What this period actually is
Between December 13, 2026 and April 13, 2027 Jupiter moves back through 11.0 degrees of the zodiac, from 27°01' Leo to 16°00' Leo, without changing its own direction at any point. Jupiter is further out than Earth, so the 121 days between December 13, 2026 and April 13, 2027 are the stretch in which Earth overtakes it on the inside track and the planet appears to fall behind.
The mechanism behind the Jupiter station of December 13, 2026 is the same one described in what retrograde motion is. Read astrologically, the convention is that Jupiter — scale, belief, growth and the appetite for more — turns inward between December 13, 2026 and April 13, 2027, which is a habit of reading rather than a claim about the sky.
The dates in full
Station retrograde: December 13, 2026 at 27°01' Leo, 00:57 UTC. Station direct: April 13, 2027 at 16°00' Leo, 02:11 UTC. The whole retrograde stays inside Leo: the band from 27°01' Leo back to 16°00' Leo is the stretch Jupiter crosses three times.
Jupiter first reaches 16°00' Leo — the degree it will retrograde back to — on September 17, 2026, and does not clear 27°01' Leo, the degree it stationed at, until July 11, 2027, so counting both shadows the passage runs 297 days rather than 121.
What the period is good for
For the 121 days between December 13, 2026 and April 13, 2027 the workable version of the advice is narrow: take stock of what you actually believe before enlarging anything.
If one thing is worth timing around the stretch that ends April 13, 2027, it is over-committing on the strength of a forecast — not because the sky forbids it, but because a marked period is a reasonable prompt to check work you would otherwise wave through. Treating the whole of December 13, 2026 to April 13, 2027 as a general curse is the version worth ignoring.
Which house it falls in for your sign
Counted from each sign as the first house, this Jupiter retrograde, stationing at 27°01' Leo falls here:
| Sign | House | What that house covers |
|---|---|---|
| Aries | 5th house | play, romance, children and anything you make for its own sake |
| Taurus | 4th house | home, family, roots and private ground |
| Gemini | 3rd house | conversation, short trips, siblings and daily information |
| Cancer | 2nd house | money, possessions and what you consider yours |
| Leo | 1st house | your own bearing, appearance and the first move |
| Virgo | 12th house | rest, solitude, what is behind you and what runs unattended |
| Libra | 11th house | friends, groups, networks and what you are aiming at |
| Scorpio | 10th house | career, public standing and what you are known for |
| Sagittarius | 9th house | distance, study, belief, travel and the long view |
| Capricorn | 8th house | shared money, debt, intimacy and what is not said out loud |
| Aquarius | 7th house | partners, opponents and anyone you deal with one to one |
| Pisces | 6th house | work, routine, health and the small maintenance of a life |
The cycle either side of this one
The previous Jupiter retrograde ended 277 days before this one began, and the next station comes 274 days after April 13, 2027.
- Previous: November 11, 2025 to March 11, 2026
- Next: January 12, 2028 to May 13, 2028
- All Jupiter retrograde periods: the full list
Questions people ask about this
When does Jupiter go retrograde in 2026?
On December 13, 2026 at 00:57 UTC, at 27°01' Leo.
When does it end?
The direct station falls on April 13, 2027 at 16°00' Leo, 121 days after the turn.
What is the shadow period?
For this passage it runs September 17, 2026 to July 11, 2027: the stretch in which Jupiter crosses the same degrees it covers three times in all.
Does Jupiter retrograde break things?
No. Between December 13, 2026 and April 13, 2027 the planet only appears to reverse, and the tradition reads that as a stretch better suited to review than to launch.