Three times in 2027 Mercury is retrograde, appearing to walk backward: February 9 to March 3, June 10 to July 4, and October 7 to 28 (UTC; in Australia each period begins a day later). Each one begins in a water sign and ends in an air sign: Pisces to Aquarius, Cancer to Gemini, Scorpio to Libra. Below are the exact station times, the local dates for the US, UK and Australia, the wider shadow windows, and a way to plan around them that treats retrograde as a review season, not a warning.
The dates
| # | Retrograde begins (station) | Retrograde ends (station) | Path |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Feb 9, 17:35 UTC | Mar 3, 12:31 UTC | Pisces 6° back to Aquarius 21° |
| 2 | Jun 10, 18:15 UTC | Jul 4, 19:39 UTC | Cancer 6° back to Gemini 27° |
| 3 | Oct 7, 14:37 UTC | Oct 28, 14:10 UTC | Scorpio 5° back to Libra 19° |
The “station” is the moment Mercury’s apparent motion pauses before reversing. We computed these moments ourselves from a standard astronomical ephemeris, to the minute; the astrological ephemerides we compared them with agree to within a minute. Because most of the stations fall in the afternoon or evening in UTC, the calendar date depends on where you are; in Sydney five of the six fall on the following day:
| # | New York (ET) | Los Angeles (PT) | London | Sydney | UTC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Feb 9 to Mar 3 | Feb 9 to Mar 3 | Feb 9 to Mar 3 | Feb 10 to Mar 3 | Feb 9 to Mar 3 |
| 2 | Jun 10 to Jul 4 | Jun 10 to Jul 4 | Jun 10 to Jul 4 | Jun 11 to Jul 5 | Jun 10 to Jul 4 |
| 3 | Oct 7 to Oct 28 | Oct 7 to Oct 28 | Oct 7 to Oct 28 | Oct 8 to Oct 29 | Oct 7 to Oct 28 |
Astrologers also mark a wider window on either side of each period, called the shadow: it opens when Mercury first passes the degree it will later retreat to, and closes when it finally clears the degree where it turned. We computed those too, for anyone who uses them:
| # | Pre-shadow begins | Retrograde | Post-shadow ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jan 25 | Feb 9 to Mar 3 | Mar 23 |
| 2 | May 26 | Jun 10 to Jul 4 | Jul 19 |
| 3 | Sep 17 | Oct 7 to Oct 28 | Nov 13 |
What retrograde actually is
Mercury orbits the sun inside Earth’s orbit, once every 88 days. Three times in most years it overtakes us on the inside, passing between the Earth and the sun. For about three weeks around that moment, seen from here, it appears to drift backwards against the stars, the way a faster car on an inside lane seems to slide backwards past your window as it passes. Then it appears to stop again and resume its usual direction.
The planet never reverses. Nothing changes in the sky except our line of sight. “Retrograde” is a description of appearance, and the station is simply the moment the apparent motion pauses. Astronomers have understood this since Copernicus, and it is the same effect that makes Mars appear to loop backwards every two years.
What astrologers make of it
In the astrological tradition Mercury stands for communication, travel, documents and the mind, and a retrograde period is read as a time when those things turn inward: a season for the “re” words, review, revise, repair, reread, reconnect, rest, rather than for launches and signatures. Each period is also read through the signs it moves through. In 2027 all three begin in a water sign (Pisces, Cancer, Scorpio) and back into an air sign (Aquarius, Gemini, Libra), which an astrologer would gloss as “start with what you feel, then re-think it”.
We treat this as a lens, not a forecast. There is no evidence that Mercury’s apparent motion affects your inbox, your contracts or your flights, and we are not going to tell you otherwise. There is good evidence that a scheduled review, fixed in advance, improves how most of us plan. Three such reviews a year, on dates set by the sky rather than by your mood, are useful whether or not the symbolism speaks to you. Take the rhythm; leave the dread.
Seneca wrote to his friend Lucilius, in the thirteenth of his Letters (§4), a line that applies to most retrograde worry: Plura sunt, Lucili, quae nos terrent quam quae premunt, et saepius opinione quam re laboramus. In our rendering: “More things alarm us, Lucilius, than weigh on us, and we are distressed more often by what we imagine than by what is so.”
