Your Weekly Horoscopes: December 19 to 25, 2021

For you Aries, Venus retrograde (which begins on the 19th and goes through January 29), is less about your romantic partnerships and more about your career. Have you been avoiding a talk with your boss about a troublesome coworker or difficult client? And are you being compensated for all of your grueling efforts? As Venus meets up with Pluto on the 25th, you might be tempted to fall into workaholic mode and spend the holiday grinding. What are you avoiding when you bury yourself in work?

This week’s mantra: I’m worth it.

Venus—your ruling planet—goes retrograde on the 19th. For the next 40 days, you’re being challenged to refine your goals and develop your daily routines. The hypothesis is that developing self-compassion and learning how to better self-soothe will help your relationships thrive. It’s not that you need a break from the people you love, it’s that you need better defined boundaries around your personal needs. The first step might be unplugging your phone for an afternoon and snuggling up with a book. Take a trip (real or fictional) that’s just for you.

This week’s mantra: Boundaries aren’t a punishment.

Power dynamics of all kinds are your focus as Venus goes retrograde on the 19th. Through January 29, you’re going to be reviewing shared resources and revising the joint plan. You and your partner(s) have been splitting up responsibilities in a particular way, but this agreement is no longer working. How can you reassess without breaking up? Not every conflict needs to tear you apart. Taking a stand for what you want only brings you closer.

This week’s mantra: Relationships are meant to flow.

This is a rocky holiday season for your relationship, Cancer. Whether you’re single and dealing with splitting up the last of your assets post-divorce or partnered and constantly bickering through Christmas dinner, a lot of repressed feelings are now bubbling to the surface. If possible, try to keep your plans on the 25th as lowkey as possible when Venus meets Pluto and power struggles of all kinds are unavoidable. This Venus retrograde also realigns your friendships and your home. If the plan is to host others at your place, expect some fireworks and secrets to be unearthed.

This week’s mantra: I deserve peace.

Discipline is your theme for Venus retrograde, which begins on the 19th and goes through January 29th. The more you’re able to stick to a routine, the more you can appreciate your environment and get ahead in your career. Not everything needs to be so dramatic. Sometimes the biggest shifts in your life come from appreciating the mundane. On the 25th, remain flexible as you might have to take some time out of your holiday celebration to handle a mini crisis for a friend. Whatever it is, you’ve got this.

This week’s mantra: Everything takes practice.

Let’s face it: You love to avoid your own issues through nitpicking everyone else’s problems. But Venus retrograde begins on the 19th, which forces you to reflect on your own aversion to intimacy. The truth is, maybe you’re not getting the relationship you crave because you haven’t faced some heartbreak from the past. Expect some exes to resurface and secrets to be unearthed over the next six weeks (through January 29th). Connection runs deep.

This week’s mantra: Some stories are worth retelling.

Venus—your ruling planet—goes retrograde on the 19th, offering you a chance to heal from all of the loss you’ve experienced over the last few years (and really over the last decade). Confronting your past is important—whether that’s spending holidays with family who you usually avoid or meeting up with friends who owe you an apology while you’re visiting your hometown. Facing what’s difficult helps you get in touch with yourself as well as what you need from your closest relationships and collaborators.

This week’s mantra: Healing is on the horizon.

Though retrogrades tend to bring people from your past out of the woodwork, this Venus retrograde that begins on the 19th (and goes through January 29th) is set up to be a full-fledged nostalgia tour for you. Old friends want to hang out while you’re visiting home, ex-lovers show up at your neighborhood coffee shop and your sister brings up a fight from 12 years ago over Christmas dinner. Who do you want to keep in your sphere, even when it’s hard to relate?

This week’s mantra: Nostalgia can be sweet, but it can also be a trap.

While many of your friends are going to be on edge re: relationships and stalker exes when Venus goes retrograde on the 19th, you’re more concerned with work and making money moves. This transit (through January 29th) starts off with a major performance review which makes or breaks your ambition to get a promotion before 2022. Maybe you’re not getting that raise you thought you had in the bag. What you’re learning is that you can’t get what you want when you’re keeping your cards so close to your chest.

This week’s mantra: I get what I want.

Venus retrograde kicks off in your sign on the 19th. More than anything, this transit is here to remind you that you’re in control of your own pleasure and your own success. You can’t rely on anyone else to get you what you want. As Venus meets up with Pluto on the 25th, you find yourself obsessing over your appearance before heading to Christmas dinner with your family. Why not dress how you want to rather than trying to meet everyone else’s expectations?

This week’s mantra: I’m in control.

There’s a big difference between being lonely and being alone. This is a major lesson for you to learn as Venus goes retrograde in your unconscious sector on the 19th. You spent much of this year being everyone’s hero and putting yourself at the center of every battle. Now it’s time to reflect on what happened at a remove. This comes to a head on the 25th when your family wants to pull you back into the drama during a rocky Christmas dinner. Take a retreat! Unplug your phone! Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

This week’s mantra: Silence is a valid response.

Ruptures in your friend group and your community as Venus stations retrograde on the 19th have you heading into the holidays feeling uneasy. The planet of love and connection will be moving backwards until January 29th, asking you to review what it is you really need from your support systems. Things could get especially heavy as Venus meets up with Pluto on the 25th. Ask yourself: Is your friend’s drama really worth disconnecting from your family? How can you be less consumed with everyone else’s life?

This week’s mantra: My feelings are important.

Jaime Wright is an astrologer based in New York. You can subscribe to her newsletter for more musings on the stars.