Retrogrades
in 2026.
A planet never moves backwards: Earth overtakes it, or is overtaken, and seen from here it seems to reverse for a few weeks. The dates are to the minute; next to each station, the birthdays whose Sun is at that degree. The shadow is the stretch of the zodiac the planet will cross three times: it enters it before turning retrograde and leaves it only after moving on.
Jupiter starts to retrograde. Right now, Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are retrograde.
What it changes
What it governs gets replayed rather than launched. A good time to revisit, a bad one to sign without re-reading.
The ☉ tag gives the birthdays whose birth Sun is at that degree, to within one degree (births from 1920 to 2030).
☿︎ Mercury 3
The season of words coming back around: re-read before sending, reconfirm plans, finish the conversations left open. Misunderstandings are not fate — they are just easier than usual.
| Pre-shadow | Turns retrograde | Turns direct | Shadow ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wed 11 February at 23:12 | Thu 26 February at 07:47 ♓︎ 22°34′ Pisces ☉︎ 11–15 March | Fri 20 March at 20:35 ♓︎ 8°29′ Pisces ☉︎ 25 February – 1 March | Thu 9 April at 13:47 |
| Sat 13 June at 02:58 | Mon 29 June at 19:37 ♋︎ 26°15′ Cancer ☉︎ 17–21 July | Fri 24 July at 00:56 ♋︎ 16°19′ Cancer ☉︎ 6–10 July | Fri 7 August at 05:39 |
| Sun 4 October at 11:06 | Sat 24 October at 09:14 ♏︎ 20°58′ Scorpio ☉︎ 11–15 November | Fri 13 November at 16:53 ♏︎ 5°01′ Scorpio ☉︎ 26–30 October | Mon 30 November at 07:17 |
♀︎ Venus 1
The season of re-weighed attachments: what you love, what you spend, who you reach back out to. What returns during this stretch returns to be re-read — not necessarily restarted.
| Pre-shadow | Turns retrograde | Turns direct | Shadow ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 31 August at 16:42 | Sat 3 October at 09:10 ♏︎ 8°29′ Scorpio ☉︎ 30 October – 2 November | Sat 14 November at 01:21 ♎︎ 22°51′ Libra ☉︎ 14–18 October | Tue 15 December at 19:43 |
♂︎ Mars 0
The season of momentum recharging: direct action snags, forcing costs double. Picking an abandoned effort back up works better than launching a new one.
No retrograde this year.
♃︎ Jupiter 2
The season of growth checked from the inside: fewer chances landing on their own, more sorting of what you believe. A promise made during this stretch deserves a second read.
| Pre-shadow | Turns retrograde | Turns direct | Shadow ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun, 17 August 2025 at 09:57 | Tue, 11 November 2025 at 17:45 ♋︎ 25°09′ Cancer ☉︎ 16–20 July | Wed 11 March at 04:27 ♋︎ 15°05′ Cancer ☉︎ 5–9 July | Sat 6 June at 17:25 |
| Thu 17 September at 07:06 | Sun 13 December at 01:59 ♌︎ 27°01′ Leo ☉︎ 18–22 August | Tue, 13 April 2027 at 04:13 ♌︎ 17°00′ Leo ☉︎ 8–11 August | Sun, 11 July 2027 at 06:12 |
♄︎ Saturn 1
The season of renegotiating your structures with yourself: rules, commitments, loads. What was rushed comes calling; what was solid gets confirmed.
| Pre-shadow | Turns retrograde | Turns direct | Shadow ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 20 April at 14:32 | Sun 26 July at 21:58 ♈︎ 14°45′ Aries ☉︎ 3–6 April | Fri 11 December at 00:23 ♈︎ 7°55′ Aries ☉︎ 26–30 March | Mon, 15 March 2027 at 08:20 |
♅︎ Uranus 2
The season of breaks brewing in silence: the urge to change everything turns inward. The real pivots usually wait for forward motion to resume.
| Pre-shadow | Turns retrograde | Turns direct | Shadow ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tue, 20 May 2025 at 20:47 | Sat, 6 September 2025 at 06:42 ♊︎ 1°27′ Gemini ☉︎ 20–24 May | Wed 4 February at 03:17 ♉︎ 27°27′ Taurus ☉︎ 16–20 May | Thu 21 May at 17:23 |
| Mon 25 May at 11:46 | Thu 10 September at 20:41 ♊︎ 5°42′ Gemini ☉︎ 25–29 May | Mon, 8 February 2027 at 13:23 ♊︎ 1°40′ Gemini ☉︎ 21–24 May | Wed, 26 May 2027 at 07:05 |
♆︎ Neptune 1
The season when the haze lifts in patches: what you kept blurry becomes easier to see. A good stretch for telling intuition from wishful thinking.
| Pre-shadow | Turns retrograde | Turns direct | Shadow ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 16 March at 12:24 | Tue 7 July at 13:21 ♈︎ 4°25′ Aries ☉︎ 23–27 March | Sat 12 December at 23:14 ♈︎ 1°37′ Aries ☉︎ 20–24 March | Fri, 2 April 2027 at 20:14 |
♇︎ Pluto 1
The season of the depths resurfacing: what was buried asks to be re-read. Power balances get renegotiated from the inside first.
| Pre-shadow | Turns retrograde | Turns direct | Shadow ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 12 January at 10:03 | Wed 6 May at 17:44 ♒︎ 5°30′ Aquarius ☉︎ 24–27 January | Fri 16 October at 04:24 ♒︎ 3°04′ Aquarius ☉︎ 21–25 January | Sun, 7 February 2027 at 02:57 |
Questions
How long does a Mercury retrograde last?
In 2026, from 20 to 24 days: from 26 February to 20 March (23 days), from 29 June to 24 July (24 days) and from 24 October to 13 November (20 days). With its shadows, each one occupies the same stretch of the zodiac for 55 to 57 days.
Which planets are retrograde in 2026?
Mercury 3 times, Venus once, Jupiter twice, Saturn once, Uranus twice, Neptune once and Pluto once. Mars isn’t. The Sun and the Moon never are.
Which planet stays retrograde the longest?
Pluto: from 6 May 2026 to 16 October 2026, that is 162 days. The farther a planet, the longer its retrograde lasts: 23 days for Mercury, 137 days for Saturn.
Where do these dates fall in YOUR chart?
Your birthday tells where your Sun is. Your birth, to the minute, tells where the other nine are. AstroXP crosses every date in this calendar with all ten, and tells you which ones are for you.
On a computer? Scan this code with your phone.
Calendars
Calculated with astronomy-engine (the app’s engine), geocentric positions at noon, Paris time. Tropical zodiac.