Your Guide to the Astrology of 2026

Every major transit for 2026, and what they all mean for your rising sign. Also included are key dates to note within these longer transits.

2026 is quickly approaching, and with it will come a continuation of themes that we got a sneak preview of in 2025. Overall, there is a huge shift of planets moving out of water and earth signs and into fire and air signs. Neptune, Uranus, and Saturn will all move back into the signs they briefly visited in 2025, so whatever themes started to come up for you about halfway through 2025 will get revisited and developed more fully in 2026. This coming year will also be less about being in your emotions and feeling slowed down, and instead will bring up themes related to generating ideas, taking action, rediscovering creativity, and finding ways to be innovative in various areas of your life.

First, we will be going over all the major transits happening this year, and then paid subscribers can read on to find out what all of these mean for your individual rising sign. Think of these horoscopes as an in depth written reading that you can keep referring back to over the course of the next twelve months. I’ve also given key dates to note for each of these transits, so that you can know which specific time periods you should be zooming in on out of the entire year.

The main transits to kick off 2026 will be Neptune and Saturn both returning to the sign of Aries for good. Neptune moves into Aries on January 26, and will remain there until 2039. Meanwhile, Saturn departs Pisces after three years and moves into Aries on February 13, remaining there until April 2028. These two planets will meet up at 0 degrees of Aries throughout the entire second half of February, before Saturn moves ahead, outpacing Neptune. Both Saturn and Neptune dipped into Aries for a good portion of 2025, but as they return now, you will find that the Aries ruled house of your chart needs some restructuring. This will also be an area of your life that you want to have a deeper emotional connection to, so if things feel shallow or not super meaningful there, you may want to go about those house topics differently. With the sign of Aries so heavily emphasized, you may have a greater desire to take action in the house ruled by this sign, and you could feel called to stand up for yourself there or assume a greater leadership position.

Meanwhile, Uranus will finally leave Taurus, where it’s been since 2018, and return to Gemini on April 25. It will remain in Gemini until 2033. Over the past few months, you may have had a desire to make changes in the Gemini ruled house of your chart, and over the course of the next seven or eight years, you will see a series of shifts take place there. In general, Uranus in Gemini will be about finding new ways to learn, communicate with people, and share your ideas. There may be different ways in which you want to establish a community for yourself, or maybe you’re getting creative with the way you write, create content, or express yourself through speaking.

These three transits of Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus were already felt a bit in 2025, but in 2026 there are a couple of brand new transits that will occur. One is that the North and South Nodes will be wrapping up their journey through Pisces and Virgo, and halfway through the year they will shift to Leo and Aquarius. The Nodes will be in Leo/Aquarius from July 27, 2026 - March 26, 2028. Even though the nodes don’t change signs until late July, we still get a first Aquarius eclipse in February, which will really kick off this new cycle. This Aquarius eclipse and the three other ones to follow over the next two years will really activate the ongoing transit of Pluto in Aquarius, making you feel that desire for deep transformation and healing in the Aquarius ruled house of your chart. Across the axis of Leo and Aquarius, you can expect to see major endings but also major new beginnings start to occur. For reference, you can think back to 2017-2019, when we last had this eclipse cycle. In general, Leo and Aquarius are signs that are about leaning into what makes you unique, finding creative outlets, and also joining together with a community of like minded people. I expect this eclipse cycle to be much more playful, fun, and social than the Pisces/Virgo one has been.

The eclipses throughout 2026 will be a mix of Pisces/Virgo and Leo/Aquarius, as one cycle ends and another begins. Eclipse season will be in February and then again in August, so those two time periods will likely bring up significant shifts in your life, or your priorities may change in a bigger way. It will also be important to see how activities that are wrapping up or coming full circle across the Pisces/Virgo houses are now influencing your approach to the Leo/Aquarius houses over the next two years.

Speaking of Leo/Aquarius energy, Jupiter will also be moving into Leo on June 30, where it will remain until July 26, 2027. Before it gets there though, Jupiter still has a few more months left in Cancer. You will likely see a second wave of growth happen in the Cancer ruled house of your chart once Jupiter retrograde ends on March 11. As Jupiter moves into Leo for the second half of 2026 and meets up with the South Node there, again expect to see themes pop up related to hobbies, creativity, and self expression. Jupiter in Leo will also form a nice trine to Saturn in Aries in August, so you may start to see greater support and easier growth happen in the Aries ruled house of your chart at that time, especially if things feel confusing or frustrating there at the start of the year.

All of these major longer transits that we’ve just gone over are occurring across fire and air signs. To contrast, all of the retrogrades this year will be happening in water signs. Mercury retrograde has fully shifted into Pisces, Cancer, and Scorpio, so you can expect to see Mercury retrogrades happen during each of those zodiac seasons this year. Therefore, you may be rethinking how you express your emotions, and you may be working on opening up about difficult feelings to people. You could also be strengthening your own intuition, or there may be a strong memory from the past that you want to revisit, so that you can release the power it holds over you.

There will be a Venus retrograde in Scorpio closer to the end of the year, from October 3 - November 13. This Venus retrograde will start in Scorpio and end in Libra, so late Libra chart placements and early Scorpio placements will be affected the most. Expect the first half of this retrograde to be more challenging, with Venus in Scorpio, the sign of its detriment, while the second half of the retrograde may be more productive with Venus in Libra, the sign of its rulership, These are two signs that are very focused on relationships in general, so this Venus retrograde may be very literal, in that you’re evaluating what relationships are most important to you, and how you can have an equal give and take in your partnerships.

Now let’s get into what all of these transits mean for each rising sign. As I mentioned earlier, I have given key time frames within each of these longer transits, based on the transits of the Sun and Mars, that you should take note of as well.