Historian D. Michael Quinn--in his books "Early Mormonism and the Magic World View" and "The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power"--explains the folk magic purposes of a divining rod and how this tool of the occult was regularly employed in Mormon religious (including temple) practices.
_____


--Purpose and Description of a Divining Rod

Quinn explains Mormonism's woo-woo world of the occult that's being talking about here:

"The word 'rod' had a more specific meaning in American folk magic: the divining rod or dowsing rod. [Georgius] Agricola's Renaissance book on the subject noted that 'a divining rod [is] shaped like a fork; but its shape makes no difference in the matter--it might be straight or of some other form.' In English editions a century later, Basilius Valentinus described the mineral rod as 'a stick or staff, of the length of half an ell, of hard wood, as of oak,' and later described the forked divining rods of pliant hazel wood.

"Vallemont's 17th-century book on the divining rod illustrated and described four types of divining rods: Y-forked, a staff with cleft top, a straight stick, and two sticks joined through a hollowed-out end. . . . In 1818 a Philadelphia bookseller advertised an 18th-century edition of Vallemont."
_____


--Divining Rods Were a Central Part of Early American (and Mormon) Superstitious Religious Practice

Quinn writes:

"[An 1829 letter from Joseph Smith's sibling, Jesse, to his nephew 'Hiram'] provides independent support for the neighborhood claims that Joseph Smith, Sr. in the 1820s used 'a mineral rod' made from 'witch hazel' for treasure hunting. These Palymyra reports, in turn, verify Jesse's condemnation of his brother [Joseph] for using a divining rod."

Joseph Smith certainly wasn't doing anything original when it came to relying on supernaturally-powered wooden sticks to conjure up treasure and truth.

Quinn notes that the practice of the Smiths and the Cowderys in using such rods were "examples of popular religon in early America," noting that "[m]any Americans believed in divining rods, seer stones, amulets, talisman parchments with mystical inscriptions and buried treasure guarded by enchanments.

"Such objects and practices were also part of Smith's adoloscence and early adulthood. Evidence for this comes from the family's artifacts and reminiscences and also later statements by both Mormons and non-Mormons. Many then and now refuse to accept the religious dimension of 'superstitious' beliefs and practices of folk magic."
_____


--Joseph Smith's Use of a "Divining Rodsman" to Help Translate the Book of Mormon

Quinn reports:

"After setbacks and delays, Smith [in 1829] . . . used a brown seer stone from his treasure-seeking days to produce an English translation of the book . . . . His scribe was Oliver Cowdery, the rodsman."
_____


--Mormonism's Early Top Leaders Employed, Among Other Magic Tricks, Divining Rods

Quinn provides a list of names of high Mormon leaders who followed the occult:

"[Joseph Smith's] . . . Quorum of the Twelve Apostles included astrologer John F. Boynton, rodsman Heber C. Kimball . . . , amulet-wearer [Brigham] Young and treasure-quest enthusiasts Luke S. Johnson and Orson Hyde. They [were] ordained apostles by the Book of Mormon three witnesses--rodsman Oliver Cowdery, seer stone enthusiast David Whitmer and treasure-quest participant Martin Harris."
_____


--Using Magic Sticks in Mormon Temples, and for Mormon Temples

Occultic witching sticks were not only used in Mormon temples for acquiring supposed divine guidance, but for deciding where Mormonism's magicians were to build their temples.

Quinn writes:

"[Smith's Apostle Heber C.] Kimball clothe[d] himself in endowment robes, [and] pray[ed] in the 'true order,' while holding a divining 'rod' and ask[ing] yes-no questions. This [was] the first verifed use of a divining rod in Mormonism since an 1829 revelation commend[ed] Cowdery's use of his 'rod of nature . . . [B]ehold, it has told you things.'"

". . . James C. Brewster publish[ed] his claim that as part of an 1836 Ohio treasure-quest, Presidng Patriarch Joseph Smith, Sr. 'anointed the mineral rods and seeing stones with consecrated oil and prayed over them in the House of the Lord in Kirtland.'

"Accordinng to Brewster's account, Joseph Sr. in 1837 was also acting in accordance with published instructions for consecrating magic instruments. Out-of-print for generations but still in wide circulation . . . , Reginald Scot's handbook for ritual magic stated: '[A]noint them with consecrated oil; and lastly, seal them with holy characters; after all which performed, an oration or prayer must follow.' Scot's book was the source for some symbols on the Smith family's magic parchments. . . .

"In 1819 a Pennsylvania German also wrote an occult handbook (published in multiple editions since 1820) which included instructions '[t]o consecrate a Divining Rod.'

"As indicated, Brewster said Patriarch Smith anointed these instruments of folk magic inside the completed temple in Kirtland."

"[After Smith's assassination, Brigham] Young select[ed] the site of the Salt Lake temple using Oliver Cowdery's divining rod."

(D. Michael Quinn, "Early Mormonism and the Magic World View" [Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, 1998], pp. 32-33, 265-66, see also, figures 3-6. p. 322; and Quinn, "The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power" [Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, in association with Smith Research Associates, 1994] pp. 1-2, 622-23, 637, 645, 659)
_____


And to think I got married in a temple whose plot site was determined by Brigham Young, based on a go-to tool of the occult.

Geezus.

Good thing we have modern day profits that let us know what is no longer appropriate because jeebus has a change of policy.

I wonder if they used divining rods to determine the store locations of the city creek mall.

:D

At the end of the day, after they figured out where the temple would be, would the apostles and seventies would get together with their rods to play a quick game of Quidditch?