December 2021 Horoscopes
December always brings a revisiting of the past year and an opportunity to see it in a rosy, nostalgic, sometimes regretful highlight. This December gets an extra hit of that kind of revisiting, both for this year and the one that preceded it.
As we face a new variant just at the peak of many parts of the world re-opening, there is an interesting sensation I am noticing in my social circles that people know exactly what that had previously taken for granted. Every gathering with friends, indoor workout, seated indoor meal hits different when it’s been two years and the threat it could be another wait looms overhead.
Much of the predictive astrology I have encountered, in articles, podcasts, and online, has described this as a four-year crisis. I don’t specialize in this kind of global predictive work, so I’ll go by what I’m hearing, but it doesn’t take much deducing to suppose that we are far from out of the woods on this now.
Events this month:
December 4: New Moon/Solar Eclipse and Mercury Cazimi in Sagittarius at 4º Sagittarius / December 8-30: Pluto conjunct Venus at 24-25º Capricorn / December 14: Mercury ingress to Capricorn, Mars ingress to Sagittarius / December 18: Full Moon in Gemini / December 19: Venus station retrograde at 26º Capricorn
This December, Venus stations retrograde and forms a conjunction with Pluto at 25º Capricorn. This late degree of Capricorn was a major site of action of the big astrology of last year, starting in March of 2020 (!!!), and Venus retrograde is naturally a nostalgic time, so not only will it be a look back in general but specifically to reflect on our progress throughout the past couple of years.
Wherever Venus moves retrograde in your chart, while close to Pluto, will be a place where you can look back on how you have transformed since last year.
How have the most frightening things about this time given you space to grow, and given you the ability to treat yourself with more kindness? How have they shaped your relationships? Your creative practices?
This is a thematic I revisit a lot when writing my horoscopes, because astrology is so very good at it. Particularly when Pluto is involved, we get such a chance to see our own tranformation. Astrology describes the tenor and colour of energies in our lives over time, and when we look backwards we have the added layer of what actually happened from the clear vantage point of the future.
As my brilliant teacher always said to me, the past is the greatest fortune teller, so use this looking back as a way to look forwards for yourself.
Find your horoscope after the jump!
Horoscopes are written using whole house calculations and are meant as inspiration and affirmation of what you already know about yourself. Specific calculations are made for the rising signs, but if you don’t know your rising sign you can read for your sun. You can also horoscopes read for your moon sign for extra emotional information. You can access your birth chart at astro.com or many other apps and websites using your birth date, time, and location. If you’re interested in getting a reading, you can book one with Amelia here.
Aries rising
At the beginning of the month you get a firey jolt of energy from your sister sign of Sagittarius, with the Solar eclipse adn Mercury cazimi in this sign and in your 9th house of expansion. This is a great time to start a new plan and to actually put words to paper: start the course, book the flight, or buy the book – whatever it is just know that this can start a seed for your growth that will be an important part of your next year. Venus taking her transit through your 10th house of career bring sweetness to a part of your chart that has been walloped since 2020.
Your work likely saw major transformations throughout last year into this one, and Venus retrograde now in the mix means you get some time to consider these transformations with some necessary pause and kindness. Artist rising people have major boss (or dare I say, Daddy) energy when it comes to their work, and Venus is giving you a chance to be more gentle with yourself at work than you maybe usually are.
Think about, consider, or write down all the many ways that your work has been in transformation since last year, Aries, and be kind to yourself for it.
Taurus rising
This month has some very transformative astrology for you, Taurus rising. At the beginning of the month the solar eclipse and Mercury cazimi are occurring in a complex part of your chart having to do with entanglement, intimacy, and transformation – your eighth house – and you might feel inclined to share the great realizations that you have come to. Sagittarius wants to speak quickly, but a lot of this is likely deep subconscious stuff that will best take time to simmer. Don’t push yourself to share before you’re ready.
The Venus retrograde, meanwhile, joins Pluto in your 9th house of expansion which has been getting all the big hits since early 2020. The 9th house rules parts of life such as religion, higher learning, and travel, so while it’s quite easy to see how your relationship to travel may have changed since 2020, thinking about your growth in general has evolved will be a useful way to understand how the past couple years have manifested for you.
Become comfortable with your own renewal, and think about the incredible change that can happen when you dedicate yourself to your own growth.
