Is Mercury retrograde right now? · Updated Oct 26, 2026
Yes. Mercury is retrograde until Nov 13
Checked against the ephemeris every day, with every 2026–2027 date, shadow and station to the minute. Next up: Oct 24 to Nov 13, 2026 in Scorpio.
Photo: Matthew Henry / Burst
At a glance
Yes. Mercury is retrograde in Scorpio until Nov 13, 2026, 19 days from today.
- Turns retrograde
- Oct 24, 2026 · 07:12 UTC20°59′ Scorpio
- Turns direct
- Nov 13, 2026 · 15:53 UTC5°02′ Scorpio
- Shadow window
- Oct 4 to Nov 30, 202620 days retrograde
- Meets the Sun
- Nov 4, 2026 · 14:24 UTCCazimi at 12°11′ Scorpio
- The one after
- Feb 9 to Mar 3, 2027Pisces into Aquarius
See where Mercury lands in your chartFree, about a minute, with your birth time.
Today's answer
20 days in Scorpio: Oct 24 to Nov 13, 2026
Try this today
- Before Oct 24, send the message you have been drafting in your head.
- Back up your phone tonight, while you are thinking of it.
- Put Nov 13, 2026 in your calendar as a check-in, not a deadline.
You know the moment. A text you meant for one friend lands in the group chat, the train sits outside the station for no stated reason, and someone at work says, half joking, "Is Mercury retrograde?" Fair question. Here is the honest answer, worked out again every morning when this site rebuilds.
Yes. As of Oct 26, 2026, Mercury is retrograde in Scorpio. It turned retrograde on Oct 24, 2026 at 20°59′ Scorpio. It turns direct on Nov 13, 2026 · 15:53 UTC at 5°02′ Scorpio, 19 days from now. The post-shadow then runs until Nov 30, 2026.
The one everyone is asking about runs from Oct 24, 2026 · 07:12 UTC to Nov 13, 2026 · 15:53 UTC. Mercury stops at 20°59′ Scorpio, backs up for 20 days to 5°02′ Scorpio, then rolls forward again. It never leaves Scorpio, the sign astrologers tie to secrets, loyalty and the conversations you only have after midnight.
The shadows stretch the story at both ends. The pre-shadow started on Oct 4, 2026, when Mercury first crossed 5°02′ Scorpio. The post-shadow ends on Nov 30, 2026, when it passes 20°59′ Scorpio again. Pre-shadow to post-shadow, that is 57 days on the same patch of sky.
The sky behind it
Stations are found where Mercury's apparent speed along the ecliptic changes sign. Shadows are the moments Mercury crosses the two station degrees in forward motion. Method: skyfield + JPL DE442 ephemeris; geocentric apparent ecliptic longitudes, true ecliptic and equinox of date (tropical zodiac); stations detected via longitude-rate sign change and refined to well under one hour; all times UTC.
| Moment | Date and time (UTC) | Mercury's position |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-shadow begins | Oct 4, 2026 · 09:09 UTC | 5°02′ Scorpio |
| Station retrograde | Oct 24, 2026 · 07:12 UTC | 20°59′ Scorpio |
| Cazimi (meets the Sun) | Nov 4, 2026 · 14:24 UTC | 12°11′ Scorpio |
| Station direct | Nov 13, 2026 · 15:53 UTC | 5°02′ Scorpio |
| Post-shadow ends | Nov 30, 2026 · 06:16 UTC | 20°59′ Scorpio |
Two at once
Two planets backing up at once, and a cazimi on Nov 4
Try this today
- Write the apology, then sleep on it one night before you send it.
- On Nov 4, jot down the one thing the past two weeks keep circling back to.
- Reread one contract or plan you agreed to in a hurry this year.
Picture the quiet hour after a party, coat still on, when you finally text back the person you have been avoiding. Astrologers would say this autumn hands you two of those hours at once.
Venus turned retrograde on Oct 3, 2026 in Scorpio and turns direct on Nov 14, 2026 in Libra. So the whole Mercury retrograde, all 20 days of it, sits inside the Venus one. On the morning Mercury stations, Venus has already met the Sun, at Oct 24, 2026 · 03:44 UTC, about 3 hours before Mercury stops. The two planets turn direct about 9 hours apart.
Halfway through, on Nov 4, 2026 · 14:24 UTC, Mercury lines up with the Sun at 12°11′ Scorpio, on day 12 of the retrograde. Astronomers call this the inferior conjunction: Mercury slips between Earth and the Sun, lost in the glare. Astrologers call it cazimi, "in the heart of the Sun," and many read it as the midpoint where the reason for the review comes clear.
In the tradition, Mercury rules what you say and Venus what you value. Two of them reversing together reads as a season for second drafts in both: the apology, the price you charge, the friendship you let drift.
