This post is part 9 of a series about Venus and the Jaredites. To start at the beginning, click here.
One of the things I discovered while working on the Venus-Jaredite model was the exciting idea that Ether was metaphorically the Evening Star… something I think Moroni did on purpose and provided us clues to. You may think that sounds weird, but trust me, you’ll understand what I mean as you read on… and you’ll never look at Ether the same again.
Let’s start at the beginning of Ether’s story. That’s where things start to get really interesting:
“[Ether] could not be restrained because of the Spirit of the Lord which was in him. For he did cry from the morning, even until the going down of the sun…” (Ether 12:3)
This is curious language here. Why didn’t Moroni just say that Ether preached “from morning to night”? That would make sense. But I think he wrote it this way because, right off the bat, Moroni is connecting Ether to the Evening Star. How so?–
The evening star appears in the western sky, as the Sun is “going down,” but after a couple of hours it disappears from view just as the Sun does. To say “from morning to night” works, but to say “from the morning even until the going down of the sun” implies the point of day when the Evening Star appears. In other words, I think Moroni is hinting that Ether would be out crying the words of the Lord all day until the Evening Star showed up as the Sun was setting. Then he would disappear from the streets.
If Ether really is to be identified as the Evening Star, then that would perfectly explain his curious name. In a previous post, I gave a list of suggestions of where Ether’s name might have come from. Those possibilities seem to suggest to me that his name is meant to evoke the luminiferous ether that the ancients believed in–the invisible substance that held the heavenly objects in place. Would the Evening Star not be one of those celestial spheres lodged in the ether?
Further, it’s possible that Ether comes from the etar in setara, Old Persian for “star”.
His name also very closely resembles the biblical name Esther, which is related to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, who was literally a deity of the planet Venus, including its Evening Star apparition.
And don’t forget the interesting word octaeteris, the eter of which Ether may have sprung from. Octaeteris is a Greek word denoting the 8-year period in which Venus orbits the Sun exactly 13 times, thus appearing in the same spot as 8 years prior. As you’ve seen in a previous post, my model shows a perfect octaeteris passing in Ether 12-15 between the first Morning Star rise (Ether 13:15) and the 6th one when Coriantumr comes up to challenge Lib for the throne (Ether 14:11). This whole time, Ether is living in a cave, apparently. In fact, since the timeline of Ether 12-15 is 13 years, we can say that Ether lives in his cave for roughly one octaeteris and one tetraeteris–another “Ether” word which describes a 4-year period.
And that brings us to Ether’s cave…
“But they esteemed him [Ether] as naught, and cast him out; and he hid himself in the cavity of a rock by day, and by night he went forth viewing the things which should come upon the people. And as he dwelt in the cavity of a rock he made the remainder of this record, viewing the destructions which came upon the people, by night.” (Ether 13:13-14)
Moroni’s description of Ether here is so much like the Evening Star I can barely stand it.
First, notice that, like the Evening Star surveys the earth from above AT NIGHT, seeing all things transpiring beneath its lofty position in the ether, Ether (the prophet) would view the things coming upon his people BY NIGHT as well.
Second—In Aztec mythology, the Evening Star god, Xolotl, descended into the underworld every night with the Sun in order to guide it safely through the realm of the dead until sunrise. After being cast out, Ether, like the Evening Star, was nowhere to be seen during the day. And like the Evening Star, he would only come out of his “cavity of a rock” when it became dark.
This could be one reason why Ether’s name is so close to Esther, whose Hebrew root is s-t-r, and means “hidden.”
But the connections to Ether and the Evening Star get even more interesting from there.
Wikipedia aptly describes the Aztec Evening Star god Xolotl as thus:
“He is the dark personification of Venus, the evening star, and was associated with heavenly fire.”1
Recall that one possible origin for the name Ether is from the Latin word ater, which means “dark”; and that another is from the Greek aither, meaning “the sky”, which comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *aidh, which is “to burn.” All of these things describe Xolotl as well–a dark being associated with fire in the heavens. Was Ether in some way associated with this Aztec god?
