Behind the Mystery of Facsimile 2

Last week I posted about Facsimile 2 and said that I would follow up with this topic of the occult with a more in depth look at two very important factors of Facsimile 2. These factors are the centrality of God and His divine purposes. In my more comprehensive study I found that I had to sift through the not so in depth LDS.org library on this topic and the mountain of anti-Mormon material there is out there. After carefully avoiding all the anti-Mormon pollution, I found this interesting book called A Study Guide to the Facsimiles of the Book of Abraham written by Church scholar  Allen J. Fletcher.  I also found a link to the LDS Pearl of Great Price Study Manual. (Due to the lack of information and excess of anti-Mormon material, all of my information will come from those two sites unless otherwise noted...) Without any further ado: here are some key points and notes behind the mystery that is Facsimile 2 from the Book of Abraham from the Pearl of Great Price. 

A preview behind the mystery of Facsimile 2

                          

I have an unquenchable curiosity. I am intrigued by all things mysterious and unknown. For this reason I chose to discuss the occult. To me the Pearl of Great Price from the LDS canon encapsulates the word occult very well. More specifically those mysterious "drawings" we all loved to look at growing up but never had any clue what they meant illustrate the concept occult very well. So lets debunk some (but not all, it wouldn't fall under "the occult umbrella" if we knew everything about it) of the mystery....

Magic! (and its place in Ancient Egyptian culture)

King Tut's burial mask

Harry Potter can do magic, why not you? If you were living in Ancient Egypt you were believed to be able to do magic, especially if you were a priest. Magic was a very real force to Ancient Egyptians. Today magic is by and large dismissed as a farce and sometimes even sacrilegious, but to the Ancient Egyptians it was a part of everyday life and was very important. Religion and magic were intertwined to the Egyptians. Magic permeated the very culture of Ancient Egypt and was used in many areas of life such as healing, preserving the dead, protection, dream interpretation, religious ceremonies and even controlling/influencing the gods.