Surviving Mercury Retrograde in 2026
I am posting this feature two years in advance, to give you plenty of time to plan ahead. Mercury Retrograde affects the internet, the travel industry, the mail, public transport and commuting – most of all. What happens when the messenger of the gods is pointing the wrong way? When he’s reversing? The messages go backwards, too.
People go back on their word. Paperwork may contain mistakes or be held up. In general, as my friend Lynda Hill once said, ‘People swear more on Mercury Retrograde.’ But – you can skip it.
In this feature, I will look at the dates for all signs, world forecasts and also specific information for your personal birth chart. (Image: Picryl).
Mercury Retrograde in Pisces
This brings muddle for the Vatican, the Church of England and other religions. Pisces rules faith. Mercury will backtrack over 8-22 degrees of Pisces from the 12th of February to the 24th of March in 2026.
If you have anything in your chart at 8-22 Pisces then expect rescheduling with your church (for example), but also psychics, the Tarot, self-help, therapy, counselling, meditation, hypnosis. A retreat may be postponed, say. As Mercury Retrograde rules the ‘re’ prefix with words, if you see a psychic now, you may find the reading is rescheduled or she makes a statement which is later retracted.
Housing and Real-Estate Alert
Mercury Retrograde in Cancer goes through the sign of housing, real-estate, families, apartments, citizenship, residency and all matters affecting your home town and homeland. If you start tracing your family tree now you could find classic Mercury muddles.
As I wrote this, my entire copy vanished when I tried to give you the dates. Mercury Retrograde has a sense of humour. (Image: Rawpixel).
Basically, if you have anything at Cancer 16-26 you will be affected. Fluctuating house prices and mortgage interest rate variables are very likely. Check your natal chart. If Mercury backtracks over anything in Cancer in your Fourth House of property, choose another time.
Builders, tradespeople, decorators and the like may not turn up on time. Check paperwork. Get insurance. I recently had a reader who had some very bad builders indeed and she was not insured and was paying them cash.
This particular Mercury Retrograde coincides with an end to the housing boom which is coming with Jupiter in Cancer in so many countries. That finishes on 30th June.
The actual Mercury Retrograde in Cancer runs from 16-26 degrees, backwards, from June 13th to July 27th. People go back on their word on this transit. A flatmate may say he is moving in, then change his mind. A family reunion could be rescheduled. Applications for citizenship may be held up or changed. The astrology is on that level. Be prepared, as the Boy Scouts say.
Financial, Property, Business Muddle Ahead
Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio, the sign of joint finance and shared property agreements, is another muddle to skip. I am posting this two years before it happens, in 2024, to give you plenty of time to prepare.
Mercury is backwards in Scorpio at 5-20 degrees. Do you have anything in your chart at 5-20 Scorpio? Try to avoid paperwork or handshake agreements with sexual partners, or family members.
The details may alter, or it is possible that it all comes to nothing. Making a will now means you may have to change it later. Or – a mortgage application may be held up. The dates are October 5 to November 17.
Be extremely careful if you move in with a boyfriend, say, and don’t have an agreement in writing about your shared possessions. Scorpio is the sign of ‘sex, death and money’ as they say. It is extremely common for there to be a contested will when Mercury Retrograde is in Scorpio.
There will be chaos on world share markets from October 5th to November 17th, 2026. This is because Mercury Retrograde will hit the charts of billions who were born with the outer planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto in Scorpio.
What’s Good About Mercury Retrograde?
People can and do manipulate Mercury Retrograde in quite a cunning way. Not that any of my readers would do that of course…Yet, if you want something to fail, you will start it on Mercury Retrograde.
Clever politicians coax their rivals into making big announcements and starting grand plans on Mercury Retrograde because they know that nothing will happen. Or it will be delayed for years.
Mercury Retrograde is very good for creative projects which require a first, second and third draft. It is useful for beta testing and trials.
It’s not world-changing or game-changing unless it falls in the same sign as an outer planet transit. Or if it hits the same sign which billions have, prominent, in their charts. (Image: Dreamstime).
