What this period actually is
Between December 22, 2029 and January 11, 2030 Mercury moves back through 16.3 degrees of the zodiac, from 17°42' Capricorn to 1°26' Capricorn, 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 17°42' Capricorn back to 1°26' Capricorn is Earth's own motion showing up in the line of sight.
The mechanism behind the Mercury station of December 22, 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 December 22, 2029 and January 11, 2030, which is a habit of reading rather than a claim about the sky.
The dates in full
Station retrograde: December 22, 2029 at 17°42' Capricorn, 05:51 UTC. Station direct: January 11, 2030 at 1°26' Capricorn, 05:46 UTC. The whole retrograde stays inside Capricorn: the band from 17°42' Capricorn back to 1°26' Capricorn is the stretch Mercury crosses three times.
Mercury first reaches 1°26' Capricorn — the degree it will retrograde back to — on December 4, 2029, and does not clear 17°42' Capricorn, the degree it stationed at, until January 30, 2030, so counting both shadows the passage runs 56 days rather than 20.
What the period is good for
For the 20 days between December 22, 2029 and January 11, 2030 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 11, 2030, 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 22, 2029 to January 11, 2030 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 17°42' 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 previous Mercury retrograde ended 88 days before this one began, and the next station comes 92 days after January 11, 2030.
- Previous: September 2, 2029 to September 25, 2029
- Next: April 13, 2030 to May 6, 2030
- All Mercury retrograde periods: the full list
Questions people ask about this
When does Mercury go retrograde in 2029?
On December 22, 2029 at 05:51 UTC, at 17°42' Capricorn.
When does it end?
The direct station falls on January 11, 2030 at 1°26' Capricorn, 20 days after the turn.
What is the shadow period?
For this passage it runs December 4, 2029 to January 30, 2030: the stretch in which Mercury crosses the same degrees it covers three times in all.
Does Mercury retrograde break things?
No. Between December 22, 2029 and January 11, 2030 the planet only appears to reverse, and the tradition reads that as a stretch better suited to review than to launch.