Were You Born During Mercury Retrograde? Every Retrograde Period From 1980 to 2009, Calculated
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Mercury turns retrograde today, October 24, 2026, so a lot of people are asking a second question: was I born during a Mercury retrograde? About one person in five was. Over 1980–2009, Mercury was retrograde 19.1% of the time.
Below is every Mercury retrograde period from 1980 to 2009, calculated with the same planetary-position engine behind our birth charts.
Every Mercury retrograde, 1980–2009
| Year | Mercury retrograde (UTC dates) |
|---|---|
| 1980 | Feb 26–Mar 19 · Jun 28–Jul 22 · Oct 23–Nov 12 |
| 1981 | Feb 8–Mar 2 · Jun 9–Jul 3 · Oct 6–27 |
| 1982 | Jan 23–Feb 13 · May 21–Jun 13 · Sep 19–Oct 11 |
| 1983 | Jan 7–27 · May 1–25 · Sep 2–24 · Dec 22–Jan 11 1984 |
| 1984 | Apr 11–May 5 · Aug 14–Sep 7 · Dec 4–24 |
| 1985 | Mar 24–Apr 17 · Jul 28–Aug 20 · Nov 18–Dec 8 |
| 1986 | Mar 7–30 · Jul 9–Aug 3 · Nov 2–22 |
| 1987 | Feb 18–Mar 12 · Jun 21–Jul 15 · Oct 16–Nov 6 |
| 1988 | Feb 2–23 · May 31–Jun 24 · Sep 28–Oct 20 |
| 1989 | Jan 16–Feb 5 · May 12–Jun 5 · Sep 11–Oct 3 · Dec 30–Jan 20 1990 |
| 1990 | Apr 23–May 17 · Aug 25–Sep 17 · Dec 14–Jan 3 1991 |
| 1991 | Apr 4–28 · Aug 7–31 · Nov 28–Dec 18 |
| 1992 | Mar 17–Apr 9 · Jul 20–Aug 13 · Nov 11–Dec 1 |
| 1993 | Feb 27–Mar 22 · Jul 1–25 · Oct 25–Nov 15 |
| 1994 | Feb 11–Mar 5 · Jun 12–Jul 6 · Oct 9–30 |
| 1995 | Jan 26–Feb 16 · May 24–Jun 17 · Sep 22–Oct 14 |
| 1996 | Jan 9–30 · May 3–27 · Sep 4–26 · Dec 23–Jan 12 1997 |
| 1997 | Apr 14–May 8 · Aug 17–Sep 10 · Dec 7–27 |
| 1998 | Mar 27–Apr 20 · Jul 31–Aug 23 · Nov 21–Dec 11 |
| 1999 | Mar 10–Apr 2 · Jul 12–Aug 6 · Nov 5–25 |
| 2000 | Feb 21–Mar 14 · Jun 23–Jul 17 · Oct 18–Nov 8 |
| 2001 | Feb 4–25 · Jun 4–28 · Oct 1–23 |
| 2002 | Jan 18–Feb 8 · May 15–Jun 8 · Sep 14–Oct 6 |
| 2003 | Jan 2–23 · Apr 26–May 20 · Aug 28–Sep 20 · Dec 17–Jan 6 2004 |
| 2004 | Apr 6–30 · Aug 10–Sep 2 · Nov 30–Dec 20 |
| 2005 | Mar 20–Apr 12 · Jul 23–Aug 16 · Nov 14–Dec 4 |
| 2006 | Mar 2–25 · Jul 4–29 · Oct 28–Nov 18 |
| 2007 | Feb 14–Mar 8 · Jun 15–Jul 10 · Oct 12–Nov 1 |
| 2008 | Jan 28–Feb 19 · May 26–Jun 19 · Sep 24–Oct 15 |
| 2009 | Jan 11–Feb 1 · May 7–31 · Sep 7–29 · Dec 26–Jan 15 2010 |
Mercury goes retrograde three times in most years and four times in some (1983, 1989, 1996, 2003, 2009), when one period starts in late December and runs into January.
If your birthday is on a start or end date
The dates above are in UTC. Mercury turns at a particular hour, so if you were born on the first or last day of a period, whether your Mercury is retrograde depends on your birth time and time zone. These are the only birthdays the table cannot settle on its own.
Why one in five
Mercury is retrograde for about three weeks, roughly every 116 days. Three weeks out of every sixteen to seventeen comes to just under a fifth of the time, which is what the hour-by-hour count gives: 19.1% of the hours from 1980 to 2009. If births are spread evenly over the year, about the same share of people have Mercury retrograde in their birth chart.
What the numbers do and don't tell you
When Mercury appears to move backward is astronomy. Astrology reads a natal Mercury retrograde as a more inward, reflective way of thinking and speaking. That is an interpretation, and these dates cannot prove or disprove it. What they can tell you is whether your birthday falls inside one.
How we calculated: Mercury's apparent geocentric longitude from public low-precision orbital elements in our chart engine, checked every hour from December 1979 to January 2010; a period starts in the first hour the longitude decreases and ends in the first hour it increases again. Start and end times can differ from high-precision almanacs by a few hours; our 1995 and 2000 dates match published almanac dates.
- Your full birth chart, free — see which sign your Mercury is in
- Mercury retrograde starts in Scorpio on October 24
- Mercury and Venus retrograde at the same time: how rare is it?