Modern life is so frenetic that Mercury Retrograde can be helpful if you want to do nothing. People who don’t use astrology come a cropper on it, because they book their holidays, or buy cars, or launch products and so on. The ‘re’ prefix applies to all matters of communication, information and transportation now.
So people retract statements and reschedule diaries. There is product recall. Plan ahead and use Mercury Retrograde to help with rehearsals, but forget about fixed, firm, finished and final. Even if doesn’t hit your chart, it will hit somebody else’s and that’s the weak link in the chain.
Images: Rawpixels/Dreamstime/Picryl.
33 Responses
Hi Jessica,
Looks like I will be affected with Venus at 22 Cancer and my North Node at 18 Scorpio. Would you be able to advise how the North Node would affect me as Im worried it’s to do with inheritance. Venus in cancer would be my home/farm, I’m presuming?
Would appreciate your help.
Regards,
Marie
Marie, inheritance is indeed Scorpio and the Eighth House, but there are no particular issues here; Uranus has long since gone from opposition at 18 Taurus to your North Node. You do have decisions to make in December, January, February about property and finance and a compromise and carve-up over control seems most likely.
Oh dear it’s lining up wth the date of possession of an apartment under construction, end of 2026. The deal is already signed and work underway. I have both Pisces and cancer placements. Could you please advise on how I can work with these energies?
There are no energies, just timing. Your issue will be Mars Retrograde in Cancer in your Fourth House of building work. This does end well with Jupiter in Cancer from June 2025 but during the retrograde (I recently filed a feature about this) the astrology suggests stop-start or perhaps some cancellation depending on the terms you agreed to.
Hi Jessica,
I run my own property business Airbnb / room lets etc, do you foresee any concerns with this based on my natal chart as im looking to scale quite big by the time 2026 comes and hopefully partner with some over sea investors?
You have that Virgo/Sagittarius/Gemini combination (mutable signs) which is about your workload, foreigners and foreign countries and also local tourism. You are going to hit the North Node in Pisces, South Node in Virgo and Uranus in Gemini in a tense, tight, taut formation starting in January 2025. Uranus rules the last thing anybody ever expected to happen and it is usually a shock. So you are on quite unstable ground with this plan, mainly because of factors beyond your control. Your government may raise the taxes on Air BnB for example or you may find your body corporate votes to ban it. There may also be issues with your main marketplace – that country may have new restrictions on travel or it may become more expensive – affecting the traffic coming in. Have a look at your Tarot to see what it says here too.
Hi Jessica,
Thank you so much for all your guidance. I drew the Hanged man when I drew the tarot for the Mercury Retrograde 2026. What does this mean for me?
XX
The Hanged Man is very common on Mercury Retrograde. Expect a long delay; a state of suspended animation. The dangling comes from Mercury, stuck. A man who should be acting, is not doing anything except twisting in the breeze. You will likely know who he is, closer to the time.
omg Jessica apart from being on a 7 day ban on X my health has been horrific my birthday is tomorrow and i need to go away on my own to heal myself. Is there any good news on the horizon for me i am already waiting on brain scan results and these last two years have been traumatic is so many ways that I am just lost
Happy Birthday despite everything. I am sorry you have to wait for your brain scan results. Apollo at 28 Virgo is behind all this. It is in your Sixth House of health, paid work, daily routine, unpaid work, study and wellbeing. You are a natural leader, much imitated, with your profession, but also in terms of your approach to food, drink, fitness, complementary medicine or conventional medicine. This is lifelong. However, Pluto at 29 Capricorn, just one degree away, is asking you to completely transform. It is intense and it takes September, October, November to happen. Change is required – there is no way around it. When Jupiter goes to Cancer in 2025, 2026, a stunning series of sextiles to your Virgo factors will help you come up with a new, better lifestyle with far less effort than you imagined.
Hi Jessica, Hope you are good. Many thanks for this post blog. I will be due to re-mortgage in 2027. Could you please advise if it would be better to re-mortgage early 2026 before all is going to change?
