The Maya Venus
According to the Manuscript of Serna, a missionary report from central Mexico, the natives "adored and made more sacrifices" to Venus than any other "celestial or terrestrial creatures" apart from the sun. The Manuscript also tells us that:
The reason why this star was held in such esteem by the lords and people, and the reason why they counted their days by this star and yielded reverence and offered sacrifices to it, was because these deluded natives thought or believed that when one of their principal gods, named Topilzin or Quetzalcoatl, died and left this world, he transformed himself into that resplendent star.(1)
The Maya equivalent of Quetzalcoatl was Kukulkan. Both the Nahautl and Yucatec names translate as "quetzel bird-snake" or "plumed serpent". Kukulkan was a post-Classical deity, perhaps introduced to the Maya by the Toltecs, who were influential at Chichen Itza and other centres in the northern Yucatan.
Bishop Landa, writing in 1566 reported that:
[With] the Itzas who settled Chichen Itza there ruled a great lord named Cuculcan, as an evidence of which the principal building [pyramid] is called Cuculcan. They said he came from the West, but are not agreed as to whether he came before or after the Itzas, or with them. . . and that after his return he was regarded in Mexico as one of their gods, and called Cezalcohuati [Quetzalcoatl]. In the Yucatan also he was reverenced as a god, because of his great services to the state, as appeared in the order which he established in the Yucatan after the death of the chiefs, to settle the discord caused in the land . . . .(2)
Kukulkan is illustrated in the Venus pages of the Dresden Codex, which was compiled in the post-Classical period, probably after 1200 AD. But Venus was important in Maya myth and astronomy much earlier. The sun and Venus were adopted as symbols of royal authority by the hierarchical states that took shape in the pre-Classical period.
A huge pair of jaguar masks decorated a temple facade at Cerros in about 50 BC. According to Schele and Freidel, the lower masks represent the sun at each horizon; the upper masks symbolize Venus as morning and evening star. In the Classical period (200-900 AD), Venus and the sun were identified with Hun Ahawand Yax Balam, the "hero twins" who defeated the Lords of the Underworld, making creation of the present world possible.(3)
Their tale remained part of Maya mythology. It is recounted in detail in the post-conquest Quiche Popul Vuh, which names them Hunaphu and Xbalanque.
The mythological association between Venus and the sun has an astronomical foundation. Aveni suggests that it reflects Venus' "unique visual relationship to the sun". He notes that Venus "remains close to the sun, always becoming visible a few hours either before sunrise over the place the sun will come up, or after sunset over the place it went down".(4)
The Aztecs identified Venus as a dog who leads the sun, and the souls of kings, to the underworld. The two-headed Maya "cosmic monster", illustrated in both the Dresden Codex and Classical inscriptions, is marked by Venus symbols on one head, and solar symbols on the other. It too likely represents Venus leading the sun. The hero twins myth cycle is an account of the apparitions of Venus.
The heliacal rise of Venus, when it first rises in the morning sky in the east, marks the direction of sunrise and rebirth. Cosmical rise, when Venus rises at sunset in the west, is associated with evening and death. The period of invisibility between disappearance in the west at sunset and heliacal rise in the east marks Venus' sojourn in the underworld.(5)
According to the Manuscript of Serna, on the day of the heliacal rise of Venus, the natives "prepared a feast, warfare, and sacrifices". Perhaps because of its association with war, the heliacal rise of Venus came to be regarded as a time when dire events could be expected.
The Anales de Cuauhtitlan (Codex Chimalpopca)(6),another post-conquest document from central Mexico, reports that at heliacal rise, Venus exercised a dangerous influence:
And so, when he [Venus] goes forth [rises], they know on what day sign he casts his light on certain people, venting his anger against them, shooting them with darts.
This was certainly part of Maya augury in the post-Classical period.
The Dresden Codex Venus pages show Venus deities armed with spears to pierce their victims. The primary function of the Venus table appears to have been to fix the dates of rituals associated with the apparitions of Venus and supply auguries for these dates.
The table is entered at a heliacal rise of Venus on the tzolk'in date 1 (hun) Ahaw, and tracks through 65 synodic periods of Venus (37960 days).
Familiarity with the Maya calendar is a prerequisite to a proper understanding of the Venus table. For an introduction to the calendar, see a brief Note on the Maya Calendar, where you will also find links to more detailed discussions of the calendar.
Star Wars
The timing of wars to coincide with the rise of Venus was adopted in the Maya area in the Classical period, and is associated with "Tlaloc war cult", which seems to have originated at Teotihaucan in Central Mexico. Tlaloc is the Aztec name of the central Mexican rain god, who, like his Maya counterpart Chac, has Venus associations.