A calm way to plan around each one
Each retrograde gives you three windows. The dates below are for 2027 in UTC; shift them a day if your local table above differs.
The fortnight before (January 25, May 26, September 17). Astrologers call this the pre-shadow; we call it finishing season. Use it to send, sign, book and ship the things that are nearly done, so that the retrograde weeks are free for review rather than crowded with deadlines. If a contract is ready and good, sign it. Nothing in the sky makes a good lease bad.
During (February 9 to March 3, June 10 to July 4, October 7 to 28). Treat it as a review season with a short list:
- Reread anything important before you send it, and give difficult messages a night’s sleep.
- Back up your files and your phone. Do this because backups are good, not because of Mercury; the date is just a reminder you did not have to set.
- Add margin to travel: an earlier train, a printed boarding pass, a charged battery.
- Reopen one stalled conversation or project, which is the useful half of the tradition.
- Review your goals. Every 2027 retrograde contains a full moon (February 20, June 19 and October 15), so if you keep intentions by the moon, the review is already on the calendar. Our ten-minute full moon release ritual is the format.
- Do not freeze your life. If the only time you can move house falls in a retrograde, move house. Plan well and expect the ordinary number of hiccups, which is the number you would have had anyway.
The fortnight after (to March 23, July 19 and November 13). The post-shadow, in the tradition; restart season, in ours. Two of the three 2027 retrogrades end within a day of a new moon: Mercury turns direct on July 4, later the same day as the July 4 new moon, and on October 28, the day before the October 29 new moon. If you set intentions at new moons, those two are tidy restarts: finish the review, then write the next wish. The 2027 new moon calendar has the local times.
A checklist for each retrograde
- Two weeks before: list what is nearly done and finish it.
- Day one: back up the phone and the laptop.
- Reread before sending; sleep on anything difficult.
- Reopen one stalled conversation or project.
- Review the current goal at the full moon inside the period.
- Add margin to any travel: earlier departures, printed documents, charged batteries.
- At the end: write what you learned, then set the next intention at the next new moon.
What we do not claim
Our 2027 calendar, Thirteen New Moons, deliberately leaves Mercury’s retrogrades off the page. It is a goal calendar, not a forecast, and we did not want a planning tool that tells you to wait. What it does have is the review rhythm this article recommends: thirteen new moons to set one honest intention, twelve full moons to read it back and let something go, and an Evidence Ledger to record what you made real, all printed in your own region’s time. The three 2027 retrogrades each contain one of those full moons, so the reviews fall where the tradition would put them, without a single warning in the margin.
FAQ
Is Mercury really moving backwards?
No. Its orbit never changes direction. Retrograde describes how it appears from Earth as it overtakes us on the inside of its orbit, the way a car you are passing seems to slide backwards. The effect lasts about three weeks and repeats roughly three times a year.
Why do different websites give different dates?
Three reasons. Time zones: the February and June stations fall at 17:35 and 18:15 UTC, which is already the next day in Australia, and the June station is the early hours of June 11 in Sydney. Rounding: some sources list the day Mercury “enters” retrograde from a daily ephemeris rather than the exact station. And the shadow: some sources count the shadow period as part of the retrograde, which roughly doubles it. Our tables give the exact station in UTC, the local date for four cities, and the shadow separately.
Should I avoid signing contracts or buying a phone?
Sign the contract if it is good and read it twice, which is advice for every month. There is no evidence that agreements made during a retrograde go wrong more often. The tradition’s useful core is “reread before you commit”, and that costs nothing to follow year-round.
What is the shadow period?
The weeks before and after the retrograde when Mercury is moving through the same degrees of the zodiac it will retrace or has just retraced. In 2027 the pre-shadows begin on January 25, May 26 and September 17, and the post-shadows end on March 23, July 19 and November 13 (UTC). Astrologers read them as a lead-in and a wind-down; we read them as a fortnight to finish and a fortnight to restart.
When is the first Mercury retrograde of 2028?
By the same computation, Mercury next turns retrograde on January 24, 2028, at about 20 degrees of Aquarius, and turns direct on February 14, 2028. We will publish the full 2028 table when the 2028 calendars are built.