The Full 2026 Retrograde Calendar

Retrograde motion is a trick of perspective: a planet appears to move backward through the zodiac because Earth, moving faster in its own orbit, is overtaking it. Nothing physically reverses. Astrologically, retrogrades are read as review periods for whatever that planet governs — a chance to revisit rather than launch. Here's every 2026 retrograde, planet by planet, with exact stations.

As of today, 12 August, the year is a little past its halfway point. Three planets are currently retrograde, one just finished its second window of the year, and four more retrogrades are still to come.

The Full Table

Right Now: Three Planets Retrograde at Once

As of 12 August, Pluto, Neptune and Saturn are all retrograde simultaneously — Pluto since 6 May, Neptune since 7 July, Saturn since 26 July. This is unremarkable in itself: the outer planets spend roughly four to five months retrograde every year as a matter of course, since Earth laps them annually regardless of what they're doing. What it means in practice is that the slow, structural background of the year — Saturn's discipline in Aries, Neptune's dissolving of old Pisces-era attachments now that it's freshly arrived in Aries, Pluto's grinding transformation of Aquarius themes — is currently turned inward rather than outward. None of these three is about sudden events; they're about the long unglamorous work of reworking foundations, and retrograde season is when that work happens somewhere less visible.

All three turn direct again before the year ends: Pluto on 16 October, Neptune on 12 December, Saturn on 10 December. Until then, expect structural change to feel more like revision than construction.

Mercury: Three Windows, Two Behind Us

Mercury retrograded 26 February to 20 March in Pisces, then 29 June to 23 July in Cancer. Both are behind us. One window remains: 24 October to 13 November in Scorpio — the year's most intense Mercury retrograde by sign, landing on money, intimacy and things usually left unsaid. It's covered in full on its own page, but the headline fact worth knowing here is that it overlaps almost exactly with Venus retrograde (3 October–14 November), so late October and early November carry two retrogrades of personal planets at once.

Venus: The Notable One Still Ahead

Venus stations retrograde on 3 October at 8° Scorpio and turns direct on 14 November at 22° Libra — crossing back from Scorpio into Libra as it does, which means it retraces the Libra–Scorpio border twice before the window closes. Venus retrogrades only about every eighteen months, which makes it the rarest personal-planet retrograde on this list and the one most worth planning around if you're going to plan around any of them. It's conventionally tied to relationships, money and aesthetic choices — old relationships resurfacing, financial decisions needing a second look, purchases (especially anything meant to last) better delayed until after 14 November. With Mercury retrograde running through most of the same window, late 2026 is shaping up as the year's most reflective stretch by a clear margin.

Jupiter and Uranus: Stationing Late, Carrying Into 2027

Jupiter stations retrograde on 13 December at 27° Leo and doesn't turn direct until into 2027, so 2026 ends with Jupiter already in review mode after its high-visibility move into Leo on 30 June and the Leo total solar eclipse on 12 August. Anything expansive that got launched during Jupiter's first Leo months has roughly five months of momentum before the retrograde asks for a second look.

Uranus stations retrograde on 10 September at 5° Gemini, also carrying into 2027. Uranus had only just crossed into Gemini on 26 April, so this retrograde arrives less than five months after the ingress — an early gut-check on a sign change that's still finding its feet. Uranus retrogrades are typically read as internalising disruption rather than producing it outwardly: whatever Gemini-flavoured change Uranus started in spring, September through year's end is when that change gets tested rather than extended.

Mars: The Year's Real Anomaly

Mars does not station retrograde at any point in 2026. It runs direct all year, moving steadily through Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo and into Virgo by November. This is unusual and worth stating plainly, because Mars retrogrades roughly every two years, and most calendar spans of this length include one. 2026 doesn't. The last Mars retrograde predates this year and the next one isn't due until January 2027.

Astrologically, a year with no Mars retrograde is sometimes read as a year where action, initiative and conflict move forward without the usual mid-year pause for reconsideration — momentum without an enforced review period. Whatever that's worth as a claim, the practical fact is simple: don't go looking for a Mars retrograde window in 2026, because there isn't one.

What's Left of the Year

From today, four retrogrades are still ahead: Venus (3 October), Mercury's third window (24 October), Uranus (10 September, already begun by the time you read this if it's after that date), and Jupiter (13 December). Three others — Pluto, Neptune, Saturn — are already underway and resolve before December ends. Mercury's first two windows and nothing else are fully closed.

For the full year mapped out month by month alongside eclipses, Moon phases and sign ingresses, the 2026 calendar has the complete picture. And for a look at how the pattern shifts next year — including whether Mars finally gets its retrograde back — the 2027 hub covers what's ahead once 2026 closes out.