For many of us, December is one of the fullest months of the year. There are celebrations and obligations. There’s pressure to finish up work before the holidays and pressure to participate in the season in ways that might not feel comfortable. There are also expectations about crossing the threshold from this year into the next, and you might find yourself wondering if you’ve done enough, grown enough, accomplished enough to go peacefully into our next collective chapter. The astrology this month is expansive yet protective. It’s asking us to widen our perception of what “enough” really means and to find that within the context of a strange, infinite universe, we can only always be enough.

The energy in December is both sparkly and serious. With personal planets traversing both Sagittarius (infinite growth) and Capricorn (material limitations), the symbol of a crown of stars comes to mind, representing a sense of enchantment and authoritative responsibility. It’s an acknowledgement that while we need to take ownership of our lives and, to some extent, work to make our own luck, we also need to understand that we’re always connected to something more mysterious and magical and that we are conduits for that metaphysical power.

In practice this can look like surrendering to what the body needs and what nature demands of you during this time. The days are so much shorter and colder, and the body might need more slowness, quiet, and simplicity. It’s your responsibility as the caretaker of your body to provide a reprieve, to add some enchantment back into your life in the mystical darkness of winter. It’s important to remember that “self-discipline” often means being able to move into the shape of the most widely accepted, socialized archetype of a good, productive person. If you find yourself motivated by self-discipline rhetoric, yet you feel lost and exhausted, ask yourself if you are truly becoming “the best version” of yourself, or just a version of you that more closely conforms to societal ideals.

For the first week of December, the Sun, Mercury, and Venus are moving together through Sagittarius, and by mid-month, the latter two will move into Capricorn where Pluto has been resident for some time. Pluto in Capricorn has been working to upend the status quo and introduce an era of questioning authority and unearthing the darkness that lives underneath the foundations of our culture.

While Mercury and Venus are in Sagittarius, the themes in our relationships are centered around love and acceptance. It’s easier to be in harmony with others and to receive their care, their grace, and their admiration. When these two planets move into Capricorn, they join Pluto’s energetic influence. The ways in which we relate to others and demand the care we need become disruptive. Our innate desires break through the prescribed dreams and goals that society puts on us. We might have an easier time articulating our boundaries to other people or setting boundaries around digital communication and social media.

Jupiter, Sagittarius’ ruler, moves out of retrograde into Aries on the 20th. We might feel a huge release as the planet leaves the final sign of the zodiac, Pisces, and into its “new year.” There will be a feeling of forward momentum. Jupiter helps us expand, take up more space, ask for more, and find synchronicities that lead us to ease and joy. In Aries, the sign of our identity and fierce self-ness, Jupiter helps us feel more confident in who we are. It helps us assert that our natural cycles are meaningful and should be followed. It shows us that we can be exactly who we are and do exactly as much as we are capable of—and that is enough. It helps us see how sacred our unique expression of consciousness and being is. It helps us say “fuck you” to the systems that tell us we need to be more, do more, and prove that we matter.

Finally, this month really encourages us to slow right down and take any excuse to rest and do absolutely nothing. Mars is still in retrograde in Gemini, where it will be until January. On the 29th, Mercury goes retrograde. We’re entering the new year through these retrogrades, so there’s a focus on looking back, going over what we’ve done, and taking time to sit with ourselves in meditative lovingkindness. Both Gemini and its ruler, Mercury, are about bringing the unseen into reality. During the retrogrades, there’s a reversal of that idea, moving from the material back to the immaterial. It’s permission to not be productive, to resist bringing things from the ether into the physical plane. That doesn’t mean don’t create. But it does mean that it’s time to do the part of the creative process where you listen, receive, percolate, and contemplate, rather than producing an output.

During December, be sure to carve out time to fill your cup. Invest in your most nourishing relationships and rituals. This month, give yourself the space to just be and to sit with the potential discomfort of giving up the control you think you have over who you are. In your fullest, messiest, most authentic expression—whatever that may look like—remember that you belong here, you’re important, you are enough. I wish you a very, very magical season and a soulful, love-soaked transition into the new year!

Keagan (she/her) is a writer, tarot reader, and astrologer. Find her on Instagram @moonsingemini to book a reading. Subscribe to her monthly tarotscope newsletter here.

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Cosmic Forecast December 2022