The sky behind it
| Planet | Turns retrograde | Meets the Sun | Turns direct |
|---|---|---|---|
| Venus | Oct 3, 2026 · 07:15 UTC at 8°29′ Scorpio | Oct 24, 2026 · 03:44 UTC at 0°45′ Scorpio | Nov 14, 2026 · 00:27 UTC at 22°52′ Libra |
| Mercury | Oct 24, 2026 · 07:12 UTC at 20°59′ Scorpio | Nov 4, 2026 · 14:24 UTC at 12°11′ Scorpio | Nov 13, 2026 · 15:53 UTC at 5°02′ Scorpio |
The science and the story
The highway trick: why Mercury seems to back up
Try this today
- Next time you pass a slow car, watch it slide backward against the hills. That is retrograde.
- In the weeks after Nov 4, look low in the east before sunrise. Mercury climbs out of the glare as a morning planet; how easily you see it depends on your latitude and a clear horizon.
You have felt this on the highway. You pull past a slower car, and for a second it seems to slide backward against the hills. Nobody is reversing. You are just moving faster.
Mercury does the same trick on us. It circles the Sun in 88 days to our 365, according to NASA, so about 3.1 times a year, by our count, it overtakes Earth on the inside track. While it passes, its position against the far stars appears to drift backward through the zodiac. The instants where that apparent motion stalls and flips are the stations: station retrograde, where the backward drift starts, and station direct, where forward motion comes back.
People have been puzzling over these loops for a very long time. Greek astronomers such as Apollonius of Perga modeled them with epicycles by the third century BCE, and Ptolemy built them into his system around 150 CE. Copernicus explained them as a side effect of watching from a moving Earth (Wikipedia: apparent retrograde motion; Britannica: retrograde motion).
The meaning came from the god. The Romans' Mercury was the god of merchants and travelers, identified with Hermes, the messenger of the Greek gods (Britannica). So astrologers link the planet with messages, contracts, trade and trips, and read its retrograde as a time those areas slow down and ask for a second look. The popular habit of blaming every glitch on it is much newer, and a matter of taste.
A working guide
How to live through it without putting life on hold
Try this today
- Say the important thing twice: once out loud, once in writing.
- Add twenty minutes of slack to any trip that has a connection.
- Finish one old thing before you start a new one.
Nobody needs to cancel their life three times a year. The useful version is smaller: the phone face down while you reread the email, the spare twenty minutes on travel day, the backup you kept meaning to run.
All three of the 2026 retrogrades begin in water signs (Pisces, Cancer, Scorpio). Astrologers read that as a year of review about feelings, memory and trust more than logistics. This last one, in Scorpio, is the year's deep-water lap. If an old friend, an unfinished draft or a question you buried comes back between Oct 24 and Nov 13, the tradition says to treat it as a loop worth closing.
Where Scorpio falls in your chart is said to show which part of life gets the review. A free birth chart shows you in a minute. For a fuller list, the dos and don'ts page goes item by item.
Try it
Were you born with Mercury retrograde?
Roughly one birthday in 5 lands in one, going by how much of the time Mercury spent retrograde from 1940 to 2035. Put in your birthday and see which side you landed on, and in which sign.
Pick your birthday and press the button. Your date stays on this page; nothing is sent or saved.
More to read
Shorter reads. Each opens in place.
Shadow periods
The shadow, in plain English
Think of the shadow as the trailer and the credits. Before the station, Mercury crosses the stretch of sky it is about to cover again. That pre-shadow starts when it first touches the degree where it will later turn direct, and in 2026–2027 it runs 14 to 20 days.
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After the station direct, Mercury takes another 14 to 20 days to re-cross that ground and pass the degree where the retrograde began. That is the post-shadow. Astrologers read the first as themes surfacing and the second as loose ends settling.
Your clock
Which day is it where you live?
A station is one instant for the whole planet. Your calendar date is not. Every time on this page is UTC, so in most of the Americas the local date can be one day earlier, and in Asia, Australia and New Zealand one day later.
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Take the Scorpio station at 07:12 UTC on Oct 24, 2026. In New York that is Oct 24, 3:12 AM; in Los Angeles, Oct 24, 12:12 AM; in Sydney, Oct 24, 6:12 PM. The retrograde stations tool has more.
By the numbers
How often Mercury does this
Mercury turns retrograde three times in 2026 and three times in 2027. From 1940 to 2035, our list holds 302 retrogrades, about 3.1 a year, and each one in 2026–2027 lasts 20 to 24 days.
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That adds up to about 19% of the calendar, roughly one day in 5. Enough to notice. Nowhere near enough to run your life around.
