The Celestial Journey of the Soul by Bill Darlison

The Celestial Journey of the Soul explores the astrological dimension of the Gospel of Mark. According to the author, the Gospel of Mark is structured on the zodiac, and each of the zodiacal sections of the Gospel contains profound teachings on the nature of the spiritual life. The book outlines these teachings and explores their contemporary significance.

Darlison argues that the Gospel was not originally intended to be read as a historical text, but as a description of the stages through which every person must pass on the his or her way to self-transformation. Each chapter is prefaced by the author's own translation of a relevant passage from the Gospel and by a story which reinforces the spiritual lesson. This radical interpretation of the Jesus story is based on the author's controversial book, The Gospel and the Zodiac (out of print), which was published in 2007 by Duckworth/Overlook.

Bill Darlison (19xx-Present), was a the senior minister of the Dublin Unitarian Church. In the early seventies, he studied for the Roman Catholic priesthood in Rome, but left before ordination and resumed work as a teacher. He joined the Unitarians in 1988, becoming a minister in 1994. In 2013-14 he was President of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches in Britain and Ireland.He has written for The Inquirer, The Unitarian, The Astrological Journal, The Furrow, The Irish Times, and The Gnostic. He is the author of two collections of spiritual stories (The Shortest Distance and Concentration and Compassion) and has recently published Moses the Matador: Allegorical Astronomy and Astrology in the Book of Exodus.The Gospel and the Zodiac: The Secret Truth about Jesus, was published by Duckworth in 2007, and was translated into German and Czech. The Celestial Journey of the Soul is a series of sermons based on The Gospel and the Zodiac.