But it gets even deeper…
Xolotl, who was depicted as a man with a dog’s head, not only led the Sun through the underworld, but the spirits of the dead as well. He was the psychopomp of Aztec mythology–like Hades was to the Greeks. I have also suggested that Ether may be derived from the Etruscan name Eita,2 who was the Etruscan equivalent of Hades, god of the underworld.
What is absolutely bonkers about that is that Eita was depicted anciently with a wolf’s head! Just like Xolotl! And if he didn’t have the head of a wolf, he was wearing a cap made from a wolf’s head. Xolotl and Eita both had basically the same jobs and they both had dog heads despite being worshiped by people on opposite sides of the Atlantic ocean.3
Interestingly, Hades had a three-headed dog in his underworld–which ties in closely with Xolotl and Eita–but even cooler is that Hades myths talk of him having a special helmet called “Aidos kune.” Well, it turns out that kune is the Greek word for “helmet” but actually meant “dog’s skin”4… so Hades essentially walked around the underworld with the skin of a dog on his head…. Oh, and his name means “unseen” or “hidden”5…. hmmm….
But let’s get back to Ether…
What I find interesting about all this, aside from the Evening Star stuff, is that Ether somewhat fills the role of an undertaker in the Jaredites’ final story. He lives underground. He is a portender of doom. He’s a member of a society that’s thrusting themselves into hell. He is the last survivor, surrounded by the dead on all sides. He tries to warn them, but since they refuse to repent, he in some ways ushers their souls into the underworld, guides them to it with his prophecies…. Interesting thought.
Along with that, it’s fascinating to note that the Aztec and Mayans viewed the underworld as having 9 levels.7 Nine also appears in the Venus-Jaredite model as the number of heliacal morning star rises that occur in Ether 12-15 (see Table 5 below). It’s almost like with each new Venus cycle, the Jaredites were descending deeper into the underworld, level by level. The name Jared does mean “descend”,8 after all… And not only were they falling ever farther into the darkness, but Ether, their psychopomp, like Xolotl, led them through all nine levels… Could all be pure coincidence, but it’s cool to point out nonetheless….
| DAY | EVENT |
| -72 | Evening star at maximum eastern elongation. Ether is cast out (13:13) |
| 1 | A: First morning star rise. Many rise up (13:15) |
| 585 | B: Second morning star rise. Shared rises up (13:23) |
| 1169 | C: Third morning star rise. |
| 1753 | D: Fourth morning star rise. The brother of Shared rises up (14:3) |
| 2337 | E: Fifth morning star rise. |
| 2921 | F: Sixth morning star rise. Coriantumr comes up to Moron (14:11) |
| 3505 | G: Seventh morning star rise. (people still gathering) |
| 4089 | H: Eighth morning star rise. (people still gathering) |
| 4673 | I: Ninth morning star rise. Coriantumr beheads Shiz. (15:30-31) |
In addition to Ether being like the Evening Star by hiding by day, coming out at dark, living in the underworld, etc., I propose that Ether’s main actions occurred only during the Evening Star phase of Venus. I suspect that Ether began prophesying and was kicked out of society during the Evening Star phase, and that when he came out in the second year and spoke individually to Coriantumr, it was during the Evening Star phase before Shared rose up (Ether 13:20-23). Interestingly, the Lord had to verbally command him to leave his hiding place at the end–probably, I think, because it was the Morning Star phase at the time, and completely out of his character as the Evening Star (Ether 15:33)… I also propose that Ether stopped his preaching to the people on the same day as Venus’ maximum eastern elongation, during the Evening Star phase. All this would make sense if he was to symbolically be the Evening Star, and it intriguingly fits very well with the Venus-Jaredite model, and I’ll get into it more in future posts.
But for now, it’s my conviction that whoever wrote the Book of Mormon absolutely chose the correct name for Ether. Hands down. No competition, it is the most fascinating name in all the scripture I have ever read. He was indeed, the Evening Star.
