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Retrograde Planets in 2026

Retrograde motion is not a malfunction and not a curse. From Earth a planet appears to move backward across the sky: that is what a difference in orbital speed looks like. Astrologically it is a change of mode – the planet's theme turns inward and backward, toward review. Below is the exact state of every planet right now, and all the dates forward and back, year by year.

Now retrograde: Saturn, Neptune, Pluto, Chiron 9 August 2026, 7:59 am ET

Next station: Uranus turns backward – in 32 days.

Every planet and its retrogrades

Tap a card to see every period for that planet, year by year, with the exact times of the stations and the shadow periods.

Mercury is direct now From in 2 months Deadlines drift, devices act up, and agreements are worth re-reading and saying out loud twice. All periods Mercury → Venus is direct now From in 55 days You get pulled back to what already happened: old relationships, old purchases, an old sense of taste. All periods Venus → Mars is direct now From in 5 months The drive turns inward: head-on attacks stall, finishing what you started goes well. All periods Mars → Jupiter is direct now From in 4 months Growth goes deep instead of wide: beliefs get re-examined, and so does what you counted as luck. All periods Jupiter → Saturn retrograde now ℞ Until left 124 days A stress test: unfinished commitments and old debts come back around. All periods Saturn → Uranus is direct now From in 32 days Change moves inward – quieter on the outside, rearranging on the inside. All periods Uranus → Neptune retrograde now ℞ Until left 126 days The fog lifts: you can see where the illusions were. All periods Neptune → Pluto retrograde now ℞ Until left 68 days Deep work: the old lets go slowly and with no witnesses. All periods Pluto → Chiron retrograde now ℞ Until left 150 days An old wound speaks up again – so that it finally gets heard. All periods Chiron →

Retrograde Planets by Year

The whole year at once: who turns, when, and in which sign.

2020 11 periods 2021 10 periods 2022 11 periods 2023 10 periods 2024 10 periods 2025 10 periods 2026 10 periods 2027 9 periods 2028 10 periods 2029 12 periods
All years: 1900–2050
1900s
1910s
1920s
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
2030s
2030 2031
2040s
2050s

What retrograde motion actually is

In plain words

Earth and the other planets move along their orbits at different speeds. When Earth overtakes a planet (or the planet overtakes Earth), from where we stand that planet starts to slide backward against the stars – like the train on the next track outside the window. The effect passes in a few weeks. Physically the planet never turns around at all.

What it means in astrology

The planet's theme changes direction: instead of forward and outward it works inward and backward. That is why launches go badly in these weeks and finishing off, returning and revisiting go well. It is not a ban on acting; it is a hint about which way of acting will meet the least resistance right now.

Shadow period

Before it turns, a planet moves forward through the stretch of zodiac it will later cover backward, and after the second station it crosses that stretch a third time. Those three passes are the full arc of the theme: it gets named, it gets reconsidered, it gets closed. The shadow dates are listed on each planet's own page.

Why sites disagree about the dates

The time zone. A station happens at a specific minute; if it falls at night, that minute can already be the next day in Eastern Time while in UT it is still the day before. We show Eastern Time and give you a switch.

How This Calendar Is Calculated

Source NASA JPL DE440 Verifiable ephemerides from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Zodiac Tropical Signs are measured from the point of the spring equinox.
Time Eastern Time (ET) You can switch time zones in the panel above the calendar.
Accuracy To the second Exact times for key events are verified to the second.

If you are comparing dates with another calendar and see a gap of a few hours, check the time zone: the default here is Eastern Time. You can switch it in the panel above the tables.

More on our method and how we verify it → This section is written by , astrologer at 1001 Horoscopes.

More in this section

Astrology Calendar Pick a month, a year or an archived period Calendar for 2026 Eclipses, sign changes and the whole year's retrogrades on one page Planets Now Where every planet is right now, and how fast it is moving Free Birth Chart Which planets were retrograde in your own birth chart