Gemini rising
This month starts with your ruling planet Mercury in a cazimi (in the same place as) a solar return in Sagittarius, your opposite sign. This is taking place in your 7th house of relationships: this is a good time to start something new and speak honestly with where you’re at in one-on-one relationships, whether it be in an existing relationship or a brand new one.
This is good in tandem with the Venus retrograde in your 8th house: Venus will join Pluto and spend quite a lot of time in the part of your chart that has to do with intimacy and transformation. How have you, and the way you are in deep closeness to another, changed since March of 2020? This retrograde will likely bring you back over the kinds of entanglements you’ve had throughout this time, and possibly bring you to some new and deep understanding you didn’t have before.
This could also have to do with your investments and debts, and the way that your finances, too, are tangled up with people. Take time to be quiet and to listen to what is emerging, Gemini, and do your best not to carry what isn’t yours.
Cancer rising
At the start of the month, the solar eclipse and Mercury cazimi in Sagittarius hit your 6th house of routine and health. Take extra good care of yourself at the start of this month, Cancer rising – eclipses can be associated with a lot of fatigue, so be sure to give yourself lots of time to rest and recover.
Venus’ transit through Capricorn, and her retrograde, are moving through your 7th house of relationships, which is potentially a sweet treat for you after a tough couple of years in this part of your chart. Relationship transformation can be really hard for Cancer rising folks, so look back and see how much you have grown since the start of the pandemic. For Cancer rising people, love can be a bit of a drug, but it can also be a source of power and stability.
This retrograde gives thought time to look back on how you are in relation: take note and be sure that going forwards, you can be at your strongest, most gentle, and most protected.
Leo rising
The solar eclipse and Mercury cazimi in Sagittarius on the 4th start your month off with a nice jolt of familiar firey energy, and occurs in a lovely part of your chart that has to do with all of life’s sweetest stuff: joy, falling in love, creativity, fun…the eclipse and Mercury action here mean there’s a nice opportunity for new beginnings of joy in your life right now.
Take the bait, Leo! Venus’ transit and her retrograde action are taking place in your 6th house of day to day life, bringing with her a chance to consider the major changes in your routine and perhaps your health that the world has brought since 2020. Venus is about comfort where Pluto is about deep psychological transformation – in a word, discomfort – so the two together bring some major depth to the things that should be the coziest.
What has changed big time in your daily life since 2020, and how has it changed you? How have you become more powerful as a result? Bring this power and change into your everyday routines, Leo, and celebrate all you have become.
Virgo rising
The beginning of the month’s solar eclipse and Mercury cazimi are a quick blast of energy and new beginnings for you around your home and family. Whether this has to do with the physical abode itself or your relationships (chosen family or family of origin) depends, but you’re getting an opportunity to start something new and speak about how you want it to look. On December 19th Venus begins her retrograde motion through your fifth house of joy and creativity.
What a gift it is for you to have three months of Venus in the 5th house! Since this includes a retrograde period and a conjunction to Pluto it won’t necessarily be all fun and games, but Venus and your 5th house mean this is about as fun and games as Pluto can get (or for that matter, as fun and games as a Virgo rising can get). This is great energy for meeting new people, for falling in love, for having sex, for dancing, for creating, for experiencing all the unbridled joy you have not had access to since March of 2020.
Think of how you relate to joy differently now versus then and hold tight to all that you know you no longer take for granted.
Libra rising
December begins with a solar eclipse and a Mercury cazimi in your third house of communication: you might feel the need to say something big and say it fast. In Sagittarius this energy is hyper present, so be cautious that whatever you say is something you want to stick to. The Venus retrograde and its conjunction to Pluto takes place in your fourth house of home, giving you some ample time to really consider how your relationship to home and family have changed since March of 2020.
Probably the answer to these considerations is “a lot”! Last year I talked a lot about how Libra rising people had some of the most literal astrological manifestations of a stay-at-home order, since the major astrology of the year took place in the part of your chart that has to do with home. Think about how those transformations, how those big scary things going on in the outside world gave you time to go deep in around your own relationship to home and family.
Be sure to give yourself care around this, because these are big thematics, but with Venus in the mix you’re ready to face the changes and let go of the discomfort.
Scorpio rising
The month’s kickoff solar eclipse and Mercury cazimi are taking place in your 2nd house of resources, bringing a great time to get something off the ground in this area of your life. If there is any communication you need to do around your resources (possessions, energy, finances), this astrology makes for a great opportunity to do it – so make that annoying bank call just after the 4th. When Venus stations retrograde in Capricorn, it’ll spend a long time in your 3rd house of communication.
