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Mercury retrograde dates

☿Mercury is direct right now. The next retrograde begins 24 October 2026 — in 35 days.

Dates

Retrograde fromDirect againLength
15 March 202506:47 UTC7 April 202511:05 UTC23 days
18 July 202504:39 UTC11 August 202507:33 UTC24 days
9 November 202519:00 UTC29 November 202517:38 UTC20 days
26 February 202606:47 UTC20 March 202619:34 UTC23 days
29 June 202617:37 UTC23 July 202622:57 UTC24 days
24 October 202607:15 UTC13 November 202615:52 UTC20 days
9 February 202717:36 UTC3 March 202712:35 UTC22 days
10 June 202718:18 UTC4 July 202719:40 UTC24 days
7 October 202714:40 UTC28 October 202714:10 UTC21 days
24 January 202811:04 UTC14 February 202812:38 UTC21 days
21 May 202808:39 UTC14 June 202806:07 UTC24 days
19 September 202816:31 UTC11 October 202810:30 UTC22 days
7 January 202907:58 UTC27 January 202918:37 UTC20 days
1 May 202923:10 UTC25 May 202919:15 UTC24 days
2 September 202912:15 UTC25 September 202902:03 UTC23 days
22 December 202905:50 UTC11 January 203005:43 UTC20 days

Calculated from ephemeris at page build, not copied from a list. Times are UTC — a station near midnight falls on the previous or next day in your own time zone, which is why published calendars sometimes disagree by a day. Past periods are greyed.

What is actually happening

Mercury does not reverse direction. As it overtakes the Earth on a faster, smaller orbit, it appears from here to slow, stop, and drift backwards against the fixed stars for about three weeks before resuming. The apparent reversal is a trick of the two orbits seen from a moving vantage point, and it happens roughly three times a year. The moments it appears to stop are called stations, and they can be calculated exactly.

What tradition makes of it

Traditional astrology ties Mercury to speech, writing, documents and anything that has to be understood correctly. It treats the retrograde weeks as a period for revising, re-reading and postponing rather than for committing: signing contracts, launching announcements, agreeing terms.

Whether that holds is not something this site can demonstrate, and it does not claim to. What it can tell you is exactly when the period runs, and how heavily this system weighs it — Mercury retrograde carries the single heaviest penalty applied anywhere in the scoring when the question is signing a contract.

What it bears on

Knowing the retrograde weeks tells you when not to act. Working out which day actually suits you needs your own chart — and checking any single day is free.