Your Horoscope This Week: December 26th, 2021 to January 1st, 2022
The solstice is behind us and Venus Rx stretches out into the distance ahead, looming over our days in Capricorn, where both the Sun and Mercury have endeavoured to reside. Our week begins with a sextile from matter-of-fact Mercury in Capricorn to uncertain Neptune in Pisces on the 26th, helping us hold space for the unknown when the facts of the world feel difficult to comprehend. The last quarter moon in Libra follows just hours later, a moon that bodes well for tying up loose ends and balancing our books — both material and otherwise — as best we can before we enter the new year. Of course, there’s bound to be some communication breakdown and some difficult discussion, especially in matters of both love and money, when Mercury makes a conjunction with Venus Rx on the 29th. The Sun’s square to the asteroid Chiron both dials up the tension and diffuses it, reminding us that while most things are about sex and money, sex and money are often loaded with a lot of baggage that have little to do with the present moment. Mars in Sagittarius makes a harmonious aspect to Saturn in Aquarius soon after, offering us the chance to approach these issues from a place of curiosity rather than expectation, admitting our own limits before we surpass them. On the 30th, Mercury makes a conjunction to Pluto in Capricorn and perhaps the heavy conversations arrive just in time; they are necessary, because there can be no intimacy without trust. The Sun forms a trine to Uranus on the first day of the new year, a restructuring of worlds. In the meantime, Jupiter settles in under the stars of Pisces, a planet of extremes at home in the sign of surrender and boundlessness, ushering the way for a truly Dickensian January: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
Aries & Aries Rising Horoscope
Aries, you, more than most people, know that sometimes, the best way to find out what is possible is to begin. And beginning doesn’t have to look one way — beginning isn’t always an all or nothing gesture. Doubt can be debilitating for some, but not for you. Doubt is just a keyhole that you turn your curiosity to. Besides, it’s not time to go big yet. You know that, and you know how to play it smart and how to keep your horses in a slow trot while you survey the scene. Start with who you know first and then find out who you need to know. Start making the connections, having the conversation that you need to have, shedding light on what it is you’re envisioning — if only to see it better for yourself.
Taurus & Taurus Rising Horoscope
Yes, knowledge is power, but it’s also powerful. So you’ve got to be sure, Taurus, that you’re ready for the answers to the questions you ask. You’ve got to get clear on your reasons and hold steady to what drives you down the paths you keep finding yourself on. Because if what you’re seeking, and what’s seeking you, is a complete restructuring, then what happens now is a major transformation — the kind that begins when a chord is struck and ends when the walls you’ve built around you tumble down. This is not to say that you will be unbearably dramatic, or that you will be unsafe or unprotected, far from it. You’ve spent years becoming the mountain inside yourself, preparing. And a mountain has no use for walls; it’s as strong as it is open. Illustration by Stefhany Lozano
Gemini & Gemini Rising Horoscope
There’s a key inside the contradiction of Geminis being an air sign in human form. There’s a little bit of René Descartes’s “I think, therefore I am” in it. And there’s a knowing that until words are made flesh, they remain somewhere outside the realm of the human. Of course, there’s pleasure to be had in the realm of ideas, in giving your imagination free reign and seeing where it takes you, even if the pleasure is a masochistic kind, even if where you keep winding up is at home with hurt feelings. More reciprocal, more life-giving, is the pleasure you will find in taking what you know and applying it to what can be tested. More transformative than the idea of others is the proof of them, how a person can be a sturdy ladder that brings you down to Earth.Illustration by Stefhany Lozano
Cancer & Cancer Rising Horoscope
On the 26th, we get a last quarter moon in Libra, a sign concerned with reciprocity when it comes to others and the self, a sign that knows all things in the universe as a balancing act even if the scales don’t always even out. It’s a known fact that Cancer babes, and for Cancer rising especially, the Libra quarter moon is a great time to be mindful of the kind of environment you’re cultivating in your home: the dynamics that keep cropping up, the habitual patterns, the altars to ancestors, and the energetic flow of the material space. Of course, if you share your space with others — particularly living space but not exclusively — be wary of the Libran tendency toward passive aggression and try to reach for Libra’s more effective power: diplomacy. Illustration by Stefhany Lozano
Leo & Leo Rising Horoscope
Capricorn season can be hard on a little lion, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. There aren’t enough hours of daylight to accomplish your own errands in a day, let alone enough time to show up for others in a way that helps you feel like a reliable member of your lion pride. While it may not feel so hot now, it’s not an altogether bad thing that you might find yourself barred from your usual acts of service this holiday season, whether that be the event planning, the dinner hosting, or simply the one holding space for your loved one’s emotions. Just like in matters of poetry and kink too, restriction pushes us to seek new approaches, new ways to know ourselves and each other, and new pathways to pleasure.Illustration by Stefhany Lozano
Virgo & Virgo Rising Horoscope
