Heavenly
Mother
Dale G. Renlund once stated: "Very little has been revealed about Mother in Heaven, but what we do know is summarized in a gospel topic found in our Gospel Library application.9 Once you have read what is there, you will know everything that I know about the subject. I wish I knew more" [Your Divine Nature and Eternal Destiny, April 2022].
President Oaks talks about
multiple "heavenly mothers"
"Very Little" has been Revealed
Elder Dale G. Renlund referenced Heavenly Mother in his recent April 2022 General Conference address. He publicly referred also to the Gospel Topics Essay written on Her, stating that: "Once you've read what's there, you'll know everything that I know about the subject." He stated that everything there is to know is summarized in that essay. But what does the essay actually teach us? The Gospel Topics Essay teaches us precious little.
That Heavenly Mother exists.
"The doctrine of a Heavenly Mother is a cherished and distinctive belief among Latter-day Saints." (So cherished, in fact, that such a belief has never been canonized anywhere in Mormon scriptures.)
Joseph Smith taught women about Heavenly Mother (I'm uncertain why the essay leaves out that Joseph Smith also taught men this doctrine. Brigham Young as prophet, also taught concerning Heavenly Mother.
The essay states that "the earliest published references to the doctrine appeared shortly after Joseph Smith's death in 1844, in documents written by his close associates." This, however, is actually untrue. The first reference to Heavenly Mother was in February of 1844, published in the Times and Seasons, four months before Joseph Smith died.
No Revealed Knowledge?
In an address given in October of 1991, Gordon B. Hinckley stated: I regard it as inappropriate for anyone in the Church to pray to our Mother in Heaven. …I have looked in vain for any instance where any President of the Church, from Joseph Smith to Ezra Taft Benson, has offered a prayer to ‘our Mother in Heaven.’ I suppose those … who use this expression and who try to further its use are well-meaning, but they are misguided. The fact that we do not pray to our Mother in Heaven in no way belittles or denigrates her. …None of us can add to or diminish the glory of her of whom we have no revealed knowledge.”
This is, clearly, quite inaccurate. From prophets and apostles, from prophet's wives to poets and just regular members of the Church -Church History teaches us much concerning Heavenly Mother.
What does Church History teach us about Heavenly Mother?
As you'll see from the sources below, each of these things was taught concerning Heavenly Mother. Eliza R. Snow, plural wives of prophets Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, prayed to Heavenly Mother on behalf of Sylvia Sessions Lyon in 1847. Apostle Orson Pratt taught about a "celestial womb" and the plurality of Heavenly Mothers. Even Brigham Young, John Taylor, and Wilford Woodruff (all prophets of the Church) taught concerning our Mother in Heaven.
🗸 We have a Heavenly Mother
🗸 She once lived on an earth like we live now
🗸 She is a perfect, resurrected Being
🗸 Some of the early sisters prayed to her (including the prophet's wife)
🗸 She has Heavenly Parents, meaning we have Heavenly Grandparents
🗸 She has infinite knowledge
🗸 She has a “celestial womb” in which she carries us
🗸 She is one of many of God’s wives
🗸 She resides in God’s heavenly mansions and raises her children
W. W. Phelps
February 1844
'Tis like a little leaven/ The woman hid for good,/ When she, as queen of heaven,/ In gold of Ophir stood./ 'Tis like the court of Zion,/ Where garments all are white;/ Who'll reign like Judah's Lion,/ In everlasting light.
W. W. Phelps
to William Smith
December 25, 1844
O Mormonism! Thy father is God, thy mother is the Queen of heaven, and so thy whole history, from eternity to eternity, is the laws, ordinances, and truth of the "Gods"—embracing the simple plan of salvation, sanctification, death, resurrection, glorification and exaltation of man, from infancy to age, from age to eternity, from simplicity to sublimity
Brigham Young
Dedication of the 70s Hall
December 31, 1844
[Brigham Young] spoke of the relation we held to our Father in Heaven and to our Mother, the Queen. If we are faithful we will come in their presence and learn of our first estate.
W. W. Phelps
January 15, 1845
Come to me; here’s the mystery that man hath not seen; Here’s our Father in heaven, and Mother, the Queen, Here are worlds that have been, and the worlds yet to be; Here’s eternity, -endless; amen: Come to me.
