Mercury is retrograde three times in 2026: February 26–March 20 in Pisces, June 29–July 23 in Cancer, and October 24–November 13 in Scorpio. The full degree-based shadow cycles run February 11–April 9, June 13–August 7, and October 4–November 30. Exact UTC boundaries appear in the table below.
Use those dates as planning context, not a ban on living:
Do now: meet real deadlines, communicate, travel, buy, or sign when the practical case is sound. Review: names, dates, backups, assumptions, cancellation terms, and who owns the next step. Delay only if useful: when the choice is genuinely flexible and a short pause would materially improve the decision. Mercury retrograde 2026 dates and shadow periods Status at export: Mercury direct, outside shadow western_tropical_geocentric Events solved to under one second and displayed to the nearest minute in UTC. 2026 Mercury cycles Cycle Pre-shadow begins Stations retrograde Stations direct Post-shadow ends Station path 2026-1 2026-02-11 22:12 UTC 2026-02-26 06:48 UTC 2026-03-20 19:33 UTC 2026-04-09 11:42 UTC Pisces 2026-2 2026-06-13 00:53 UTC 2026-06-29 17:36 UTC 2026-07-23 22:58 UTC 2026-08-07 03:37 UTC Cancer 2026-3 2026-10-04 09:09 UTC 2026-10-24 07:13 UTC 2026-11-13 15:54 UTC 2026-11-30 06:16 UTC Scorpio 2027 cycles Cycle Pre-shadow begins Stations retrograde Stations direct Post-shadow ends Station path 2027-1 2027-01-25 18:58 UTC 2027-02-09 17:36 UTC 2027-03-03 12:32 UTC 2027-03-23 14:58 UTC Pisces → Aquarius 2027-2 2027-05-26 06:04 UTC 2027-06-10 18:15 UTC 2027-07-04 19:39 UTC 2027-07-19 08:43 UTC Cancer → Gemini 2027-3 2027-09-17 07:29 UTC 2027-10-07 14:37 UTC 2027-10-28 14:11 UTC 2027-11-13 09:55 UTC Scorpio → Libra Method: Station times are roots of Mercury's geocentric tropical longitudinal speed. Shadow boundaries are exact longitude recrossings. Activity dates use the current Sidera general transit-only timing model at 12:00 UTC with the exact solved Moon VOC boundary applied before ranking; no birth chart or location is used. Pre-shadow begins when direct Mercury first crosses the longitude of the later direct station. Post-shadow ends when direct Mercury recrosses the longitude of the retrograde station. Engine revision 3e710b8; generated 2026-09-02T12:00:00Z.
...
