This post is part 4 of a series about Venus and the Jaredites. To start at the beginning, click here.
The Mayans would sometimes start their wars in the last days of Venus’ superior or inferior conjunction so that when the Evening or Morning Star first reappeared, they could ritualistically decapitate their vanquished enemy.
I’m proposing that the Late Jaredites did the same thing.
I’ve already written about how Coriantumr and Shiz might have fought the final Jaredite battle over the 8 days of inferior conjunction so the winner could behead his foe as the Morning Star ascended into view for the first time. But there is likewise another striking event in the Jaredite story that lines up perfectly with the Venus cycle.
Remember how Venus has this overall large cycle of 8 years? Well, there’s this cool phenomenon in this cycle where inferior conjunction and super conjunction happen on the same day, four years apart.
Let’s use an example—
Recall that the most recent inferior conjunction was on 13 August 2023. Here’s an illustration of it:
Rewind the clock exactly four years to 13 Aug 2019, and you’ll see that Venus was then at superior conjunction:
The actual calculated dates of these particular conjunctions are:
- 14 August 2019, 6:08 GMT: Superior Conjunction
- 13 August 2023, 11:15 GMT: Inferior Conjunction1
You can see it’s not exactly the same date and time, but it’s super close…
Why am I telling you this?
Well, because if the Jaredites truly did fight their final battle on an inferior conjunction, then that means that 4 years prior to that date was a superior conjunction…
… Which would be absolutely meaningless if not for the fact that Moroni makes sure to tell us that after the battle at the waters of Ripliancum the Jaredites pause the war in order to gather all the people together for the final battle… and it takes FOUR YEARS to do so.
Which means, of course, that if the final battle was at inferior conjunction, then the battle at the waters of Ripliancum was at or near superior conjunction—thus giving us two incredible instances thus far where the Jaredites, like the Mayans, timed their military events with the planet Venus!
Here are the words of Moroni from Ether 15 to prove it:
“8 And it came to pass that he [Coriantumr] came to the waters of Ripliancum, which, by interpretation, is large, or to exceed all; wherefore, when they came to these waters they pitched their tents; and Shiz also pitched his tents near unto them; and therefore on the morrow they did come to battle [their penultimate battle]. 9 And it came to pass that they fought an exceedingly sore battle, in which Coriantumr was wounded again, and he fainted with the loss of blood.10 And it came to pass that the armies of Coriantumr did press upon the armies of Shiz that they beat them, that they caused them to flee before them; and they did flee southward, and did pitch their tents in a place which was called Ogath.11 And it came to pass that the army of Coriantumr did pitch their tents by the hill Ramah; and it was that same hill where my father Mormon did hide up the records unto the Lord, which were sacred.12 And it came to pass that they did gather together all the people upon all the face of the land, who had not been slain, save it was Ether.13 And it came to pass that Ether did behold all the doings of the people; and he beheld that the people who were for Coriantumr were gathered together to the army of Coriantumr; and the people who were for Shiz were gathered together to the army of Shiz.14 Wherefore, they were for the space of four years gathering together the people, that they might get all who were upon the face of the land, and that they might receive all the strength which it was possible that they could receive.15 And it came to pass that when they were all gathered together, every one to the army which he would, with their wives and their children—both men, women and children being armed with weapons of war, having shields, and breastplates, and head-plates, and being clothed after the manner of war—they did march forth one against another to battle [their final battle]…“
So it appears they fought at the waters of Ripliancum around an superior conjunction, then around the same day 4 years later, they fought their final battle at inferior conjunction.
Isn’t that amazing?
Why else do you think the Jaredites would choose to take four years off to gather their people? Why not 1, 3, or 5 years? I think they chose four years because, once they had enough people (which may have taken a while), they waited for an inferior conjunction to start fighting again. Or maybe they thought the 4-year period between conjunctions was auspicious for some reason.
But whatever the reason, we now have two remarkable Jaredite events that we can place solidly on a Venus timeline. Are there any more? I’m glad you asked, because there are…
Sources and Notes
- Date and time of the superior conjunctions (and all major Venus cycle points in the last 100+ years) found here: https://www.alabe.com/vecycle-1.pdf ↩︎
Science Is True and the Church Is Too 