W. W. Phelps
May 1, 1845
Now the acts of his spiritual body, while he was a child with his father and mother in heaven; and his acts while he was in the spiritual councils of the Gods for millions of years . . .
My Father in Heaven Eliza R. Snow
November 15, 1845
In the heav’ns are parents single?
No, the thought makes reason stare;
Truth is reason—truth eternal
Tells me I’ve a mother there.
David C. Kimball
June 15, 1846
So with us, when the voyage of life is over and we are safely anchored in port, then bursts upon our view the Father and Mother of heaven, who for thirty years or upwards we had not seen; the family from which we have been so long separated welcomes us back again, and from our Father or Master we receive the command to govern one, five, or ten kingdoms, as the reward of our fidelity.
Eliza R. Snow to Sylvia Sessions Lyon
May 2, 1847
Will with pray’r and supplication
Plead for thee before the throne
Of the great eternal mother
Therefore do not feel alone.
W. W. Phelps
1852
THE ETERNAL MOTHER
The 11th chapter and 7th verse of Job, rightly rendered from the original Hebrew, reads:—“Who has searched out God? Canst thou find out the Eternal Mother? Canst thou find out the perfection of the Almighty?” All right; spiritually or temporally, there cannot be a father without a mother, in truth, to continue the ad infinitum of lives,—except the sectarian god, who has neither body, parts, or passions; he has no wife, and, of course, he had no mother. “Oh gracious!” inquires the philosophising granny, “where did he come from?” “Why,” replies the King’s Jester, “maybe he is one of the Misses Lucifer”s come-by-chances:” Now hush, you,—slandering the Prince of this world’s family. Hush!
Orson Pratt
July 1853
How many different laws these particles have acted under during the endless school of experience through which they have passed is not known to us. What degree of knowledge they have obtained by experience, previous to their organization in the womb of the celestial female, is not revealed. One thing is certain, the particles that enter into the organization of the infant spirit, are placed in a new sphere of action: the laws to govern them in this new and superior condition must be different from any laws under which they had previously acted.
The plurality of
Heavenly Mothers
Orson Pratt
October 1853
Orson Pratt, one of the original twelve apostles, taught that:
“If none but the Gods will be permitted to multiply immortal children, it follows that each God must have one or more wives.”
Orson Pratt
October 1853
We have now clearly shown that God the Father had a plurality of wives, one or more being in eternity, by whom He begat our spirits as well as the spirit of Jesus His First Born.
Orson Pratt
November 1853
Mary the Mother of Jesus is one of God’s wives.
“Insomuch as God was the first husband to her [Mary], it may be that He only gave her to be the wife of Joseph while in this mortal state, and that He intended after the resurrection to again take her as one of his wives to raise up immortal spirits in eternity…”
John Taylor
August 29, 1857
In a newspaper article, published on August 29, 1857, John Taylor stated:
“Knowest thou not that eternities ago thy spirit, pure and holy, dwelt in thy Heavenly Father's bosom, and in His presence, and with thy mother, one of the queens of heaven, surrounded by thy brother and sister spirits in the spirit world, among the Gods?”
[John Taylor, “The Origin and Destiny of Women,” The Mormon (August 29, 1857):28]
Brigham Young
August 19, 1866
In 1866, Brigham Young taught that “the only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy. Others attain unto a glory and may even be permitted to come into the presence of the Father and the Son; but they cannot reign as kings in glory, because they had blessings offered unto them, and they refused to accept them.”
Heavenly Mothers
ever pregnant, ever giving birth
Orson Pratt
July 1853
“How many different laws these particles have acted under during the endless school of experience through which they have passed is not known to us. What degree of knowledge they have obtained by experience, previous to their organization in the womb of the celestial female, is not revealed. One thing is certain, the particles that enter into the organization of the infant spirit, are placed in a new sphere of action: the laws to govern them in this new and superior condition must be different from any laws under which they had previously acted.”
John Lyon
1853
Dear sister, though few days have past
Since you and I have met,
I feel our friendship still will last
When Time's last sun is set.
