The following is a quote from Episode 4 page 42 of MormonLeaks, a production of Craig Criddle, Geoff Uyleman and Shelly Booth @ mormonleaks.com
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As it turns out the Smiths, as well as many other early Mormon families were entrenched in astrology so much so that [Joseph] Smith chose to organize his church on April 6,1830, a day known as the beneficial “DAY FATALITY” in folk belief, which in 1830 coincided with a particularly positive alignment of Jupiter and the sun.
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This is the first evidence I've gotten about why that specific date is so important to the church. It combines folk belief prevalent in the early 19th century with astrology. Joseph also carried with him a Jupiter talisman at all times during his life.

The Mormon church is just another Magical Mystery Tour, though I like the Beatles' version much more.

It's actually a tragical history tour.

I did a quick Google search and can't find any corroborating evidence of this astronomical event.

The search does find this post, and the original post on MormonLeaks, but nothing else to back it up.

I couldn't either.
And an on-line historical sky atlas doesn't show Jupiter in any kind of "particularly positive alignment" with the sun or anything else (it wasn't in opposition or conjunction, and wasn't especially close or bright or anything else unusual). It was about 19 hours from the sun in right ascension (12 hours would be opposition).


https://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Yourtel
(you can enter any date in history you want).

I did find this interesting bit of mormon faith-inducing tripe, nearly all of which is flat-out wrong:

http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/lds/meridian/2000/mormastr2.html

Perhaps we should ask Craig Criddle.

Craig?

It would be cool to be able to demonstrate that the 6th April 1830 was a day of significance to the occult.

I just can't find the data that I can back up that claim when presenting the idea to a skeptical Mormon.

OK, I got this so far (Note the dates are the global/ non-American formats - day then month)

http://www.astrology.com.pl/transits/1830/

06.04.1830 h.04:40: Mercury ingres Aries
06.04.1830 h.19:36: Sun square Jupiter



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2017 10:17AM by Darren Steers.

JS is not a Sun Square Jupiter person, I think it refers to their birthdate. And there is nothing showing on 23rd Dec 1805.

However, this is what Sun Square Jupiter means to astrologist folks.

http://darkstarastrology.com/sun-opposite-square-jupiter/

Sun square or opposite Jupiter is a bombastic opportunist and visionary. Sun/Jupiter can’t help but be very successful even in so called ‘hard’ aspect. However the biggest problem is grandiosity and identifying itself as godlike. Like the famous nymph-chaser of the myth, Sun square or opposite Jupiter natives find it very hard to take no for an answer. This trait is particularly pronounced in competitive situations, wether it is for accolades, in sport or in terms of winning a mate over a rival.

At their very worse, these folk can be pushy to the extent that they literally push through to invade the boundaries of others. Sun square or opposite Jupiter feels very blessed and this translates as them having the midas touch when it comes to business deals. The amount of luck they attract gives them the confidence to be incredibly brave, but they have to be careful that they don’t over estimate their abilities. This feeling of godlike strength and protection sometimes means that the native goes too far with dare-devil activities. Nothing is done in moderation and setting a limit is extremely difficult.

The hard aspects of the Sun and Jupiter can push Jupiter’s growth to epic proportions. They also expect freedom at all costs too and can get annoyingly restless and bombastic if anyone tries to quietly suggest they show some restraint. The worst thing you can do is interfere in their love life, you just can’t tell them not to eat the romantic sweets being offered on a plate. Those that have an afflicted or very weak Jupiter will not know the meaning of the word discernment. Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean that you should! On the other hand these natives just love to give advice, they do very well in counselling occupations where they can ‘play god’.

Darren Steers Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I did a quick Google search and can't find any
> corroborating evidence of this astronomical
> event.
>
> The search does find this post, and the original
> post on MormonLeaks, but nothing else to back it
> up.

The quote is from Richard Arbanes, One Nation Under God’s, page 90. Arbanes cites Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, page 58, where Quinn writes: “According to the folk belief of “DAY FATALITY,” the sixth of April was always a beneficial day to transact important business. Among other places, This appeared in John Aubrey’s Miscellanies (‘A Collection of Hermetic Philosophy”). As already noted Aubrey’s book was available in New York by 1813. In addition, published nine miles from the Smith home, an astrological almanac showed that on Tuesday, 6 April 1830, Joseph Smith’s governing planet Jupiter was in “quadrature” with the sun (fig 18,compare fig20b, also ch. 3). This was the first reference to Jupiter in the monthly calendars of 1830 almanac published in Canandaigua and sold by E. B. Grandin, Palmyra.” There was no better day for Jupiter-born Joseph Smith to select as the organizational date for the new church.This was the fitting conclusion to nearly seven years of astrological connections for the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.

And it's still rolling forth, like a stone magically cut from a mountain, although it's going to take a lot longer than planned to fill up the earth.

But some acknowledgement must be made that Joe, and astrology, maybe got something right.

Of course it would mean that we'd have to find an astrological connection between the Seventh Day Adventists and astrology, because they're doing better.

