When a planet appears to go back.
Nothing in the sky reverses. From here, a planet passing us looks like it is moving backwards for a few weeks. Traditionally that stretch is used for review rather than launch, and that is the whole of it.
venus is retrograde until 14 November 2026.
Coming up
- mercury
24 October 2026 to 13 November 2026
20 daysMercury slows and turns back for about three weeks. Messages get crossed, plans get revised, devices act up. Astrologers treat it as a review period.
- mercury
10 February 2027 to 4 March 2027
22 daysMercury turns inward: plans, messages and devices ask for double-checking rather than speed.
- mercury
11 June 2027 to 5 July 2027
24 daysMercury turns inward: plans, messages and devices ask for double-checking rather than speed.
- mercury
8 October 2027 to 29 October 2027
21 daysMercury turns inward: plans, messages and devices ask for double-checking rather than speed.
- mercury
24 January 2028 to 15 February 2028
22 daysMercury turns inward: plans, messages and devices ask for double-checking rather than speed.
- venus
11 May 2028 to 23 June 2028
43 daysVenus turns back for six weeks. Old relationships, old tastes and old spending habits come up for a second look: that is the whole point of it.
- mercury
21 May 2028 to 14 June 2028
24 daysMercury turns inward: plans, messages and devices ask for double-checking rather than speed.
- mercury
20 September 2028 to 11 October 2028
21 daysMercury turns inward: plans, messages and devices ask for double-checking rather than speed.
What a retrograde is good for
Use the period the way you would use a second draft. Re-read the contract before you sign it, finish the thing you abandoned in the spring, call the person you keep meaning to call. It is a fine time to revise and a poor time to buy something you have not researched.
It is not a reason to postpone your life. Planes fly, contracts hold, relationships survive. Anyone selling you protection from a retrograde is selling you something.
Where a retrograde actually lands for you.
The same three weeks touch a different part of life depending on your chart. Celestine reads it there.