Working with Retrogrades
How to reframe a frustrating time
November will be a month of retrogrades. Nothing like the start of 2025, of course, but still, we have both a Mercury retrograde and a Jupiter retrograde gearing up to begin. The dates of Mercury retrograde are November 9 - November 29, while Jupiter retrograde will start on November 11 and end on March 11. I realized that I have spoken in depth about what it means to have retrograde planets in your birth chart, but I have yet to write about how to navigate retrogrades effectively and what they even represent as a transit.
Today, I want to help you understand how retrogrades are part of a bigger cycle that unfolds between a specific planet and the Sun over several months (in the case of Mercury), or even a couple of years (for Mars). You can also think of a retrograde period as being a chapter in the ongoing story of a planet’s transit through a sign and house of your chart. You actually need the retrograde period in order to reflect and better integrate the qualities of that planet into your life.
And if you want a full interpretation on what the upcoming Mercury and Jupiter retrogrades mean for your rising sign, make sure to revisit the Scorpio season monthly horoscopes.
Before we fully dive into this topic, here are my recs for the month:
Book: It’s Not Your Money by Tosha Silver. One of my friends recently recommended this book to me, and I have noticed a major shift in my mindset since I’ve been reading it. The author teaches you how to stop fixating on always needing more money or constantly pushing yourself to accomplish more and more, and instead shows you how to trust in the flow of life and understand that there is a plan for you that you don’t need to try to control so much. It’s everything I try to teach through astrology, but I love how the author applied this message specifically to money.
Movie: I have been doing this new activity where Monday evenings are dedicated to watching a movie that inspires me creatively. A couple weeks back I rewatched the 2020 version of Emma and this past week I chose the French film, La Piscine, which features such amazing 1960s style. Other movies I like to draw fashion inspiration from are Rosemary’s Baby, Charade, and Funny Face. It’s so weird to find myself actually looking forward to Mondays now.
What happens when a planet goes retrograde?
To better understand a planet’s retrograde, we first need to step back and consider the entire transit of a planet through a sign and house of your chart. When a planet first enters a new sign and house, there’s often a desire to grow, restructure, or simply put more energy into that area of your life.
With a planet like Mercury, you may have new ideas relating back to the topics of that sign and house that you want to pursue more in depth, or you could be having important conversations or doing a lot of brainstorming there. To contrast, with transit Saturn, you may have a desire to further commit or restructure the way you’re going about that area. You could feel kind of stuck or frustrated at first though. Meanwhile, with a transit like Mars, you may have this rush of motivation to take action or make a definitive decision with the themes of that sign/house. Or in the case of transit Jupiter, you may want to grow, learn, and expand in a specific area.
As the planet slows down and prepares to station retrograde in a sign and house, you will likely have recurring thoughts pop up that are related to that area of your life. You may have a desire to lean into the themes of that planet, sign, and house a bit more or make a change there. However, what those next steps need to be aren’t entirely clear yet. That’s the purpose of the retrograde: to get you to slow down and think about how you want to go about that area and those house/sign topics differently.
In the chart above, you can see that a Mercury retrograde is starting in this person’s 5th house. Therefore, they may be thinking more intensely about 5th house topics, like their personal creativity, love life, or even pregnancy/children. Because of this retrograde, there will naturally be more happening in these areas. They may want to learn a new creative skill or find little ways to incorporate joy or hobbies into their daily life. The retrograde may be spent brainstorming creative ideas and experimenting with new outlets for self expression. On the other hand, maybe they’re thinking about how to best navigate a dating situation, or they could be considering pregnancy or the relationship they have with their existing children. Just one or maybe all of these 5th house topics will be up for inspection during this three week long retrograde.
To recap: A retrograde occurring in a specific sign and house of your chart automatically signals that more activity is happening there this year. Take the themes of the planet that is stationing retrograde and apply them to the house and sign affected.
As an exercise: Locate the houses ruled by Sagittarius and Scorpio in your chart, where Mercury retrograde is about to start. How are you noticing greater activity happening in those two areas, but how might things still feel a bit uncertain or require further reflection there?
Identifying when retrograde will impact you in a significant way
Not all retrogrades will be felt equally. You may experience some retrogrades that shift your life in a big way and set you off in an entirely new direction once they are over. Meanwhile, other retrogrades may be more minor, where you could notice a few hiccups to your daily routine, or you’re just slowed down a bit. Let’s look at how you can spot the more significant retrogrades that come around from time to time.
For this exercise, we will want to look at the degrees at which a retrograde occurs. When a retrograde begins and ends, it will spend a good amount of time hovering right at a specific degree of a sign. If you happen to have natal planets or angles that fall at that degree, they will be very affected by that retrograde planet.
For instance, Jupiter retrograde this year will start at 25 degrees of Cancer on November 11. Because Jupiter will be stationing retrograde, it will remain right at 25 degrees for about 3-4 weeks. Therefore, if you have any Cancer planets or angles in your chart that fall right around 25 degrees (give or take 1-2 degrees on either side of 25), then you will feel the effects of Jupiter on that planet or angle super strongly. For example, if you have your Midheaven right around 25 degrees of Cancer, then maybe there’s a big surge of growth or learning that is going on within your career, or you’re being released from a work situation that feels restricting. And it’s likely that you’ve already been feeling these themes all year, in the lead up to this retrograde, and now the retrograde is pushing you to actually do something about it. In several months, Jupiter will station direct, ending its retrograde at 15 degrees of Cancer on March 11, 2026. Any Cancer or other cardinal sign chart placements that fall right around 15 degrees will feel the effects of Jupiter very intensely closer to that date.