There’s a lot of good that can happen when your ruling planet, Mercury, is in Capricorn — even if he’s hanging out with a tough crowd like Venus coupled with Pluto. There’s a kind of brass tacks mentality about the good stuff that leaves very few boxes unchecked and offers countless creative solutions. For the most part, this sets you up as a kind of support system — not just in service to a guaranteed good time, but also to the more whimsical desires of your dear ones. Of course, one can be as helpful and earnest as one likes and still wind up falling short in one way or another. You’re only human. Approach those moments as the universe’s gentle way of giving others the rare opportunity to build you back up and to show you they appreciate you.Illustration by Stefhany Lozano
Libra & Libra Rising Horoscope
It’s true that Libras are Venus ruled and that Venus often prompts images of goddesses riding in on foamy seashells, but both Libras and goddesses know how to drag themselves to shore and get to business, especially when Venus is in Capricorn. Of course, the idea of getting to business isn’t exactly tempting this time of year, unless you’re Father Frost or an ardent elf. But taking care of business isn’t just about what you do when you face the public, it’s also about closing your books and spending time doing some inventory. Take stock of what you’ve built, take time to appreciate the work you’ve done to carve out a space for yourself, give thanks to what secures you to this world, and give leave to what can longer be your tether here. Illustration by Stefhany Lozano
Scorpio & Scorpio Rising Horoscope
This week is a great week to pull over, take out the map, and figure out if you’re pouring your good intentions into the wrong place. It might be hard to admit that you get tired and burnt out just like anyone else. It might mean owning up to the fact that you’ve spent a lifetime going all in on people and projects long after you outgrew them, because you wanted your word to mean something — if not to others than to yourself. What if, this week, you began by claiming that your word is intrinsically valuable even if it’s not ironclad? What if you let yourself believe that you have a right to change your mind, that it’s not your place to spend your days trying to figure out how to both be happy and to not let people down? What if you made decisions based on what you know, not what you fear, and let the cards fall as they must?Illustration by Stefhany Lozano
Sagittarius & Sagittarius Rising Horoscope
For the Sagittarian placements out there who slip into Capricorn season saturated in something like anxiety, it can be a good time to remember that anxiety is both a physical and a mental state. Of course, it may be difficult to convince your heart that there’s nothing to worry about or, even better, that your anxiety is actually a symptom of excitement. (The last quarter moon in Libra unites you with your people! The days are getting longer! A feeling of uncertainty can also be an opportunity to pursue something new and make it happen!) But, while the mind can be a wily thing to reign in, the body is a much slower animal. On the days when your heart races or you find yourself tight with ache, endeavour to match those symptoms with their natural catalysts, like a hike or a run or an orgasm or two. Illustration by Stefhany Lozano
Capricorn & Capricorn Rising Horoscope
In Russian culture, there’s a phrase which gently translates into “take yourself into your own hands” but it’s more of a recovery than a holding, more of a triage response than a motivational motto. It’s a phrase I heard often growing up, mostly from one woman to another in crisis, sometimes under my Capricorn mother’s breath as she prepared to meet the day and the wars it waged against her. It would be a blessing if all the days that the Sun spends under your stars bring you vitality. It would be a relief if Venus’ Rx simply inspired you to Marie Kondo your wardrobe (change your look, change your life). But if what’s working you over runs deep enough to create fractures, if you find yourself in pieces, then take yourself into your own hands. No one knows how to rebuild something better than you. Illustration by Stefhany Lozano
Aquarius & Aquarius Rising Horoscope
The end of a long December and the end of Jupiter’s tenure in your sign, this week offers you time and space to reflect on what you’ve cultivated within you and what you’ve outgrown too. The last quarter moon in Libra lends equanimity to your deliberations, allowing you to hold these questions while being both gentle and discerning with yourself. How have your dreams changed shape? How have you surprised yourself physically and mentally? Think back to the moments when you’ve bet on yourself this year. What did or didn’t help you win those bets? Consider, too, what you grew to dislike within yourself and worked to change, slowly if not surely. Who held the mirror up so that you could see yourself? Illustration by Stefhany Lozano
Pisces & Pisces Rising Horoscope
Pisces people know that sensitivity isn’t about being weak, it’s about sensation. You know that it’s good to be sensitive as in sensuous, feeling it all in big, big waves because feeling it all is a superpower. And, most acutely in the case of this week and the weeks that follow, it’s good to be sensitive as in perceptive. Jupiter knocks on your door on the 28th of December magnifying what makes you, you. But Venus retrograde in Capricorn is relentless like all things in Capricorn are, especially paired up with Mercury. Be judicious about who you spend your time with, who you share your table with. Be appreciative of others with both your gratitude and your awareness. Admit when the rewards are not worth the risks you face, financially or emotionally. Illustration by Stefhany Lozano
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