On Thursday, 2/26, Mercury enters its first retrograde of 2026. This retrograde runs from 22°-08° Pisces; during this retrograde, Mercury will conjunct the Sun, Moon, Venus, Mars, and the North Node, and trine retrograde Jupiter in Cancer. This will be a complicated and meaningful retrograde as all of our personal planets are activated.
The Basics
Mercury, the planet of communication, technology, and travel, is the fastest-moving planet in our solar system and retrogrades three to four times every year. This means that Mercury’s retrograde cycle is “business as usual” and isn’t something that should be feared. However, it is a change in the energy signature of one of our personal planets, so it’s worth paying attention to and making adjustments where necessary.
Retrogrades don’t mean that the planet ACTUALLY is moving backward, of course. It is a shift in our perception of the planetary movement through our skies. In this way, our perspectives can become slightly skewed during these times, making it easy to miss key details or communicate ineffectively.
During Mercury’s retrograde, Mercury traces its path backward in our skies, and it is considered better to go over your work rather than start something new. Mercury passes over these degrees in the sky thrice: the first time during its pre-retrograde shadow, the second time while it moves backward during its retrograde, and again a third time while it moves forward in its post-retrograde shadow. Because of this, we all get the cosmic opportunity to relearn and refocus on certain things that are going awry in our lives.
By comparing the degrees of Mercury’s retrograde to your birth chart, you can understand how Mercury’s retrograde cycle might affect you.
Mercury retrogrades affect some people more than others. By order of significance, these people are most likely to be affected by a Mercury retrograde:
- If you have Sun, Moon, or Ascendant in Gemini and Virgo, or Mercury closely conjunct (within 2°) to your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant
- If your natal Mercury was in retrograde or out of bounds
- If the current retrograde crosses over your Sun, Moon, Mercury, or Ascendant (in conjunction) or makes a square or opposition
- If the current retrograde crosses over your Venus, or Mars, or makes a square or opposition with them
- If the current retrograde makes a trine with one of your personal planets or your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant
- If you work in a job that involves technology, communication, or travel, or are currently undergoing a task that involves one of these domains during this retrograde cycle
- If you live with, are in a relationship with, or closely work with a person who meets the above criteria
One can assume that the more of these factors in play, the stronger you may experience the effects of a Mercury retrograde cycle. This isn’t to say that what you experience will be bad or wrong – some people experience a lot of freedom from Mercury’s journey. The more open you are to giving up control and staying open to the ever-changing landscape of a Mercury cycle, the easier it will be.
The Nitty Gritty
This is a simple retrograde (in that Mercury remains within one sign, mutable watery Pisces) that grows more complicated when you consider that Mercury is about to conjunct the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars (both of our luminaries and all of the personal planets) during their retrograde cycles. This indicates that this retrograde is intensely personal and will have a lasting impact on our lives.
Some Mercury retrogrades can be quite out there – mostly abstract concepts that we can opt into or out of at will. This will NOT be that kind of retrograde.
There are many layers to this retrograde. Let’s start with the basics. This retrograde will run from 22°-08° Pisces, putting pressure on any planet in your chart between 22°-08° of Pisces and Virgo, firstly, Gemini and Sagittarius, secondly, and the other water signs thirdly. We are focused on the personal planets and luminaries here (and should look at Jupiter and Saturn too), but the outer planets are insignificant unless you have an outer planet at 08° or 22° of Pisces or Virgo, in which case it could be significant. It also could not be.
Pisces is sign #12, ruler of the 12th house, and ruled by Neptune (modern) and Jupiter (traditional). It is the placement of Mercury’s fall and their exile. This fish swims in all directions, making it difficult to choose a thought and stick with it, and thoughts struggle to escape the unconscious nature of the 12th house. We can expect communication to be heavily impaired for the entire time Mercury occupies Pisces, and especially when they are in their retrograde phase.
Mercury’s retrograde always impairs communication; Mercury’s retrograde in the sign of their exile AND their fall turns this up to 11.
