Inquirer Review of The Gospel and the Zodiac
May 21st, 2009 by Bill
Inquirer Review:
‘Gospel’ deserves attention
By Margaret Hamer
Bill Darlison’s latest book, The Gospel and the Zodiac, will deservedly attract attention well beyond the limits of Unitarianism. The fact that it appears under the imprint of a mainstream publisher should ensure this. Its appeal is to three kinds of readership: the New Testament scholar, the serious student of astrology, and the curious general browser. I belong in this last miscellaneous (but far more numerous) group, and can offer only a personal opinion on what appears to be a revolutionary, and therefore highly controversial, interpretation of St Mark’s Gospel. As to the topicality of the subject, a speaker on Radio 4 recently informed listeners that the number of astrologers/clairvoyants/horoscopists in France today exceeds that of Catholic priests. And the influence of astrology has been known to affect the behaviour of the international money markets. Part of Darlison’s project is to rescue it from its ‘cod’ practitioners and to recover some of its status as a legitimate branch of learning – it is only in the last three centuries that astrology has been separated from astronomy.
Darlison has no time for the crystal gazing and the ‘fatuous horoscopes’ encountered in the popular press. For him, astrology, the language of the stars, is an absorbing academic discipline stretching back over millennia. “The Zodiac was the ancient picture-book, the story book, of the human race.” It was “a mixture of primitive science, mythology, rudimentary psychology and fatalistic prophecy”. Not surprisingly, he draws on a wealth of sources, theological, historical, mythical, and literary, both ancient and modern, to make his case. He cites plentiful evidence of its presence in the Jewish scriptures (including a fascinating interpretation of the story of Samson as a solar myth); he reminds us also of the astrological origins of the Christian festivals of Christmas and Easter, and sheds interesting light on the origins of the fish symbol associated with early Christianity. Although the prestige of astrology diminished as the Enlightenment progressed, it is useful to note that it continued to attract attention from some original minds; and that even so distinguished a man of science as Isaac Newton took a considerable interest in the study of alchemy and astrology and that the late Poet-Laureate, Ted Hughes, devoted years to its exploration.
Before embarking on his detailed discussion of Mark’s Gospel, the author summarises standard thinking about it. It was the first gospel to be written and the least sophisticated in its style, pace and structure. It has no nativity story and opens with the baptism of the adult Jesus by John the Baptist, an initiation into his ministry. The gospel is probably incomplete and tradition associates it with Alexandria, the hotbed of Gnosticism. And it is here that the record of disputes in the Early Church between the historic and esoteric factions within Christianity becomes crucial, for the struggle was finally resolved by the victory of the factual/historical school of interpretation.
It is against this background that Darlison advocates that Mark’s gospel is best read as an allegory of the journey undertaken by each individual towards inner enlightenment, the gradual discovery of the divinity within, which is shared by all humanity. In this context, Jesus is to be seen as the exemplar, not the saviour, of mankind. Miraculous events, such as feeding the 5000, walking on water, and the raising of the dead are not to be taken literally, but as dramatic enactments of internal spiritual processes. The course of the spiritual journey within mirrors that of the cycle of the zodiac without. “The shapes perceived in the zodiac represent universal and archetypal symbols of human spiritual awareness”.
Darlison posits that the three synoptic gospels drew on an earlier, clearly zodiacal, source. Mark follows the structure of that source most faithfully but Matthew and Luke are at times closer to its spirit. Even more provocatively, he postulates that the ministry of Jesus lasted only one year, commencing under the sign of Aries at the Spring Equinox and ending with his betrayal and death under the sign of Pisces. Most contentiously of all, he argues the Jesus, whose story is told in the gospel, may not have existed as an individual. To read Mark’s gospel as a literal document is to ignore its cosmic dimension and “to distort its purpose in conveying the journey of inner illumination it embodies”. The annual journey of the sun round the earth parallels the life journey of the individual. “The zodiacal way is the way we must all travel in the spiritual life”.
The greater part of the book is devoted to a consideration of the constellations in sequence, relating the significances historically associated with a particular sign to a specific section of the gospel. This leads to a more general interpretation of the passages in question which can then be applied to traits and experiences in the individual spiritual life. For example, the constellation of Virgo has traditional associations with birth, harvest and children. In Egyptian mythology it is always depicted as a female divinity, very often of the goddess Isis seated with the infant Horus in her arms. Medieval depictions of the Virgin Mary follow this model. The feasts of the Birth of the Virgin and her Assumption both occur under this sign, whose key qualities are service, simplicity, humility and purity. The expression of these in the spiritual life is best seen in the simple, authentic goodness of the child. But for the adult to attain such a quality of integrity involves the energetic and constant exercise of the will. Mother Teresa of Calcutta is one example of the spiritual life achieved under the sign of Virgo.
The attractions of this book include pictorial illustrations (by Dan Hodgkin, a member of the Glasgow Unitarian Church), deftly chosen poetic quotations and the author’s engaging translation of parts of the gospel into a very accessible modern vernacular.
Although his argument will shock some and offend others, and although some of his interpretations are more convincing than others – a fact that he readily concedes – this book is a world away from the crude sensationalism and formulaic writing of The DaVinci Code. Darlison writes with elegant lucidity and authority and wears his learning lightly. In reading and re-reading sections of his discussion, I recalled something of the excitement I felt as a student when encountering EMW Tillyard’s explication of the Great Chain of Being, which suddenly made a host of previously obscure references in Chaucer and Shakespeare spring into meaningful life. I look forward to this life’s work achieving the informed critical attention that
it merits.