Chiron at 19 Taurus and the North Node at 19 Cancer suggest that when Jupiter goes to 19 Cancer, you will have a stunning, rare opportunity to get away with the so-called impossible, financially, or the apparently ‘beyond the pale’ with property. You will begin to see new possibilities for your bank account and real estate from June 2025 and by June 2026 will have found one opportunity very hard to resist. So this is much sooner than 2027. This may be the bank or council, government or big business setting a new direction for home owners or renters, which offers you great options.
Hello Jessica,
Thank you for the heads up! I will be retiring in mid 2026- it is mandated by law at age 65 in my profession. Retirement is such a huge transition and will impact so many areas of my life. I am preparing myself, my life diligently. Over the years, I have learned to pay close attention to Mercury retrogrades. So, could you please take a look? I have nothing in Pisces in the range you point out, but I do have my DSC at 20 Cancer and, respectively, OPs at 7, Neptune 8, MC 9, and Diana 20 degrees in Scorpio. Thank you!
Retirement is a Virgo matter in the Sixth House. Mars at 28 Virgo and Jupiter at 29 Capricorn form a trine of stunning proportions in your chart. Transiting Uranus will come along at 28, 29 Taurus and offer you freedom (a revolution actually) in 2026, not possible in your lifetime. So your chart is aligned with the law on retirement. Mercury Retrograde is worth paying attention to, in terms of finding another time to sign up for new activities or new ways of running your lifestyle, but the over-arching transit is liberating, exhilarating and suggests a new role, paid or unpaid, which elevates you. An honorary position, perhaps, or life as a trustee or prestigious volunteer.
Hello Jessica,
Thank you for yet another heads up article on future planetary movement’s..this time Mercury retrograde in 2026 through Cancer. Please advise, as I have Vesta at 4degrees, Jupiter at 22 and Uranus at 23, all in Cancer. I have real estate investments in the USA and New Zealand. Homes in both countries. In 2026 I will be well into my retirement, would appreciate any guidance you might have.
All Blessing Jessica…your work is truly a gift!
Susu
Thank you Susu. The Jupiter-Uranus conjunction you have in Cancer in the Fourth House of real estate has resulted in your being lucky enough (Jupiter) and free enough (Uranus) to invent a way to own property in the US and New Zealand. You will gain enormously from transiting Jupiter in Cancer (your Jupiter Return) by mid 2026 at the very latest with a bigger, broader, better outlook for your property portfolio starting in June 2025. What you decide to do will help you expand.
It is horrifying to watch the news the last couple of months and see so many many toxic men, many at the top, being arrested or charged with some terrible violent crimes against women and children. Mohammed Al Fayed, Sean Combs, the French man, and the list, unfortunately goes on and on. It feels like the billy goats at the top that were abusing power being found out like you said they would be during the last gasps of Pluto in Capricorn and also the beginning of the uprising of women who are rightfully so angry at the level of violence against women and girls, and the lack of protection, which will be a part of Pluto in Aquarius. I’m following Dr Proudman, Dr Jessica Taylor, right2equality, evawuk and Cheerupluv on instagram and it makes for heartbreaking reading day after day but hopefully the start of all the things you said would be part of Pluto in Aquarius.
The comfort of astrology is history and history tells us, the nadir of Pluto in Capricorn is the worst of any War On Women, then the ascent of the female of the species. We have several more weeks to go and there may be more to come. There is a direct parallel with Donald Trump and his adultery with Stormy Daniels with his wife Melania Trump and Henry VIII’s betrayal of Catherine of Aragon. Same cycle. The Tudor system (all Capricorn transits are a system) wasn’t all that different to the American system it seems. So take heart, because hideous though this last gasp of Pluto in Capricorn is, we know how this ends. At some point Elizabeth and Mary take over!
I remembered that article about Trump and Stormy Daniels and went there first to see if the comment section was still open to post this! Your articles and understanding of astrology keeping giving me hope in these dark times! Thank you!
Thank you, I needed to hear that hope right now.
Hi Jessica
Was looking forward to Pluto off out of my sun on 19th November and now I’m worrying about my Neptune in Scorpio ♏️
I’m embarking on a huge house renovation on 30th September which is going to take a year. Any insights would be appreciated!
