Annalee Skarin
Annalee Skarin, was an American Mormon writer of mysticism and New Age literature. Her 1948 book Ye Are Gods was popular among Utah Mormons, but later provoked ire among Church leaders and led to her excommunication. The underlying theme for all of her writings was a desire to understand the deeper meaning behind scripture. She wrote: "There was just that intense feeling that something was required of us and we had to find out what it was." Annalee was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who served as a missionary in California, and later was a Relief Society President. As of 2014 Ye Are Gods was in its 18th printing, though her later books were more popular among non-Mormons in the New Age movement. She accepted no royalties, and it remains unclear who if anyone profited from her many successful books.
Early life and family
She was the seventh of twelve children. Her parents were Frederick John Kohlepp and Mary Ella Hickman, her grandfather was "Wild Bill" Hickman. Annalee's eldest sister, Minerva Teichert, was an accomplished artist with paintings on display in many LDS temples.Annalee married William Michael "Mikey" Gorman on July 15, 1916, the marriage was annulled in 1920. Her second marriage, arranged by her mother, was to Hugo Joseph Avarell August 31, 1922 in Salt Lake City, UT, it ended in divorce after 21 years. Her final marriage was to Reason E. Skarin October 18, 1943 in Buffalo, NY.
Her eldest daughter, Hope Hilton, was actively involved in Annalee's excommunication. Her younger daughter, Linda Lee Moat, was the child described suffering from a severe illness in Ye Are Gods. "Dear God, this child is Yours first -- and then she is mine. If you want her -- take her -- I love her so! But all that I have is Thine."
After her excommunication Annalee used the alias Nansela Mathews to prevent Hope Hilton from discovering her whereabouts.
Correspondence
- Letter from Annalee to her Folks December 21, 1916, she was 17 years old living with her husband "Mikey" Gorman.
Here people don't think anything of whiskey. The most prominent citizens use whiskey; they speak of it as if it were only milk. I was talking with a lady here, and I ask her if she didn't care about her husband drinking whiskey. She said, "Oh, it don't make any difference to me, I would rather he would drink than play pool."
- Letter from Annalee Skarin to Hope Hilton October 12, 1949
Dear Hope, It has been most difficult for me to answer your unsigned letter of condemnation. First because you were not seeking to know the truth about me, but desired only to find grounds on which to condemn me. Darling, I haven't time to go through life justifying myself to everyone who condemns me or who desires to think evil of me.
Hope dear, I would not go back to Hugo if he were the only man on earth, or the only man in eternity. And you have no idea of the real reason I left him, and I shall never tell you.
All of the Authorities have received copies of these books. None have condemned it. From many have come beautiful letters - the one from President George Albert Smith was filled with love and kindness. Apostle Spencer W. Kimball has written many times and takes his copy with him to visit the various Stakes and Missions - and has ordered copies for his friends - And from Stake, Mission and Temple Presidents who he has contacted have come orders for these books. He visited President Pierce of the Mexican Mission and the request for books followed - and like a living flood of light these books are spreading out over Mexico. One of the Missionary girls has already started translating it into the Spanish language - as have others in Europe.
All I ask of you, Hope is that you pray about it, in sincerity - then begin to live it - and like hundreds of others over the earth there will be a song of joy rising from your soul such as you have never before experienced.
God bless you my darling, and may His peace and His light and His love be in your heart forever. Lovingly, Annalee Skarin
Hope Hilton's response was to escalate her feud with her mother to the highest authorities within the LDS Church.
- Letter from Hope Hilton's husband, Lynn Hilton, to Spencer W. Kimball October 19, 1949 Lynn Hilton presents a study of the pros and cons of Ye Are Gods, "as I promised I would." The pros included the need for more faith and humility, the need to strive for perfection, and to control our thoughts. The cons focused on her claim that her writings were inspired by the Lord. He writes, on page 3, that it is impossible for her to have received revelations for the benefit of LDS members because of this doctrine from Joseph Smith.
I will inform you that it is contrary to the economy of God for any member of the Church, or any one, to receive instructions for those in authority, higher than themselves;
- Letter from Spencer W. Kimball to Annalee Skarin October 19, 1949 —Elder Kimball's response was less dramatic.
