What this period actually is
Between November 19, 2031 and December 9, 2031 Mercury moves back through 16.2 degrees of the zodiac, from 16°03' Sagittarius to 29°49' Scorpio, 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 16°03' Sagittarius back to 29°49' Scorpio is Earth's own motion showing up in the line of sight.
The mechanism behind the Mercury station of November 19, 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 November 19, 2031 and December 9, 2031, which is a habit of reading rather than a claim about the sky.
The dates in full
Station retrograde: November 19, 2031 at 16°03' Sagittarius, 21:16 UTC. Station direct: December 9, 2031 at 29°49' Scorpio, 16:23 UTC. It begins in Sagittarius and backs into Scorpio, crossing the boundary between 16°03' Sagittarius and 29°49' Scorpio rather than working one stretch of a single sign.
Mercury first reaches 29°49' Scorpio — the degree it will retrograde back to — on October 31, 2031, and does not clear 16°03' Sagittarius, the degree it stationed at, until December 27, 2031, so counting both shadows the passage runs 56 days rather than 20.
What the period is good for
For the 20 days between November 19, 2031 and December 9, 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 December 9, 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 November 19, 2031 to December 9, 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 16°03' 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 89 days before this one began, and the next station comes 89 days after December 9, 2031.
- Previous: July 29, 2031 to August 22, 2031
- Next: March 7, 2032 to March 30, 2032
- All Mercury retrograde periods: the full list
Questions people ask about this
When does Mercury go retrograde in 2031?
On November 19, 2031 at 21:16 UTC, at 16°03' Sagittarius.
When does it end?
The direct station falls on December 9, 2031 at 29°49' Scorpio, 20 days after the turn.
What is the shadow period?
For this passage it runs October 31, 2031 to December 27, 2031: the stretch in which Mercury crosses the same degrees it covers three times in all.
Does Mercury retrograde break things?
No. Between November 19, 2031 and December 9, 2031 the planet only appears to reverse, and the tradition reads that as a stretch better suited to review than to launch.