What this period actually is
Between September 2, 2029 and September 25, 2029 Mercury moves back through 14.4 degrees of the zodiac, from 1°50' Libra to 17°27' Virgo, 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 1°50' Libra back to 17°27' Virgo is Earth's own motion showing up in the line of sight.
The mechanism behind the Mercury station of September 2, 2029 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 September 2, 2029 and September 25, 2029, which is a habit of reading rather than a claim about the sky.
The dates in full
Station retrograde: September 2, 2029 at 1°50' Libra, 12:18 UTC. Station direct: September 25, 2029 at 17°27' Virgo, 02:02 UTC. It begins in Libra and backs into Virgo, crossing the boundary between 1°50' Libra and 17°27' Virgo rather than working one stretch of a single sign.
Mercury first reaches 17°27' Virgo — the degree it will retrograde back to — on August 13, 2029, and does not clear 1°50' Libra, the degree it stationed at, until October 9, 2029, so counting both shadows the passage runs 57 days rather than 23.
What the period is good for
For the 23 days between September 2, 2029 and September 25, 2029 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 September 25, 2029, 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 September 2, 2029 to September 25, 2029 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 1°50' Libra falls here:
| Sign | House | What that house covers |
|---|---|---|
| Aries | 7th house | partners, opponents and anyone you deal with one to one |
| Taurus | 6th house | work, routine, health and the small maintenance of a life |
| Gemini | 5th house | play, romance, children and anything you make for its own sake |
| Cancer | 4th house | home, family, roots and private ground |
| Leo | 3rd house | conversation, short trips, siblings and daily information |
| Virgo | 2nd house | money, possessions and what you consider yours |
| Libra | 1st house | your own bearing, appearance and the first move |
| Scorpio | 12th house | rest, solitude, what is behind you and what runs unattended |
| Sagittarius | 11th house | friends, groups, networks and what you are aiming at |
| Capricorn | 10th house | career, public standing and what you are known for |
| Aquarius | 9th house | distance, study, belief, travel and the long view |
| Pisces | 8th house | shared money, debt, intimacy and what is not said out loud |
The cycle either side of this one
The previous Mercury retrograde ended 100 days before this one began, and the next station comes 88 days after September 25, 2029.
- Previous: May 1, 2029 to May 25, 2029
- Next: December 22, 2029 to January 11, 2030
- All Mercury retrograde periods: the full list
Questions people ask about this
When does Mercury go retrograde in 2029?
On September 2, 2029 at 12:18 UTC, at 1°50' Libra.
When does it end?
The direct station falls on September 25, 2029 at 17°27' Virgo, 23 days after the turn.
What is the shadow period?
For this passage it runs August 13, 2029 to October 9, 2029: the stretch in which Mercury crosses the same degrees it covers three times in all.
Does Mercury retrograde break things?
No. Between September 2, 2029 and September 25, 2029 the planet only appears to reverse, and the tradition reads that as a stretch better suited to review than to launch.