Although the earliest representation of the Tlaloc warrior costume in the Mayan area (memorializing the conquest of Uaxactun by Tikal on 8.17.1.4.12 11, 16 January 378 AD) has has no astronomical significance, most inscriptions illustrating the Tlaloc costume do.
The astonishing murals at Bonampak illustrate a victory on 9.18.1.15.15 (16 August 792 AD), within a day or two of the heliacal rise of Venus. Schele and Freidel have shown that most wars recorded on classical stelae are dated to the heliacal rise of Venus, other apparitions of Venus, or to the stationary points of Jupiter and Saturn.
The most frequent "war glyph" in the inscriptions combines the Venus glyph and an emblem glyph, implying war at the place named by the emblem glyph (7

Venus Resurrects This Easter Sunday
Have you noticed Venus, the Evening Star, currently blazing in the west after sunset? From Native American traditions we learn that in this phase it represents the Savior when he was at the heights of his ministry. In March it will plunge into the darkness below the horizon even as the Savior conquered the forces of death in the underworld. Then, in an extremely rare event,Venus will resurrect precisely on Easter (April 15, 2001) as the Bright Morning Star. That rare coincidence, which won't happen again for fifteen hundred years, can be witnessed around the world just before dawn on Easter Sunday wherever the eastern horizon is low and clear. This extraordinary sight was also witnessed on that Easter Sunday morning long ago when death was conquered by the Savior of all mankind.
The scriptures contain several references to the Morning Star, which we know as the planet Venus. In fact, the Savior clearly identifies himself as "the bright and morning star" (Rev. 22:16). Just what does that mean? Is it simply a figurative reference, meaning that Jesus was the most illuminating person ever to have come to earth, or is there a meaningful connection to the actual planet Venus?
Native Americans have preserved traditions which suggest that the cycles of Venus, the Evening and the Morning Star, symbolize the life of their white and bearded god, the Feathered Serpent, who was said to have visited them during the first century AD. Because of the account in the Book of Mormon of the visit of the Savior to the Western Hemisphere during that same century, much has been written supporting the idea that the Feathered Serpent was none other than the resurrected Jesus Christ.[1] There is much calendrical evidence supporting this identification, some of which will be presented in this article.
1. The Feathered SerpentNearly every Native American tribe has a legend of a great prophet who visited them in the distant past, and who promised to return someday. He was described as being tall, white-skinned and bearded. He taught a religion of love and service, and he forbade human sacrifice. He also taught agriculture, metallurgy, astronomy, medicine and government. Moreover, "it was held as true that he made the calendar."[2] He was known by a variety of names throughout the hemisphere, such as Totem in Alaska, Tacoma in Washington, Ioskeha in New York, Montezuma in Texas, Quetzalcoatl in Mexico, Viracocha in Peru, Wako in the Amazon, Temaukel in Tierra del Fuego and Tiki in Polynesia.[3]. The English translation of some of these names is the "Feathered Serpent." It was said that he was half man and half god, being the son both of a god and also of a beautiful mortal virgin. The "feathered serpent" symbol seems appropriate because the feathers, exemplifying the power to fly to the heavens, represent godliness, and the serpent represents mortality. This symbolism is virtually identical to Moses's imagery of a fiery, flying serpent which he used to represent the Savior lifted up on the pole to heal all who would look (Num. 21:6 9, 1 Nephi 17:41, 2 Nephi 25:20, Hel. 8:14-15).[4]

If it is not already clear to the reader that the legendary Feathered Serpent was Jesus Christ, some calendrical evidence will now be marshalled to testify. First, the timing of the visit of the Feathered Serpent is given as about the time of Christ in the history written by an Aztec prince who converted to Christianity at the time of the Spanish conquest. He also specifically mentions the darkening of the sun and moon, and earthquakes as happening "at the same time when Christ our Lord suffered, and they say it happened during the first days of the year."[5] That was written about the year 1600, long before the Book of Mormon gave a similar account in 1830 (3 Nephi 8). The former was not published, however, until 1848, and then only in Spanish, so the Book of Mormon version could not have been copied from it.