Every Mercury retrograde in 2026 and 2027
Six periods, each with exact station times, degrees and the full shadow window. Computed from the JPL ephemeris, not copied from another list.
| Retrograde | Sign | Turns retrograde | Turns direct | Days | Shadow window |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 26 to Mar 20, 2026 | Pisces | Feb 26, 2026 · 06:48 UTC at 22°34′ Pisces | Mar 20, 2026 · 19:32 UTC at 8°29′ Pisces | 23 | Feb 11, 2026 to Apr 9, 2026 |
| Jun 29 to Jul 23, 2026 | Cancer | Jun 29, 2026 · 17:35 UTC at 26°15′ Cancer | Jul 23, 2026 · 22:57 UTC at 16°19′ Cancer | 24 | Jun 13, 2026 to Aug 7, 2026 |
| Oct 24 to Nov 13, 2026 | Scorpio | Oct 24, 2026 · 07:12 UTC at 20°59′ Scorpio | Nov 13, 2026 · 15:53 UTC at 5°02′ Scorpio | 20 | Oct 4, 2026 to Nov 30, 2026 |
| Retrograde | Sign | Turns retrograde | Turns direct | Days | Shadow window |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 9 to Mar 3, 2027 | Pisces into Aquarius | Feb 9, 2027 · 17:36 UTC at 5°59′ Pisces | Mar 3, 2027 · 12:32 UTC at 20°55′ Aquarius | 22 | Jan 25, 2027 to Mar 23, 2027 |
| Jun 10 to Jul 4, 2027 | Cancer into Gemini | Jun 10, 2027 · 18:15 UTC at 6°22′ Cancer | Jul 4, 2027 · 19:39 UTC at 27°28′ Gemini | 24 | May 26, 2027 to Jul 19, 2027 |
| Oct 7 to Oct 28, 2027 | Scorpio into Libra | Oct 7, 2027 · 14:37 UTC at 4°56′ Scorpio | Oct 28, 2027 · 14:10 UTC at 19°19′ Libra | 21 | Sep 17, 2027 to Nov 13, 2027 |
All times are UTC. In the Americas the local date can be a day earlier; in Asia and Australia a day later.
Quick answers
Is Mercury retrograde right now?
Yes. As of Oct 26, 2026, Mercury is retrograde in Scorpio. It turned retrograde on Oct 24, 2026 at 20°59′ Scorpio. It turns direct on Nov 13, 2026 · 15:53 UTC at 5°02′ Scorpio, 19 days from now. The post-shadow then runs until Nov 30, 2026. This answer is recalculated every day. All times are UTC.
When does Mercury retrograde end in 2026?
The Scorpio retrograde that starts Oct 24, 2026 ends when Mercury turns direct on Nov 13, 2026 · 15:53 UTC at 5°02′ Scorpio. The post-shadow ends on Nov 30, 2026. The last station direct of 2026 is Nov 13, 2026.
Mercury retrograde October 2026 dates and shadow period?
From Oct 24, 2026 · 07:12 UTC to Nov 13, 2026 · 15:53 UTC, all in Scorpio, 20 days. The pre-shadow starts Oct 4, 2026, the post-shadow ends Nov 30, 2026, and Mercury meets the Sun (cazimi) on Nov 4, 2026 · 14:24 UTC at 12°11′ Scorpio.
When is the next Mercury retrograde?
Mercury is retrograde now, until Nov 13, 2026. The next one runs Feb 9 to Mar 3, 2027 in Pisces into Aquarius.
Which signs are affected by Mercury retrograde in October 2026?
Everyone has Scorpio somewhere in the chart, so astrologers say everyone gets a review in that part of life. Tradition gives extra weight to Scorpio itself, to Gemini and Virgo (the signs Mercury rules), and to the other fixed signs, Taurus, Leo, Aquarius. Read it as emphasis, not a sentence. A free birth chart shows which house Scorpio falls in for you.
How many times is Mercury retrograde in 2026 and 2027?
Three times in 2026: Feb 26 to Mar 20, 2026 in Pisces, Jun 29 to Jul 23, 2026 in Cancer, Oct 24 to Nov 13, 2026 in Scorpio. Three in 2027: Feb 9 to Mar 3, 2027 (Pisces into Aquarius), Jun 10 to Jul 4, 2027 (Cancer into Gemini), Oct 7 to Oct 28, 2027 (Scorpio into Libra). Each 2026–2027 retrograde lasts 20 to 24 days. All dates UTC; the shadows are in the tables on this page.
Are Mercury and Venus retrograde at the same time in 2026?
Yes, for 20 days. Venus is retrograde from Oct 3, 2026 to Nov 14, 2026, and Mercury from Oct 24, 2026 to Nov 13, 2026. The whole Mercury retrograde falls inside the Venus one. They turn direct about 9 hours apart.
Is Mercury retrograde real, or does it just look that way?
No. Mercury orbits the Sun in 88 days, much faster than Earth, and about 3.1 times a year it overtakes us on the inside track. From our moving viewpoint its position against the stars seems to drift backward for 20 to 24 days, the way a slower car seems to slide back as you pass it.
