THE GOSPEL AND THE ZODIAC: Allegorical Astronomy and Astrology in the Gospel of Mark

by Bill Darlison

In The Gospel and the Zodiac, Bill Darlison – a Unitarian minister – demonstrates that the Gospel of Mark, which scholars consider the primary document of Christianity, is deliberately structured around the signs of the zodiac, and that the incidents in the career of Jesus which it recounts correspond exactly with the yearly cycle of the sun in the sky. Darlison argues that the Gospel was originally an esoteric, not a historical, text, and that the Gospel’s implausible stories were never intended to be interpreted in a literal sense. Rather, they are dramatic representations of stages in spiritual development, and repositories of arcane wisdom.

This extraordinary study shows how Christianity relates to other world faiths and so is deeply ecumenical. It aims to rediscover Christianity’s dynamic character by interpreting the Gospels in the light of the culture in which they were created, rather than viewing them through the distorting lens of contemporary prejudices. As such it is a radical new interpretation of the Gospels and makes an important contribution to the contemporary debate about the existence and significance of Jesus.

The book is a revised and expanded version of the author’s 2007 work The Gospel and the The Secret Truth about Jesus, which was published by Duckworth, and translated into German and Czech.

‘An intriguing leap into faith, and not at all the loony speculation the title might suggest.’
(Kirkus review of The Gospel and the The Secret Truth about Jesus)

Genres: Astrology, Religion

Paperback

First published October 26, 2007

Reviews

[Bill Darlison · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, do not be put off by the title of Bill Darlison’s book, The Gospel and the Zodiac: The Secret Truth About Jesus. This is not a quasi-theological treatise written by a newspaper astrologer. Neither is it another rehash of The DaVinci Code. On the contrary, this book is an erudite and highly readable contribution to esoteric thought that has been a largely unspoken but nevertheless significant tradition in all major religions since time immemorial.

This fascinating book will be of interest to several audiences: to those interested in the history and development of the early Church; to Biblical scholars; to people interested in astrology; and to those interested in esotericism and mysticism in general.

For more details about the book, visit site http://www.thegospelandthezodiac.com/

[Beauregard Bottomley · Rating 2 out of 5]

The early writers after the time of Jesus lived in a superstitious period and their background, context and relations were entwined with fantastic stories to make their literary points and the audience reading their comic book presentations believed in myths as truths such as astrology, virgin births and heavenly resurrections as a given.

The Gospel birth story starts with Magi (astrologers) from the East following a heavenly star, and that supposedly adds credence to the fantasy. Today learned modern readers immediately reject astrological experts from the East or anywhere else and would just ignore such a story. Writers shortly after Jesus falsely thought they knew better and would shower their allusions in mystical astrological terms that their readers would quickly understand and accept while being lost to today’s modern readers.

Today, thinking readers would give as much credence to astrology as they would to Qanon or MAGA conspiracies. Just as Qanon or MAGA believers tell their stories amongst themselves and the uninitiated can’t follow the absurdities, early writers of the Book of Mark would have grasped the astrological nonsense of the oldest pseudo-science known to humans. The Book of Mark is written with the assumptions of astrology embedded within it, as this book clearly demonstrates. Faith is a dangerous thing and faith in any nonsense-based system leads to certainties with no objective realities or empirical foundation.

The author makes a fundamental mistake with his main hypothesis by assuming that astrology is real. He’ll give a list of people born under an astronomical sign such as Karl Marx, Henry Ford and so on from modern history and say they have that sign’s personality type and behave thusly. Strange reading such tripe in what would otherwise be a noteworthy book. Astrology needn’t be real to see its legitimacy as endorsed in the books of the bible.

The world is still superstitious. Qanon (believe Tom Hanks led a pedophilia ring) and MAGA (believe Trump won the election, think vaccines don’t work, and now believe that the FBI orchestrated January 6) followers exist, believers in myths predominate the world they just claim legitimacy by saying their myth is true by fiat declaration and trust solely to authority. The Christian foundational birth story includes the world’s most authoritative astrologers giving legitimatization to the proceeding mythology as a whole and every thinking being today knows astrology is bogus, but the myths continue to thrive just as the MAGA myths become real to Trump followers.

The writer of the Book of Mark stayed away from the virgin birth and astrologers from the East while just assuming the certainty of astrology as a given within the book overall and knowing his readers would understand the esoteric references as presented in the unbelievable story written to his superstitious believing audience while two thousand years later the astrology gets muddled and the miracles continue to be believed.

[Jimmy Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author Bill Darlison is/was the Minister Emeritus of Dublin Unitarian Church. This is important because of the biblical history the book discusses. An in-depth meaning of the Bible and Astrology would help the reader understand the subject more. An example is that women were the primary water carriers of this period. In the book of Mark, there is mention of Jesus telling his disciples to find a man carrying water. Darlison says that this man would have stuck out like a sore thumb in the time of Jesus. These little nuances are lost to readers unless they understand these little facts. I'm sure there are nuances in Astrology as well. While I got a lot of good information from this book, I'm sure there is more.

Why is Astrology important? The Zodiac uses symbols to teach star formations. It is largely symbolic. Astrology, if nothing else, can provide a seasonal calendar. In ancient times, people used Astrology to plant and prepare for the upcoming seasons. Perhaps this is the real value of Astrology and not the characteristics of the Zodiac, and not some esoteric knowledge.

This novel provided useful information and was well written.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author makes many points come alive as he shows Paul to be a Gnostic and the writer of the book of Mark to have a well laid out plan to portray the zodiacal array throughout his gospel. The book is loaded with lore that makes a very interesting and enjoyable read. Favorite quote: "...it (the Kingdom of God) is instead something we can discover by correcting our eyesight" rather than attempting to bring it into existence by following doctrine and rites. He says the Kingdom of the Father is "already spread out on the earth, and people aren't aware of it." Page 62.

[Richard Legault · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious. As good an example of religious crack-pottery as you will ever find. But just because it cannot be taken seriously is no reason not to love it.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An astrological commentary on Mark's Gospel, which, claims the author, is itself a symbolic account of the spiritual journey through life, represented in zodiacal terms. Plenty of interesting ideas, some more plausible than others.

[Sonee Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This educational book explains the many connections and mentions of astrology across various religions and schools of thought, mostly within Christianity, but also in Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Toaism, Ancient Egyptian deities, literature, philosophy, and others.