That’s just the astrological weather; we need to find a way to live in it.
If you can handle having to repeat yourself thrice (and perhaps still being misunderstood), Mercury retrogrades don’t HAVE to be bad.
Sitting so close to the Sun, Mercury is our most personal planet, governing the realms of thought, communication, travel, and technology. All of these things are altered during their retrograde cycle. This can look like miscommunications, typos, people speaking without thinking first, travel delays, detours, intrusive thoughts, and technological difficulties; all generally considered “bad things”. But it can also look like deep thoughts, realizations, meaningful conversations, directed change, and intense problem-solving.
Mercury retrogrades are very much in the eye of the beholder. Mercury retrogrades can vary much in the eye of the beholder.
I know that’s not grammatically correct. That’s the point, here. (Mercury’s not going to retrograde in Virgo, so we shouldn’t worry about “correctness”)
The point is that you get the choice in how you greet and move through a Mercury retrograde. Inevitably, some things will go wrong. Especially if there’s technology involved —so, you know, pretty much everything these days. It’s not about you, it’s not personal.
Mercury retrogrades are the antithesis of modern capitalist society. They are all about the journey. Mercury is one of the great travellers – Hermes (one of Mercury’s many faces) was one of the few beings who was able to walk into the land of the dead and leave again. When Mercury retrogrades, the paths shift. We can view this as liminal — a fallow phase — but it can also be a time of great adventure and opportunity. You will find that different retrogrades will bring up various themes, based upon your current life experiences and how the retrograde interlocks with your own birth chart.
This isn’t the time to force things; it’s the time to read the currents and go with the flow (or step out of the way!).
If Mercury prograde (direct) is the in breath, Mercury’s retrograde is the inevitable exhale that must follow. We weave in and out of Mercury retrogrades all year long, which is why I call this a business-as-usual aspect. The problem is the “Out to Lunch” sign on the door, even though it’s only 9 am. Or maybe “On Vacation”. This is a problem specifically because we live in a Hustle Culture that demands constant effort and often immediate results.
Mercury retrogrades are the perfect time to schedule a staycation and use your PTO, or a for-real getaway if you can handle a bit of uncertainty in your travel itinerary. Expect major airline delays and road closures, though. It’s time best spent editing and refining. Sometimes, it’s best spent in the solitude of your bed, catching up on sleep, or out puttering around in your garden.
Mercury’s retrograde unfolds in three phases. First, Mercury passes from 08°-22° Pisces in forward motion, starting on 2/11; this is known as Mercury’s pre-retrograde shadow. Then, on 2/26, Mercury retrogrades and begins its backwards path from 22°-08° Pisces; this is their retrograde phase. Finally, after Mercury stations direct on 3/20, they move from 08°-22° again in forward motion, marking the post-retrograde cycle. This can be seen as a lesson played out in three parts. We should note that the degrees of Mercury’s station, 08° and 22° Pisces, hold special significance as Mercury will hold each of these degrees for a number of days, much longer than Mercury normally remains in a degree.
In fact, Mercury will be in the sign of Pisces for a staggering eleven weeks. For perspective, Mercury can remain in a particular sign for as little as two weeks.
Grab a life preserver, because general everyday communication is about to get really fucking soupy. No one will know what is going on, and it will be all unconscious emotions, all the time.
We will be especially stressed as Mercury conjuncts our most personal planets*:
2/28 – retrograde Mercury conjunct Venus 22° Pisces
3/7 – retrograde Mercury conjunct the Sunn 16° Pisces (Mercury cazimi/combustion)
3/15 – retrograde Mercury conjunct Mars 10° Pisces
3/17 – retrograde Mercury conjunct the Moon 09° Pisces
*The Sun and Moon are obviously not planets; forgive me this misuse of the term to make writing easier
We should note a couple of things here. One, although often maligned, Mercury cazimi, the point when Mercury meets up in inferior conjunction with the Sun, happens every single Mercury retrograde. It’s a day to avoid giving a big presentation or launching your new software, but otherwise it’s as business-as-usual as Mercury retrograde gets. It’s the most Mercury retrograde day of the entire retrograde; the nadir of this energy hole, if you will. Secondly, Mercury will conjunct Venus at the very beginning of their retrograde and Mars at the very end; and indication that personal relationships are being put under the microscope for further review.