In the next post we’ll discuss who was the Morning Star of the tragedy that is the Jaredite story…. Can you guess who it might be?
(TO BE CONTINUED…)
Sources and Notes
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xolotl ↩︎
- Listen to how the Latin-speaking countries say the name of the prophet Ether: Éter; It does sound somewhat like Eita (AY-tuh). https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/ether/13?lang=spa ↩︎
- Lance Weaver suggests that perhaps one or both of these deities were influenced by the Egyptian god Anubis: dog-headed and in charge of the underworld.
↩︎ - https://ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/777000
↩︎ - https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%BA%CF%85%CE%BD%CE%AD%CE%B7; https://www.behindthename.com/name/hades
↩︎ - Graphic created by me using the following sources–Xolotl: https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-americas/xolotl-underworld-dog-god-aztecs-009970
; Aita with wolf cap: https://www.mediastorehouse.com/fine-art-finder/artists/phoenician/aita-eiza-etruscan-god-afterlife-23723352.html ; Title: Aita (Eiza), etruscan god of Afterlife, wearing a wolf cap (detail of fresco, 4th BC)
LRI4642126 Aita (Eiza), etruscan god of Afterlife, wearing a wolf cap (detail of fresco, 4th BC) by Etruscan, (4th century BC); Monterozzi Necropolis, Tarquinia, Italy; (add.info.: Etruscan art: fresco detail of the Tomb of the Ogre (tomba dell orco), 4th BC. necropole of Monterozzi, Tarquinia, near Viterbo (Italy).); Luisa Ricciarini; Greek, out of copyright
We are proud to offer this print from Bridgeman Images in collaboration with Fine Art Finder
© Luisa Ricciarini / Bridgeman Images
; Hades: https://www.worldhistory.org/Hades/
↩︎ - “Mictlan is the underworld of Aztec mythology. Most people who die would travel to Mictlan, although other possibilities exist … Mictlan consists of nine distinct levels: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mictl%C4%81n; https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/underworld; https://www.drunkmythology.com/podcast/2021/7/ep-89-nine-levels-of-mictlan-the-aztec-underworld
↩︎ - “… the antediluvian Book of Mormon patriarchal PN JARED may be derived from the same Hebrew root as the biblical name, “Jared,” namely, ירד yrd, “descend, go down.””: https://onoma.lib.byu.edu/index.php?title=JARED
↩︎
Featured image titled “Ether Hiding in the Cavity of a Rock,” by Gary Ernest Smith, and was found here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/come-follow-me-for-individuals-and-families-book-of-mormon-2020/46?lang=eng
Science Is True and the Church Is Too 
Ryan, the question I now have is–well two questions really: to what degree do these patterns appear in the Book of Ether as vestiges of the original text–the 24 gold plates? Or how much of it is due to Moroni’s purposeful abridgement?
And a third question: if Moroni is indeed responsible for crafting the narrative according to the patterns that you’ve set forth — or at least for making sure that those patterns were preserved — what was his purpose in so doing?
That last question might be a little ahead of the game–as there might be a little work still left for you to do before you get a clear enough picture to begin deciphering it. Even so, as intriguing as I find your work on the Book of Ether to be–what I don’t want to see is your efforts amounting to nothing more than a chase down an empty rabbit hole.
You seem to have found some patterns that are (IMO) difficult to refute–and so I’m wondering if getting a sense of some kind of metanarrative sooner than later might help to keep you from getting lost in the weeds out on the fringes–and I’m not suggesting that you have yet.
Even so, if you have a sense of what Moroni’s central purpose was in crafting the text in the way that your theory claims I’d like to hear you articulate it–or rearticulate it if you already have and I missed it (and forgive me if I missed it–things fly over my head all too easily sometimes).
Fun stuff–as always.