Well, I stand up next to a mountain
And I chop it down with the edge of my hand
Well, I pick up all the pieces and make an island
Might even raise a little sand

Jimi!!

The biggest significance to April 6th is that Mormons believe that Christ was born on April 6th rather than December 25 (which has it's own pagan/astrological significance). https://www.mormonwiki.com/April_6

September 21 and 22 are significant days in Mormon history, as well. It is the Fall Equinox, and the day that in 1823 that Moroni supposedly visited Joseph in the upstairs loft of his house, then four years later on September 22, the plates were delivered.

It had to do with the family's belief in magick and magical treasure hunting. There are also several Jewish holidays and feasts related to those days, including Rosh ha-Shanah occurring on that date in 1827, the year he "received" the plate. I think Joseph that using those dates would add credence to his story.

Link to a blog quoting from D. Michael Quinn's "Early Mormonism and the Magic World View", p.120-121: http://blog.mrm.org/2008/09/joseph-smith-and-the-magical-autumnal-equinox/

William Law Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The biggest significance to April 6th is that
> Mormons believe that Christ was born on April 6th
> rather than December 25 (which has it's own
> pagan/astrological significance).
> https://www.mormonwiki.com/April_6

I doubt to Joseph April 6 held significance as to when the Christ child was born. That was picked up on by later generations of Mormons.

>
> September 21 and 22 are significant days in Mormon
> history, as well. It is the Fall Equinox, and the
> day that in 1823 that Moroni supposedly visited
> Joseph in the upstairs loft of his house, then
> four years later on September 22, the plates were
> delivered.
>
> It had to do with the family's belief in magick
> and magical treasure hunting. There are also
> several Jewish holidays and feasts related to
> those days, including Rosh ha-Shanah occurring on
> that date in 1827, the year he "received" the
> plate. I think Joseph that using those dates would
> add credence to his story.

Joseph was influenced by the Jewish calendar over astrology IMO. Not that astrology wouldn't have factored into any of his doings, given his bent on superstition and the occult.

The Fall Equinox is the time of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur - following the cycles of the moon, which is how the Jewish calendar is measured.

Lest we forget, Horny Joe wore his Jupiter talisman next to his holy underwear.

In the link to the blog in William Law's post, the issue of the Jupiter Talisman is disputed in the comments section. The no doubt FairMormon gives as his basis for the claim, the 'fact' that it was not listed in the items supposedly inventoried as JS's possessions after his death.

In 1974 the head of the UofU institute and president of the Mormon History Association announced that he'd confirmed it's existence. Spencer W. Kimball called him on the carpet for it...

It's a really good read at http://exmormon.org/d6/drupal/Joseph-Smith-Magic-Talisman

"... I should like to initiate all of you into what is perhaps the strangest, the most mysterious, occult-like esoteric, and yet Masonically oriented practice ever adopted by Joseph Smith.... All available evidence suggests that Joseph Smith the Prophet possessed a magical Masonic medallion, or talisman, which he worked during his lifetime and which was evidently on his person when he was martyred. His talisman is in the shape of a silver dollar and is probably made of silver or tin. It is exactly one and nine-sixteenths in diameter,... the talisman,... originally purchased from the Emma Smith Bidamon family, fully notarized by that family to be authentic and to have belonged to Joseph Smith, can now be identified as a Jupiter talisman. It carries the sign and image of Jupiter and should more appropriately be referred to as the Table of Jupiter. And in some very real and quite mysterious sense, this particular Table of Jupiter was the most appropriate talisman for Joseph Smith to possess. Indeed, it seemed meant for him, because on all levels of interpretation: planetary, mythological, numerological, astrological, mystical cabalism, and talismatic magic, the Prophet was, in every case, appropriately described.

The characters on the talisman are primarily in Hebrew, but there is one inscription in Latin. Every letter in the Hebrew alphabet has a numerical equivalent and those numerical equivalents make up a magic square. By adding the numbers in this Jupiter Table in any direction ... the total will be the same. In this case, on the Jupiter Table, 34....

There is the one side of the talisman belonging to the Prophet Joseph Smith. You can see the Hebrew characters ... you see on the margins, at the bottom is the Jupiter sign.... The cross at the top represents the spirit of Jupiter, and you will see the path of Jupiter in the orbit of the heavens, and then again the Jupiter sign.

I wasn't able to find what this was, for—as I said—two months; and finally, in a magic book printed in England in 1801, published in America in 1804, and I traced it to Manchester, and to New York. It was a magic book by Francis Barrett and, lo and behold, how thrilled I was when I saw in his list of magic seals the very talisman which Joseph Smith had in his possession at the time of his martyrdom...."

Dr. Reed Durham, director of LDS Institute of Religion at U of U, and president of the Mormon History Association; presidential address before the Mormon History Association on April 20, 1974.

The Mormon scholar LaMar C. Berrett reveals that "This piece [the Jupiter Talisman] was in Joseph Smith's pocket when he was martyred at Carthage Jail" (The Wilford C. Wood Collection, 1972, vol. 1, p. 173)

Well we know how Horny Joe loved Hebrew characters.

Er, I should say caractors.