Every retrograde, dated.
All eight planets that do it, 2026 through 2027 — each window computed station to station from real motion, with the degree where each turnaround happens.
Mercury retrograde now
three or four times a year, about three weeks each| Window | Stations retrograde at | Stations direct at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 26, 2026 – Mar 20, 2026 | 22°33′ Pisces | 8°29′ Pisces | |
| Jun 29, 2026 – Jul 23, 2026 | 26°15′ Cancer | 16°19′ Cancer | now |
| Oct 24, 2026 – Nov 13, 2026 | 20°58′ Scorpio | 5°02′ Scorpio | ahead |
| Feb 9, 2027 – Mar 3, 2027 | 5°58′ Pisces | 20°55′ Aquarius | ahead |
| Jun 10, 2027 – Jul 4, 2027 | 6°21′ Cancer | 27°28′ Gemini | ahead |
| Oct 7, 2027 – Oct 28, 2027 | 4°55′ Scorpio | 19°18′ Libra | ahead |
Venus
every 19 months, about six weeks — the rarest| Window | Stations retrograde at | Stations direct at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 3, 2026 – Nov 14, 2026 | 8°29′ Scorpio | 22°51′ Libra | ahead |
Mars
every 26 months, two to three months| Window | Stations retrograde at | Stations direct at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 10, 2027 – Apr 1, 2027 | 10°25′ Virgo | 20°55′ Leo | ahead |
Jupiter
yearly, about four months| Window | Stations retrograde at | Stations direct at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| already retrograde as 2026 opened – Mar 11, 2026 | — | 15°05′ Cancer | |
| Dec 13, 2026 – Apr 13, 2027 | 27°01′ Leo | 16°59′ Leo | ahead |
Saturn
yearly, about four and a half months| Window | Stations retrograde at | Stations direct at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 26, 2026 – Dec 10, 2026 | 14°44′ Aries | 7°55′ Aries | ahead |
| Aug 9, 2027 – Dec 24, 2027 | 27°52′ Aries | 21°01′ Aries | ahead |
Uranus
yearly, about five months| Window | Stations retrograde at | Stations direct at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| already retrograde as 2026 opened – Feb 4, 2026 | — | 27°27′ Taurus | |
| Sep 10, 2026 – Feb 8, 2027 | 5°41′ Gemini | 1°40′ Gemini | ahead |
| Sep 15, 2027 – past the data horizon | 9°57′ Gemini | — | ahead |
Neptune
yearly, about five months| Window | Stations retrograde at | Stations direct at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 7, 2026 – Dec 12, 2026 | 4°25′ Aries | 1°36′ Aries | ahead |
| Jul 9, 2027 – Dec 15, 2027 | 6°39′ Aries | 3°51′ Aries | ahead |
Pluto retrograde now
yearly, five to six months| Window | Stations retrograde at | Stations direct at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 2026 – Oct 16, 2026 | 5°30′ Aquarius | 3°04′ Aquarius | now |
| May 8, 2027 – Oct 18, 2027 | 7°10′ Aquarius | 4°44′ Aquarius | ahead |
How to read this calmly
Retrograde motion is perspective, not reversal: planets overtaking each other on different orbits, the same illusion as a slower train seeming to roll backward. What the tables make plain is how ordinary it is. The outer planets spend a third to half of every year retrograde — on any given day the sky usually has one or two, and today is no exception.
The tradition scales its readings to the rhythm. Mercury’s three-week flips are review season for plans and paperwork. A Venus retrograde — the rarest, every 19 months — gets read as a reassessment of what you want and whom; Mars, every 26 months, as an engine rebuild for drive itself. The yearly outer-planet spans pass mostly unremarked, felt only where they cross something exact in your own chart — which is what the transit tracker checks.
Born during a retrograde? Common and unalarming — roughly one person in five has natal Mercury retrograde. Your birth chart marks every planet that was moving backward when you arrived, with an ℞.
Questions, answered
Which planets are retrograde right now?
Retrograde right now: Mercury and Pluto. Everything else is direct. The tables above list every window for 2026 and 2027, station to station, refined to the hour.
Can the Sun or Moon be retrograde?
No. Retrograde motion is a line-of-sight effect between planets orbiting the Sun at different speeds. The Moon orbits Earth directly and the Sun’s apparent motion is Earth’s own orbit reflected back, so neither ever appears to reverse.
Are outer-planet retrogrades a big deal?
Mostly no. Jupiter through Pluto spend four to six months of every year retrograde — it is their normal rhythm, and roughly half of everyone alive has at least one outer planet retrograde in their birth chart. Astrologers read them as quieter, more internal phases of a planet’s theme, nothing like the scheduling folklore around Mercury.
What is a station?
The turnaround. A planet slows, hangs at one degree for days, then reverses — first at the retrograde station, later at the direct station. The positions in the tables mark those standstills, and astrologers treat a station degree as the sensitive point of the whole window.
Why does Mercury get all the attention?
Frequency and territory. Mercury flips three or four times a year — the only planet that retrogrades more often than annually — and astrology assigns it the daily-life file: messages, travel, contracts. Venus and Mars retrogrades are rarer and read as deeper reviews of attachment and drive. The full Mercury story has its own page.