I have appreciated your book and enjoyed reading it and found many interesting observations, but I am not prepared to endorse it. With kind wishes. Sincerely, Spencer W. Kimball cc-hilton
Ye Are Gods
| Ye Are Gods | Ye Are Gods | |||
| page# | Total Pages 130 | page# | Total Pages 336 | |
| Chapters | 1 | 1 - How Real Are Your Realities | 1 | 1 - How Real Are Your Realities |
| 9 | 2 - Have You A Soul? | 9 | 2 - Have You A Soul? | |
| 11 | 3 - Make Thy Calling And Election Sure | 15 | 3 - Man Know Thy Place | |
| 24 | 4 - The Pathway Of Glory | 24 | 4 - Is Faith A Word Or A Power | |
| 48 | 5 - The Journey Of Perfection | 34 | 5 - The Power Of Vision | |
| 60 | 6 - The Atomic Power Of The Soul | 42 | 6 - The Pathway Of Glory | |
| 69 | 7 - " Seek And Ye Shall Find" | 56 | 7 - The Atomic Power Of The Soul | |
| 82 | 8 - The Storehouse Of Eternal Knowledge | 69 | 8 - How Thoughts Are Planted, And How They Produce | |
| 90 | 9 - "Abide In Me And I Will Abide In You" | 79 | 9 - "Seek And Ye Shall Find" | |
| 97 | 10 - The Power Of Transmutation | 93 | 10 - The Storehouse Of Eternal Knowledge | |
| 104 | 11 - The Substance Of Eternal Elements | 101 | 11 - "Abide In Me And I Will Abide In You" | |
| 115 | 12 - "There Shall Be No More Death" | 110 | 12 - The Power And Majesty Of Almighty God | |
| 128 | 13 - The Final Key | 136 | 13 - The Power Of Transmutation | |
| 144 | 14 - The Substance Of Eternal Elements | |||
| 160 | 15 - The Three Great Tests | |||
| 171 | 16 - Love, The Glory Of The Universe | |||
| 181 | 17 - "There Shall Be No More Death" | |||
| 198 | 18 - The True Pattern Of Each Individual Life | |||
| 209 | 19 - "In The Name Of Jesus Christ" | |||
| 222 | 20 - Oil For The Lamp Of Israel | |||
| 239 | 21 - "Ye Are Gods" | |||
| 266 | 22 - The Lamb's Book Of Life | |||
| 275 | 23 - The Keys Of All Power | |||
| 303 | 24 - The New And Everlasting Covenant | |||
| 317 | 25 - "Labor Not For That Meat That Perishes" | |||
| 330 | 26 - The Seal | |||
| Quotes | Latter-Day Saints were chosen before their coming to this earth for a special mission. It is not sufficient that they live just because they are alive... there must be a reaching, a desiring, a progress of the mind and soul... | Changed To: It is not sufficient that this people live just because they are alive... there must be a reaching, a desiring, a progress of the mind and soul... | ||
| Added: All churches, all priesthoods, all forms and all works are dead and in vain unless there is this great power of faith in action to bring to pass the mighty works of God, for "His Kingdom is not in word, but in power." | ||||
Excommunication (June 11, 1952)
Annalee's daughter, Hope Hilton and her husband, Lynn M. Hilton, submitted a study they had made of Annalee's book to LDS Apostle and president of the Deseret News, Mark E. Petersen. Elder Petersen gave Annalee the choice of renouncing her writing as the work of Satan, or facing excommunication."In the spring of 1952 Annalee was visiting friends, Chris and Sally Franchow, in Salt Lake City who lived on Ninth East , just across from the Hillcrest Ward . As news of her visit became known, she was besieged with invitations to speak at Church and fireside groups. Then without warning the axe fell. After addressing an enthusiastic congregation, she was ushered into the bishop’s office where she was confronted by Elder Mark E. Petersen, a member of the Council of the Twelve. He denounced Ye Are Gods as inspired by Satan, and demanded that she repent and repudiate the book. 'And then it was that I, who love Christ above all others,' she wrote, 'was acclaimed to be the great anti-Christ.' When she rejected the ultimatum, she was tried by a Church court and excommunicated June 1952.
"Annalee called it a 'kangaroo court,' where I was refused counsel. My efforts to bear witness to what I had written, or even to defend myself, were denied and silenced.' When Sally Franchow tried to defend her, 'For her courageous efforts she too was excommunicated.
Presiding Bishopric Membership Records Department -- Letter Explaining Excommunication, July 9, 1952 ''Hope A. Hilton papers, Ms 584, Box 5 Folder 7. Special Collections and Archives. University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott. Salt Lake City, Utah.''
The action was taken because of her claims that she has been receiving revelations from the Lord, which are contained in her two books, both of which are entitled "Ye Are Gods."
Mark E. Petersen">Mark E Petersen">Mark E. Petersen -- Reasons for Annalee Skarin's Excommunication, January 16, 1953 Hope A. Hilton papers, Ms 584, Box 6 Folder 6. Special Collections and Archives. University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott. Salt Lake City, Utah.
