Mercury retrograde, with computed dates

Mercury never truly moves backwards. Because Mercury and Earth orbit the Sun at different speeds, there are windows when, seen from Earth, Mercury appears to drift backwards against the zodiac. Astronomers call this apparent retrograde motion: a perspective effect, a bit like a slower train seeming to reverse when you overtake it.

In a birth chart or an ephemeris, those windows are marked with the small letter R next to Mercury. They begin and end with a station: a day or two when the planet seems to stand still before changing direction.

In astrological culture, Mercury rules exchanges: words, messages, travel, agreements. During its retrograde, many astrologers suggest a slower, more careful pace with anything that moves information around, and they often frame it as a season of re- verbs: reread, reconnect, revise, repair.

Treat that as an invitation to reflection rather than a rule of the sky. Plenty of contracts are signed and journeys completed during retrogrades; the value of the cycle, if you choose to use it, is the pause it suggests, not a danger it proves.

This page samples Mercury's position day by day across the whole period to find each window, then narrows every station down to the minute when its apparent motion flips between direct and retrograde. A station is a very slow turn: other ephemerides may place it a few minutes earlier or later. The sign and degree shown are Mercury's tropical position at that moment.