Written and published exclusively for Chatelaine.

We’re wrapping up the last eclipse of this cycle in the last month of the year and it seems like an unimaginable feat that we’re ushering in 2022. A total solar eclipse in Sagittarius will transpire on Dec. 3 and 4, but it isn’t visible in most places except for Antarctica. This is the last installment of this cycle of eclipses on the Gemini and Sagittarius axis, which started in the spring of 2020. A potent beginning is underway.

On Dec. 13, Mars enters Sagittarius and Mercury in Capricorn, which will welcome some flexibility and grounded approaches to how we think and act. Gemini’s full moon (no longer an eclipse, hurrah!) will ripen on Dec. 18. Venus changes directions and turns backward on Dec. 19. Conjoined to Pluto, this forces us to reevaluate power dynamics and lingering issues with fear and control in our relationships.

Winter solstice officially starts when the sun enters Capricorn on Dec. 21, marking the beginning of winter in the northern hemisphere. And we can expect a happy ending in Jupiter’s second ingress into Pisces on Dec. 28, bringing optimism, hope and grace as we wrap up 2021. Below, your horoscopes to help navigate the month ahead.

It's highly recommended that you primarily read the horoscopes for your Rising sign. If you don't know your Rising Sign, you can read for your Sun (if born during the day) and/or Moon (if born at night) sign. Read it all if you like, and take what resonates. To figure out these placements, enter your birth date, location and precise birth time into an astrology app like Time Nomad or online at astro.com. For more guidance on how all of these play together, visit charmastrology.com. 

Aries: You might feel like you’ve changed, but your circumstances and relationships are at a standstill. Don’t fret. You’ve been on a profound structural shift since last spring. It can take time for things to fall into place and manifest into tangible change. Give yourself ample space to unlearn deeply ingrained habits. 

Taurus: In any relationship, don’t confuse respect with love: you can be respected without being loved and vice versa.  Take a trip down memory lane and allow yourself to mourn the ways you haven’t been cared for, and the times you weren’t able to articulate how you wanted to be cared for. 

Gemini: Some of the best relationships—romantic or platonic— involve people who are willing to be vulnerable, genuinely care about each other and know how to communicate.  Perhaps right now you’re realizing that some of your relationships fall short on these criteria. Find a happy medium—accept that you and those around you are works in progress.

Cancer: During the pandemic you may have realized how many extras there were on your plate and, hopefully, by now, you’ve reordered your priorities. If a relationship or self-assigned responsibility doesn't resonate with you or push you to grow, maybe it doesn’t need as much of your attention. Cultivate what you want to grow.

Leo: Do you ever think about how shame can sometimes take unrecognizable forms? Reflect on how the shame you’ve felt in your life takes shape now, and how it affects your relationships and perception of yourself. Is there a way you can humour yourself and play with your accumulated internalized shame in hopes of generating a transformative relationship with it? Try.

Virgo: We’ve been moving and remodeling our physical spaces since last spring. But there’s more of the same this month ahead. It seems the idea of “settling” is hard to come by when restlessness flows through you and around you. In many ways, this pushes you to figure out what it means to be at home in your body instead of your external environment—it can’t provide the ease and respite you need right now.

Libra: You are a product of your environment. Your idiosyncrasies and mannerisms are shaped by those you surround yourself with. As much as you can, pay attention to who and what you’re exposing yourself to on the regular. 

Scorpio: Healthy independence is possible if a person has people they can depend on when they need to. Take the hermit crab and sea anemone: both individual creatures whose mutual relationship helps them stay safe from predators and find food. When you think of your capacity to support yourself, who are the people who have made this happen? How much do you allow people to help you?

Sagittarius: Truth be told, you’ve been on an extraordinary and harrowing, shedding-of-skin odyssey since last spring. The good (and bad) news is that you’re in for a final round of your epic journey this month. Don’t worry if you feel frustrated, as you’ve been cleaning house and altering your core self. Grief disorients and makes time loose and formless. It may take a moment to connect the dots. For now, focus on showing up day by day. 

Capricorn: Usually, you pride yourself on being laconic: you save your words for when they matter. But you might surprise yourself by being verbose and having more to say than usual. Since last spring, you’ve been more introspective, visiting painful parts of your past. Now, as you come up for air, you have a determined resolve to give hope a chance.

Aquarius: When the world hit the pandemic pause button, you too were reevaluating your dreams. Your aspirations and goals have been on a fated detox since last spring. This may have resulted in a change in spaces you saw yourself belonging to. The goal right now is to feel the bubbling whir of your life’s upcoming renewals, even if you don’t feel equipped to plan too far into the future. 

Pisces: It is both painful and liberating to realize the life you want to lead—one that resonates deep within your heart and soul. This epiphany can trigger regrets of wasted time. But it can also embolden you to take the plunge towards who you want to become, instead of who you’re expected to be.