For oh! what can that love destroy
Which dwelt with us of yore,
When in our Father's blest employ
We His bright image bore.
And now, made one by Truth on earth,
We feel the kindling flame
Which gave our spirits former birth,
A parentage, and name;
W. W. Phelps
1854
THE KING'S JESTER'S SOLILOQUY.
CALCULATED FOR ALL SAINTS.
[last part of the poem]
Call, O call me back to Kolob,
When the resurrection’s pass’d!
For I love my Father’s garden—
Where the first will be the last:—
Where I promised in my childhood,
To be born,—(the second birth)
So, to try the gift of passion,
On a mission to the earth.
O that infant-spirit wisdom,
Which my Father gave to me,\
In his mansion with my mother,
As I sat upon her knee!—
Sacred records kept in “Teman,”
Till the flesh has conquered sin,—
By the Priesthood, faith and virtue,
Then I'll know them all again!
William Gills Mills
July 18, 1854
When we first received a being—
Spirits born of Parents great—
We rejoiced and sung, foreseeing
We should fill this humbler state.
We have learned in yonder glory,
What was necessary there;
But this state's preparatory
For the Gods' exalted sphere.
Parley P. Pratt
1855
In 1855, Apostle Parley P. Pratt wrote a book titled Key to Science of Theology in which he stated that:
“The eternal union of the sexes, in and after the resurrection, is mainly for the purpose of renewing and continuing the work of procreation. In our present or rudimental state, our offspring are in our own image, and partake of our natures, in which are the seeds of death. In like manner, will the offspring of immortal and celestial beings, be in the likeness and partake of the nature of their divine parentage. Hence, such offspring will be pure, holy, incorruptible and eternal. They will in no wise be subject unto death, except by descending to partake of the grosser elements, in which are the inherent properties of dissolution or death. To descend thus, and to be made subject to sorrow, pain and death, is the only road to the resurrection, and to the higher degrees of immortality and eternal life. It is by contrast that intelligences appreciate and enjoy. How shall the sweet be known without the bitter? How shall joy be appreciated without sorrow?”
[Parley P. Pratt, Key to Science of Theology, 1855, pg. 171]
Wilford Woodruff
June 27, 1875
“They [premortal spirits] come from their eternal Father and their eternal Mother unto whom they were born in the eternal world, and they will be restored to their eternal parentage; and all parents who have received children here according to the order of God and the holy priesthood, no matter in what age they may have lived, will claim those children in the morning of the resurrection, and they will be gives unto them and they will grace their family organizations in the celestial world.”
Church Manual
1976
According to an official church manual titled “Achieving a Celestial Marriage” it states:
“By definition, exaltation includes the ability to procreate the family unit throughout eternity. This our Father in heaven has the power to do. His marriage partner is our mother in heaven. We are their spirit children, born to them in the bonds of celestial marriage”
Mother Eve as Heavenly Mother
as taught from the Adam-God Doctrine
Brigham Young
April 9, 1852
“When our father Adam came into the garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body, and brought Eve, one of his wives, with him. He helped to make and organize this world.”
[Brigham Young, April 9, 1852, Journal of Discourses, vol 1, pg. 50]
Brigham Young
October 9, 1859
In October 1859, Brigham Young taught:
“Adam and Eve are the parents of all pertaining to the flesh, and I would not say that they are not also the parents of our spirits.
[Brigham Young, October 9, 1859, Journal of Discourses, vol. 7, pg. 290]
Jesus & Adam
were polygamists
H. W. Naisbitt
1885
In 1885, H. W. Naisbitt relayed the teaching of Joseph Smith that Adam was a polygamist. This is the only instance (so far that I’ve found) where Lilith was ever referenced by a Mormon leader.
“The Scriptures give an account simply of the woman Eve; declaring that this name was given her of Adam, because she was “the mother of all living;” but outside of biblical record there has been handed down from time immemorial the idea that Adam had two wives, the narrators go so far, or rather so near perfecting the tradition so as to give their names, Lilith being said to be the name of one as Eve was the name of the other, and while it may be difficult to harmonize all the Rabbinical and Talmulic versions of this matter, it is said that Joseph Smith the Prophet taught that Adam had two wives.”
