Blog

← All Posts

Mercury and Venus Retrograde Together: A Survival Guide for October 24 to November 13, 2026

On October 24, 2026, Mercury stations retrograde at 21° Scorpio. Venus has been retrograde since October 3. From October 24 to November 13, both are retrograde at the same time. This guide covers the dates, the questions people ask most, and where the familiar retrograde rules come from.

The dates

Sources disagree on several of these dates by a day. The difference is time zones, not calculation. Times here are in UTC and US Eastern.

In the Americas, both planets turn direct on November 13. In Europe and eastward, Venus turns direct on November 14.

What is happening in the sky

Neither planet reverses course. Mercury and Venus orbit closer to the Sun than Earth does, and they move faster. When one of them passes between Earth and the Sun and overtakes us, it appears from Earth to move backward against the stars for a few weeks. Venus passes between Earth and the Sun on October 24. Mercury does the same on November 4. That is why both are retrograde now.

For what a retrograde tends to correspond to psychologically, see the reconsolidation window and the Venus retrograde post.

Where the rules come from

Most retrograde advice circulates without a source. The history is more specific than the advice.

In traditional astrology, a retrograde planet was one weakness among several, and its core meaning was return. William Lilly’s Christian Astrology (1647) reads a retrograde significator as delay, relapse, and things coming back. Of a ship: it “will proceed forward a while, but either returne or put into some harbor.” Of a runaway: “he returnes of his owne accord.” The modern idea that exes reappear during a retrograde descends from this.

Lilly did not treat a retrograde Mercury as only bad. In questions about rumors, he wrote that it can signify that “the ill Rumours shall vanish to nothing, and shall be converted to good.”

Two of today’s rules have traceable roots. Dorotheus of Sidon, in the first century, advised choosing a time when Mercury is not retrograde for writing and teaching. William Ramesey, in 1653, advised that Venus not be retrograde when choosing a wedding date, as one of several conditions to avoid.

Other rules are modern. No traditional source was found for avoiding contracts, travel, or technology during Mercury retrograde, or for avoiding haircuts and cosmetic procedures during Venus retrograde. The “shadow period” is also a modern concept.

The questions people ask

Can I sign a contract or make a big purchase? Yes. The traditional meaning is review and return, not prohibition. The practical version is to read the terms twice, keep copies, and expect that some details may need revisiting. If timing is flexible and waiting costs nothing, waiting until after November 13 is reasonable. If the timing isn’t flexible, proceed with extra care.

Should I contact an ex, or reply if they contact me? The tradition says old matters tend to return, not what to do about them. A returning person or topic is an opportunity to see it with more information than before. Whether to respond is a decision, and the retrograde doesn’t make it.

Can I start dating, get engaged, or marry? Yes. The 1653 guidance was one preference among many in choosing an ideal wedding date. People start lasting relationships and marry in every part of the Venus cycle.

Is it worse with two at once? It’s more common than it sounds. Between 1950 and 2050, 35 of 64 Venus retrogrades overlap a Mercury retrograde. There were none from 2001 through 2015. Since 2020, every Venus retrograde has overlapped one: 7 days in 2020, 15 in 2021-22, 11 in 2023, 23 in 2025, and 20 this year. The combined emphasis is on both communication and relationships being under review in the same weeks.

What is the shadow period, and when is it over? The shadow is the stretch of zodiac a planet crosses three times: forward, backward, and forward again. Mercury’s runs from 5° to 21° Scorpio. It entered that stretch on October 4 and clears it on November 30. Astrologers often treat that final pass as the point where matters from the retrograde finish resolving.

Is the Sun-Venus conjunction a cazimi? By the common rule, yes: al-Biruni, writing in 1029, counted a planet within 16 arcminutes of the Sun in zodiacal longitude as being in the heart of the Sun. A stricter rule from Guido Bonatti requires closeness in latitude too. Venus is about 6.5° south of the Sun at this conjunction, so it passes well below the Sun’s disk rather than across it. By that rule, it does not qualify.

One tool: the rehearsed conversation

Mercury retrograde in Scorpio is commonly associated with conversations that have been held back. Communication research describes a related habit. James Honeycutt, who studies what he calls imagined interactions, found that people keep conflict going by replaying past arguments while scripting the next one: “Conflict is kept alive in the human mind through recalling prior arguments while anticipating what may be said at future meetings.” Rehearsal itself is useful. Replay is the part that maintains the conflict.

Research on couples adds a second point. In a 1990 study, Andrew Christensen and Christopher Heavey found that both partners “were more likely to be demanding when discussing a change they wanted and more likely to be withdrawing when discussing a change their partner wanted.” Who pursues and who retreats depends largely on who wants something to change.

To turn rehearsal into preparation:

• Write down the change being asked for, in one sentence. Replay usually has no request in it.
• Note who wants the change. If it’s you, expect to feel like the one pursuing. If it’s the other person, expect the pull to withdraw. Neither reaction means the conversation is going badly.
• Have the conversation once, at a planned time. A conversation held in real life replaces the imagined versions with actual information.

Closing

The three weeks from October 24 to November 13 put Mercury and Venus retrograde together, which has been common since 2020. The oldest sources describe retrogrades as periods of delay, review, and return. They do not forbid contracts, travel, or new relationships. The most useful preparation is practical: check details twice, treat what returns as a chance to review it, and move the conversation that keeps repeating out of rehearsal and into a real exchange.

More from the observatory

• Where I End and You Begin: What Projection Is, and How to Tell It From Perception
• Pluto Stations Direct in Aquarius and Venus Squares Pluto: October 2026
• New Moon in Libra, October 2026: Venus Retrograde Squares Mars