Every Mars retrograde date, November 2026 to July 2027
All times are UTC. Stations are given to the day, with an approximate time, because a planet that has almost stopped moving can’t be timed closer than about a quarter of an hour.
| Date | Event | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 5, 2026, 15:33 | Pre-shadow begins: Mars reaches the degree where it will later turn direct | 20°55′ Leo |
| Nov 25, 2026, 23:37 | Mars enters Virgo | 0° Virgo |
| Jan 10, 2027, about 13:00 | Mars stations retrograde | 10°25′ Virgo |
| Feb 19, 2027, 15:51 | Opposition: Earth passes between the Sun and Mars | Mars at 0°46′ Virgo |
| Feb 21, 2027, about 14:15 | Mars slips back into Leo, retrograde | 29°59′ Leo |
| Apr 1, 2027, about 14:10 | Mars stations direct | 20°55′ Leo |
| May 14, 2027, 14:47 | Mars enters Virgo again | 0° Virgo |
| Jun 8, 2027, 01:59 | Post-shadow ends: Mars is back at its retrograde station degree | 10°25′ Virgo |
| Jul 15, 2027, 05:40 | Mars enters Libra | 0° Libra |
Three of these fall close to midnight UTC, so the local date depends on where you are. Mars enters Virgo on the evening of November 25 in the Americas and the UK, but on the morning of November 26 in India and Singapore. The post-shadow ends on the evening of June 7 in the Americas and on June 8 in the UK, India and Singapore. Mars reaches Libra late on July 14 on US Pacific time and on July 15 in New York, London, India and Singapore.
What you are seeing when Mars moves backwards
Retrograde motion is an effect of viewpoint. Earth orbits the Sun faster than Mars does, and roughly every 26 months it catches up with Mars and passes it on the inside track. For several weeks around that pass, Mars appears from Earth to slow down, stop and drift westward against the background stars, then stop again and resume its usual eastward motion. Mars itself never changes direction.
The middle of the loop is opposition, on February 19, 2027 at 15:51 UTC, when Earth sits directly between the Sun and Mars. Around opposition Mars rises near sunset, stays up all night, and is at its closest and brightest for this cycle, so the nights around February 19 are the best of the whole retrograde for seeing it.
One detail for sky-watchers: the Full Moon of February 20, which is also a penumbral lunar eclipse, falls at 2°05′ Virgo, less than two zodiac degrees from Mars. That week the Moon and Mars are both opposite the Sun.
Virgo, then Leo: the two signs this retrograde works through
In traditional astrology Mars has no sign-level dignity in either sign. Virgo and Leo are not its domicile (Aries and Scorpio), its exaltation (Capricorn), its detriment (Taurus and Libra) or its fall (Cancer). Here Mars works as a guest in signs ruled by Mercury and the Sun, so astrologers tend to read this retrograde through the themes of those two signs rather than through Mars’s own strength or weakness.
Virgo: January 10 to February 21
Astrologers associate Mars in Virgo with effort aimed at precision: methods at work, craft, daily routines, health habits, and the urge to fix whatever runs badly. Retrograde, it is often read as a time to revisit those systems rather than build new ones, and to notice where criticism, of yourself or of others, is standing in for action.
Leo: February 21 to May 14
Mars in Leo is linked with pride, creative will, play and the wish to be seen for what you make. The retrograde weeks in Leo are commonly read as a review of how you assert yourself there: where pride gets in the way, which creative projects deserve a second draft, and where confidence needs rebuilding rather than more force. Mars turns direct in Leo on April 1 and leaves the sign on May 14.
The Vedic picture
Aurae uses the tropical zodiac. Vedic astrology uses the sidereal zodiac, which currently sits about 24° behind it on the Lahiri ayanamsa. By that estimate, the same retrograde begins in sidereal Leo and dips into the last degrees of sidereal Cancer, Mars’s sign of debilitation in Jyotish, before it turns direct. Treat that as an estimate made from the tropical positions; a panchang gives exact sidereal dates.