The definitive reasons for Annalee Skarin's excommunication are contained in the Church Court's transcript which Elder Petersen refused to release. This essay was written seven months after Annalee's excommunication in response to letters requesting an explanation for his actions.Elder Petersen begins his essay, pages 2–5, by describing the difficulties inherent in establishing a church based on personal revelation. Soon after the establishment of the LDS church several members began to have revelations. That might sound like a good thing, however, the content of those revelations conflicted with Joseph Smith's leadership. The Lord resolved this issue through Joseph Smith receiving revelation that only his revelations affecting church members were real, all others were of the devil. His status as the sole revelator would pass to his successors and he could appoint substitute revelators as needed.
Elder Petersen concludes that since LDS President George Albert Smith didn't appoint Annalee Skarin to be a revelator, her books could only be inspired by the devil.
Annalee sent copies of her books to all of the Church leaders, including LDS President George Albert Smith. In October 1949 she wrote to Hope, "From many have come beautiful letters --- the one from President George Albert Smith was filled with love and kindness." Annalee was excommunicated by Elder Petersen after President Smith's death.
On page 6 of his essay, Elder Petersen writes:
The middle of page 270 she says, "There are only two possible ways for those who read this book to know if it is true, and the first is to pray to God the Eternal Father in the name of Jesus Christ to know if these things are true. The other way is to live these higher laws of love, forgiveness, worship, devotion and singing glory, as Christ admonished.”
This statement is utterly false. There are not only two possible ways to find out whether her work is true as she sets forth. Actually she overlooks and side-steps the most important way by which we may know it is true.
The best way by which any person in the Church may discover whether or not the teachings of Mrs. Skarin are true is to ask the heads of the Church and they will advise him whether or not that book is true.
The excerpt quoted from Mrs. Skarin's book appears to have been crafted after a corner-stone LDS doctrine based on scripture delivered by Moroni in the Book of Mormon:
And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.''
In her October 12, 1949 letter to Hope, Annalee said that she had sent copies of her books to “All of the Authorities…” and that she had received “beautiful letters” in response. She specifically referenced letters from the sitting LDS Prophet & President George Albert Smith, Apostle Spencer W. Kimball, and “Stake, Mission, and Temple Presidents…”
[Joseph Smith] (President: April 6, 1830 - June 27, 1844)
We believe that we have a right to revelations, visions, and dreams from God, our heavenly Father; and light and intelligence, through the gift of the Holy Ghost, in the name of Jesus Christ, on all subjects pertaining to our spiritual welfare; if it so be that we keep his commandments, so as to render ourselves worthy in his sight.
“No man can receive the Holy Ghost without receiving revelations. The Holy Ghost is a revelator.”
When you feel pure intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas, so that by noticing it, you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon; those things that were presented unto your minds by the Spirit of God, will come to pass; and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you may grow into the principle of revelation, until you become perfect in Christ Jesus.
[Brigham Young] (President: December 27, 1847 - August 29, 1877)
All God’s children have the privilege of being enlightened by the Spirit of Christ and receiving personal revelation through the Holy Ghost as they earnestly seek the Lord.
We often hear it said that the living oracles must be in the Church, in order that the Kingdom of God may be established and prosper on the earth. I will give another version of this sentiment. I say that the living oracles of God, or the Spirit of revelation must be in each and every individual, to know the plan of salvation and keep in the path that leads them to the presence of God.
[Bruce R. McConkie] (Apostle: October 12, 1972 – April 19, 1985)
The visions of eternity are not reserved for Apostles—they are not reserved for the General Authorities. Revelation is something that should be received by every individual. God is no respecter of persons, and every soul, in the ultimate sense, is just as precious in his sight as the souls of those who are called to positions of leadership. Because he operates on principles of eternal, universal, and never-deviating law, any individual who abides the law that entitles him to get revelation can know exactly and precisely what President Kimball knows, can entertain angels just as well as Joseph Smith entertained them, and can be in tune in full measure with all of the things of the Spirit.
Annalee Skarin
God cannot be monopolized... No man, or group can possibly have a monopoly upon God... He will answer the cry of any man who will ask for help... And the time has arrived when mankind will no longer accept teachers who teach only with words... Every man has the right and the power to find God... thousands and thousands of souls have been sacrificed by those who have professed to have such a sacred monopoly.
Translated Beings
Annalee Skarin gained fame by fervently believing in the LDS doctrine of physical translation even though the last person to experience it, according to that doctrine, was John the Apostle aka John the Beloved. Annalee believed she could achieve this state by perfecting the self through the ardent pursuit of Christian principles such as faith, love, and gratitude. She also practiced a meditation technique that she referred to as thought control -- "Be still and know that I am God..." She provides a discourse on this technique in the chapter titled The Atomic Power of the Soul in the book Ye Are Gods.The result of such training in the mind is most amazing. The brain instead of feeling clogged, tired and stupid seems to be alert to almost everything, yet worried about nothing. There is a calmness and control that is majestic, and a joy and glory that is beyond anything that has ever been imagined.