How do you value yourself through your own words, Scorpio? And how has your ability to communicate your own needs transformed over the past year? A lot has changed since March of 2020 when Pluto was at the same degree that Venus is making her retrograde station at.
This is an opportunity to look at your transformation, your power, your care for yourself and your creative communication since then.
Sagittarius rising
This month starts out with a solar eclipse and Mercury cazimi in your sign, marking one of the many big lunations in your sign taking place throughout this year and into next. Sagittarius is a natural truth-teller, in so much as the “truth” is Sagittarius’ take on reality, so this energy might have you raring to go around letting your heart out. This energy is important for starting new things, so just be careful you’re starting something you want to finish (but I know, telling that to a Sag is a bit of a fool’s errand).
Venus’ retrograde period, beginning on the 19th, takes place in your 2nd house of resources. This is your money and your possessions, sure, but it’s also your energy. The relationship between our values and our valuables. A Venus retrograde in the 2nd house is a great opportunity to go through your finances and be sure you’re spending money on things that matter to you. Check for wealth redistribution opportunities, if they’re available to you, or just spend time reflecting on where your money is going.
If you can use this retrograde to think about money as a metaphor for the currencies of energy you spend in your life in general, you might come out of it with a more holistic and healthy relationship to your spending in all its forms.
Capricorn rising
I wish I could remember who it was I saw on Astro-Twitter who said this, but I can’t risk a dive through the void so it’ll have to go uncredited: but Capricorns are in the middle of having Venus in your sign for three months and do you ever deserve it. As you may have followed, the astrology since 2020 has been harsh on your sign, so a sweetening from Venus is very welcome.
The eclipse and Mercury Cazimi on the 4th are in your 12th house of dreams, meaning it’s a particularly important time to pay attention to the messages of your subconscious. When Venus stations retrograde on the 19th, it will start a period of potential for reflection around yourself and your self-care, self-image, and self-love.
This is a great time to look back on your practices around these areas, and to reflect on your own transformation since March 2020. How has this changed the way you approach the world? The way you dress? The way you relate?
Be clear on how kindness is a source of power and take the time to reflect as a retrograde makes possible.
Aquarius rising
At the beginning of the month the eclipse and Mercury cazimi will bring new beginnings in your communities, and the possibility of speaking from your heart to people who need to hear it. Use the energy of new beginnings to re-build relationships that may have been hidden since we all had to go inside.This is an incredibly important area of life for Aquarians, so honour this chance! Venus’ retrograde is taking place in your 12th house of dreams and the subconscious: this is a really interesting retrograde, Aquarius, and not one that I can guarantee will be without some challenges.
You’ll have a chance to deep dive into the sub-conscious, and will likely feel the need to go over things from your distant past. These energies, however, are hugely transformative, particularly around your ancestry. Think of how the person you are today is a culmination of many many many generations before you, and how you are also connected to the future through the many many generations to follow.
Just a casual little tidbit of information this, December, Aquarius! I suspect your dreams will have tons of interesting information for you, so if you’ve never been a dream journaler before, now is the time to start.
Pisces rising
This month will kick off with an opportunity to plant seeds around your career. The eclipse and Mercury cazimi offer a chance to speak and be listened to, as well as the chance to start a project you’ve wanted to get off the ground for some time. Listen to your intuition personally, and let your own truth guide you. Venus and Capricorn are forming their conjunction in your 11th house of community, and you might be getting nostalgic for simpler times of socializing.
December typically presents us all with greater opportunities for socializing, and the particular kind of end-of-the-world manic energy around social gathering this time around might be hard on a Pisces. That combined with the nostalgic energy of a Venus retrograde, this could be a hard month for you socially. Give yourself tons of time and use the changes for reflection given by the retrograde to remember ways that you have come into your power this past year.
Drake has been singing on the radio a lot lately: “I’ve been losing friends and finding peace/honestly that sounds like a fair trade to me”
OMG Stars is an astrology column written by queer astrologer Amelia Ehrhardt (@soft_aspects). Each month, at the beginning of the new astrological season, Amelia interprets the upcoming astrology with a focus on how to navigate current events (astrological and global). Book an appointment with Amelia here.
I love how people take medieval magical mumbo jumbo seriously. Lol.