What this period actually is
Between March 26, 2031 and April 18, 2031 Mercury moves back through 11.9 degrees of the zodiac, from 19°45' Aries to 7°50' Aries, 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 19°45' Aries back to 7°50' Aries is Earth's own motion showing up in the line of sight.
The mechanism behind the Mercury station of March 26, 2031 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 March 26, 2031 and April 18, 2031, which is a habit of reading rather than a claim about the sky.
The dates in full
Station retrograde: March 26, 2031 at 19°45' Aries, 00:44 UTC. Station direct: April 18, 2031 at 7°50' Aries, 11:16 UTC. The whole retrograde stays inside Aries: the band from 19°45' Aries back to 7°50' Aries is the stretch Mercury crosses three times.
Mercury first reaches 7°50' Aries — the degree it will retrograde back to — on March 12, 2031, and does not clear 19°45' Aries, the degree it stationed at, until May 6, 2031, so counting both shadows the passage runs 55 days rather than 23.
What the period is good for
For the 23 days between March 26, 2031 and April 18, 2031 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 April 18, 2031, 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 March 26, 2031 to April 18, 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 Mercury retrograde, stationing at 19°45' Aries falls here:
| Sign | House | What that house covers |
|---|---|---|
| Aries | 1st house | your own bearing, appearance and the first move |
| Taurus | 12th house | rest, solitude, what is behind you and what runs unattended |
| Gemini | 11th house | friends, groups, networks and what you are aiming at |
| Cancer | 10th house | career, public standing and what you are known for |
| Leo | 9th house | distance, study, belief, travel and the long view |
| Virgo | 8th house | shared money, debt, intimacy and what is not said out loud |
| Libra | 7th house | partners, opponents and anyone you deal with one to one |
| Scorpio | 6th house | work, routine, health and the small maintenance of a life |
| Sagittarius | 5th house | play, romance, children and anything you make for its own sake |
| Capricorn | 4th house | home, family, roots and private ground |
| Aquarius | 3rd house | conversation, short trips, siblings and daily information |
| Pisces | 2nd house | money, possessions and what you consider yours |
The cycle either side of this one
The previous Mercury retrograde ended 91 days before this one began, and the next station comes 102 days after April 18, 2031.
- Previous: December 6, 2030 to December 25, 2030
- Next: July 29, 2031 to August 22, 2031
- All Mercury retrograde periods: the full list
Questions people ask about this
When does Mercury go retrograde in 2031?
On March 26, 2031 at 00:44 UTC, at 19°45' Aries.
When does it end?
The direct station falls on April 18, 2031 at 7°50' Aries, 23 days after the turn.
What is the shadow period?
For this passage it runs March 12, 2031 to May 6, 2031: the stretch in which Mercury crosses the same degrees it covers three times in all.
Does Mercury retrograde break things?
No. Between March 26, 2031 and April 18, 2031 the planet only appears to reverse, and the tradition reads that as a stretch better suited to review than to launch.