The week ahead opens with a square between the Sun in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces — between the planetary body that represents our sense of self and the one that represents our ability to transcend our sense of self and experience something greater. Both mutable and traditionally ruled by Jupiter, Sagittarius and Pisces can come to see eye to eye but while Sagittarius sees independence as a sacred state of being, Pisces maintains that all beings are interdependent, no matter their position. This negotiation between the singular and the (significant) other is the gate we pass as we travel toward Venus retrograde and through the shadow that she casts under Pluto’s wing. Mars rides into Sagittarius on December 13, headstrong, while Mercury moves in Capricorn. There’s a prevailing pressure to keep up with work and maintain, even when our personal lives start to feel unmanageable. The square that Mars makes to Chiron in Aries Rx on the 18th bears that pressure down. If and when the stakes feel too high and unsustainable, it’s worth reminding yourself that most stakes are projections, most of the pressure we feel is self-generated, and one the most nurturing things we can do for our past and future selves is admit that one’s worth and value is impossible to prove. Better, then, to admit when we’re out for the count. Better to reclaim the time that we owe ourselves, the time we save for play. On the other side of these admissions is the Gemini full moon, a retrospective of all the moments in our lives when embracing our own duality only made us feel more whole. 

Aries Sun & Aries Rising Horoscope

Mars leaves the sleuthing stars of Scorpio and begins his journey under the auspices of Sagittarius. Mars might have been in familiar, if not loaded, territory while in Scorpio, but Sagittarian fire speaks to your own fire and drives you forward. It’s good to move, both physically and mentally, to shift the energy in your body and change your perspective. Just try to be mindful of what it is that moves you. It’s true that life persists and the world goes on and you needn’t live inside a feeling in order to respect it. But there’s a difference between exploring what lies ahead and seeking distractions. It’s important that you articulate your losses before you cut them and honour the agreements you made to the best of your abilities.

Taurus Sun & Taurus Rising Horoscope

While it may be difficult to coordinate and conceive of travel in this state of global affairs, it’s possible that other places have already conceived of you and called you to them. The pull you feel isn’t simply wanderlust, it’s a signal. And, you can widen the meaning of travel as much as it suits you. You can take the necessary precautions before getting on the road or you can take the necessary precautions before you dive into other states of consciousness. Wherever you’re going — whether it’s further out or deeper in — the time you spend there is imperative to the work you’re doing, not just publicly but also privately. The farther out you get from familiar paths, the closer you’ll feel to the Earth that you’re on and the people you share it with.  Illustration by Stefhany Lozano

Gemini Sun & Gemini Rising Horoscope

For Geminis and Gemini rising people especially, Sagittarius season can kick up a lot of feelings about relationships, about knowing others and being known. Given that difficult understanding, the fact that Sagittarius season paves the way for a Venus retrograde that’s sure to trouble our relationship structures and ultimately combine forces with Mercury is hardly a mercy. Even for a sign that rules the hands, this might sound like a lot to hold. Better, then, to not gallop ahead, to look toward the full moon in Gemini as a kind of celestial reconnaissance. Take what comes as it comes and put it where it belongs, Gemini. Have faith that Mercury’s transit through sure-footed Capricorn will equip you well for whatever lies ahead. Illustration by Stefhany Lozano

Cancer Sun & Cancer Rising Horoscope

Do you feel it? The planets gathering in Capricorn like a murder of crows. The tension is especially high for Cancer risings, who can expect this upcoming Venus retrograde to fill their 7th house of relationships. The conjunction that Venus makes to Pluto raises the stakes of this opposition, heightened by the co-presence of both Mercury and the Sun – in that order. But did you know that while a group of crows is called “a murder,” what you’re actually witnessing is an extended family? Of all the birds in the world, crows families represent the 9% that breed cooperatively, sticking around to support each other across years and territories. What if the planets in Capricorn are your crows? Planets, like birds, coming together to see you through the challenging work of building a life with other people.Illustration by Stefhany Lozano

Leo Sun & Leo Rising Horoscope

Imagine the Sun’s last days in Sagittarius like a wedding scene. The betrothed moves down the aisle with an open heart toward a boundary. But, what binds them in some ways can liberate them in others. What some people see as a limit, other experience as an extension – of families, of resources, and of worldly experiences. Such a negotiation can be applied to any scenario where you are called to get clear about what you actually want vs. what you believe you should want, and, where you find yourself moving from the world of expectations toward the inevitable reality. There’s no guarantee, of course, about what happens after, but “no guarantee” means you get to choose both your course and your recourse, and, ”no guarantee” means there is no “safe” choice — only an enthusiastic yes or a compromised one. Illustration by Stefhany Lozano

