Mercury’s Retrograde Dates for 2025-2026
Times listed are for the Pacific Time zone. To convert to your time zone, go to this website, enter the date and time listed below, then enter your location to get the time/date for your city.
Retrograde: Mar 14 2025, 11:46 pm PDT, 09°Ar35′
Direct: Apr 7 2025, 04:07:35 am PDT, 26°Pi49′ D
Retrograde: Jul 17 2025, 09:45 pm PDT, 15°Le34′ R
Direct: Aug 11 2025 00:30 am PDT, 04°Le14′ D
Retrograde: Nov 9 2025 11:02 am PST, 06°Sg51′ R
Direct: Nov 29 2025, 09:38 am PST, 20°Sc42′ D
Retrograde: Feb 25 2026, 10:48 pm PST, 22°Pi33′ R
Direct: Mar 20 2026, 12:33 pm PDT, 08°Pi29′ D
Retrograde: Jun 29 2026, 10:36 am PDT, 26°Cn15′ R
Direct: Jul 23 2026, 03:58 pm PDT, 16°Cn18′ D
Retrograde: Oct 24 2026, 00:13 am PDT, 20°Sc58′ R
Direct: Nov 13 2026, 07:54 am PST, 05°Sc02′ D
Mercury is retrograde about three times each year, for three weeks at a time. Mercury is the planet that rules, among other things, communication, technology, transportation, and learning. Its retrograde periods are times when anything and everything related to these areas of life are presumed to be vulnerable to misadventure or unpredictability. Not the best time to buy new mechanical gizmos, especially cars, computers, or phones; sign contracts or make agreements; or begin new courses of study.
Making retrogrades work for you
Because a planet doesn’t seem to function as expected while retrograde, astrologers tend to issue dire warnings about not getting your computer repaired while Mercury is retrograde and not buying a house while Venus is retrograde. There’s something to these warnings, but proclamations like that always make me feel rebellious, and at the very least it’s fair to ask “Why?” After all, it’s not practical to spend nine Mercury retrograde weeks out of every year in communication/technology lockdown mode. In fact, what I’ve often found is that Mercury (mischief-maker that he is) often likes to push the issue; that just before Mercury turns retrograde, the car breaks down, your computer gives you the blue screen of death, or you accidentally drop your cellphone in the aquarium.
Well, what are you gonna do? If you live twenty miles from your job and public transportation isn’t an option, you make your living as a website designer, you don’t have a landline – obviously, you’ve got to play ball with Mercury.
So what does it mean when Mercury, or indeed any planet, is retrograde? It means that you may not have all the facts you need to make an informed decision about matters related to that planet. It’s the reason astrologers urge clients not to make big, not-easily-reversible decisions like getting married or buying a home when Venus (planet of property and marriage) is retrograde, or to perhaps rent a car instead of buying one when Mercury is retrograde, or to resist following their guru to India when Neptune is retrograde. Retrogrades are not, generally, the right time to begin things; rather, they’re times for finishing up resolved matters. The popular thinking is that anything that begins with re- is appropriate to do during a re-trograde period – rethink, reissue, refinish, refresh, and most of all, reflect.
Excerpted from The Essential Guide to Practical Astrology, April Elliott Kent