We could go down a serious rabbit hole here (Mercury, though its native sign of Gemini, rules the rabbit hole – especially a rabbit hole where you find a giant shesha smoking catellpiar at the end, not a rabbit) about how we are entering a new era (28 year Saturn cycle that is ending as Saturn enters Aries; the sign AFTER Pisces). Saturn enters Aries on 2/13, 13 days before Mercury’s retrograde proper but within the retrograde window (inside of the pre-retrograde shadow).
We should also note that this retrograde overlaps with an eclipse season that is going to be a REAL banger.
Astrology never exists in a vacuum (best joke ever because space is a vacuum): you cannot just look at Mercury and predict anything. We’re gonna have three planets plus the North Node in Pisces (Mercury, Venus, Saturn, NN), and that Saturn leaves Pisces for Aries. Then it will be the Sun, Mercury, Venus, and the North Node. The Sun enters Aries in March, and Mercury and Venus do so in April. Mars will move through Pisces and into Aries in the months ahead. Then, finally, the North Node is going to exit Pisces for Aquarius (the lunar nodes always move in retrograde motion) later this year.
Pisces is about to become an empty sign for the first time for the first time since 2011 when Neptune entered the sign.
Clean up on aisle Pisces. That’s what this feels like.
To our benefit, Pisces is a water sign, which tends to help with the clean up, and the South Node remains in Virgo, which is also an indication that it is time for a good clean up. It’s worth remembering that every conjunction to the North Node is an opposition to the South. We are about to enter eclipse season. Clean up now, or risk the chance that eclipse season will do it for you.
The retrograde will likely feel most challenging as it begins on 2/26 in the middle of the eclipse window, and this energy will peak around the lunar eclipse on 3/3 when the Sun will be in close conjunction to both retrograde Mercury and the North Node, and the Moon will conjunct the South Node in Virgo. Second to that, the day of cazimi (2/7) will be the most challenging day, at least in theory.
The last thing to note is that the retrograde ends on the single most powerful day of the year, 3/20, the day of the Spring Equinox, when the Sun enters 00° Aries.
This is a powerful GO signal, with the full force of spring energy behind it. This is a sign that all of the digging we will need to do in the cold, Piscean mud can pay off.
This is a very grow-through-what-you-go-through moment, at least for me. That may be my inner Taurus nature coming out.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but you won’t see it for quite some time. You may not even see it moments before the way clears.
The thing about Piscean times is that they often involve some level of suffering. I think it’s an end-of-winter/end-of-a-cycle sort of thing. The change is hard; stepping from the darkness into the light of the 1st house requires introspection (at least) and often some sacrifice.
It’s okay if it doesn’t feel okay. It’s not supposed to. It’s sort of by design. Difficult transits exist to show us what isn’t working; they are a reminder that few people change when things feel easy – even if things really need to change. The right sort of Mercurial person can ride most retrogrades with some level of ease, but sooner or later, it’s going to getcha.
That’s why I write these. When we have awareness that Mercury is retrograde, we might be able to walk away from the dysregulated asshole in the grocery store whose taking their bad day out on you. It allows us to have greater empathy for our partner, who worked retail all day during Mercury retrograde. It allows us empathy when we, almost inevitably, blow up, shut down, say the wrong thing, make the same dumb action we know we shouldn’t, impulse-buy something, or get mad at someone being a dummy on the internet.
All the stupid, silly, very human ways we communicate poorly. All of the time.
That goes doubly for any of you who love or have to work with a Mercurial somebody. Give them a break; I promise you, they are trying. (spoken as a highly Mercurial person married to a Gemini born when Mercury was retrograde)
It’ll be okay. It just very often doesn’t feel like it will be during a retrograde.
