Mercury retrograde 2026: dates and sidereal signs
All retrograde periods of Mercury in 2026: the day it turns retrograde, the day it turns direct, and the sidereal sign at each station. Dates are computed from the planet's actual motion, not taken from a generic table.
| Turns retrograde | Sign at start | Turns direct | Sign at end | Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aquarius | Aquarius | 22 | ||
| Cancer | Gemini | 25 | ||
| Libra | Libra | 20 |
Periods that begin in the previous year or end in the next year are shown in full.
Mercury retrograde
Mercury rules speech, documents, trade and short journeys. During its retrograde phase agreements tend to be revised, messages misread and purchases returned; in Jyotish it is a period for re-checking, re-negotiating and finishing what was started, rather than launching new contracts. The houses Mercury occupies in your birth chart show where the revision falls.
All times are UTC. Signs are sidereal (Lahiri ayanamsa), as used in Vedic astrology; they differ from Western tropical signs by about 24°. Day-level dates come from noon positions, so an ingress very close to midnight may fall on the neighbouring day in your time zone.
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Computed: 2026-08-22