Retrograde Calendar 2026: Every Station Date

Most retrograde guides cover one planet. This one covers all of them, because the useful question is rarely "when is Mercury retrograde" on its own. It is "what is going backwards this month, and does any of it touch my chart".

Every date below is sidereal, from the Swiss Ephemeris with the Lahiri ayanamsa.

What retrograde actually is

A graha is vakri, or retrograde, when it appears to move backwards against the stars. Nothing in the sky reverses. Earth is simply overtaking the planet on the inside of its orbit, the way a faster train makes a slower one look like it is sliding backwards.

The part that matters for prediction is the geometry, not the label. A retrograde planet crosses the same degree three times: once moving forward, once moving back, once moving forward again. A transit that would have been a single event becomes a story in three acts. That is why a matter you thought was closed in June can reappear in September, at the same degree, with the same planet.

Stations are the strongest days

The two edges of a retrograde period are the stations, the days the planet slows to a standstill before turning. Classical practice treats these as the most potent days of the whole window, because a graha that is not moving is a graha whose significations are concentrated rather than spread.

There are two kinds. The station retrograde is the day it turns backwards. The station direct is the day it resumes forward motion. Both are listed below.

Mercury: three retrogrades in 2026

Mercury rules communication, trade, study, contracts and paperwork. The classical advice is not to stop living, but to avoid signing what you have not already negotiated, and to expect that documents, messages and travel arrangements will need a second pass.

The June window is the interesting one. Mercury enters Cancer on 23 June, turns back on 30 June, retreats into Gemini on 8 July, turns direct on 24 July, and only re-enters Cancer on 6 August. Anything tied to Mercury's arrival in Cancer therefore happens twice, six weeks apart.

Full sign by sign dates are on the Mercury transit 2026 page.

Venus: one retrograde, in Libra

Venus retrogrades roughly once every nineteen months, so a Venus retrograde is a much rarer event than a Mercury one and is read far more seriously. It rules relationships, comfort, art, vehicles and money spent on pleasure.

This one starts in Libra, its own sign. Venus slips back into Virgo on 6 November, turns direct there on 15 November, and returns to Libra on 23 November. Traditional practice advises against beginning a marriage, buying a vehicle or committing to expensive cosmetic changes inside a Venus retrograde, and against treating a relationship that revives during one as settled until Venus has cleared the degree a third time.

See the Venus transit 2026 page for the surrounding sign dates.

Jupiter and Saturn: months, not weeks

The outer planets retrograde every year for a long stretch. It is normal rather than notable, and it does not carry the "everything goes wrong" reputation the inner planets have. What it does is stretch out their transits.

Saturn is retrograde for more than four months of 2026, from late July to mid December, the whole time in Pisces. If you are in Sade Sati, that is the stretch where old matters resurface rather than new ones arriving.

Jupiter's December station is worth noting for a different reason. Jupiter enters Leo on 1 November 2026, turns retrograde on 14 December, and returns to Cancer on 25 January 2027. So its arrival in Leo is a preview, not the real thing. The lasting entry comes in June 2027.

Mars: none in 2026

Mars does not retrograde at all in 2026. Its previous retrograde ended in 2025 and the next one runs from 11 January to 2 April 2027, across Leo and Cancer. For a planet that governs conflict, surgery and property disputes, a clear year is worth knowing about: 2026 is a good year to act on Mars matters and 2027 is not.

What the texts actually advise avoiding

Retrograde advice online has drifted a long way from the classical position, so it is worth stating plainly what the rule is and what it is not.

A retrograde planet is not weak and it is not malefic. Several classical authorities treat a retrograde graha as unusually strong, on the reasoning that a planet closest to Earth is a planet at its most insistent. What a retrograde changes is direction of effect, not quantity.

The practical guidance follows from the triple pass rather than from any idea of misfortune. Avoid beginning something during a retrograde of the planet that governs it, because whatever begins will be revisited rather than settled. Revisiting, reviewing, repairing and renegotiating are all favoured, because those are what a backwards motion describes.

So during a Mercury retrograde, finishing a negotiation you started in February is reasonable. Opening a new one is not. During the Venus retrograde in October and November, restoring a relationship is well supported and formalising a new one is not. During Saturn's long retrograde, completing overdue obligations goes better than accepting new ones.

Which retrogrades actually touch you

A retrograde in the sky is a headline. A retrograde over a sensitive point in your chart is an event. The difference is whether the retrograding planet crosses one of your natal positions, or a house that matters to you, while it is going backwards.

That is a degree level question, and it is exactly what the Gochar Phal transit tool is built to answer. Enter your birth details and it shades every retrograde stretch on the timeline, lists each planet's station dates for the year, and works out the exact dates a transiting planet reaches an aspect to one of your natal grahas, including the repeat passes a retrograde creates.

Check your 2026 retrogrades