This post is part 3 of a series about Venus and the Jaredites. To start at the beginning, click here.
In order to understand how the Jaredites may have been aligning their battles with Venus, we need to understand the planet’s interesting cycle.
The Synodic Period
Venus spends about half of its time as the Morning Star (rising in the east before the sun) and half as the Evening Star (setting in the west after the Sun). As it switches from the Morning Star phase to the Evening Star phase, it disappears from view for several weeks; and as it changes from Evening Star to Morning Star, it disappears for a few days. These disappearances from the sky are called conjunctions—superior and inferior respectively.
Here’s the breakdown of the planet’s cycle:
- 263 days as Morning Star
- 50 days at superior conjunction
- 263 days as Evening Star
- 8 days at inferior conjunction
And here’s a good visual that shows the same thing:
It’s a cycle, so it just repeats over and over, every 584 days (263 + 50 + 263 + 8 = 584). These 584 days complete what is called one synodic period of Venus. And the numbers work out nicely in such a way that 5 synodic periods equal exactly 8 years (2)… which means that Venus will be in the same position in the sky today in 2023 as it will be on this day in 2031.
For a real life example of this 8-year phenomenon, consider the U.S. Presidents #44 and #45. Obama first took the oath of office on 20 January 2009; and Trump took it exactly 8 years later on 20 January 2017. At both moments, Venus was in the same place in our sky (which happened to be in the Evening Star phase):
You see how all the other planets are in different positions relative to Earth, yet Venus is in the exact same spot? Pretty cool huh?
Venus Conjunctions
Now, we will be talking A LOT about the conjunctions in this blog series, so here I’ll explain a bit more about them. The diagram below shows the two types of conjunctions:
The superior conjunction happens when Venus is behind the Sun from our point of view. Because it is farther away from us then, and the Sun is huge, it takes a long time for it to show up in our skies again—hence the 50 days.
Inferior conjunction occurs when Venus is between Earth and the Sun. This one happens quickly because Venus is mostly moving toward us and is very close at that point—hence the 8 days. The most recent inferior conjunction occurred just a while back on 13 August 2023 at 5:15 AM Utah time…. it’s for that reason that I nerdily chose to begin this blog series at that exact time—the very moment that Venus was directly between us and our host star:
The Mayans
Raise your hand if you had no idea that Venus behaved like this, with its west sky, east sky, disappearing acts, etc… Don’t worry, I didn’t either…. But the Mayans did!
The Mayans were very cognizant of Venus’ regular, 584-day cycle, but their numbers for its four phases were slightly different than we measure them today:
| Mayan numbers | Actual numbers | Venus phase |
| 236 days | 263 days | Morning star |
| 90 days | 50 days | Superior conjunction |
| 250 days | 263 days | Evening star |
| 8 days | 8 days | Inferior conjunction |
Notice that the one phase they got spot on was the 8-day inferior conjunction. They knew that Venus vanished from the sky for 8 days at that part of the cycle.
I’ve already suggested that the final Jaredite battle was fought during those 8 days of a Venusian inferior conjunction, but don’t think that’s the only correlation I’ve found between the last decade or so of the Jaredite civilization and the cycle of Venus. There are many more.
Consider the following quotations about the Venus-war practices of the Mayans:
“Mayans usually initiated fighting on the last days of either the superior or inferior conjunction.” (7)
“Mayanists have noted that the dates of recorded star wars often coincide with astronomical events involving the planet Venus, … when it was first visible in the morning or night sky…” (8)
So the Mayans would sometimes coordinate their battles with conjunctions, and sometimes with Morning and Evening Star appearances… And I think this applied to the Late Jaredites as well.
That being said, I propose that there is enough information in Ether 12-15 to use the Venus cycle to construct a reasonable timeline for the events of the Jaredites’ final years… and I will be presenting this information in future posts.
(TO BE CONTINUED…)
Sources and Notes
- This diagram found on John Pratt’s website, a Mormon who believed the Venus cycle testified of Christ. https://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/lds/meridian/2010/venus.html
- 5 synodic periods of Venus equals 8 Earth years, because 584 x 5 = 2920 and 365 x 8 = 2920.