On June 14, 1952, three days after her excommunication, Annalee left a note for her friend Sally Franchow just before disappearing. In that note she says,
I am called away to fill my greater destiny - to prove His words that all might be left without excuse. I have paid the highest price possible to truth, membership is His Beloved Church...She does not mention being translated in this note.
Many believed that Annalee announced after her excommunication that she had been translated, her detractors claim that her death was proof that this was not true. Mark L. McConkie, however, leaves that door open a bit when he states below that translated beings do eventually experience death.
LDS Doctrine
Translated beings are faithful servants of the Lord in the flesh who have been translated in order to continue serving in a protected, restful state until they are resurrected. Translated beings never taste of death; they never endure the pains of death; they have undergone a change in their bodies, "that they might not suffer pain nor sorrow save it were for the sins of the world"...
[Joseph Smith]
Now the doctrine of translation is a power which belongs to this Priesthood . There are many things which belong to the powers of the Priesthood and the Keys thereof, that have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world; they are hid from the wise and prudent, to be revealed in the last times.
Many may have supposed that the doctrine of translation was a doctrine whereby men were taken immediately into the presence of God, and into an eternal fullness, but this is a mistaken idea. Their place of habitation is that of the terrestrial order, and a place prepared for such characters He held in reserve to be ministering angels unto many planets, and who as yet have not entered into so great a fullness as those who are resurrected from the dead. See verse,"Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
Mark L McConkie
Latter-day Saint scriptures speak of a unique class of beings, persons whom the Lord has "translated" or changed from a mortal state to one in which they are temporarily not subject to death, and in which they experience neither pain nor sorrow except for the sins of the world. Such beings appear to have much greater power than mortals. All translated beings will eventually experience physical death and resurrection. Translation is a necessary condition in special instances to further the work of the Lord.
Annalee Skarin
Perhaps I can explain it a little more thoroughly this way: after one has learned to make his mind a constant prayer of love and devotion; when his heart has become a continual melody of praise and glory and his mind is at last permitted to reach through into the great storehouse of Eternal Truths, at the fourth dimension, then it is only logical that after abiding in that condition for awhile his body gradually being filled with light should be able to follow into it also.
Advanced States
There are many other terms used to describe advanced states: grace, nirvana, sainthood, enlightenment, etc. Even though there are no universally accepted criteria for these states, history has played a large role in making the determination.[Teresa of Ávila]
It is foolish to think that we will enter heaven without entering into ourselves.
[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]
This is the glory of the nature of the Self. Having come back home, the traveler finds peace. The intensity of happiness is beyond the superlative. The bliss of this state eliminates the possibility of any sorrow, great or small.
[Jeanne d'Arc]
Trial Transcript: Asked if she knows she is in God's grace, she answered: "If I am not, may God put me there; and if I am, may God so keep me."Jeanne d'Arc was tried and convicted by a Catholic court of blasphemy and heresy. She could spare herself from excommunication and execution if she would confess that she had been guided not by God but by Satan. She refused and was burnt at the stake on May 30, 1431. The Catholic Church reviewed the transcript of her trial in 1456 and admitted that they had made a tragic mistake.
Annalee Skarin
left us with a written record of his basis for excommunicating Annalee Skarin from the LDS Church. Annalee's daughter, Hope Hilton, left us with her opinion in the title of her unpublished manuscript "Descent into Madness, or The Formation of a Religious Cult". Annalee Skarin, for her part, left us her books.The very power of the heart, soul and mind united in this overwhelming love of devotion and joy turns the key and fulfills all the laws, opening wide the doors to all light, all power and perfection.
Stand with me upon the very threshold of light and view its rising splendor — and know that you, yourself are the door into it.
A note on sources
Many of the citations in this article refer to original documents preserved by the University of Utah's J. Willard Marriott Library. The correspondence contained in the Hope Hilton Papers paint an intimate picture of how Annalee's writings and excommunication affected the families involved. A letter by Linda Moat's husband Don concludes, "Let us prayerfully, without malice, seek the truth."Books by Annalee Skarin
- The Pathway of Glory Annalee Skarin, compiled from 1933–1946, self-published, eventually formed the basis for Ye Are Gods.
- Ye Are Gods, self-published, 1948
- Ye Are Gods As of 2014 this book was in its 18th printing.
- Sons Of God, by Christine Mercie A drama written by Annalee Skarin under a pen name. This was Annalee's first book written after her excommunication, as of 2003 it was in its 23rd printing.
- To God The Glory
- Temple Of God
- Secrets Of Eternity
- Celestial Song Of Creation
- Man Triumphant
- Beyond Mortal Boundaries
- The Book Of Books
- Pathway of the GODS, Vol 1 date unknown 1995
- Pathway of the GODS, Vol 2 date unknown 1995
Citations