Blame Mercury. They don’t mind. But also, blame them for the good stuff that happens during this upcoming retrograde. I dare you to. Watch your whole life change.
Standard retrograde advice applies: proofread twice before you hit send, and for the love of all of the gods, make sure you are not sending that nude to Silvie, your boss, but instead to Silvie in the mailroom. Breathe. Fuck off and go have some fun, but make sure you don’t leave your responsibilities unattending to before you go. Take the detour. Save it; no one is listening anyway.
Try not to take it personally.
That will be very difficult given the 12th house involvement and the involvement of all our personal planets.
Your very closest human has a life you are in no way involved in. It’s not about you. Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t that freeing? Don’t you love them all the more for it?
When you can understand that, you may be able to understand Pisces. Somewhere in that ocean, Mercury isn’t exiled or fallen anymore. But damn is a deep dive.
Well, how the Fuck to I Magic About This Shit?
There are always a hundred different ways to do magic about and with the energy of Mercury’s ever-repeating retrograde cycles. There is the caveat that traditional astrology cautions the planetary magician against working with planets during their retrograde cycles, but we are MODERN planetary magicians, amiright?
As Mercury’s domains are communication, thought, travel, and technology, any magic to control or appease Mercury into having an easier time with that area of your life during a retrograde is certainly warranted. You can ward against Mercury Chthonia’s effect on your particular computer, for example, or maybe for your business or your server. You can mitigate sales interruptions if you sell primarily online. Cast spells to keep your silver tongue or make your competitor slip up at the spelling bee.
Things can get cloudy during the retrograde, which can be used to your advantage magically, either in a beneficial way for you or a Malefic way if directed towards others.
All of that said, Mercury is a guide and a messenger. Mercury can be called on to get into (or out of) tight spots and for all kinds of subterfuge.
Mercury is a natural trickster, and they favor those who are bold in tongue and somewhat sneaky in action. Talk to Mercury. Out loud. Listen with your inner knowing, or use any means of divination. In Picatrix, Mercury is associated with dream work.
Mercury is also the lower (human) octave of luck and inspiration. They can create and solve a wide range of problems.
As one of the personal planets, Mercury’s energy is quick, adaptable, and available to everyone. They make a great wingman. Light a candle for them on a Thursday, in their planetary hour, and tell them your troubles. Tell them your dreams. Tell them anything that comes into your mind. Bonus points if you share a cop of coffee (chicory coffee would be even better) with them.
Read More:
To All The Mercury Retrogrades I’ve Loved Before
A Road Opener For Mercury Day
How to Work With Personal Planet Retrogrades
Practices to Support Yourself During Mercury’s Retrogrades
The Details
2/6 – Mercury enters Pisces
2/10 – Venus enters Pisces
2/11 – Mercury enters pre-retrograde shadow 08° Pisces
2/12 – Mercury conjunct North Node 09° Pisces (1)
2/13 – Saturn enters Aries
2/16 – Mercury in Pisces trine retrograde Jupiter in Cancer (1)
2/17 – Solar Eclipse 28° Aquarius
2/18 – Sun enters Pisces
2/26 – Mercury retrogrades 22° Pisces
2/28 – retrograde Mercury conjunct Venus 22° Pisces
3/2 – Mars enters Pisces
3/3 – Lunar Eclipse 12° Virgo
3/7 – Sun conjunct retrograde Mercury 16° Pisces
3/9 – retrograde Mercury trine retrograde Jupiter (2)
3/10 – Jupiter stations direct 15° Cancer
3/15 – retrograde Mercury conjunct Mars 10° Pisces
3/17 – retrograde Mercury conjunct Moon
3/18 – New Moon 28° Pisces, retrograde Mercury conjunct the North Node 08° Pisces (through 3/24)(2)
3/20 – Sun enters Aries (Spring Equniox), Mercury stations direct 08° Pisces
4/1 – Full moon 12° Libra
4/3 – Mercury in Pisces trine Jupiter in Cancer (3)
4/9 – Mercury exits it’s post-retrograde shadow 22°Pisces, Venus enters Aries
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