The convoluted responses from die-hard traditionalists within the Anglican Church at the first woman Archbishop of Canterbury are of little interest to outsiders. Evidently seven serving bishops say they welcome the new archbishop but wouldn’t receive communion from her. Why are religious zealots so hung up about women/gender/sexuality? The ancient spirit versus flesh war still rages.
That apart, what is intriguing is the astrology which suggests across the board that the transition will face momentous challenges.
The Anglican Church, 3 November 1534 JC, already undergoing a seismic transformation with a 2nd Pluto Return continuing through this year and next, as well as a Neptune Return at the same time, is running into a deeply uncertain Solar Arc Neptune conjunct its Saturn as well as a panicky-failure SA Mars conjunct Neptune in 2027 and a lacklustre, disappointing, indecisive SA Sun conjunct Neptune in 2028. It will flounder and flail.
Sarah Mullally, 26 March 1962, at present the Bishop of London, is a former nurse, married with two children. She is a Sun Aries with a Scorpio/Sagittarius Moon. But what is eye-catching is her influential, can-be-controlling Pluto on the focal point of a yod inconjunct her Sun sextile Saturn in Aquarius; with her Pluto in a do-or-die determined opposition to Mars in Pisces, making her Mars a reactive (highly sensitive) point. That is a tough set of aspects, giving her the courage to face formidable difficulties but also in a curious way attracting catastrophes as well.
She’s moving through an-all-systems-change tr Uranus square her Uranus over her enthronement in late January 2026 and although she will be buoyed up by a lucky tr Uranus square her Jupiter until May 2026 nothing thereafter looks easy. 2027 has a blocked Solar Arc Sun square her dominant Pluto with tr Uranus also square her Pluto from mid 2027 which will bring considerable turbulence and knock her sideways. In 2027 as well she has an undermining tr Neptune conjunct her Sun, followed in 2028/29 by a bleak, tough-struggle tr Pluto conjunct her Saturn.
Her Archbishop Term chart, 28 January 2026, has the Saturn Neptune conjunction which does favour women but that is also conjunct the shipwrecking Scheat. It is sextile a truly difficult, hostile Mars Pluto in Aquarius conjunct Sun which is running into almost unsurmountable difficulties as tr Pluto crosses the Mars, then the midpoints and then the Sun in 2028/29. The reforming Uranus is conjunct Algol which does not feel progressive. The Jupiter is unaspected suggesting an idealistic though disconnected approach to spiritual matters.
An oddity is the similarities between her chart and that of Paula Vennells, infamous former head of the Post Office, 21 February 1959, a minister with the Church of England, who was short listed for the Bishopric of London. She is a Pisces Sun opposition Pluto in Virgo square Mars – so the same obsessive determination and tendency to attract antagonism.
[My only interest in the CoE apart from historical Henry V111 associations come from Royal funerals, coronations etc – and my hair-tearing irritation at the pomp and ceremony being ruined by weedy voice prelates – who NEED to take voice production lessons. When it is being televised to 2 billion people it is a performance and a job requirement. ]
In the 80’s my mother-in-law who was the wife of a Presbyterian clergyman, was opposed to women clergy. Her reason was nothing i could have thought of. She said that men did so little, that if you let women do that job too, the men would probably do nothing. It seems that she wasn’t exactly wrong when one contemplates the confusion so many men seem to find in the adjustment.
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THANK YOU, MARJORIE!!! Your comment about voices is spot on.
Why do so many people who are in the public eye (not just clergy) simply not get that the voice is just about the most powerful instrument they could wish for ? And why do they abuse it ?
A strange inverted snobbery quite often, I reckon.
(Thanks also to everyone for the other comments about voices and language.)
Keep up the magnificent work!
The Church of England has been on a downward slope for decades; partly due to its attempts to ‘update and be relevant’. While it may have attracted new members, the statistics show that it has lost many more existing members in the process. Perhaps the time is fast approaching for the CofE to be disestablished and its assets split between its ‘updated’ wing and its more traditional one. I am not sure, though, how such a schism would show up in its astrology.
Women priests were always part of the early church. Firstly they were needed to baptise pagan women which was a full immersion in a lake or a river and those being baptised had to be naked. So having a woman priest baptise women was for reasons of decency.
In what is today Spain, women priests were the only ones to allowed to convert Jews to Christianity. And this was important economically as they weren’t allowed to work on feast days unless they were Christian. Let’s just say there were an awful lot of feast days.
