For the next several weeks I will be posting a series of blog posts in which I present my theory that the Late Jaredites, like the ancient Mayans, fought their battles according to the movements of the planet Venus. I propose that the Jaredites generally timed their battles to coincide with the first heliacal rising of Venus as the Morning Star, similar to the military practices of the Mayans.
When the Venus cycle is applied to the sequence of events outlined in the text of Ether 12-15, a model can be created in which a significant amount of remarkable correlations appear. This model offers some never-before-seen explanations for a number of occurrences in the Jaredites’ last story. It explains things such as Ether’s peculiar name, the seemingly-random details left by Moroni as he abridged the book, and why Coriantumr only lived for 9 months with the Mulekites, to name a few.
Using this model, along with the text of the Book of Mormon, we can make a reasonable argument that the final Jaredite wars started around 600–587 BC and took about 13 years to destroy their civilization. We can see that these 13 years included 8 complete synodic periods of Venus and 8 times when Venus switched from Evening Star to rise as the Morning Star. We also see that 8 years in is when the downward spiral truly began for the Jaredites. These instances of 8 strengthen my previous findings that the number 8 has some mysterious significance to Jaredite history.
As stated above, this Venus-Jaredite model can provide a few possible dates for the events in chapters 12 through 15 of the book of Ether. According to my research–which includes the motion of Venus, Moroni’s clues, and the Mayan calendar–I consider the most likely timeline to be as follows:
| BC | EVENT |
|---|---|
| 589 | Ether begins prophesying. War begins. |
| 587 | Shared challenges Coriantumr. |
| 586 | Shared dies. |
| 584 | The brother of Shared challenges Coriantumr. |
| 582 | The brother of Shared is murdered by his high priest. |
| 581 | Lib obtains the kingdom. Coriantumr challenges Lib to reclaim his throne. |
| 580 | The people begin to gather together for the final battle. |
| 576 | The final battle. Coriantumr beheads Shiz. |
| 575 | Coriantumr dies among the people of Zarahemla. |
In the ensuing articles, I will lay out the groundwork and the details of this theory. I will show how Moroni seems to have written the book of Ether in such a way to provide hints of what the Jaredites were actually doing–that they were using the Morning Star to plan their offenses, while Ether was using it to prophesy their destruction. I will propose that the parallels found between the Jaredites and the Mayans are evidence of Jaredite practices surviving into later cultures.
It’s a fascinating hypothesis that can tell you more about the last chapters of Ether than you thought possible. Whether the theory is correct or not, by the time we’re done with the series, you’ll have a PhD in Ether 12-15. Studying this topic has been a wild ride that’s led me to many interesting places, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.
(TO BE CONTINUED…)
Sources and Notes
The featured image for this post, entitled “Kukulkan as Venus”, was found here (also includes some information regarding the Mayans planning their battles around Venus): https://annex.exploratorium.edu/ancientobs/chichen/HTML/caracol.html
Science Is True and the Church Is Too 