Virgo Sun & Virgo Rising Horoscope

Most people have not made it through the past year unscathed, and most have been changed in one way or another. And while some lessons have been deeply rooted in our bodies, in what it means to be healthy, what it means to be well, others have found a foothold in our relationship to work, energy, and what our time is worth. Of course, it can be tempting to dream of capital, to work the system you’ve inherited to transcend your own expectations. You wouldn’t be the first of the last person to come through a crisis gripping tightly to a familiar structure, even as it gives way. But there is another way, Virgo, you know there is, and the world conspires to remind you that what you create is sacred. Everything you’ve witnessed, everything you’ve taught yourself, everything that remains will see you through the transitions that lay ahead. Illustration by Stefhany Lozano

Libra Sun & Libra Rising Horoscope

While shadow work is a phrase many people reference, it can be hard to understand what it means or when one is doing it. In the spirit of Pluto’s conjunction to your ruling planet, Venus, it might be useful to think of shadow work in some other way (if not differently then re-imagined). The image of a swan, for instance, floating into the darkness of a bridge over the water. A creature that is said to move quietly between the world of the living and the world of the dead, that is both beautiful and violent, graceful in one element, awkward in another. The swan is always both, as you are, and the shadows you live with, you work with as long as you live. It’s the nature of the work that changes, how consciously you show up for it, how willing you are to admit that you are supported, even if it would be easier to go at it alone.Illustration by Stefhany Lozano

Scorpio Sun & Scorpio Rising Horoscope

For Scorpio risings, Gemini fills up the 8th house, suffusing your words and connections with transformative powers. Words are sacred, that is known, but there’s something about a Scorpio’s word that has the power to reverse a curse or sink a ship. Perhaps this is why so many Scorpios are meticulous with their word, and suspicious when it comes to the words of others. Transformations, like power and like spells, rarely work in one direction. While it may be tempting to jump to conclusions in the hopes of putting certain matters behind you, what’s under the surface is richer and more complex than you know. Under the searchlight of the Gemini full moon, it’s time to don your detective cap and start putting the pieces together.Illustration by Stefhany Lozano

Sagittarius Sun & Sagittarius Rising Horoscope

This week begins with the Sun in Sagittarius making a square to Neptune in Pisces followed by Mars moving into Sagittarius on the 13th. These transits echo in your interactions as you strive to relate authentically to others and negotiate showing up intellectually versus showing up emotionally. Jupiter continues to make his way through Aquarius, expanding your understanding of what binds us to each other and what kinds of connections you’re capable of. The full moon in Gemini on the 18th helps illuminate some of what you’ve learned this year and what you’re still struggling to unlearn as you strive to see people for who they are and not who you want them to be. If Mars under your stars has you ready to bolt when you feel out of your depth, remind yourself that you hold the reins too. Be patient with yourself, as patient as any good teacher can be. Some lessons are meant to be taught twice.Illustration by Stefhany Lozano

Capricorn Sun & Capricorn Rising Horoscope

Under the ever-darkening shadow of Venus retrograde in Capricorn, it’s clear to anyone who wants to look that there’s work to be done. But, wanting to look, and having the presence of mind to see what one sees, are the hard parts. There’s a poem I read a long time ago that’s almost gone from my memory. What remains is the image of a bowl, tarnished with time and use. The bowl belongs to the poet or the speaker, but it stands as a reminder of past relationships, or what the poet has been left with – left to hold on her own. The poet reclaims the bowl and restores it. Under the tarnish of time, she excavates a shine that she likens to planets. What you’re carrying, Capricorn, is not unlike that bowl. Yours to carry and your beauty to unbury. Beauty, let it be said, won’t make the load lighter. It can only make it precious. Illustration by Stefhany Lozano

Aquarius Sun & Aquarius Rising Horoscope

Plenty of signs relish their ruling planet under their stars, a planet that feels at home and acts accordingly, making all the necessary calls and acting in its best interests. But Saturn is not a planet that delivers the way Mars and Venus does. Saturn works from the inside out, and since March 2020, Saturn has been working on you — reinforcing the boundary of your self-definition, helping you tone your body and your mind as you build a new self out of the self you inherited. In the right architect’s hands, doubt and fear are simply guides. It’s a gift and a burden to come into who you are, it places the responsibility of deciding who you are not squarely on your shoulders. And refusal has its own consequence, its own difficult losses. Have faith that every refusal carries with it an invitation. To name what won’t hold, to discover what does.Illustration by Stefhany Lozano

Pisces Sun & Pisces Rising Horoscope

This week begins with a square between the Sun in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces. There’s a kind of tightrope here, a tenuous negotiation, between the reputation you’ve built for yourself and the private self—who is changing, who is changed. Reputation, here, can mean many things but, whatever it is, it has helped define you and given you purpose. While certain movements in the skies will activate these questions, this self-inquiry is a long term process and it’s meant to illuminate your understanding of what a calling is and who exactly makes the call. No matter how long you stayed, no matter how well you know the body of water you’ve been swimming in or the fish in it, you were never meant to be one thing for anyone else.Illustration by Stefhany Lozano

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Mercury Is In Sagittarius — Embrace The Chaos

Sagittarius Season Is Here To Bring You Luck

What Mars In Scorpio Means For Your Sex Life