No. Mercury is direct at 1°32′ Scorpio. It enters its shadow on October 4 and stands still and turns retrograde at 20°58′ Scorpio on October 24 at 7:14 AM.
The messenger walks back along his own road, opening the letters he already delivered, reading them by a later light.
| Enters shadow | October 4 at 9:10 AM | 5°02′ Scorpio |
| Stands still, turns back | October 24 at 7:14 AM | 20°58′ Scorpio |
| Stands still, turns forward | November 13 at 3:52 PM | 5°02′ Scorpio |
| Leaves shadow | November 30 at 6:16 AM | 20°58′ Scorpio |
Nothing in the sky runs backward. What happens is that Mercury, on its small fast orbit inside ours, passes between the Earth and the Sun, and from where we stand the quick planet seems to slip back through Scorpio, the way the train on the next track seems to reverse when yours pulls ahead. Retrograde is a trick of vantage, and the trick has been read for three thousand years as a season with a weather of its own, the way a sailor reads a sky that is only air. Astrologers hold these weeks for rereading rather than writing: the second look at the sentence, the contract, the message sent in heat. What was said gets said again, more carefully, or gets unsaid. Whether that is the planet or only attention finally paid, the reader decides; the sky does not insist. The retrograde ends when Mercury stands still and turns on November 13, and the road is walked a third time by November 30.
Retrograde from 20°58′ Scorpio, the degree of a soldier, obeying conscience, refusing the order given, back to 5°02′ Scorpio, the degree of a gold rush tearing people away from the soil of their birth. Twenty days.
Mercury today: 1°32′ Scorpio, the second degree. A broken bottle, the perfume spilled and the scent filling the room.
Nothing in the sky runs backward. What happens is that Mercury, on its small fast orbit inside ours, passes between the Earth and the Sun, and from where we stand the quick planet seems to slip back through Scorpio, the way the train on the next track seems to reverse when yours pulls ahead. Retrograde is a trick of vantage, and the trick has been read for three thousand years as a season with a weather of its own, the way a sailor reads a sky that is only air. Astrologers hold these weeks for rereading rather than writing: the second look at the sentence, the contract, the message sent in heat. What was said gets said again, more carefully, or gets unsaid. Whether that is the planet or only attention finally paid, the reader decides; the sky does not insist. The retrograde ends when Mercury stands still and turns on , and the road is walked a third time by .
Mercury retrogrades three times most years, for about three weeks each time, and spends another two or three weeks on either side in shadow.
| Enters shadow | Stands still, turns back | Stands still, turns forward | Leaves shadow |
|---|---|---|---|
22°33′ Pisces | 8°29′ Pisces | ||
26°15′ Cancer | 16°19′ Cancer | ||
20°58′ Scorpio | 5°02′ Scorpio | ||
5°58′ Pisces | 20°55′ Aquarius | ||
6°21′ Cancer | 27°28′ Gemini | ||
4°55′ Scorpio | 19°18′ Libra |
About 19 percent of people were born with Mercury retrograde. Enter a date and time and Moondark will tell you, along with the Moon’s sign and phase and whether she was void.
All retrograde planets right now · Add Mercury’s stations to your calendar
Times are shown in your time zone (UTC).