Jedediah M. Grant
August 7, 1853
In the first volume of the Journal of Discourses, in 1853, Jedediah M. Grant taught that Jesus Christ had a host of wives, including Elizabeth and Mary, and that his persecution and crucifixion was “evidently based upon polygamy.”
[Jedediah M. Grant, August 7, 1853, Journal of Discourses, vol. 1, pg. 345-346]
Orson Hyde
October 6, 1854
Orson Hyde, the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, taught in 1854 that Jesus had many wives “he had Mary, and Martha, and several others, as wives” and that he also had children by them. He also taught that it was Jesus who was the bridegroom at the marriage of Cana of Galillee.
Orson also stated that “...before the Savior died, he looked upon his own natural children, as we look upon ours; he saw his seed, and immediately afterwards he was cut off from the earth…”
[Orson Hyde, October 6, 1854, Journal of Discourses, vol. 2, pg. 82]
Orson Hyde
March 18, 1855
The following year, President Orson Hyde had this to say:
“I discover that some of the Eastern papers represent me as a great blasphemer, because I said, in my lecture on Marriage, at our last Conference, that Jesus Christ was married at Cana of Galilee, that Mary, Martha, and others were his wives, and that he begat children. All that I have to say in reply to that charge is this –they worship a Savior that is too pure and holy to fulfil the commands of his Father. I worship one that is just and pure and holy enough “to fulfill all righteousness;” not only the righteous law of baptism, but the still more righteous and important law “to multiply and replenish the earth.” Startle not at this! For even the Father himself honored that law by coming down to Mary, without a natural body, and begetting a son; and if Jesus begat children, he only “did that which he had seen his Father do.”
[Orson Hyde, March 18, 1855, Journal of Discourses, vol. 2, pg. 210]
What do we learn about
Heavenly Mother?
🗸 We have a Heavenly Mother
🗸 She was taught by Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, etc.
🗸 The earliest published reference was actually February 1844, four months before JS died
🗸 She once lived on an earth like we live now
🗸 She is a perfect, resurrected Being
🗸 Some of the early sisters prayed to her (the prophets own wife.)
🗸 She has Heavenly Parents, meaning we have Heavenly Grandparents
🗸 She has infinite knowledge
🗸 She has a “celestial womb” in which she carries us
🗸 She is one of many of God’s wives
🗸 She resides in God’s heavenly mansions and raises her children there
Gospel Topics Essay
🗸 Heavenly Mother exists
🗸 “The doctrine of a Heavenly Mother is a cherished and distinctive belief among Latter-day Saints.”
🗸 Women recall Joseph Smith teaching about Her.
🗸 “The earliest published references to the doctrine appeared shortly after Joseph Smith’s death in 1844, in documents written by his close associates.”
Church History
🗸 Heavenly Mother exists
🗸 She was taught by Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, etc.
🗸 The earliest published reference was actually February 1844, four months before JS died
🗸 She once lived on an earth like we live now.
🗸 She is a perfect, resurrected Being
🗸 Some of the early sisters prayed to her (the prophets own wife)
🗸 She has Heavenly Parents, meaning we have Heavenly Grandparents
🗸 She has infinite knowledge
🗸 She has a “celestial womb” in which she carries us
🗸 She is one of many of God’s wives
🗸 She resides in God’s heavenly mansions and raises her children there
George Q. Cannon
Quorum of the Twelve
“There is too much of this inclination to deify ‘our mother in heaven.’”
He argued that worshiping her would detract from worshipping Father in Heaven.
Rudger Clawson
Quorum of the Twelve
“It doesn’t take away from our worship of the Eternal Father, to adore our Eternal Mother…[W]e honor woman when we acknowledge Godhood in her eternal prototype.”
In other words, when we acknowledge Heavenly Mother, we are allowing women to embrace their divine potential.
[“Our Mother in Heaven,” Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star 72, no. 39 (Sept. 29, 1910): 620]
“It does not matter whether the doctrine of the Heavenly Mother remains part of official LDS theology or not; if there are no private or public occasions on which we can invoke her name and image, Mother in Heaven will surely fade from our memory.”
-Margaret Toscano-