What’s retrograde now, and what’s next
A planet is retrograde when it appears to move backwards against the zodiac from Earth. Nothing reverses; it is the geometry of two orbits. Astrology reads each retrograde as a review of what that planet governs. The dates here come from the planets’ actual positions, not a copied table.
Mercury · communication, travel, contracts, devices, thinking
Direct in Scorpio
Next: 24 October 2026 – 13 November 2026 · then 9 February 2027 →
Venus · love, attraction, money, taste, what we value
Direct in Scorpio
Next: 3 October 2026 – 14 November 2026 →
Mars · drive, anger, desire, effort, conflict
Direct in Leo
Next: 10 January 2027 – 1 April 2027 →
Why planets go retrograde
Earth and every other planet orbit the Sun at different speeds. When Earth overtakes an outer planet, or an inner planet overtakes Earth, the other planet appears to slide backwards against the stars for a while, the way a slower car seems to roll back when you pass it. Mercury does this about three times a year for three weeks; Venus about every eighteen months for six weeks; Mars about every two years for two to two and a half months. The outer planets are retrograde for around four to five months of every year, which is why astrologers rarely make much of them.
The dates that matter are the stations, the days a planet stops and turns. Those are computed here to the minute, together with the shadow periods, which mark when the planet first reached and finally left the degrees it retraced.