This post is part 5 of a series about Venus and the Jaredites. To start at the beginning, click here.
When the final Jaredite battle was over, and the loser’s head severed from his body, the one man left standing was Coriantumr. Everyone else had been killed.
He’s somewhat of a mysterious character, Coriantumr. All we know concerning his life after the destruction of the Jaredites comes from the book of Omni:
And Coriantumr was discovered by the people of Zarahemla; and he dwelt with them for the space of nine moons. (Omni 1:21)
Years earlier, the prophet Ether had spoken to Coriantumr and told him that unless he repented, all his people would be slain except himself, and that “he should only live to see the fulfilling of the prophecies which had been spoken concerning another people receiving the land for their inheritance; and Coriantumr should receive a burial by them.” (Ether 13:21)
Putting those two scriptures together, we can see that Coriantumr most likely lived among the people of Zarahemla (or the Mulekites, as they’re often called) for 9 moons and then, after having died among them, was buried by them.
But the question is, why did he only live “nine moons” among them? Why was that specific timeframe so important for Omni to include in his record? There are literally zero other times in the Book of Mormon where they use moons as a unit of time. Why didn’t they just say nine months? And why did the people of Zarahemla remember this oddly specific time period for so many years (centuries) when they were illiterate, had no records of their own, and couldn’t even remember their original language?
Believe it or not, these questions can be answered by the Venus cycle. But I can only answer it partially in this article, and will have to leave the full explanation—which truly blew my mind—for another time.
If you recall, in one synodic period, Venus spends 263 days as the Morning Star, and another 263 days as the Evening Star. Although it doesn’t look it, the number 263 in days is quite significant.
Turns out that 263 days is almost exactly 9 lunar cycles, each lunar cycle being about 29.5 days1 (29.5 x 9 = 265.5). Therefore, it would not be wrong to say that Venus is the morning star for 9 moons… You could also say that it’s the morning star for 9 months, but since 9 months is more like 270 days (9 x 30 = 270), it really is more accurate to say 9 moons.
It also turns out that women are on average pregnant for about the same period of time—9 lunar cycles. One study found the average gestation period to be 266 days,3 which is astonishingly close to the 265.5 calculated above, as well as to the 263 days of Venus.
And so if you were ever wondering how the planet Venus got its name, I would bet it had something to do with it acting like a woman’s pregnancy. Venus was, of course, the Roman goddess of fertility…
With that information, let’s return to the Jaredites. As we’ve discussed in previous articles, they apparently held their second-to-last battle around the time of a Venusian superior conjunction, and then fought their final battle four years later during a Venusian inferior conjunction… These constitute two very remarkable correlations to the Venus cycle.
Well, directly following inferior conjunction comes the Morning Star phase of Venus, which we just established lasts almost exactly 9 lunar cycles.
And how long are we told that Coriantumr lived after he beheaded Shiz?
“Nine moons!”
So the Jaredites fought their penultimate battle near a superior conjunction, then four years later were destroyed in their final battle during an inferior conjunction; immediately afterward, Venus rose as the Morning Star, and then Coriantumr lived for only about 263 days after that…. Which means that Coriantumr may have lived after the final battle among the Mulekites for the exact entire time that Venus was the morning star… and no longer…
…Hmm, sure sounds like there’s meant to be some connection there between the Jaredites and Venus.
Sure, you could chalk it up as a coincidence, but how many coincidences do you need before there starts to be significance? I’ve already shown three strong correlations between the final Jaredite wars and the Venus cycle. Stay tuned for more to come.
(TO BE CONTINUED…)
Sources and Notes
- https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/moon-phases/en/ ↩︎
- https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/676/phases-of-the-moon/ ↩︎
- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130806203327.htm ↩︎
- “Detailed view of Venus, from the Renaissance artwork “Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli (created 1483 – 1485 CE). Tempera on panel. Provenance: Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici family collections. Uffizi Gallery, Florence.” https://www.worldhistory.org/image/11774/venus-sandro-botticelli/ ↩︎
Science Is True and the Church Is Too 
Yeah–one is left to wonder if that one-time usage of “moons” in the Book of Mormon is an artifact of Mulekite time keeping–a lunar calendar of sorts. And if so–where did they get it? From the Jaredites perhaps? And if so, is it possible that “nine moons” — being a measurement of time associated with Venus’ phases — came to mean more than nine months specifically?
