What this period actually is
Between November 26, 2024 and December 15, 2024 Mercury moves back through 16.3 degrees of the zodiac, from 22°40' Sagittarius to 6°24' 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 22°40' Sagittarius back to 6°24' Sagittarius is Earth's own motion showing up in the line of sight.
The mechanism behind the Mercury station of November 26, 2024 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 November 26, 2024 and December 15, 2024, which is a habit of reading rather than a claim about the sky.
The dates in full
Station retrograde: November 26, 2024 at 22°40' Sagittarius, 02:42 UTC. Station direct: December 15, 2024 at 6°24' Sagittarius, 20:56 UTC. The whole retrograde stays inside Sagittarius: the band from 22°40' Sagittarius back to 6°24' Sagittarius is the stretch Mercury crosses three times.
Mercury first reaches 6°24' Sagittarius — the degree it will retrograde back to — on November 7, 2024, and does not clear 22°40' Sagittarius, the degree it stationed at, until January 3, 2025, so counting both shadows the passage runs 56 days rather than 20.
What the period is good for
For the 20 days between November 26, 2024 and December 15, 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 December 15, 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 November 26, 2024 to December 15, 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 22°40' Sagittarius falls here:
| Sign | House | What that house covers |
|---|---|---|
| Aries | 9th house | distance, study, belief, travel and the long view |
| Taurus | 8th house | shared money, debt, intimacy and what is not said out loud |
| Gemini | 7th house | partners, opponents and anyone you deal with one to one |
| Cancer | 6th house | work, routine, health and the small maintenance of a life |
| Leo | 5th house | play, romance, children and anything you make for its own sake |
| Virgo | 4th house | home, family, roots and private ground |
| Libra | 3rd house | conversation, short trips, siblings and daily information |
| Scorpio | 2nd house | money, possessions and what you consider yours |
| Sagittarius | 1st house | your own bearing, appearance and the first move |
| Capricorn | 12th house | rest, solitude, what is behind you and what runs unattended |
| Aquarius | 11th house | friends, groups, networks and what you are aiming at |
| Pisces | 10th house | career, public standing and what you are known for |
The cycle either side of this one
The previous Mercury retrograde ended 90 days before this one began, and the next station comes 90 days after December 15, 2024.
- Previous: August 5, 2024 to August 28, 2024
- Next: March 15, 2025 to April 7, 2025
- All Mercury retrograde periods: the full list
Questions people ask about this
When does Mercury go retrograde in 2024?
On November 26, 2024 at 02:42 UTC, at 22°40' Sagittarius.
When does it end?
The direct station falls on December 15, 2024 at 6°24' Sagittarius, 20 days after the turn.
What is the shadow period?
For this passage it runs November 7, 2024 to January 3, 2025: the stretch in which Mercury crosses the same degrees it covers three times in all.
Does Mercury retrograde break things?
No. Between November 26, 2024 and December 15, 2024 the planet only appears to reverse, and the tradition reads that as a stretch better suited to review than to launch.