Mercury retrograde in 2025
Mercury stations retrograde 3 times in 2025. The exact instants below come from JPL ephemeris data — not rounded to a date, and shown in your timezone.
The 2025 dates — played as they happen
| Stations retrograde | Stations direct | Signs |
|---|---|---|
| March 15, 2025 at 03:45 UTC | April 7, 2025 at 08:07 UTC | Aries → Pisces |
| July 18, 2025 at 01:44 UTC | August 11, 2025 at 04:29 UTC | Leo |
| November 9, 2025 at 16:01 UTC | November 29, 2025 at 14:38 UTC | Sagittarius → Scorpio |
Mercury's actual computed path through all of 2025 (bold, with the red ℞ while retrograde) beside the steadily direct Sun. The row above lights up while its window plays.
What retrograde actually is
Mercury never moves backward. Retrograde is a trick of perspective: Earth and Mercury both orbit the Sun at different speeds, and when the geometry lines up, Mercury appears to drift backward against the background stars for a few weeks before resuming its usual direction. The moments it appears to pause and turn are called stations — those are the instants in the table above.
What astrologers make of it
Astrologers read Mercury retrograde as a review period for the Mercury-ruled parts of life: communication, travel, contracts, and plans. The grounded version of the advice is unglamorous — build in slack, re-read before you send, back up what matters — less because the sky breaks your laptop and more because a shared review season is a good excuse to do the maintenance you were skipping anyway.
Other years
Mercury retrograde 2026 · Mercury retrograde 2027 · Mercury retrograde 2028
Every time on this page is computed from JPL ephemeris data — the same source NASA navigates by — and shown in your timezone. Want to know what the sky is doing to your chart? Start with the Big Three quiz or build your chart.