Could it have a broader usage like 40 years in the wilderness? Or a journey of 3 days into the wilderness? Those expressions of time need not be perfectly accurate in terms of an exact measurement of time. Yes, a round figure of time is implied–but what’s just as important, if not more so, is the purpose that underscores the usage of said time.
It wasn’t important that Lehi travelled *exactly* 3 days into the wilderness before he set up his camp in the Valley of Lemuel. What *was* important is that he travelled the minimal distance from the Temple beyond which he could legally perform his own sacrifices. It’s the same with the children of Israel: 40 years in the wilderness had more to do with the time it took for a generation to pass away than with the exact number of years.
Could the same thinking be applied to 9 moons. And if so, are there clues to finding that meaning from what you’ve shared so far about the possible prominence of Venus in Jaredite culture? What if we assumed–just for kicks–that the nine month measurement became charged with meaning because of Venus’ cycles? And that the first evening phase was associated with with the first half of life cycle–from birth to some sort of meridian? And the morning phase was associated with the second half–from the meridian to death?
I know this is all a bit fanciful–but what I’m trying to get it is that perhaps “nine moons” could have simply meant “the rest of his life.” His sunset years–so to speak–that is, if it were charged with deeper meaning in the same way that some of the measurements are in Hebrew language and culture.
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I think what you suggest is very possible. I tend to read given timeframes in the scriptures as approximations, much like we speak numbers in approximations in regular conversation. I do not think that Coriantumr lived EXACTLY 9 moons… plus the unit “moons” seems like its inherently imprecise.
I am also very open to the idea that the 9 moons is not literal but was meant to tell us something. I believe it was to point us to Venus, but it could have been intended for something else entirely. Given all the other things that evoke Venus in Ether 12-15, I think a strong argument can be made that it was to symbolize either the morning or evening Star phase.
And if it’s a literal 9 moons coming directly after an inferior conjunction, it’s an entire morning Star phase, which I believe holds some significance in the story.
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As it relates to your final paragraph–I’m most intrigued by how the morning star phase seems to coincide with Coriantumr’s time with the Mulekites (in your diagram). If there is anything to the idea that it represents the second half of one’s lifecycle and his decent into the underworld–well it sure lines up nicely with Coriantumr’s final “phase.” And on top of that–it might also represent (by extension) the end of his kingdom: or the end of the Jaredite civilization.
If you’ll permit me to continue with my goofy thinking on this point–I’ve been thinking about Venus’ two phases and how they might have some significance in Hebrew cosmology. And the one thing I’ve hit upon is that they seem to coincide the high priest’s trek through the ancient tabernacle. The first phase coincides with the exoteric aspect of the trek before passing through the first veil–and the second represents the esoteric aspect before passing through the great or second veil. And, of course, the conjunctions represent the veils themselves — the inferior the first and the superior the second — as Venus encounters the sun (heavenly glory) from a sidereal perspective.
What I’m suggesting here is deeply religious. But even so, I think we’d agree that it’s common in most cultures for sacred elements to find their way into everyday parlance–so much so that they even become pedestrian. And so, with respect to how all of this might apply to Coriantumr’s “9 moons” it could be nothing more than a Mulekite way of saying “the rest of his life.” Or, perhaps, the narrator intended to transmit something more deeply significant such as: in spite of everything that happened before Coriantumr did abide in the covenant during the last part of his life–and it shall be well with him.
Well, Ryan, I hope all of this isn’t too “out there.” I realize that what I’m saying could turn out to be nothing more than a wisp of vapor. Even so, thanks for your patience in allowing my to share some of my crazy ideas on your blog. While I’m an orthodox Latter-day Saint through and through I have a weakness for mysticism. It’s just too fun for me to ignore at times. 😀
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Mysticismify away, my friend! I love that stuff, and I like the way you think. Keep sharing your ideas. That’s an awesome connection you made to the ancient temple.
I will have more to say about Coriantumr’s 9 moons in an upcoming post… it appears to me that his connection to Venus is even deeper than the 9 moons. Whether it was literal 9 lunar cycles or not, I propose it was intentional and designed to provide authenticity to the Book of Mormon. The Book is absolutely full of gems to mine in all places.
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Thanks, Ryan. I’d “like” your comments if I had a WordPress account–but I don’t. So just take it for granted that I like pretty-much everything post.
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“everything *you* post”
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