What this period actually is
Between March 29, 2031 and June 13, 2031 Mars moves back through 17.2 degrees of the zodiac, from 21°38' Scorpio to 4°26' Scorpio, without changing its own direction at any point. Mars is further out than Earth, so the 76 days between March 29, 2031 and June 13, 2031 are the stretch in which Earth overtakes it on the inside track and the planet appears to fall behind.
The mechanism behind the Mars station of March 29, 2031 is the same one described in what retrograde motion is. Read astrologically, the convention is that Mars — drive, temper, appetite and the willingness to act — turns inward between March 29, 2031 and June 13, 2031, which is a habit of reading rather than a claim about the sky.
The dates in full
Station retrograde: March 29, 2031 at 21°38' Scorpio, 00:35 UTC. Station direct: June 13, 2031 at 4°26' Scorpio, 11:56 UTC. The whole retrograde stays inside Scorpio: the band from 21°38' Scorpio back to 4°26' Scorpio is the stretch Mars crosses three times.
Mars first reaches 4°26' Scorpio — the degree it will retrograde back to — on January 25, 2031, and does not clear 21°38' Scorpio, the degree it stationed at, until August 10, 2031, so counting both shadows the passage runs 196 days rather than 76.
What the period is good for
For the 76 days between March 29, 2031 and June 13, 2031 the workable version of the advice is narrow: finish what is open instead of opening more, and treat low drive as the cycle rather than a personal failure.
If one thing is worth timing around the stretch that ends June 13, 2031, it is starting a fight, starting a business, or starting a training programme that depends on momentum — 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 March 29, 2031 to June 13, 2031 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 Mars retrograde, stationing at 21°38' Scorpio falls here:
| Sign | House | What that house covers |
|---|---|---|
| Aries | 8th house | shared money, debt, intimacy and what is not said out loud |
| Taurus | 7th house | partners, opponents and anyone you deal with one to one |
| Gemini | 6th house | work, routine, health and the small maintenance of a life |
| Cancer | 5th house | play, romance, children and anything you make for its own sake |
| Leo | 4th house | home, family, roots and private ground |
| Virgo | 3rd house | conversation, short trips, siblings and daily information |
| Libra | 2nd house | money, possessions and what you consider yours |
| Scorpio | 1st house | your own bearing, appearance and the first move |
| Sagittarius | 12th house | rest, solitude, what is behind you and what runs unattended |
| Capricorn | 11th house | friends, groups, networks and what you are aiming at |
| Aquarius | 10th house | career, public standing and what you are known for |
| Pisces | 9th house | distance, study, belief, travel and the long view |
The cycle either side of this one
The previous Mars retrograde ended 693 days before March 29, 2031, and no later one falls inside the published range.
- Previous: February 14, 2029 to May 5, 2029
- All Mars retrograde periods: the full list
Questions people ask about this
When does Mars go retrograde in 2031?
On March 29, 2031 at 00:35 UTC, at 21°38' Scorpio.
When does it end?
The direct station falls on June 13, 2031 at 4°26' Scorpio, 76 days after the turn.
What is the shadow period?
For this passage it runs January 25, 2031 to August 10, 2031: the stretch in which Mars crosses the same degrees it covers three times in all.
Does Mars retrograde break things?
No. Between March 29, 2031 and June 13, 2031 the planet only appears to reverse, and the tradition reads that as a stretch better suited to review than to launch.