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Ryan, looking at my above comment–I see that it comes across a bit harsh. Sorry if it seems overly critical–that wasn’t my intention. My concern stems from a desire to see that your project has the best possible chance of succeeding. So, please forgive my tendency to be a backseat driver–not that I’m likely to overcome that habit any time soon. But it’s all with the best of intentions.
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Jack, I wasn’t offended at all. I’m super grateful for your readership and participation in the discussion. Like I’ve said before, I struggled for a long time trying to figure out how to best present it all. It’s such a huge topic with so many interrelated ideas that I couldn’t summarize things well enough to get my meaning across (and I often have a hard time condensing things in other situations, so….)
But I’m always open to suggestions, and this is not necessarily the only way I’ll be presenting the model. But I wanted to get it out there sooner than later, and felt like the inferior conjunction on 13 August 2023 was a good time to start.
So, I settled on a “book” format, with short chapters to gradually explain everything full enough for people to get the full picture that’s been dancing around in my head for most of this year. This link takes you to the hyperlinked “table of contents”: https://sitatcit.home.blog/venus-jaredite/
One of the last chapters/posts in the series will be in a story format, going through the entire timeline…. I think lol. If it works. If not, it may be a story with commentary.
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Great questions!! I don’t know how much of this was in the 24 plates vs how much is Moroni. It would be so awesome to get our hands in the primary source document and find out…
In fact, Moroni might have implied that one day we will:
4Therefore I do not write those things which transpired from the days of Adam until that time; but they are had upon the plates; and whoso findeth them, the same will have power that he may get the full account.
My guess is that Ether’s account left dates and such that Moroni could understand—you know, the meticulous and confusing Mesoamerican calendar that may have originated with the Jaredites. Ether probably wrote into if how they aligned their warring with Venus, despite him as an astrologer/prophet using Venus to prophesy of their destruction.
I think Moroni dropped clues to it instead of being explicit so that when the time was right it would be discovered, adding incredible strength to the validity of the BOM some 200 years later.
I think it’s also calculated to show that the Late Jaredites started a culture that was shared with various indigenous cultures throughout the Americas—that they are the fathers of later civilizations.
I also suspect more Venus connections to be found in the Book of Mormon as time goes on. I know of one other person who has found a battle elsewhere that might align with the star, and there are a few other things of interest that I’m looking at.
In the next installment we’ll get back to the timeline—I guess that’s the main purpose of mine: to use the Venus-Jaredite theory to establish a timeline for Ether 12-15 and figure out *when* the final battle occurred. With that, we can possibly clear up some other questions about the storied in the BOM, like when Lehi left Jerusalem, when Mulek got here, etc.
But of course, to borrow a phrase, “it’s just a theory.” 🙂 …. However, its ability to explain the data adds strength to it, IMO.
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I can’t remember the exact terminology–but there is a “close” writing verses an “open” writing (for lack of a better way of putting it). The close writing is when the author assumes that the reader understands the cultural nuance inherent in the text. And the open writing is when the author assumes that the text will have a broader readership and, therefore, offers explanations for those who may not be intimately familiar with the subject matter.
Latter-day saint scholars tend to believe that the Book of Mormon is the former–a close writing. And I agree–especially vis-a-vis Mormon’s writings.
And this brings me to Moroni’s writings. While I agree that the discovery of a strong correlation between the Book of Ether and the Maya veneration of Venus would be wonderful evidence for the book’s authenticity, I’m more of the opinion–at this point at least–that Moroni’s abridgment is a close writing.
My guess is that those from his own time and place — especially the Lamanites who probably had strong connections with the Maya — would have seen the elements you’ve discovered jumping off the pages–er, plates. And inasmuch as the book was crafted with the purpose of speaking to the Lamanites in the future, Moroni may have assumed that those aspects of the Maya belief system would have remained intact.
And so, I can imagine Moroni–after some time had passed–having a an increased desire to speak in terms that would resonate with a people whom he viewed as essentially Maya–wholly given over to the dominant culture of the day.
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