I’ll Be Your Mirror: Using the Zodiac to Look Back on 2017

“ I’ll be your mirror Reflect what you are In case you don’t know ” – The Velvet Underground & Nico

As one year draws to a close, we are naturally inclined to begin looking forward to what the next might bring. But, what would happen if, before jumping ahead, we all took some time to consider what we’ve learned instead? While this final week of 2017 is certainly a time to look forward to what’s next, it is also a time to reflect. Assessing what we’ve just gone through can help us understand what will serve us in the coming year – and what we’d rather leave behind.

For many of us, 2016 was the year of purging and reconciling, while 2017 was the year of restructuring. 2018 will be the year of finally reaping the benefits of everything we have been working so hard to build and shift. What will you build in 2018? What will shift? Find out now.

With that in mind, let’s all take a moment to reflect on what lessons we should have learned in 2017.

The Zodiac Guide to What You Learned in 2017

Aries

This was the year to change how you see yourself. The year opened with a few difficult aspects that made you consider where your energy is going and what relationships aren’t working (especially in your family). They also opened you up to considering how you really see yourself, and how others are treating you.

By the middle of the year, you began to realize that a lot of your quality of life depends on your self-image. And, thanks to a series of unexpected (but mostly positive) events that unfolded throughout the following months, you got a chance to realize that you are so much more than you assumed.

Right now, you’re basking in all of your newfound self-awareness, and that’s going to lead you to make better decisions for the next year to come.

Taurus

This was the year to figure out how you really feel. As a Taurus, you’re known for being strong-willed and clear-minded at all times. Though you have the capacity to feel deeply, you certainly don’t let it control your life (at least, not without a ton of logic and consideration first). However, this was the year that was meant to open your heart and make you question how authentic your behavior really is. Of course, that relies on you having to understand how you really feel about things – and honoring it.

By the end of the year, you found yourself dealing with an onslaught of emotion that was the result of repressed energy that you had been avoiding for a while.

In 2018, you’ll be able to make decisions that are more sound for your body, mind, and heart – because you’re more tuned into yourself than ever.

Gemini

This was the year to see who your true friends are. As a Gemini, you thrive in partnership. Your relationships determine the quality of your life, but over the past few years, you found yourself starting to question who was really in it for the long haul, and who would slip away – if you let them.

This year, you put that to the test with a few difficult transits around mid-year. Throughout the last few months, you’ve started to see clearly who you can trust, who you can’t, and who really matters.

In 2018, you’ll be happier in your relationships than ever before, mostly because you won’t be funneling your energy into people who don’t give you anything back.

Cancer

This was the year to challenge what you think you’re capable of. This year was all about the unknown, Cancer. You’ve made choices in your personal life that put you in a different (but usually better) situation than you’ve ever been in before. In fact, you’ve spent the last half of your life dreaming about the day that you’d eventually be… where you are right now!

This year was about realizing just how much power you really have.

In 2018, you’ll be pushed even farther to consider how you can improve your financial situation, your personal relationships, and your career.

You may have been willing to settle in the past, but now that you’ve gotten a taste of your potential, your life is about to take off.

Leo

This was the year to find contentment. As a Leo, you are naturally super-driven to keep moving your life forward. However, 2017 was the year that you started to learn what it means to find stillness, to find gratitude, and to find contentment.

The first few major transits of the year were not ones to take action during… and then the last part of the year had you questioning power dynamics and figuring out what you really can – and can’t – control in life.

You’ve uncovered a newfound sense of self now, and you’re ready to head into 2018 with the realistic determination not just to move forward, but to find happiness in the now.

Virgo

This was the year for radical change. Virgos aren’t exactly the sign you’d associate with the phrase “radical change,” but 2017 was unexpectedly just that.

Virgos, known for a penchant to overthink, found themselves having to make (sometimes risky) decisions for the long-term. By mid-year, and even through the end of December, you found yourself having to confront some limiting beliefs about your worth – and your fears.

Rest assured that what happened this year was supposed to happen this year. You found the relationships you were meant to find, or lost the ones you were meant to lose. You built the business you were meant to build, or left the one you were meant to leave.

And know this: you’ll really start to find your groove in the next 12 months, when life returns to a pattern, and you can finally get comfortable.

Libra

This was the year to completely renew yourself. For the majority of 2017, Libras were still in their Jupiter transit (known affectionately as their “emerald year”). This meant that you spent most of the spring coming face-to-face with limiting beliefs about love and money, past traumas, and big, lingering questions about what you’re meant to do and who you are meant to be.

Though you started this process in 2016, in 2018, you will find that a lot of those questions will be answered, and in better ways than you ever expected.

The end of 2017 was for figuring out exactly who you are and exactly what you’re going to achieve in 2018. If you decide it, you will achieve it, so use this time wisely. This next year, you will watch all of the seeds you have been planting for the last two years finally begin to sprout and blossom.

Scorpio

This was the year to find your inner voice. As a Scorpio, you often find that the voices of jealousy, worry, fear, or past experiences rise up and challenge the voices that are trying to move your life forward. This is characteristic of Scorpios, in that they often take their dark side too seriously, and their light side not seriously enough.

This was the year to identify exactly which voice is the one to listen to – and if you did that correctly, you’ll have found that it led to a lot of incredibly good things (perhaps a raise, a new relationship, or something else you had been desiring).

2018 is the year to really ground yourself in these new developments. Life has been waiting for you all along.

Sagittarius

This was the year to press the reset button. For Sagittarians, 2017 was a year of refreshing and resetting in life. The first quarter brought an opportunity to reconsider long-held beliefs and ideas; the second brought the opportunity to put new ideas into action; and the third brought a chance to relax before life picks up again in 2018.

This year was about taking a serious look at who and how you are, and whether or not you’re really living in alignment with your values.

Capricorn

This was the year to acknowledge what wasn’t working, so you could embark on what will. Capricorn is the most stubborn sign in the zodiac. You have a penchant for holding onto things far longer than necessary. This became abundantly clear this year, when you were forced to really look at what you spent the prior year building and choosing.

The newness of 2016 faded to a stark reality of 2017 when what you needed to shift came clearly into view. The question today is: did you?

One reality that you have to accept is that sometimes, it is okay to be wrong. It is okay to believe someone is your soulmate and then realize they aren’t. It’s okay to start a business and then realize it isn’t the best avenue for you. The only issue is whether or not you honor these realizations instead of letting your ideas of “failure” consume you.

Aquarius

This was the year to embrace possibilities. As an Aquarius, you are the natural-born, entrepreneurial-leader type. Every year is one in which you want to push the boundaries of what you think is possible, but this one especially had you feeling like the sky was the limit.

At the beginning of the year, you decided to re-think some strategy regarding business or love. Toward the end of the year, you found yourself smoothly sailing along thanks to your revelations. Next year, these ideas will carry you into even more innovation and growth. Stay focused.

Pisces

This was the year to re-define who you are. You’ve always had a strong sense of self, but 2017 was the year to re-think what you thought you knew about what you value, and what you want to do in the world.

You are very much influenced by how you think other people see you (that’s all of that dreamy intuitiveness and empathy coming through). This year, you had to learn to break other people’s expectations in favor of the bigger picture, or the person you are really meant to be.

In 2018, that vision will clarify even more for you, which might mean leaving certain relationships, cities, or jobs behind.

There are far greater things ahead, as the saying goes.