Mercury is retrograde from October 24 to November 13, 2026. Venus is also retrograde throughout that interval. Both turn direct on November 13 in U.S. Eastern Time, but Venus's station falls on November 14 in UTC and China Standard Time. Check the time zone before treating two different dates as a contradiction.
As of October 28, the overlap is under way. Here are the dates, what “retrograde” describes, and a practical way to use a reminder to revisit something without letting the calendar make your decisions.
The dates, with the time zone attached
Cafe Astrology's 2026 calendar gives the stations in U.S. Eastern Time. The final column below converts the same events to China Standard Time, UTC+8.
| Event | U.S. Eastern date | China Standard date |
|---|---|---|
| Venus stations retrograde | October 3 | October 3 |
| Mercury stations retrograde | October 24 | October 24 |
| Mercury stations direct | November 13 | November 13 |
| Venus stations direct | November 13 | November 14 |
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For example, the calendar places Venus's direct station at 7:27 p.m. Eastern on November 13. That is 8:27 a.m. in China on November 14. The underlying event is the same.
“Ends” here means the direct station. An astrology article may also discuss a pre- or post-retrograde shadow, a separately defined interval in that calendar. Read the label before comparing its dates with the retrograde dates.
What is moving backward?
From Earth, a planet can appear to change its direction of travel against the background stars. It continues around the Sun; the apparent reversal comes from the changing geometry of the observer and the planet. NASA's explanation of retrograde motion makes that distinction explicit.
An almanac can calculate a station. An interpretation about communication, relationships or purchases belongs to astrology. Those are different kinds of information: confirming the date does not establish a cause for a missed message or an awkward conversation.
Likewise, a direct station is not a switch that repairs everything at a particular minute. Whatever needs attention still has its own circumstances.
Why Mercury and Venus are being discussed together
Western astrology commonly associates Mercury with communication and exchanges, and Venus with relationships, preferences and values. The overlap gives astrology writers a shared theme of reconsidering old conversations and choices. The Farmers' Almanac article updated on October 21 uses that interpretive approach.
That explains the vocabulary in your feed. It does not tell you whose ex will return or which purchase someone will regret. If you enjoy the tradition, you can use its theme to choose a question: Is there an agreement I need to clarify? What made me hesitate about that purchase in the first place?
If the question is whether to contact an ex, our Text Your Ex Day guide starts with the purpose of the message and the other person's boundaries.
Turn a vague worry into one thing you can check
Consider this invented situation. You arrange to meet a friend on Saturday and write, “Same place as last time?” You mean the restaurant you visited most recently. Your friend means the cafe from last month's regular catch-up. You arrive at different addresses.
The phrase “same place” is something you can fix. A clearer message would be:
Saturday at 2 p.m., at the riverside cafe we visited last month? I'll send the address. If you need to change the time, could you let me know by Friday evening?
You do not have to turn every exchange into a formal agreement. Clarify the part most likely to leave you with different expectations.
| What is happening? | A useful check |
|---|---|
| You are waiting for an important reply | Did you agree on when an answer is needed? |
| You are confirming a trip | Check the local date, time, address and change notifications. |
| You are reconsidering a purchase | Revisit the intended use, budget and return terms. |
| An old disagreement has returned | Identify what happened this time before importing the entire previous argument. |
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These are ordinary planning suggestions, not tested remedies for a planetary transit. They help because they give an unclear problem a manageable next step.
Should you wait until November 13?
Start with the decision. If information is missing, make room to get it. If there is a real deadline, work with that deadline and the available facts. Moving every decision to one date does not supply the information each decision needs.
Try two lines: “What do I know?” and “What missing fact could change my choice?” A dinner plan might need a headcount; a collaboration might need a clear division of responsibilities. Those call for different actions.
If you like calendar reminders, use November 13 for a review. Did the clarified arrangement happen? Did the other person understand the revised message? A date can prompt you to check a result without promising the result in advance.
Where a personal reading starts
This calendar describes a shared period. If you want to learn the building blocks used in a Western birth chart, continue with Sun, Moon and Rising signs.
FateWay offers another traditional route: a BaZi chart from birth details, a personal interpretation and follow-up questions. Our BaZi and Western astrology comparison explains how the two approaches organize their inputs and interpretations, so you can choose the question you actually want to explore.
For this lookup, keep November 13 for Mercury, and keep a time zone beside the Venus date. Then choose one message, arrangement or open question you can clarify today.
