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A planet is retrograde when, seen from Earth, it appears to move backward against the stars. It is a matter of perspective, not a real reversal: Earth overtakes the outer planets on its faster orbit, and the inner planets swing between us and the Sun. Astrology reads each retrograde as a time to review the planet's domain rather than push it forward.
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A time to reconsider the meaning of inner innovation and freedom.
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A time to re-evaluate inner growth and beliefs rather than outward expansion.
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Errors are frequent in communication, contracts, travel, and electronics. Double-checking and backups are key.
Dates, my house and tips♇
A time of deep inner transformation and release of attachments.
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Errors are frequent in communication, contracts, travel, and electronics. Double-checking and backups are key.
Dates, my house and tips♆
A time to check illusions and ideals and purify your intuition.
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A time to firm up responsibilities and structure. Settle postponed duties.
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A time to reconsider the meaning of inner innovation and freedom.
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A time to re-examine relationships, finances, and tastes. Old connections may resurface.
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Errors are frequent in communication, contracts, travel, and electronics. Double-checking and backups are key.
Dates, my house and tips♃
A time to re-evaluate inner growth and beliefs rather than outward expansion.
Explore related fortunes
Mercury retrogrades three or four times a year for about three weeks and gets the most attention because it touches communication, contracts and travel, the things that go wrong loudly. Venus retrogrades every 18 months and Mars every two years, both for longer stretches; those are the ones that revisit relationships and drive. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are retrograde for four to five months every year, so their retrogrades are the background of a season rather than an event.
The dates come from the Swiss Ephemeris, not from a copied table, and the list is recomputed for any year you pick. The card with the orange border is the retrograde active today. Mercury has its own page with the shadow periods, the effect on each sign and a daily line.
No. It is an apparent motion caused by the relative speed of Earth and the planet. The dates on this page are the days on which the planet's ecliptic longitude actually decreases as seen from Earth.
Less so day to day. Jupiter through Pluto are retrograde for months every year, so astrology treats them as a season for inner review rather than a warning. Mercury, Venus and Mars are the ones people plan around.
The weeks before and after a retrograde when the planet crosses the same degrees it will retrace. It is a Mercury retrograde concept; see the Mercury page for this year's shadow dates.