It’s really sad to see that some other people are still living in the past, gender is not an issue these days in careers. What matters is the ability and the skill required to perform that particular job. Whether it is a man, woman or someone from LGBTQ+, doesn’t matter. If Sarah Mulally has the sills and ability to lead the church and be the Archbishop, let it be. It shouldn’t be about her gender. We live in modern times by the way.
Thanks Marjorie. Oddly, I’d already mentioned my feeling to friends that the new Archbishop might be like Paula Vennells, before seeing her chart here. I do hope not. I agree with Hugh, it has all gone far too weedy and wibbly and somehow cold-hearted at the same time. The King James Bible has such beautiful language, as does the Book of Common Prayer. They are a very special legacy, whether or not one is a practising Christian. Much has found its way into our literature too, these old phrases have such resonance.
Here’s the new version of ‘through a glass, darkly’:
“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face”
Here’s the King James translation:
“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (Corinthians)
I’d love to see a passionate, spiritual female Archbishop shaking some vitality and life into the CofE and valuing its considerable legacy of ancient architecture too. We shall see. As Marjorie writes:
“The Jupiter is unaspected suggesting an idealistic though disconnected approach to spiritual matters.”
While not exactly religious, I absolutely love the King James Bible and particularly Paul’s beautiful lines quoted here. The language is beautiful.
Me too, VF. I’m spiritual, not CofE. I did sing in the choir in church at school though, and love a full on carol service despite my pagan tendencies! I love the old language, and find it does aid spiritual thought. The biblical Song of Soloman is older than Christianity, and is also very beautiful poetry. Possibly Sumerian. Plus some of the Psalms.
Wishing the new Archbishop well, and hoping she finds her inner Mary Magdalene, or possibly Queen of Sheba!
I think people forget that if Jesus Christ was here, he wouldn’t think twice taking Holy Communion from Sarah Mullally. It’s long overdue not appointing a female Archbishop of Canterbury. It’s time to look to the future and welcome The Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally and support her in her future endeavours as the Archbishop. I look forward to her leaving a lasting imprint on the Anglican Church. She will do wondrous things.
As a practicing member of the C of E, I heartily concur with Marjorie’s comments about weedy voices. I also feel that looking impressive in a role (think of Penny Mordaunt carrying the sword at the Coronation) has a bearing on how people view someone’s performance. Not sure about the new Archbishop!
Mullally has the Sun at 5 Aries sextile Saturn at 5 Aquarius and a Moon in late Scorpio or early Sagittarius square Jupiter at 0 Pisces. Pluto at 8 Virgo opposes Chiron/Mars at 8/10 Pisces and is inconjunct Saturn. Jupiter makes an out of sign opposition to Uranus at 27 Leo.
Uranus by transit retrograde at 1 Gemini was opposing her natal Moon and squaring her Jupiter at the time of her appointment. Transiting Mercury was in a waxing conjunction with her North Node while the Moon by transit conjoined her South Node.
Starmer as Prime Minister will have approved the choice of Archbishop so it is no surprise that his Pluto/Sun at 9 Virgo opposition Jupiter/Chiron at 7/8 Pisces so closely ties in with Mullally’s. Chart. The appointment is exactly what one would expect from Britain’s establishment who clearly want a bureaucrat who will mutter the usual Church of England moral platitudes with the odd mention of God and not rock the boat. Whether it is what the Anglican communion want or need is quite another matter. Mullally has already been described by one critic as a “lanyard archbishop” who has been appointed because of her managerial background rather than her ability to inspire spiritual renewal. Some are less concerned Mullally is a woman and more that she is too much much like Welby,another primate from with a background in senior management in the secular world, who was rushed through the Church hierarchy into the top job without really “making their bones” as a pastor or theologian.
It would be nice to think that once in the job Mullally would go rogue like Thomas Becket and start upsetting the religious applecart but I dont see that happening.
I agree totally with Marjorie’s point about the weak voices of most of the senior Anglican hierarchy when preaching or conducting services. It rather mirrors their similarly weedy views on spiritual and moral issues. All a very disappointing since their Reformation forebears gifted them a sizeable literary heritage in the form of the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer which in some respects is on a par with Shakespeare. The way they squander that legacy with their half hearted performances is rather sad.
Hear, hear! I’d like to think she was picked because she was the best person – not because she was a woman ….and that something in her chart inclines her to look at the plight of struggling, ignored rural parishes where half a dozen people have to maintain a Grade 1 Listed church!
My great-grandfather was a Reverend and according to older relatives, delivered a stentorian, bible-thumping sermon, addressing the congregation as ‘brethren’. Good, old-fashioned Anglicanism.