What this period actually is
Between December 13, 2023 and January 2, 2024 Mercury moves back through 16.3 degrees of the zodiac, from 8°29' Capricorn to 22°11' Sagittarius, without changing its own direction at any point. Mercury is an inner planet, so this happens as it swings between Earth and the Sun; the loop it appears to trace from 8°29' Capricorn back to 22°11' Sagittarius is Earth's own motion showing up in the line of sight.
The mechanism behind the Mercury station of December 13, 2023 is the same one described in what retrograde motion is. Read astrologically, the convention is that Mercury — thinking, wording, contracts and short journeys — turns inward between December 13, 2023 and January 2, 2024, which is a habit of reading rather than a claim about the sky.
The dates in full
Station retrograde: December 13, 2023 at 8°29' Capricorn, 07:09 UTC. Station direct: January 2, 2024 at 22°11' Sagittarius, 03:08 UTC. It begins in Capricorn and backs into Sagittarius, crossing the boundary between 8°29' Capricorn and 22°11' Sagittarius rather than working one stretch of a single sign.
Mercury first reaches 22°11' Sagittarius — the degree it will retrograde back to — on November 25, 2023, and does not clear 8°29' Capricorn, the degree it stationed at, until January 21, 2024, so counting both shadows the passage runs 56 days rather than 20.
What the period is good for
For the 20 days between December 13, 2023 and January 2, 2024 the workable version of the advice is narrow: re-read anything before signing it, back up what you cannot replace, and expect arrangements to need confirming twice.
If one thing is worth timing around the stretch that ends January 2, 2024, it is launching a product, signing a lease or buying the device you will depend on for three years — 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, 2023 to January 2, 2024 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 Mercury retrograde, stationing at 8°29' Capricorn falls here:
| Sign | House | What that house covers |
|---|---|---|
| Aries | 10th house | career, public standing and what you are known for |
| Taurus | 9th house | distance, study, belief, travel and the long view |
| Gemini | 8th house | shared money, debt, intimacy and what is not said out loud |
| Cancer | 7th house | partners, opponents and anyone you deal with one to one |
| Leo | 6th house | work, routine, health and the small maintenance of a life |
| Virgo | 5th house | play, romance, children and anything you make for its own sake |
| Libra | 4th house | home, family, roots and private ground |
| Scorpio | 3rd house | conversation, short trips, siblings and daily information |
| Sagittarius | 2nd house | money, possessions and what you consider yours |
| Capricorn | 1st house | your own bearing, appearance and the first move |
| Aquarius | 12th house | rest, solitude, what is behind you and what runs unattended |
| Pisces | 11th house | friends, groups, networks and what you are aiming at |
The cycle either side of this one
The next Mercury station follows 90 days after January 2, 2024; nothing earlier is dated here.
- Next: April 1, 2024 to April 25, 2024
- All Mercury retrograde periods: the full list
Questions people ask about this
When does Mercury go retrograde in 2023?
On December 13, 2023 at 07:09 UTC, at 8°29' Capricorn.
When does it end?
The direct station falls on January 2, 2024 at 22°11' Sagittarius, 20 days after the turn.
What is the shadow period?
For this passage it runs November 25, 2023 to January 21, 2024: the stretch in which Mercury crosses the same degrees it covers three times in all.
Does Mercury retrograde break things?
No. Between December 13, 2023 and January 2, 2024 the planet only appears to reverse, and the tradition reads that as a stretch better suited to review than to launch.