♂︎︎ Retrograde guide

Mars retrograde 10 January – 1 April 2027

Mars stations retrograde at 10°25′ Virgo on 10 January 2027, backs into Leo on 21 February and stations direct at 20°55′ Leo on 1 April. Opposition to the Sun on 19 February, shadow from 5 November 2026 to 8 June 2027, and each sign’s house.

Computed, not copied

The dates, degrees and times

Moment	When (UTC)	Where
Pre-shadow begins	Thu, 5 Nov 2026 15:33 UTC	20°55′ Leo
Venus sextile Mars	Tue, 10 Nov 2026 06:39 UTC	Libra · Leo
Mars conjunct Jupiter	Mon, 16 Nov 2026 06:22 UTC	Leo
Mars enters Virgo	Wed, 25 Nov 2026 23:37 UTC	Virgo
Mars square Uranus	Fri, 4 Dec 2026 19:27 UTC	Virgo · Gemini
Mercury square Mars	Wed, 9 Dec 2026 13:41 UTC	Sagittarius · Virgo
Venus sextile Mars	Sat, 12 Dec 2026 09:15 UTC	Scorpio · Virgo
Mercury trine Mars	Thu, 31 Dec 2026 23:30 UTC	Capricorn · Virgo
Mars stations retrograde	Sun, 10 Jan 2027 13:00 UTC	10°25′ Virgo
Venus square Mars	Sat, 16 Jan 2027 21:38 UTC	Sagittarius · Virgo
Mercury opposite Mars	Sun, 7 Feb 2027 07:13 UTC	Pisces · Virgo
Venus trine Mars	Mon, 8 Feb 2027 02:30 UTC	Capricorn · Virgo
Mercury opposite Mars	Tue, 16 Feb 2027 17:42 UTC	Pisces · Virgo
Mars square Uranus	Wed, 17 Feb 2027 06:36 UTC	Virgo · Gemini
Mars opposite the Sun, closest and brightest	Fri, 19 Feb 2027 15:52 UTC	Virgo
Mars backs into Leo	Sun, 21 Feb 2027 14:16 UTC	Leo
Mercury opposite Mars	Thu, 11 Mar 2027 08:30 UTC	Aquarius · Leo
Venus opposite Mars	Fri, 19 Mar 2027 16:14 UTC	Aquarius · Leo
Mars stations direct	Thu, 1 Apr 2027 14:11 UTC	20°55′ Leo
Mercury trine Mars	Wed, 21 Apr 2027 13:46 UTC	Aries · Leo
Mercury square Mars	Fri, 7 May 2027 22:21 UTC	Taurus · Leo
Mars enters Virgo	Fri, 14 May 2027 14:47 UTC	Virgo
Venus trine Mars	Fri, 14 May 2027 23:45 UTC	Taurus · Virgo
Mars square Uranus	Sat, 29 May 2027 02:13 UTC	Virgo · Gemini
Post-shadow ends	Tue, 8 Jun 2027 01:58 UTC	10°25′ Virgo
Length	81 days retrograde · 214 days including the shadow	—
Also retrograde	Uranus, Jupiter	—

Computed with the Lunonis ephemeris (geocentric, tropical zodiac, true equinox of date). Times are UTC and good to about a minute; for stations, where the planet barely moves, to a few minutes.

Retrograde guide

Mars retrograde 2027

Mars turns retrograde about every 26 months, and this is its only retrograde of 2027. It stations at 10°25′ Virgo on 10 January, slips back into Leo on 21 February and stations direct at 20°55′ Leo on 1 April. Eleven and a half weeks of the planet of drive moving backwards is long enough to notice: plans that need force stall, and the work shifts to repair, rehearsal and asking why you wanted the thing in the first place.

The middle of the loop is a real sky event: on 19 February Mars stands opposite the Sun, closest to Earth and at its brightest, rising in the east as the Sun sets. The shadow is long for Mars. It begins on 5 November 2026, when Mars first reaches 20°55′ Leo, and ends on 8 June 2027, when Mars is back at 10°25′ Virgo.

Sign by sign

What it means for each sign

Houses are whole-sign solar houses counted from each Sun sign. If you know your birth time, count from your Rising sign instead: that house is the one that applies to you.

Sun sign	House	Where it shows up
Aries	6th house → 5th house	Momentum around daily work, routines and health habits, then romance, creativity, children and play slows: repair, rehearse and rethink rather than push.
Taurus	5th house → 4th house	Momentum around romance, creativity, children and play, then home, family and roots slows: repair, rehearse and rethink rather than push.
Gemini	4th house → 3rd house	Momentum around home, family and roots, then everyday talk, siblings, short trips and learning slows: repair, rehearse and rethink rather than push.
Cancer	3rd house → 2nd house	Momentum around everyday talk, siblings, short trips and learning, then money, possessions and self-worth slows: repair, rehearse and rethink rather than push.
Leo	2nd house → 1st house	Momentum around money, possessions and self-worth, then yourself, your body and how you come across slows: repair, rehearse and rethink rather than push.
Virgo	1st house → 12th house	Momentum around yourself, your body and how you come across, then rest, solitude, the hidden and the unfinished slows: repair, rehearse and rethink rather than push.
Libra	12th house → 11th house	Momentum around rest, solitude, the hidden and the unfinished, then friends, groups, networks and hopes slows: repair, rehearse and rethink rather than push.
Scorpio	11th house → 10th house	Momentum around friends, groups, networks and hopes, then career, reputation and public direction slows: repair, rehearse and rethink rather than push.
Sagittarius	10th house → 9th house	Momentum around career, reputation and public direction, then travel, study, beliefs and the bigger picture slows: repair, rehearse and rethink rather than push.
Capricorn	9th house → 8th house	Momentum around travel, study, beliefs and the bigger picture, then shared money, debts, intimacy and what you owe slows: repair, rehearse and rethink rather than push.
Aquarius	8th house → 7th house	Momentum around shared money, debts, intimacy and what you owe, then partners, contracts and one-to-one ties slows: repair, rehearse and rethink rather than push.
Pisces	7th house → 6th house	Momentum around partners, contracts and one-to-one ties, then daily work, routines and health habits slows: repair, rehearse and rethink rather than push.

Make it personal

Your Rising sign decides which house this lands in

A Sun-sign reading is one twelfth of the picture. Your free birth chart shows your Rising sign and every planet, so you can see where this event really falls for you; the monthly forecast then reads the transits against your own chart.

Find your Rising sign, free Your month, personal · $7.99

Your free birth chart

Questions

Asked and answered

When is Mars retrograde?

Mars stations retrograde on 10 January 2027 at 10°25′ Virgo and stations direct on 1 April 2027 at 20°55′ Leo: 81 days. Counting the shadow, the whole cycle runs from 5 November 2026 to 8 June 2027. Exact UTC times, with your local time, are in the table above.

Is Mars retrograde a bad time to start a project?

It is a poor time to start something that depends on speed or force, and a good time to finish, fix and train. If a launch can move to after 1 April, or after the shadow ends on 8 June, it usually gains from the wait. Exercise and physical work are fine; injuries come more from impatience than from the sky.

Which signs feel it most?

It falls in Virgo, Leo, so for those Sun signs it is in the 1st house, the most personal one. Every sign meets it somewhere: the table shows the house for each. More precise is your own chart: if you have planets or your Rising sign near 20°55′ Leo – 10°25′ Virgo, it is a bigger event for you.