- Screenshots of the solar system taken on the app Solar System Scope. Photos of the inaugurations found online… somewhere…
- https://www.eso.org/public/outreach/eduoff/vt-2004/Education/edu1app2.html
- Screenshot from the app Solar System Scope. Date and time of the inferior conjunction (and all major Venus cycle points in the last 100+ years) found here: https://www.alabe.com/vecycle-1.pdf
- Table is adapted from the information here: https://stargazingmumbai.in/the-story-of-venus-and-mayans/
- “Successful warfare was thought to depend upon the support of the gods of the planet Venus. Mayans usually initiated fighting on the last days of either the superior or inferior conjunction. This timing was important so that the ritual beheading of the captured king could take place in the ritual ball game at the time of the appearance of the planet Venus.” https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/sites/default/files/archive-files/pdf/warren/2021-07-12/11_bruce_w._warren_secret_combinations_warfare_and_captive_sacrifice_225-236.pdf
- “Mayanists have noted that the dates of recorded star wars often coincide with astronomical events involving the planet Venus, either when it was first visible in the morning or night sky or during its absence at inferior conjunction. Venus was known to Mesoamerican civilizations as the bringer of war (in contrast to the equivalent European belief assigning that characteristic to Mars). The Maya called it Chak Ek’ or “Great Star” and made it the focus of detailed astronomical observation and calculation. The Dresden Codex, one of only four surviving Maya books, includes astronomical tables for calculating the position of Venus, which the codex depicts as spearing people as it passes overhead.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_war
General information on the Venus cycle can be found here: https://annex.exploratorium.edu/ancientobs/chichen/HTML/caracol3.html
The featured image of this post is a composite image of the surface of Venus, and was found here: https://phys.org/news/2021-01-six-wavelength-spectroscopy-surface-venus.html
Science Is True and the Church Is Too 
Wow–lots of eights! If you ever pull all of this together into a single tome you’ll probably have to provide a compendium of sorts (as an appendix?) that lists all of the known usages and/or allusions of the number 8 in the Book of Ether.
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Eight is EVERYWHERE with Venus. That’s how this Venus-Jaredite model/theory was born. I need to write them all down for sure. Here’s some of them I didn’t mention:
Venus disappears from the sky before inferior conjunction when it’s within 8 degrees from the sun, and it returns to view when it’s more than 8 degrees away from the Sun.
The maximum transit of Venus across the Sun would take about 8 hrs.
Transits occur in pairs, 8 years apart.
Venus, like the moon, has 8 phases (like full, half, waxing crescent, etc)
Venus makes a figure 8 shape in its movements if plotted out.
The Mayan cycle of 104 years was called a Venus Round, and was eight 13-year periods.
The symbol of the Venus goddess Ishtar was an 8-pointed star.
… and I’m sure I’m missing some more
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Some of those are *really* interesting. But first, just a gentle elbow dig — and you’ve probably thought about this already — a few of those examples are rather arbitrary. We don’t know how modern hours, degrees, etc., would line up with ancient measurements. That said, even if only coincidental those modern “eights” are still remarkable.
“The symbol of the Venus goddess Ishtar was an 8-pointed star.”
Nibley believed that the eight-pointed star was the seal of Melchizedek. So there might be a profound connection there worth exploring.
In a previous post you mentioned that the name Ether might be derived from Ishtar. I’m open to the idea of a strong Mesopotamian influence on Jaredite culture. And while I still favor Esther or “hidden” as the primary meaning of the name Ether–I think something can be said for the implication of a veiled (hidden) Mother Goddess as perhaps a major aspect of that hidden-ness.
Fun stuff as always.
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Thanks Jack. Haha yes I know some of those are arbitrary, but the fact that the minute and hour and degree system that humans came up with still produces eights around Venus is crazy!
There may be a connection to Melchizedek there… especially since Christ is associated with Venus.
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Yes, the Savior is the “bright and morning star” which heralds the rising of the sun. Or the Great High Priest who opens the way to the Father.
I’d be interested in hearing some of your ideas on how Venus represents both the Mother Goddess and the Savior. Aside from the fact that both they are both life-givers and what-not–I wonder if there might be differing symbolic manifestations “life-giving” because of syncretic influences and so forth.
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I’ve been amazed learning about Venus the past several months because, as far as I can tell, it symbolizes both the Mother Goddess and Christ. I’ve written a bit about that relationship here: https://sitatcit.home.blog/2023/03/20/brother-of-jared-the-psychedelic-bee-shaman-who-worshiped-the-mother-goddess/
According to native Americans, 13 was the number of Venus. One reason given for this in the book He Walked The Americas is that the Prophet (Christ) had 12 disciples with Himself, totaling 13. He is also associated with the “Dawn Star” as they call it because He came from the East, etc.
As I wrote in the linked article above, the Mayans are an interesting case because they saw Venus as a male deity, while other groups like the Mesopotamians and the Romans saw her as a female. I think this is because the brother of Jared found out that the Mother he prayed to was actually the Son……?
In Ether 12-15 I can see Venus as being representative of the Lord, bringing war and judgment upon an unrepentant nation.
I know nothing though lol—it’s been fun to learn about it all, but it just creates more questions, naturally. What are your thoughts on Venus, the Mother, and Jesus?
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