You are a Sun Capricorn man with Hygiea at 12 Cancer in your Fourth House of property and renovations. You are very good at pre-empting any issues with your houses and apartments and this pays off in the second half of 2025 and first half of 2026 when Jupiter goes to 12 Cancer for the first time in 12 years. That’s your birth chart. In your solar chart, in the same time-frame, you have both Saturn and Neptune in Aries in your Fourth House of real estate and repairs, suggesting an historic change with how you live, where you live and your ideas about home as a whole. So that also fits. Saturn rules the slow passage of time so although you have allowed a year be a realist about how long your renovations might take and a second opinion on contracts would be wise.
Dear Jessica Adams,
So sorry to reach out to you but I am having a really difficult experience right now and I don’t know what to do. I feel I have lost everything at the moment and I am stuck in knowing how to cope. Professionals are going against my wishes to remain close to my family home and now I don’t know where to turn. Please can you help me to make sense of life? I feel I have lost my ability to follow the astrology and be able to resonate with the energies. Please will there be a solution to this that will enable me to remain where I was before? Thank you for your time in considering this message, it is much appreciated, take care, kindest regards, Bea x
Bea, you often write and so I just have to repeat the usual message. As this is an intensely personal matter and it is also your own life, it’s best you combine your own Tarot, Astrology Oracle and Garden Oracle and follow the steps. One reading should confirm the others; if you do this often, you can build up a relationship of trust with your own intuition and get to know the cards better too – and how they work. I am sorry you are going through this issue about accommodation, home, housing and family. The astrology is just the same; these are issues about power, control, willpower and self-control in relation to joint finances and property. They end in two stages; November, then December. Do you have independent advice about this matter? If not it would be useful to have it, from a professional who specialises in just this sort of issue.
Hello Jessica, Do you think that with Pluto going into Aquarius that this could bring on a person feeling motivation to move? I’m an Aquarian and Aquarius is the Air element of spreading, dispersing, shifting boundaries. Thank you! for considering this thought. Best, Cecelia
Having your Sun in Aquarius in the Eleventh House suggests you shine at your brilliant best when supplying a group, who see you as a valued friend to them. This was the case since childhood, Cecelia. You are Snoopy to Peanuts. Now that Pluto is moving into your Eleventh House for 20 years, you will be offered (or re-offered) a chance to become integral to a group of allies. A brotherhood and sisterhood of diverse people who need what you have. This will show up in November and be really obvious in January, February, when you may sign on the dotted line, re-commit yourself or not do anything on paper, but just ‘be’ in terms of a circle which has all classes, colours as well as both sexes.
Good day Jessica
DOB 10/18/1938 Manchester England
I constantly return to previous responses from you to see if I have correctly interpreted your reading , My son passed in January of 2022, the whole in my heart so deep, I was hit from behind in an auto accident June 2023 and have a left completely torn rotator cuff which I am trying to control with physical therapy, insurance is delaying covering the cost which is about 10,000.00 dollars, my husband passed August 5 2024 the hospital made errors, but his passing was peaceful. I am working 2 days a week. I feel I am floundering trying to keep things in order. Each day I review my lists and much of what I had planned has not been accomplished or completed, sometimes I wish I knew how to say No. my question is with mercury will I be able to resolve Sons estate and designate what he wanted done, I want an answer from the hospital, is that forth coming , and will the insurance reimburse me for the bills I have paid , for the auto , the other party was to blame. Thank you for any consideration to this post
I am so sorry about your accident over a year ago and the appalling delay by the insurance company in honouring their commitment to pay your costs. You are also now widowed, having already lost your son. Your son’s estate is also in the balance. This does end. You are one of those Sun Libra women who have been kept waiting with the most unpredictable situation involving a will or inheritance. It also shows up in the same cycle with (say) government benefits including state health insurance). Never knowing quite what is going to happen next, is typical of Uranus in Taurus, which ends on July 7th 2025. From that point forward, a long period of instability and uncertainty with your money, house and/or apartment ends. Until then, make life easier by refusing to let everything hinge on being paid by the insurer (because it is so unpredictable) or being paid by your son’s estate (the same – on this cycle, banking on