As an exercise: Follow this link to see all the dates and degrees of the retrogrades for this year and next. Jot down any that either start or end on degrees at which you have a planet or angle in your chart. The degrees can be found in parentheses right next to the dates given.
Retrogrades as part of an ongoing cycle
It’s important to remember that retrogrades aren’t an isolated event, but rather one part of a bigger cycle that is unfolding between that specific planet and the Sun.
A new cycle begins when a planet and the Sun meet up in a conjunction. It’s like you’re being given a fresh start when it comes to the topics of that planet. The house and sign in which the conjunction occurs will give you further insight into where that fresh start is taking place. For instance, the Sun and Jupiter met up at 3 degrees of Cancer on June 24 of this year, kicking off a new cycle involving Jupiter. See the diagram below for a visual of this conjunction taking place in someone’s 8th house.
With Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, this cycle will reach a critical turning point when the Sun moves away from the planet and comes into the first trine with the planet. When that happens, you can always know that the planet is about to station retrograde. The themes of that planet may be felt in a louder way, or you’re having recurring thoughts about how you can further develop the themes of the house and sign in which that planet is transiting. Returning to the example of Jupiter and the Sun, the Sun is in Scorpio right now, trining Jupiter in Cancer, and Jupiter is about to station retrograde in a few days. Therefore, the Cancer ruled house of your chart may be a bigger focus at the moment, and there may be something you want to work on changing there over the next several months. Think back to what was happening in your life back in June. How are you now building upon a topic that became relevant to you back then?
Continuing on with this cycle, the Sun will move into an opposition with the planet halfway through the retrograde period. The opposition may provide a moment of clarity on how you want to proceed in applying the topics of that planet to the sign and house in which it’s transiting. On January 10, 2026, the Sun in Capricorn will oppose Jupiter in Cancer, marking the halfway point of Jupiter’s retrograde. Pay attention to this upcoming date, because you may receive more motivation to make adjustments in the Cancer ruled house of your chart, or a clear way forward may start to present itself.
The Sun will form a second trine with the planet from the other side of the opposition right as the planet is preparing for its retrograde to end. This may be a moment of seeing positive activity come together in the house that the planet is transiting, and opportunities may be flowing much more easily there. Following this trine and the retrograde ending, there will likely be a second wave of growth that occurs in that area of your life. Jupiter retrograde will end in Cancer on March 11, 2026, as the Sun trines Jupiter from the sign of Pisces. Note how momentum once again starts to build in the Cancer ruled house of your chart around this time.
The cycle of Jupiter in Cancer comes to a close on June 30, as Jupiter shifts into Leo for the next year. As we’ve just seen, the four month retrograde period Jupiter is about to have is one part of a year-long process that Jupiter undergoes in a single sign and house of your chart.
The retrograde cycles of Mercury and Venus differ a bit.
These retrogrades begin right after Mercury or Venus has reached its greater elongation on the eastern side from the Sun. For instance, Mercury reached its point of greatest elongation on October 29, probably filling you with ideas around that time related to both the Sagittarius and Scorpio ruled houses of your chart. You will continue to contemplate those ideas in the lead up to the retrograde starting on November 9.
A new cycle of Mercury or Venus begins when it is retrograde, exactly conjunct the Sun. This conjunction marks the halfway point of the retrograde, and also serves a new start with the themes of that planet. For this upcoming Mercury retrograde, the conjunction will take place on November 20 in Scorpio, which also happens to be the day of a new moon. Pay close attention to this date in receiving clarity on topics that you’ve been thinking about more in depth throughout the retrograde.
Once the retrograde has ended, Mercury or Venus will again reach its point of greatest distance from the Sun on the western side. Momentum will build once again, and you will have greater direction with the themes that were bothering you during the retrograde. For this upcoming Mercury cycle, the next point of greatest elongation will occur on December 7. The cycle reaches peak activity at the next conjunction between Mercury (same with Venus) and the Sun. You can think of that second conjunction as a full moon phase, where you’re seeing visible results from whatever ideas first came about at the first conjunction.
The second conjunction aka “full moon phase” of Mercury won’t occur until January 21 in the sign of Aquarius. So it will be interesting to see how what is entering your mind now in terms of new projects and interests or other communication based work will reach this culmination point in late January. How might the themes of the Sagittarius or Scorpio ruled houses of your chart end up informing decisions or activity happening in the Aquarius ruled house of your chart come January? From this second conjunction, one Mercury cycle fades out and another prepares to start again in the lead up to the next Mercury retrograde.
As an exercise: Refer to this list of Mercury’s greatest elongation dates. Note how at the date that says “East Evening” next to it, you start to get new ideas that then reach greater visibility and come together more fully by the date right below it that says “West Morning” next to it.
I hope this has helped put these upcoming retrogrades into greater context for you! It will be interesting to see how the stories of both Mercury and Jupiter continue to play out over the next couple of months.
Thank you so much for guadance teaching about monts coming retrograde
Amazing article! I’ve been curious about returns and retrogrades - my Jupiter return would be around the Nov 11th date or just after, so if Jupiter goes into retrograde would that mean 2x returns?