enemies, drowning, and sudden death.

Cultural Legacy

• A Long-Lasting Tradition: It remains one of the few strictly American grimoires to stay continuously in print for over two centuries, widely available through publishers like the Penn State University Pressand modern occult editions on Amazon.
• The Hex Signs: While heavily tied to Pennsylvania Dutch culture, the grimoire relies on spoken and written charms, whereas the famous geometric “hex signs” on local barns evolved as a separate, largely decorative folk art tradition. [1]