Why Mars spends nine and a half months in Leo and Virgo
Mars entered Leo on September 28, 2026 at 02:49 UTC (the evening of September 27 in the Americas) and won’t leave Virgo for Libra until July 15, 2027. That is about 290 days in two signs. Between 2000 and 2030 the median time Mars spends in one sign is 45 days, roughly six and a half weeks, so this stay is more than three times as long as two typical ones back to back.
The retrograde is the reason. Mars moves backwards for 81 days, crosses the Leo–Virgo boundary three times, and covers the stretch from 20°55′ Leo to 10°25′ Virgo three times over: forward from November to January, backward from January to April, and forward again from April to June. Astrologers read a stay this long as a concentration of Mars themes, effort, heat, conflict and desire, in whatever part of a chart Leo and Virgo occupy.
Your natal Mars shows how you personally use that energy. If you have Mars, or any other planet, between 20°55′ Leo and 10°25′ Virgo, transiting Mars crosses that point three times during this cycle. The Mars sign calculator gives your Mars sign in seconds.
Where the retrograde falls in your chart, by Rising sign
Aurae uses Whole Sign houses, where each house is one whole sign counted from your Rising sign. Mars stations retrograde in your Virgo house and turns direct in your Leo house. If you don’t know your Rising sign, the Sun, Moon and Rising calculator finds it from your birth time.
| Rising sign | Virgo house (Jan 10 – Feb 21) | Leo house (Feb 21 – May 14) | Areas astrologers link to those houses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aries | 6th | 5th | Work routines and health habits; creativity, romance and play |
| Taurus | 5th | 4th | Creativity and romance; home and family |
| Gemini | 4th | 3rd | Home and family; siblings, neighbours and everyday talk |
| Cancer | 3rd | 2nd | Everyday communication; money and possessions |
| Leo | 2nd | 1st | Money and self-worth; your body and how you come across |
| Virgo | 1st | 12th | Your body and self-presentation; rest and what happens out of view |
| Libra | 12th | 11th | Rest and retreat; friends and groups |
| Scorpio | 11th | 10th | Friends and groups; career and reputation |
| Sagittarius | 10th | 9th | Career and reputation; travel, study and beliefs |
| Capricorn | 9th | 8th | Travel and study; shared money and intimacy |
| Aquarius | 8th | 7th | Shared money and intimacy; partnerships |
| Pisces | 7th | 6th | Partnerships; work routines and health habits |
These are the areas astrologers watch during the retrograde, not forecasts of what will happen there. If relationship timing is what you are really asking about, the love timing calculator checks Venus and Jupiter transits against your own chart and gives dated windows.
Quick answers on Mars retrograde 2027
How often does Mars go retrograde?
About every 26 months. Each Mars retrograde surrounds an opposition, and the time from one opposition to the next, Mars’s synodic period, is 779.9 days on NASA’s Mars fact sheet. Each retrograde lasts a couple of months; this one lasts 81 days.
Do the shadow dates count?
Astrologers disagree. Some treat the pre-shadow (from November 5, 2026) and the post-shadow (to June 8, 2027) as part of the retrograde, because Mars covers the same degrees three times. Others give weight only to the two stations and the retrograde between them. Both approaches are in everyday use, and the dates above let you follow either.
Is Mars retrograde bad for relationships?
There is no measurable sense in which it is. Astrologers often read Mars retrograde as a time when old frustrations resurface and anger is better examined than acted on, and some prefer not to open a confrontation during it. That is a convention, not evidence. Relationships are read mainly from Venus, the Moon and the 7th house; the Mars retrograde is one background theme among several.
When is the next Mars retrograde after 2027?
In early 2029. Aurae’s ephemeris has Mars stationing retrograde around February 14, 2029 at 13°55′ Libra, slipping back into Virgo in early April, and turning direct around May 5, 2029 at 24°55′ Virgo (May 6 in India and East Asia).