something or someone is really going to stretch you, as it just can’t be trusted to deliver exactly as you wish, when you wish). Yet, as I’ve said, this ends. For whatever reason, the second half of next year begins a completely different cycle financially when you are no longer playing guessing games in your life. What also ends is the test of your patience with your physical therapy. When Saturn goes out of your health and fitness zone on 26th May 2025, so does a really long waiting game with your full recovery. Again, for reasons you don’t know yet, this is the second half of next year. What do you do until then? You address the heart ache of losing your son by knowing he has passed to spirit, along with your husband. This does not take away the massive loss, for which I am very sorry, but it should help you to know that we do not die. Love never dies, as my old friend Margaret Dent, the medium, used to say. You will be pointed in this direction by a spiritualist church; a television medium; a dream; another clear sign. You also need to stop trying to control, what is impossible to control. You can’t tell your rotator cuff what to do any more than you can tell a massive insurance company what to do (much as you want to). There is a lesson in all this, according to your chart, and it is to let go, and let other things come in. A new appreciation of our soul essence or spiritual nature is one of them and the fact that this never ends. It goes on in the spirit world and it can be seen, witnessed and known in the here and now. If you are happy to learn about this, light a candle and say it out loud; ask your guides to steer you in the right direction. You are also trying to work two days a week, with lists, and floundering. That is perfectly fine. You are not superwoman and should not be so hard on yourself. You are strongly Virgo (you have a Virgo stellium in your Sixth House of work, health and duty, housework, service and self-care). With this current cycle, you do need to say ‘No’ to people, please. Or the dog, or the cat, actually. You also need to remember you are not the person you were, 20, 30 years ago. You can’t (and should not do) what you once did, so perfectly. Your mind, body and spirit is the number one priority, not ticking off a list. The floundering will stop next year. Until then, build in escapism in every day and do not feel guilty about it. This Neptune transit in Pisces, opposite Virgo, does leave people with a big Virgo chart signature feeling all at sea, but that is because you are not having a bath. Or going swimming. Or taking a long shower. Or walking by water, somewhere. If you can’t do that, turn on YouTube and its ocean meditations and close your eyes for half an hour. It is very, very important to escape from the real world every day like this. Take the pressure off yourself by expecting inherently unpredictable situations (insurance, probate) to become predictable, just for this little next time. And I fully expect the spirit world to give you a key, to unlock a door, to that side of life when the time is right. I am being told a rainbow is a sign for you.
Hello Jessica, hope you are well. My husband (Aries 30/03/55) and I are aiming to start our self build house project in Spring 2026. We will be relying on others progressing the developed site first (130 houses) in order for us to start. We have to time things so that our house will be finished around the time the developers will finish as we are not allowed to live in it whilst the building site is still ‘live’. Are we heading for a fall having to work around the timings of others? Is there a good time for this? Thanks in anticipation for any insight you can give.
Your Aries husband has the best property, renovation and real-estate cycle in 12 years, starting in June 2025 and lasting until June 2026. Does this line up with your natal and solar chart, too ? You are a Sun Capricorn woman who also has an historic property cycle with Saturn and Neptune in your solar Fourth House of homes, from the middle of next year. This suggests a long-term escape from the real world, via your self-build house (Neptune) which will feel like a holiday from reality – an insulated bubble. The short-term will bring all kinds of restrictions (Saturn) but once the latter planet moves on, these disappear. In your natal chart, you have a stellium in Cancer, again in the Fourth House of building, property, renovations and so will click into this same cycle in your private chart too, with all kinds of solutions and opportunities starting in June 2025 as Jupiter goes into Cancer. Looks good.
Good Day Jessica
Once again thank you for your knowledge( the result of hard work and devotion to your profession) it will take me several readings to put it all in place, for me often I garner more understanding after looking deeply. I have an opportunity to move to my own condo in an idyllic area which is financially possible, within distance of close family but not too close, independence is still important, and I will have to make extra effort to make friends.Is this a good consideration
Again thank you, In this crazy world be safe and blessings to you.
It’s a pleasure, thank you – for your thank you.
Thanks so much Jessica