Mars Retrograde Calendar
When Mars turns retrograde, with the exact dates.
Direct now. Next retrograde:
When is Mars retrograde? About once every twenty-six months, and it lasts two to two and a half months. It is the rarest of the personal-planet retrogrades: most years have none.
The backward motion is apparent, not real. Mars keeps moving around the Sun, but Earth is on a faster inner orbit and periodically overtakes it, and during that pass Mars seems to slow, stop, slide backward against the stars, then resume. The two stations below are the day it stops and the day it starts forward again.
Mars is the planet of doing: drive, direction, the decision to act. Classical astrology reads it retrograde as effort turned inward, a stretch for revising a plan rather than launching one, finishing what was started rather than opening a new front. These are the real station dates, read as a calendar and not as a warning.
Retrograde periods
| Retrograde begins | Turns direct | In |
|---|---|---|
| Virgo / Leo | ||
| Libra / Virgo | ||
| Scorpio | ||
| Capricorn / Sagittarius | ||
| Pisces | ||
| Gemini / Taurus | ||
| Cancer | ||
| Leo |
Dates are UTC-based; in your local zone a station can fall a day either side. Station times from the Swiss Ephemeris, given in UTC.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often is Mars retrograde?
Roughly every twenty-six months, for two to two and a half months. Because the gap is longer than two years, most calendar years contain no Mars retrograde at all.
Is Mars retrograde this year?
The calendar above answers it for any year we cover. A year with no period listed is the normal case rather than the exception.
What does Mars retrograde mean?
Astronomically, Mars appears to move backward while Earth overtakes it. In classical practice it is read as a period for revising direction and finishing open work, not for starting a fight.