A second calendrical testimony comes from the Native American traditions that link the Feathered Serpent to the cycles of the evening and the morning star. They record that "at the time when the planet was visible in the sky (as evening star) Quetzalcoatl died. And when Quetzalcoatl was dead he dwelt in the underworld... not until 8 days had passed did the great star appear; that is, as the morning star. They said that then Quetzalcoatl ascended the throne as god."[6]
This precious intelligence provides two great insights. First, it suggests one way to test the hypothesis that Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent, was indeed Jesus Christ. The date of his Resurrection is clearly given in terms that most Bible scholars agree must refer either to what would have been called Sunday, 7 April AD 30 or Sunday, 3 April AD 33 on our calendar. Second, it allows us to reconstruct the symbolism of the entire cycle of Venus.
The first test perfectly fits one of the two proposed resurrection dates. On Sunday, 3 April 33, Venus was indeed rising as the Bright and Morning Star, whereas it was some three months past the rising in AD 30. That coincidence provides circumstantial evidence both that Christ was the Feathered Serpent, and also that the AD 33 date is correct for the Resurrection.[7]
It is the second insight that provides the key to reconstructing the entire Venus Calendar. This calendar allows us to pinpoint the exact day that Venus resurrects, and hence to appreciate the fact that it will again resurrect precisely on Easter Sunday this year. In order to understand the Venus calendar, we must first consider the motion of the evening and the morning star.

The Savior began his ministry on Saturday, 6 April 30, which is the precise equivalent of his baptism day, but with Venus on the morning star side of its orbit, rather than the evening star side. I have not yet been able to determine it that is also a key orbital point, although astronomically we would expect it to be. As mentioned earlier, it could likely represent godhood, being a bright point after resurrection.
There is, however, no question about the alignment of the day of the Savior's resurrection. On the Venus calendar, if the resurrection was after the midnight which began Sunday, 3 April 33, then it coincided with the day 1 Resurrection on the Venus calendar. Thus of these three key dates in the Savior's life, all of them coincide with Venus holy days. The best symbolism, however, was that preserved by the Native Americans: The resurrection of the Savior coincided exactly with the resurrection of Venus. That means when the darkness cleared away in the morning, after the destruction experienced by the Nephites, one of the first sights that would meet their eyes would have been the rising of the Dawn Star, heralding the overcoming of death.
4. The Resurrection Easter Repeats.This Easter Sunday we will have an opportunity to witness the resurrection of Venus precisely on Easter Sunday morning. That is an extremely rare event. There are two important dates in L.D.S. Church history which occurred on similar dates. First, the return of the prophet Elijah, prophesied by Malachi at the close of the Old Testament, occurred on Easter Sunday, 3 April 1836, which was calendrically one of the most similar days in history to that of the resurrection of the Savior.[15] To my knowledge, however, the similarity did not include any Venus symbolism. Another important date in Church history was the coming forth of the Book of Mormon on Thursday, 25 March 1830.[16] That day, which was New Year's Day on the Hebrew Calendar, was also the day 1 Resurrection on the Venus calendar. The planet Mercury, which is also an evening and morning star, was also at the same day of its cycle on both of these dates as it was on the Easter of the Savior's resurrection, acting as a second witness that these alignments were not due to chance. Thus there was symbolism for the resurrection of the Book of Mormon, when it could again speak to us like a voice from the dust. But that date was not Easter Sunday. Thus one of these dates aligned with Venus, and the other with Easter, but both of them aligned also with the planet Mercury. In the case of this coming Easter the alignment is with both Easter and Venus, but not with the planet Mercury.
Please understand that I am not expecting any great event to occur on Easter this year. Similar alignments have occurred in the past and to my knowledge they were not accompanied by any event the world would notice. But it seems like a wonderful time to actually witness the rising of Venus on Easter, just as it occurred at the Savior's resurrection. Just how rare is this alignment? Only one day of every 584 days is the day on which Venus resurrects, which can occur on any day of our year. Thus, we would expect about one Easter Sunday every 584 years to have this alignment. I checked to see when it will happen again, and it turns out that the next 1,500 years are not average, because it will not occur for more than another 1,500 years. So this is an event of a millennium to witness.
How can you best observe it? About an hour before sunrise on Easter Sunday, you should be somewhere where the eastern horizon is low, away from mountains if possible. Most of the United States will then have Daylight Savings time, so sunrise will be about 6:00 a.m. rather than 5:00 a.m. Even then it depends on where you live in the time zone, so listen to your local weather report. I will be giving a special Easter Sunrise and Venus Rise Service at 6 a.m. in Utah Valley discussing the importance of these calendrical alignments in the Savior's life. If you would be interested in attending it, please e-mail me at easter@johnpratt.com for instructions as to where it will be. It will be outside so there will be plenty of room for anyone interested.